Running with Supermodel Veronica Webb (part II)

To follow-up on my previous post, I recently received a copy of the video of myself running with Veronica Webb! Apparently, it was showing on airplanes or something, as well as was shown on Bloomberg TV... This was to prepare for the 2010 NYC Half Marathon that Veronica and myself were running for Harlem United. As I suspected, everything I contributed was edited out of the video (which is more than fine with me), but my friend Kelsey got to say quite a bit! I did, though, create the design of the team t-shirt that everyone is wearing. Check it out!

As a sidenote, I've signed up for the NYC Half Marathon, again, in March of 2011. I think the half marathon is becoming my favorite distance...

Runner's World Daily

Haha, crazy. I've been quoted in the Runner's World Racing News Blog. I've always wondered whether I'd rather be an artist for Runner's World or be featured as a runner... In two months I've sort of gotten a taste of both... Too funny.

Anyway, Front Runners New York made an, "It Gets Better" video in response to the recent bullying tragedies in schools across the country. As a member of the club I contributed and gave my message that, "Tomorrow's not going to be the same as today."

The video also features my good friends Dave, Gabriel, Janice, Kenyon, Megan, Beth, Linda, and Steve and their stories. Big thanks to Dave for pulling the whole thing together in just a few days, and to Runner's World for the support on an important issue!

New Website!

If you've got some free time, check out my new website and let me know what you think. Unfortunately, Internet Explorer is not playing nicely. So, you will not be able to view it at its best in that browser (although, I'm working on it!). Hopefully, you're not using IE anyway. Safari, Firefox, and Chrome are so much better.

Still populating some of the projects. If I didn't post it, "as is" it would probably be another year before I'd have gotten it up. Only so many hours in the day...

Runner's World: Is Less More?

This is huge for me. It has been a dream of mine to be published by Runner's World Magazine. And last month this (sort of) came true. In last month's issue of Runner's World I contributed a piece for their article "Is Less More?" an article on the future of running shoes.

I was shaking, I was so excited to get the assignment. The only catch--it was iPad exclusive. Which is super cool in its own right, but I'm still aiming for the magazine. At least I know they like my work over there and I'm not just killing tree by sending all those promos to Pennsylvania.

It's too bad I have to wait until Xmas to borrow my sister-in-law's iPad to see it...

Harlem United Artists

"Harlem United Artists is an outgrowth of Harlem United's Art Therapy Program. The art created expresses the thoughts and feelings of the artists and represents the power of art in the healing process. Proceeds of all sales will directly benefit the Art Therapy Program."

As you may, or may not, know I work full-time for Harlem United Community AIDS Center, a nonprofit that provides housing, healthcare, and prevention for the Homeless living with HIV/AIDS as Coordinator of Special Projects. Recently, I got to work on a very special project that just came to fruition. Now available are Holiday cards featuring art by five talented clients of Harlem United.

The Art Therapy Program, which is part of our Adult Day Healthcare, held a competition do create work to be featured by this project, as well as artwork for the label. Winners were chosen and the cards are finally in!

I was able to contribute my talents by laying out the front and back of the cards and working with the printer to pull together this first of a kind project at Harlem United.

Each boxed set contains ten cards, featuring five images (two cards of each images). Boxes are $10.00 each. Please email info@harlemunited.org for purchasing options. Proceeds of all sales will directly benefit the Art Therapy Program.

Say Hello to SneakerDry!

EXTRA EXTRA, Read all about it! SneakerDry keeps feet dry!

Back in June some friends and I debuted a new project. SneakerDry is an innovative product that every runner can use. How many times have you gone running and come home with soaking wet shoes? I can't count the times that on my run I encountered that unexpected monsoon, open fire hydrant, or puddle that looked especially splashy, only to return home with drenched, smelly shoes.

Don't Fret! SneakerDry is here to help. Before, it might take days for my shoes to fully dry out before I could run in them again. I dare not put them in the dryer--who know what shape they'd shrink into... Now there's a new solution. Just shove a few sheets of my trusty SneakerDry into my shoes and before I know it, I'm ready to go! And don't worry about paper waste; SneakerDry is completely recyclable!

SneakerDry first hit the scene in June as the program for the race program for the Front Runners New York, Lesbian and Gay Pride Run 2010. It was a big hit, providing useful information about the race, sponsors, and runners before the race, and then saving shoes afterwards.

The product is still evolving as we develop ways that you can customize it for your own particular race and as we get it ready to sell in stores. Please feel free to contact me or Damian, SneakerDry owner/founder, if you're interested in using it at one of your functions at Damian@SneakerDry.com. The website is currently under development, where you'll be able to purchase SneakerDry, as well as, upload your own artwork to make your own custom SneakerDry.

I've contributed all the artwork for SneakerDry. Everything from the logo, info graphics, to the layout for the Pride Run. It's been a super fun project to work on, combining my interests in running and design.

Because of the popularity of the newspaper during the 50s, I've been relying on it for as my influence. I picked up one of those great Taschen Icons books (50s Fashion: Vintage Fashion and Beauty Ads) and thinking of (one of my favorite movies) The Incredibles for inspiration. I'm really happy with the result--a logo that can stand independently and work as the header for our paper. I used the typeface Las Vegas by the type foundry House Industries and allowed it to dictate the shapes I used for the rest of the logo.

The most fun part for me were the graphics to describe how to use SneakerDry. It was a real challenge to simply the step and come up with images to represent the concepts. The best part was stretching to draw in a style I'm not accustomed to. I love the little runner man at the end of the steps. I'm hoping the project allows me to create some more similar work. I've already gotten to draw a little biker man for the project, as those bikers have to deal with the same problem.


There's definitely more to come on this project. Please contact me if you're a race director and are interested in using SneakerDry at one of your events.

And remember, Dry Feet are Happy Feet!!