Jason Raish Illustration Blog

Year of the Dragon 2012

2012-01-16T18:11:00.003-05:00

Happy 2012! Here is my take on a Japanese new year's card (nengajo, 年賀状). Traditionally they feature the Asian zodiac animal of that year, 2012 is the year of the Dragon. Basically the bottom says Happy New Year and the top says 2011 and the final box below that is the character for dragon.

have i learned nothing? i am a fool and spent 4 hours working on that first color sketch and didn't explore the other compositions i had thumbnailed out. after thinking maybe i hadn't explored enough i fleshed out this 2nd color sketch. I spent like 7 hrs total on these 2 sketches. I forgot to mention that the dragon is probably the one card i was least excited to illustrate because it is so cliche and has been done by so many people and is kind of a symbol of bad taste and bros that love awesome dragons and yin yangs and nunchucks and have posters of scarface on their wall. We've all seen millions of images and tatoos of asian dragons twisting and looking awesome so i wanted to do a crop of a river dragon zooming along his river in a straight line instead of in the sky all twisty and turny. I wanted the feeling of if someone were to look out the window of the boat they would catch a split second of a huge dragon eye ball and scales zoom past the window basically at water level height. In japan dragons usually live in bodies of water like the ocean or rivers. i thought this was cool and interesting. Like that Miyazaki movie spirited away, that dragon was the spirit of some river in Japan. A huge dragon zooms by a japanese party boat, the kind i frequently saw on the sumida river in Tokyo. He is looking ahead (maybe to the new year?) and doesn't look like he is going to harm the boat at all. In fact they are the guardians of rivers and stuff. Dragons are also associated with spring in japan. What i wanted to achieve was to make it look like he is flying fast-ish, really close to the surface of the water. The shadow had to be created perfectly and the water movement had to be perfect too. I hate doing water movement and suck at it so badly, i can never get it right. The problem is that there was no proper reference for this kind of water movement. I know i've seen it before in some anime or movie where a missle is cruising 2 inces above the water or something. I even watched the scenes in a few Harry Potter movies where they fly close to the water but the special effects team always copped out and didn't show the water being effected by these wizards flying super close to the water. I even enlisted in the help of my fellow illustration collective to find reference but couldn't find any.

the shadow was super hard to get right and i never got it right. i even used google sketch up and taped together paper and a lamp.

had to cut this paper cuz I couldn't find the same weird size i found in china to match the other previous paintings.

gesso borrowed from Angel. you'll get it back some day.

background

i'll spare you the tedium of painting all the cherry blossom petals and transferring the drawing to the painting, so here it is after all that and inked in.

Here the colors are all blocked in and then i had to fly to NYC to accept an award at the Society of illustrators. hopefully i will paint all 12 asian zodiac animal cards through the coming years. So far this yearly card has been the 1 time a year i get to paint something and not use photoshop. I had this half painted and then due to some extenuating circumstances was unable to finish the painting in time so i had to clean up my sketch and use this all digital version. The momentum is gone, will i ever finish the painting? I have to i guess.

Society of Illustrators - Stevan Dohanos Award - Part 2

2012-01-08T20:39:00.001-05:00

Dim sum at Dim Sum Go Go

"pink china", the restaurant across the street from Mel's house

I saw this twice this week. I thought they were just burning garbage which is kind of crazy in NYC but mel said it was some kind of ancestors tradition.

party at Tara Jacoby's house.

Robert McGinnis painted her! He's the artist that did the old school james bond posters and the breakfast at tiffany's poster among other things.

on the way to brooklyn bowl

inside brooklyn bowl

they have a dance floor and a salsa orchestra that night.

the young illustrators crew.

got my hair cut at astor hair.

i am seeing china-centric magazines in the stores now too. China is taking over, watch out now

meatball shop is awesome.

Rockafeller center tree

bottom of central park

from the offices of Discover Magazine.

Williamsburg xmas lights

Ghost Bikes are painted all white and are left at the place where a person has died in a bicycling accident. I have seen a few of these around. I notice them because I have been hit by a car and hospitalized with a fractured skull and I bike too. RIP Nicolas Djandji, age 24. From Ghostbikes.org - Nicolas Djandji was born on November 8, 1986 in Alexandria, Egypt. His childhood was highly nomadic; Djandji lived in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Indonesia, and Argentina before his family relocated to Texas, where he attended high school. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, studying Painting and Illustration. Djandji moved to New York in 2009.

Panna II

Spider Magazine - Gorilla Blues

2012-01-08T20:25:00.002-05:00

A while ago I did 3 illustrations for Spider Magazine (which has illustration on almost every page). The story is titled "Gorilla Blues" by Trinka Enell and it's about a big blue gorilla who loses his way to Florida one snowy night and is helped by a little girl.

getting this perspective right was so hard and it's still not right.

I was in 3x3 magazine's Illustration Directory 2011

Society of Illustrators - Stevan Dohanos Award - Part 1

2011-12-28T10:50:00.001-05:00

I got a call on a friday that I had won the Stevan Dohanos Award this year at the Society of Illustrators in NY. I decided to fly from London to NY for a week to accept the award. This would be my first time back in the US in a year.

Asian Americans for equality. What do they do in there?

B and H photo is a crazy place. orders zip around the ceiling on these conveyer belt things. I need to buy a lens filter for my new 24mm f/1.4 L lens which i'll show later. It's amazing so lots of pics on this blog from here on out will be with that lens.

Salih showing me how to use Final Cut Pro. I'm trying to make a travel video out of all the clips i've taken. It's doable but will take a while to learn the program and learn about video, timing, music, cuts, pace and that whole universe

at the opening of the Society of Illustrators Member's Open show. My piece in the back with the red bridge won top prize, the Stevan Dohanos Award. The Society of Illustrators is the top place probably in the world to be recognized for your work in the illustration field so I was dumbfounded. I was even more dumbfounded when they gave me one of the Society's medals!

had to give a little speech. The Society owns this awesome old New York building on 63rd and Lex. Upstairs is the members bar where all the old school founding fathers and so on have hung out and jammed.

after a bunch of drinks at the Society it was off for celebratory champagne.

after celebratory champagne we were very inebriated and any old $2 PBRs would do. Many were consumed and you know the rest of the story.

Max Fish

the twighlight series owned by Mel's sister.

here's the medal! it's heavy. I never thought I would own one of these and now i have one. It's amazing.

djembe drummers on the subway

churros lady didn't want her photo taken

bedford ave station on the L

I never noticed this before in NY but it seems like there are tons of "perro flautas" now. perro flauta meaning dog flute, like what they call these guys in Spain. I mean they are the same down to the dread locks and owning dogs. what gives.

a lot of this in NY

williamsburg

the view of manhattan from williamsburg. somewhere near north 7th or 8th. Sophie has moved back to NY and Steven (we went to Oxford together the week before) came from London to visit her.

Kenka used to be my favorite place to drink. its a funky Japanese drinking hall on st. marks place. I don't know how it is now though. I will have to give it another try and see.

the cotton candy machine is inside now.

the Chinatown Dragon Fighters. The firehouse is near Mel's house.

Mel had a party for me at her house on East Broadway. Thanks Mel!

Sandra's dog pudge is sooooooo cute. he's like an Ewok/Koala Bear mix.

Van Der Doodle got noodled before he even got to the party.

which is why you see him here drinking out of a pot.

pickleback shots at 169 bar on east broadway. Its this new craze where you take a shot of whiskey and then chase it with a shot of pickle juice. its not that bad. how do they produce huge jars upon jars of pickle juice to fill the demand? are they making synthetic pickle juice now? No one else seems to think its gross.

go go dancer at 169 bar.

cheetah pool table

Ding Dong Kim Jung Il is dead

2011-12-18T23:35:00.001-05:00

North Korean state media announced that Kim Jung Il has died today. Here is a portrait of north korean dictator Kim Jung Il that i did a few years ago. I've always found North Korea interesting and had a chance to go as close as most people will ever get to North Korea earlier this year.

the DMZ, demilitarized zone between north and south korea. I went on a tour with some US Embassy folk.

It was creepy to see the North Korean soldiers so close and checking us out with Binoculars.

We rode down one of the 3 tunnels that the North Koreans dug into South Korea. we got stuck halfway and had to crawl down the rest of the way. Were the North Korean's storming down the tunnel to get us? got a little creepy.

Client Sketches and Cafe Sketches

2011-11-22T18:36:00.001-05:00

cover for the Washington Post Sunday Outlook section about Obama, the loner president and how doesn't try to befriend people in Washington, make allies and play politics like you're supposed to to get re-elected.

spot for the Washington Post Sunday Outlook section about Obama, the loner president and how doesn't try to befriend people in Washington, make allies and play politics like you're supposed to to get re-elected.

maybe i'll start posting (some) of my sketches up. i think its interesting to see illustrator's sketches against the final. and you can see how horrible most of mine are.

spot for Golf magazine's rule's guy column. this one is about a ball that bounces out of the cup.

The first time i've pulled out my sketchbook in ages. sketching at "Look Mum No Hands" a bike-centric cafe on old street in London. I was sketching these 2 girls in front of me and thought they didn't know but they said they totally knew i was sketching them after they asked to see it when i was leaving. halfway down the block one of the girls came running and asked if they could have it. So i hung out with them a couple times so far and made new friends in London town.

another sketch from the bike cafe.

my flatmate at the Vintage Emporium cafe on Bacon street off of Brick Lane in London. A super cool place and my flatmate knows the owner and its right down the street from our flat.

first time i pulled out the watercolors and sketchbook in a long time. This was on another day at some french cafe on Broadway market in London. I've been on a decent cafe sketch run the last few weeks compared to my once a year average. It's sad, when I was a student it was every other day and now its been reduced to a few times a year :(

Illustration Now! 4, I'm in there!

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm in Illustration Now! 4 published by Taschen that just came out this year. It's a collection of top illustrators from around the globe, so i don't know how I got in there. I've see the first 3 incarnations of this book and it's cool to be included in this one and have two spreads.

Left: art for Saatchi and Saatchi (NY). Middle: Hartford Courant Ella Fitzgerald. Right: Yahoo! Singapore

Left: Personal piece inspired by a "Wish-Tree" that I saw in Shanghai. Middle: Tiger Beer. Right: Yahoo! Singapore.

The benefits of being an Illustrator

2011-10-26T17:36:00.004-04:00

I'm missing out on them! I was asked to be a VIP guest at a Tiger Beer party in Beijing, a VIP at a Rides magazine party in Vegas, and the American Illustration party that i've missed every year. I'm continually in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Harvest Time Illos

2011-10-10T15:47:00.001-04:00

This was made through Kult design agency in Singapore, and it's like my 5 or 6th time working with them. All of the pieces that people like of mine were done through this agency because they let me do what i want. This means the projects get very personal and I put WAY more time into them than i should. The Client was Facebook Singapore and I had to illustrate this fact: There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices". There was no way i was going to draw an insane amount of figures like I did for the Bounce Dryer Bar campaign so i though of taking a cross section of people and then i remembered the personal project I have been meaning to do where I illustration people from every country i have lived in. Here are 18 people from China, South Korea, Japan, UK, and Spain (i'm not including NY). I wanted to draw some of the archetypes of people you find in these countries, the common types you see on the street everyday. Examples are, Shibuya girl, Spanish protester guy/girl, Beijing belly man, Korean acid wash jeans/jeggings girl, Chinese Pajama man, japanese salary man, etc. This is the largest piece of artwork i've made so far, it's A0 size (32.7 x 45.4 inches), but my macbook could handle it because i actually worked on each figure on its own file and put them all together in the end. eventually I will post the tweaks I have done to these characters and the blurbs i have written about them and present it to you in properly because this project took me 7-8 days working on it 12 hrs a day. The photo research alone took half of the time I think. and its all because it's so personal to me and my travels and I wanted it to look right. But for now here is the version that Facebook used.

there was a big party for the opening of the Facebook office in Singapore. you can see my art in the background. there were 6 artists in total.

this is an alternate version

spot for chicago magazine about Fashion Trunk, a new service where you can have a "trunk" full of clothes delivered to the comfort of your home so you can watch football and try on clothes at the same time and you pick what you like and send the rest back.

spot for triathletes world magazine in the UK. it's about a woman who has to drop out of a triathalon because of under training.

End of Summer Illos

2011-09-21T16:11:00.003-04:00

My buddy Illustrator Marco Pardo in Barcelona asked me to take part in a project put together by Spanish illustrator Elenio Pico (who is a professor at Escola Massana in Barcelona). He got a group of artists together and printed their art on sails for small boats that float in fountains around Barcelona.

this one is my boat.

cover of the travel section for the washington post about time shares and all the crap that rains down on you when you take part in them. Such as dealing with points, paperwork, incentives, and pitches

why oh why did i pitch an idea with so many intricate objects?

spot for Times Higher education in the UK about some education organization and how secretive they are about their testing methods. They are like ninjas. The deadline was super tight so i only had one shot at the ninja and had to leave everything the way it fell. or else i would have done it until i got it the way i wanted. Maybe i will revisit ninjas later on but for now they go back onto the pile of personal projects i have going on.

spot illustration for Emmy Magazine, which is the magazine that gets mailed to all the members of the Academy of Television Arts and Science (aka TV's Emmy Awards). Its about some guy who was on a game show and lost but came away with a borrowed shirt from the guy who played Carlton on the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

spot for Jazz Times magazine about Jazz musicians and the ear damage they receive.

A spot of spots - Jason Raish

2011-08-15T10:03:00.005-04:00

I thought i would use some British speak for the title since I moved to London. Here are a gang of spots for various publications.

spot for Emory alumni magazine where an alum talks about her experience restoring ancient art in cambodia and how there is no clear linguistic distinction between buddah as a religious spirit or as a mere statue. She says it's one in the same for them.

A spot for the university of new hampshire about water fleas and new findings. I can't remember but it looks like maybe they can grow or evolve whatever they need?

A spot for Asian Lawyer magazine about how students of Korea's Judicial Research and Training Insititute (JRTI) are angry because the ministry of justice plans to hire from other law schools instead of solely from their school as has been the tradition in the past.

spot for THE (times higher education) in the UK about a red, greed, and amber university ranking system and its negative points. I can't remember fully but it was probably something where being ranked green had a huge advantage over other rankings.

spot for RIDES magazine for their "talkin' crash" column about celeb hiphop car crashes. this one is about Kendrick Lamar when he was a wee lad

spot for golf magazine's "rules guy" column about removing rock from the field of play. doing rocks is really hard and not too enjoyable for me.

another spot for RIDES magazine for their "talkin' crash" column about celeb hiphop car crashes. this one is about Big Sean crashing his grandmothers car and coming away with only a swollen pinky.

A few shots of London, my new city. English breakfast. bacon "rashers" here are pretty salty though.

the millennium bridge that goes from the tate modern over the river thames. this is the bridge that the baddies destroy in Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 1

insane harry potter fans at "Camp Potter". aka trafalger square, waiting 48 hrs for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. They were either waiting for the movie to be shown on a giant screen in the square, or for the actors to walk the red carpet or a combo of both. we talked to them and they were totally serious and had the conviction of wizards who would defend Hogwarts to the death if they had to. Wait, what am i saying? Why is there so much HP in this post? I wouldn't even say i'm a harry potter enthusiast, i just took on the challenge of watching all 8 Harry potter movies in 2 weeks so i could watch final HP movie here in Harry's hometown (I know HP dorks, i was informed that his hometown is Surey or something) and have to say it was very decent and one of the better HP movies. Now it's over and we are all wondering what to do with our lives. but don't even get me started on how HP is the weakest, most charmless, most weiner like main character that never matured or grew as a character....

Japanese New Years Card - 8 months late

2011-08-10T10:51:00.000-04:00

Did I really forget to post the final finished Year of the Rabbit card? It was done back in December. Well here it is 8 months late.

this year's holiday/new year's card. It's my take on a Japanese new year's card. Here is the process. first i made a color comp on the computer.

a couple of layers of gesso on coldpress watercolor paper.

had to paint the back with some color i have a lot of so it doesn't curl and evens out the paper.

printing out and transferring the sketch to the painting

stars made by flicking a toothbrush

sponges and brushes were used to paint this. everything except for the rabbit is done at this stage. I'll show you the final product when i do my happy holidays post.

The Final Product. I sent this to my friends in Japan on a postcard and my parents printed them as cards for family back in the States. Here is my take on a Japanese new year's card (nengajo, 年賀状). Traditionally they feature the Asian zodiac animal of that year, 2011 is the year of the rabbit. Throughout Asia, because of an old story, it is believed that there is a rabbit on the moon (instead of a man on the moon). Basically the bottom says Happy New Year and the top says 2011 and the final box below that is the character for rabbit.

excited about next year's card? So am I, 2012 is the year of the dragon. My goal is to do all 12. You can see the year of the tiger in 2009 I did here

Scholasstic Read 180

2011-08-08T18:37:00.002-04:00

my first book ever. I did this over a year ago and it just got published. thus is the publishing world. This was for Scholastic and it's for a Read 180 series book called "False". It's a reading intervention book that debunks urban myths. I did 8 illustrations inside

This myth is that Walt Disney is frozen in ice somewhere. not true.

Here is that the 5 second rule makes it ok to eat things you drop on the floor.

Carrots don't give you perfect vision, it was a rumor started by the British during world war two to cover up their new radar technology's success from the Germans. So they said it was because of carrots. The vitamin A keeps your eyes healthy though.

Elvis is not alive, sorry.

The myth is a dog's mouth is cleaner than a humans. I guess this is believed because they have natural cavity fighting chemicals and other stuff. This is the color scheme they went with.

This is the color scheme i liked.

Dropping a penny from the empire state building won't kill someone because the wind will blow it away and other scientific stuff will make it so it never reaches a dangerous velocity.

Elephants are not afraid of mice, they have bad eyesight and are startled by any small thing that moves. This is the color scheme i liked.

this is the color scheme they went with.

The color red doesn't make bulls mad, the motion of the cape gets 'em going.

Hello Canon 5D Mark II

2011-06-18T16:38:00.001-04:00

I finally made the leap and bought a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera. The body alone costs $2,500 and the price isn't going to budge for a long time. The thought of buying this camera haunted me nightly for months and months. I resolved to by the camera when I was in Japan but the earthquake sent me packing and I didn't have time to buy it. It was cheaper there too. I finally decided to order it while I was staying at Yoon's house at the US embassy housing compound in Seoul because lots of merchants ship to APO/military addresses. after 3 weeks I still didn't have the camera and something was wrong. The camera was lost somewhere in the mail and still is. To make a long story short, I didn't take their "we don't even have tracking information for shipments to APO addresses" policy for an answer and battled with them for weeks until i finally got the camera shipped to me in Barcelona for $2,000. Saving $500 is cool but I still lost out on photographing my first month in Barcelona with it. This is way too much camera for me but hopefully I'll grow into it. My reasons for getting this camera are:

1. If there ever was a time to have the best camera in my life it would be now while i'm living in different countries doing awesome stuff all the time
2. I need video capability
3. I need awesome low light capability
4. I need full frame to capture all the amazing interiors amongst many things

Caveats: You probably won't be able to tell that I have a new camera by looking at the pictures on this blog because you won't be able to see the full resolution. But I will be able to capture more nightshots and wider shots so there will be more of those on the blog so you will indirectly see the benefits of this new camera.

they sent it to me 2 day global priority or something. I missed receiving this before i made a trip to Madrid by 1 hour. but wait, no i didn't, because there was crap with UPS i had to deal with i found out later. Like sending a passport copy and other info because i'm technically importing this American product and I'm the importer. They paid the duties and everything though, which is probably a lot.

this post is probably just for photo dorks. but if you read this blog a lot this might interest you because from here on out hopefully at least 75% of the photos on this blog will come from this camera.

Pros:
21.1 megapixels
photos are 5616 x 3744 pixels
ISO 100-6400 (expandable super high but useless)
High Def 3 inch monitor with Approx. 920,000 pixels (VGA)
1920 x 1080 Full HD video
Weather resistant body
superior in low light settings
crystal clear view finder
3 user customizable shooting modes
the cons are negligible

Cons:
has no built in flash (rarely need it though)
autofocus points are so close to the center point they are kind of useless
video mode doesn't continuously autofocus and audio is unacceptable
they still haven't designed the canon bodies so you can playback the shot you just took while shooting one handed
eats up tons of space on your computer due to the larger photo/video sizes
can't shoot 60 fps like the 7D, only up to 30 fps making slow motion harder
It's safety is more on your mind when you're out and about because its a bigger liability.
You will naturally spend many more hours editing photos.
memory card door feels weak especially when shooting one handed and all the pressure is on it.

outfitted with my 20-35mm f/2.8 L lens. it looks the same as my old camera. If you own this camera or are interested in this camera you will find yourself looking for a flash of the "Mark II' symbol on the lower part of the camera when someone walks by with a canon camera. maybe its a superiority complex, or a tip of the hat when you see they do have it, or interest in a person that has the need for a $2500 camera. I probably have all of these but hope that its mainly because I just wanted a tool that could take better photos. And as they always say on the intertubes, a better camera doesn't make a better photographer, which is true. Hopefully I will grow into this one.

40D always on the left, 5D mark II always on the right. the 5D mark II is slightly bigger and weight slightly more. Not enough to matter or notice.

important thing here is the viewfinder in the 40D is not so clear. looking through the 5D's is like night and day. the monitor on the 5D is like HD vs. standard television, it can't compare. Now I can actually evaluate my photos in full resolution on the monitor.

here the 40D juts out at the top because has a flash but the 5D doesn't. on the interwebs people always say you never need a flash with the 5D so stop complaining. well sometimes you do because its not a vision camera. and sometimes you need to get pics of your friends doing stupid things in the night and not pefectly lit photos so it would be nice to have a flash.

The 5D Mark II is a "Full Frame" camera. see how much bigger the mirror and sensor is on the 5D mark II vs. the 40D? that translates into a lot more photo being captured in the frame. most DSLR cameras that people own have "APS" sensors unless you spend $2500 and get a camera with a "Full Frame" sensor like the 5D mark II. In short, most less expensive DSLR cameras crop the image at a rate of 1.6 so that means if your shooting at 50mm x 1.6 = 80mm. that means you're actually shooting at 80mm, which is why if I wanted to take your portrait I would have to get on the bus, go to another town, and turn around and take the photo to get all of you in the shot my old camera. Now with the 5D mark II's full frame capabilities I can capture interior rooms and other stuff in close quarters!

this example grabbed from kenrockwell.com shows how much more you get with full frame cameras. P.S. full frame is the same size as traditional 35 mm film.

2 examples with my widest lens at the widest setting. the 5D captures waaaay more.

same with widest lens but at narrowest setting. even the narrowest setting with the 5D still captures a little more than the widest setting on my old camera.

now with my fixed 35 mm lens i can capture almost the same as my old camera with my widest lens. this is great news because the wide angle lens weighs a lot and this lens weighs nothing.

sharpness example with the 5D mark II using a 35mm f/2.0 prime lens at f/8, 400 iso, 1/800 second. i'm not even showing 40D examples because that camera has a sharpness problem. All of these test photos are from the raw files, no editing, straight out of the camera. All are 100% crops.

sharpness example using 20-35mm f/2.8L shot at a 28mm focal length, iso 400, f/8, 1/640 second.

next are high ISO examples. all of these test between my 2 cameras are like comparing apples to oranges though because the resolution is so much higher on the new camera and its full frame vs. APS crop frame. 40D at 3200 ISO

5D Mark II at 3200 ISO

40D at 1600 ISO

5D mark II at 1600 ISO

I also got a new strap "system". It's a closed loop system so that means you can reach down and instantly pull the camera up to take a photo. No more fumbling around with taking the camera off from around your neck every single time to take a photo. Seriously I don't know how you can live without one. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this kind of strap system. You can leave it around your neck and shoulder, bayonet style which is the most secure way to prevent theft and camera damage, and never have to take it off to shoot. The Black Rapid R-strap is what i went with, but i don't like how all their straps look super serious and make you look like a photographer out on assignment so I bought a narrow leather belt from the men's section of H&M in Barcelona (summer 2011). Someday i want to find a belt/strap or have something custom made to match the quality and color of the awesome leather strap that Norman and Naoki bought me for my birthday. I also looked at the luma loop but didn't like the quick release function that would make it easy for thieves. Also looked at the sun sniper strap too. The cons about this strap system is that the camera can't sit exactly behind your back but sits behind your hip. sometimes this makes your "footprint" wider. As with a normal strap, if you bend over the camera will swing forward and smash into something if you're not careful but all straps have the problem. Overall these seem like problems that you have with normal straps and the benefits of being able to grab and shoot instantly while wearing the camera in the most secure way means that you'll be taking more photos and being less lazy because you have to take your camera off every time.

this german video shows a woman's version of the strap in action but you should get the idea.

FastenR-3 screws into the tripod mount on the bottom of the camera then hooks to ConnectR-2 which you loop the strap through. I think they were both like $13 each.

it all slides alone the closed loop strap. so your camera hangs upside down, but that's no problem. On the interwebs people have concerns about the safety of using the tripod mount. I feel there is no way this will come unscrewed or rip out, if feels very secure. the textured rubber washer makes the seal tight.

leather belt from the men's section of H&M in Barcelona (summer 2011). Was like 10 euros or something. crappy quality, but i still like it way better than a serious neoprene black strap.

This strap from Leather Factory Roberu in Japan is of the highest quality and looks awesome. I wish there was a way i could use it with the R-strap stuff. I guess I will use it when i have to go to super formal function. Its expensive and super nice so it's sad :(
and finally here is an HD video sample. You can see it in high quality if you click through to the Vimeo website, they show a crappy version when you view it from another website. The problem with this camera is that its high quality pro equipment now and doesn't look awesome unless you are using a steady cam attachment or tripod or other pro video equipment because of camera shake. Also the audio is not really acceptable so you need an external mic. You can hear every button you press and even hear the focus ring turning. that said they shoot movies, tv shows and other award winning stuff with the award winning video capabilities of this camera, so it is sought after by videographers as well. I'm putting my videos on Vimeo now because they have the best compression quality so you can see higher quality vids.

Spain's youth have taken to the plazas in protest over government corruption, the unemployment rate, the financial crisis and almost everything else it seems. I don't have a full understanding of the situation but to me, an American who doesn't understand what most people are saying in Spanish, it seems as if the whole thing has turned into a hippie parade and hangout party. Is seems as if the legitimacy/effectiveness of the protest is long gone. Shot in Plaza Cataluya in Barcelona, the Bob Dylan song was actually playing at the time furthering the hippie comparison.

In conclusion this camera is awesome and everyone on the intertubes agrees. I've been shooting with it for about a month now and love it and don't regret it. I've gotta get it insured for theft ASAP. Salih's got stolen and i'm sure its like losing a child.

Next I need to buy an Intervalometer (for timelapse videos), a flash, a tripod head and tripod legs, and i'm thinking about the 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens someday.......

2,000 Animals and the dangerous and thrilling life of an illustrator

2011-06-06T21:01:00.002-04:00

24"x36" illustrations for use as posters, print ads, inserts, and maybe more, we'll see. Done through Leo Burnett in Toronto for Procter & Gamble for their product, Bounce Dryer Bar. I believe these only printed in Canada so far. This the most massive advertising project I might ever work on in terms of sheer work. There are at least 2000 cats, rabbits, and dogs here.

Napoleon cat a la David, mime cat, japanese lucky cat, many more

Back-story: Part of this was completed while I was living in Tokyo, Japan during the earthquake/nuclear disaster. The street swayed back and forth like I was standing on a waterbed. The buildings were flopping back and forth like they were made out of jello. Breakable things were falling and breaking in peoples houses. I had to run back upstairs after the huge quake and continue working, side-stepping all the broken dishes and glasses, I had no time to clean up hazardous glass. I ran to the bathroom (what we deemed to be the safest place in our tiny tokyo apartment) with my laptop many times that day when a big aftershock started in order to keep working. Constant aftershocks prompted me to disassemble all tall and heavy things in my room because they might violently collapse in an aftershock and kill me. Things like bookshelves are the number one danger in your house. This project literally could have killed me. The exciting life of an illustrator right?

Eventually after the radiation scare got bigger and all the foreigners I knew were leaving Japan i decided there is something going on here and maybe i should get out too. So on came the triumvirate of stress of moving my whole life out of a country, the biggest ad project i'll ever work on, and the stress of aftershocks and radiation. Also the fact that our building was so old (like from the 50s, for japan that's old) that it was slated to be destroyed at the end of the month was super un-comforting. Sure it took 1 historic quake, but could it take all the aftershocks? I had no time for any of this, i had over 2,000 animals to draw, get approved, color, and more, in 10 days! My visa was going to be up soon so i had to totally move out of Japan which made time insanely tight and I had to make up for the time lost doing all the things you have to do when you move to your 3rd country in 3 years.

What followed was a week of 16 hr working days and 5 hrs of sleep a night, while holed up at my friends house in Seoul, South Korea on the US army base Embassy housing. It was a life saving decision in many ways. His house was stocked with American food like burritos and cheese and soda. There are no earthquakes in Korea. He had a new 21 inch imac which is way bigger and way more powerful than my macbook. Would I have been able to even do these huge 24"x36" posters on my 15 inch macbookpro that is 3 years old? Maybe, but i have my doubts because it took 8 minutes each time to save even on his new imac. Its a gamble to not save, and a gamble to save. If you save every 10 minutes like you should you lose half an hour every hour just saving! Those are long 8 minutes, pacing back and forth, ferociously nibbling on food and coffee using those 8 minutes to eat for the first time all day. and we all know what happens if you don't save.

This is a new product that you put in the dryer with your clothes to make them softer and pet hair won't stick to them. The Agency's concept was to have a bone/carrot/bird next to the product box with the animals trying to get the bone/carrot/bird, but they can't because they are being repeled by the product, whose tagline is, "helps repel pet hair". All the animals had to be unique and doing something interesting to either get to the carrot/bone/bird or training/planning on how to get to it or being repeled/scared/angry at the product. I didn't want it to be too cartoony and I wanted it to be in my style somehow and the agency agreed. In the end drawing 2000 anthropromorthic animals will kill your style and your wrist so things ended up being more cartoony that I would have liked. I usually use photo reference for most things but there was no time to find reference for 2000 different faces, and poses that are impossible for animals to do physically so i slowly learned how to draw each species and then eventually was able to draw them quickly and decently from my head. It took a huge amount of time to think of the ideas and write them down in words on paper, and then a long time to sketch them out, and then get them approved for final drawings. Eventually they let me just do final drawings and most final drawings got approved. Notable drawings that i had to erase were animals with swords/knives/bombs and an infantry of rabbits about to charge to the center. that stung. But for the most part everything got approved. It would have been a disaster if i had to keep erasing random rejected poses because all these animals are custom fit together like tetris pieces. coloring took forever too. you get delerious after coloring these 16 hrs a day. Also having the power of photoshop to keep changing colors after working til 8 am can make you crazy too. I did the rounded type and the straight type and their standard box and their taller package. I gave them flat color finals. Finally after a few months I can show you the final Illustrations that they tweaked. They added shading to the animals so it looks like the box is radiating light. They added some kind of texture with a photoshop brush and tweaked some colors here and there. They went with the staight type and standard box. There are probably other changes that i could find if i studied these for hours. Overall I am Ok with what the agency did with these and think they might have made them better. They didn't ask me to do these changes but if they did I could have done them better, and then immediately died. Good thing they left themselves a lot of buffer time because i'm sure it took a long time to do the tweaks that they did, regardless of how you feel about the tweaks. I'm concered that when these are seen at 24"x36" the photoshop brush texture they added will be glaringly obvious. Now that it's all over I can't believe that I created these. Too bad I cant put larger jpegs on the web so you can examine all the animals. The largest flickr.com will allow is 1024 pixels. you can see these bigger on my blog: www.jasonraish.blogspot.com

buff muscle rabbit and girlfriend, skinny dorky rabbit and dorky girlfriend testing muscles, karate chop, lots more.

b!tch slap rabbit, rabbit on IV, whip rabbit, rabbit toss, much more.

these are the flat color versions i sent before they agency added their shading. If i had done it, it would have looked better but taken a really long time and cost me my life.

a parting shot of all 3 side by side. I'm ok with not drawing rabbits, cats, or dogs for a while.

taking down the big hulking bookshelf that did not have earthquake brackets installed like i always meant to do. My nerves were shot after so many aftershocks and looking up at this wondering if the earth was going to violently slam it down on me so i had to take this down.

one of my roommates sleep under his desk at night for days.

stores cleared out of bread and milk and stuff after the quake

the airport was like a refugee zone. all the foreigners were trying to get out. That line goes on forever. it took 2 hours on that line to check in and everyone was super p!ssed and scared and stressed and flights got bumped and double bumped. I hadn't slept in 2 days because my airline ticket got messed up by the Tokyo travel company that was surely experiencing the craziest time in their history so i stayed up all night working expecting to sleep on the plane only to find that I can't fly until the next day. I finally made it to Korea, got the project done after a lot of blood, sweat, and dementia, and have a good story to tell now.

I am one of Lürzers Archive's 200 best illustrators worldwide

2011-05-29T10:28:00.002-04:00

A while ago I got an email from Lürzers Archive saying that I was nominated by an art director somewhere. I've always seen this book in the book store from some foreign place and wondered if i would ever be in there. You have to be nominated by an art director and then chosen by the Lürzers judges panel to be in this book so it's not "curated" per say. Haven't seen it yet because they were mailed to my parents house and i'm in Barcelona but it's cool to be in this book that I once gazed upon with student eyes filled with a thousand glimmering stars of hope.

Modern Fairy Tales for The Times London

2011-05-23T10:12:00.003-04:00

The Times in London called me for a quick turnaround for 6 illustrations based on modern fairy tales that authors had put a twist on. A very fun assignment. It's the first time I thought of putting freckles and blemishes on people. but then again i haven't drawn to many red heads. Still though I should start using them more for the monsters and uglies that i draw.

big opening illustration. Gone is the age that girls dream of becoming princesses. Here Cinderella longs for freedom from social engagements and the other realities of life.

Red Riding Hood is a poor, uneducated teenager turned celebrity rape victim.

The 3 Little Pigs live a dry, sarcastic life. I hate compromising things with fast turn arounds, like here there was no time to render shiny pig flesh.

Jack and the beanstalks are a band competing on an American Idol like show where the judges include the Giant who is like a certain former American Idol judge. and yes that is me as the giant and yes i basically look like that.

After her parents divorce the Little Mermaid puts on weight and longs for a Pop Idol prince until the day she seems him join in a civil partnership with his best friend Clive.

Where in the world is Jason?

2011-05-13T12:34:00.004-04:00

Last time I posted I had just fled the radiation scares in a post earthquake Japan. I was in the middle of the most grueling advertising project ever and was expecting a break but I got an explosion of new work while on what was supposed to be my re-up and recover month in Seoul. Now I am posting from Barcelona, Spain, where I will live for 3 months before trying out London.

for Management Today Magazine (UK). For a monthly column that defines a new buzzword. "Freemium" is where companies give out a barebones but functional product in the hopes that the consumer will pay to upgrade to the premium product.

For Westchester Magazine. Celebrity twitter accounts, including Martha Stewart and Donald Trump

for Management Today Magazine (UK). It takes many people to make a good manager.

For Backbone Magazine (Canada). Now that IBM's super computer has stomped the competition on Jeopardy it is being programmed to help doctors in hospitals, especially in the diagnosis area.

for Motortrend Classic Magazine. A man remembers driving through Australia's Snowy Mountains in his first car, a 1968 Mini Deluxe

Barcelona Cathedral viewed from down a side street in the Gotico district

Edward Chillida art near the Museum of of Contemporary Art terrace

Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Radiation Fun

2011-03-28T11:02:00.000-04:00

The big earthquake hit 232 miles from Tokyo, but I was working on a huge advertising project so i just had to continue working through the aftershocks and the threat of nuclear radiation. I ran to the bathroom with my laptop many times that day during a big aftershock (what we deemed to be the safest place in our tiny tokyo apartment) in order to keep working. That project literally could have killed me. The exciting life of an illustrator right? Eventually after the radiation scare got bigger and all the foreigners I knew were leaving Japan i decided there is something going on here and maybe i should get out too. So on came the triumvirate of stress of moving my whole life out of a country, the biggest ad project i'll ever work on, and the stress of aftershocks and radiation. I had no time for any of this, i had over 3,000 animals to draw in 10 days!

bread and some other kinds of food was no where to be had even in tokyo. they were talking rolling blackouts until the summer.

a refugee scene and mass exodus at the Narita airport. that line goes faaaar back and around corners. It took two hours for me and everyone else to check-in for flights to Korea. everything was over booked and every flight was bumped and everyone was p!ssed and stressed. I am now living as a nuclear refugee in Seoul at my friend's house for a month until i move to Barcelona.

for my whole earthquake story see my travelblog: www.MisadventuresofJason.blogspot.com

another full page illustration for Risk magazine about financial terms I know nothing of. Thank god the AD boils it all down for me. instead of darwin's evolution of man they wanted the evolution of swap pricing with monsters. it's a pretty good day when you get to draw monsters for hours. We had a hard time nailing the evolutionary stages. At first i went too early with a single eyed blob organism and then there was a phase where it looked like a baby growing up into an adult as opposed to evolution.

spot for THE (time higher education) in the UK. its dealt with something about possibly losing funding but that it wasn't really a big deal if people relaxed and the title of the article was "The end is not nigh"

Godzilla and Jeopardy - Jason Raish

2011-02-26T10:42:00.001-05:00

Washington Post Sunday Outlook cover. Article is about human brains vs. computers, knowing things vs. just looking it up online, etc... It asks how important is knowing things now that its a click away on your iphone/ipad/smart phone/computer? IBM's super computer Watson went up against two human Jeopardy contestants and blew them away. It did get some questions wrong. Watson was the only contestant to miss the Final Jeopardy! response in the category U.S. CITIES ("Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle"). Rutter and Jennings gave the correct response of Chicago, but Watson's response was "What is Toronto?????

Boston's Weekly Dig cover. they used my Japanese new year's card image for that week's cover.

Network world spot about next generation firewalls that can monitor employees computer actions.

Network world lead image about flattening your servers in the new year and starting from scratch.

Artist Inspiration - 原田泰治はらだたいじ Taiji Harada

2011-02-15T05:42:00.002-05:00

I discovered this Japanese artist the other day at the post office here in Tokyo, Japan. I saw a sheet of his stamps on the counter and instantly fell in love with his paintings. Then a few days later i saw one of his paintings on the wall in the Ryokan I stayed at in Nagano! So i have to share this with the rest of the world! His name is 原田泰治 (はらだたいじ) or Taiji Harada in English.

this is the sheet of stamps i saw and bought and scanned.

these are the scanned stamps. would love to have a print for my wall.

The painting I saw on the wall of the Ryokan in Nagano

detail of that painting

Leading off 2011

2011-02-15T04:28:00.003-05:00

....were a bunch of other illustrations but here is what i have for now.

full page illustration for strategic finance about knowing your IT stuff and spotting your weak points.

spot for Emory Magazine about the evolution of man and how humans aren't the only ones that have caring and empathy just because we have morality and religion.

New Year's mix

2011-01-25T12:12:00.002-05:00

this is from december. a spread for the Chicago Tribune about holiday workouts.

the following are reworked illos for my children's portfolio. any comments welcome. my problem is i always make things too extreme or grotesque or detailed or etc... for children's work so i need to know what i'm doing wrong. You can see the whole shebang here: http://www.jasonraish.com/childrensbook.html

i had the cover and a feature in the December issue of W.E.B. magazine in Korea

I have an interview in this months Advanced Photoshop magazine from the UK. well at least it's on sale now in the US. http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/

I have a feature in this months Computer Arts from the UK. don't know when its on sale in the US though. http://www.computerarts.co.uk/

NY Winter 2011 - NY Bye Bye

2011-01-23T04:45:00.001-05:00

Final assault on NY.

HDR photo of 2nd ave F train station with no gay effects

I visited my old mentor John Nickle's studio in park slope brooklyn. His wife Jana was my boss when i worked at FIT too. He is mainly a children's book illustrator. He does a bunch of children's books every year and has everyone's dream job basically.

http://www.johnnickle.net/

painting from his children's book "Never take a shark to the movies". this one is never take a giraffe to the movies.

a painting in progress for a new children's book

In 2006 the book that he wrote and illustrated "The Ant Bully" was made into a movie. It featured the voice talents of Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, and Paul Giamatti. It was made by Tom Hanks company so they rode in tom hanks private jet back to NY from the premiere in LA. this is an illustrator's dream.

their dog Felix is a greyhound something mix. He is inbtwn a small dog and a big dog. He's been in some pet clothing runway shows. I gotta admit he's pretty cute. Last time I saw him he had bandages on all his paws because he was jumping up and down on a mandolin slicer that got onto the floor somehow and cut up all his feet.

He's wearing his "festa" collar. nice touch i think.

from "Never take a shark to the dentist"

editorial illustration from back when he used to do editorial.

from "Things that are the most in the world". this is hottest

Someone around the corner from melissa's house is not very Bob friendly and it wasn't me this time.

I spent like 6 hrs hand filling out 250 postcard to mail to clients since i was in the US finally and could mail these economically. It's pretty brutal but its ok cuz i already got a job from this that pays for this 4 times over.

going away again dinner. At Pio Pio, a Peruvian place in hell's kitchen. they are famous for their chicken and boy was it deeeelish. over 20 people ended up coming out to say bye. thanks ya'll!

I always love the F'd up rag tag motley crew that i rustle up. Yumi, Diana, Phil, Brown, Brian Morales, d. joseph

Jan Jan, Karol, and Micaela. Micaela is comin to tokyo next month.

Jennie Ambong. last time i saw her i smashed her dorky black frame glasses, too bad she didn't have any this time or else i would have gotten those too. and is that a life aquatic hat? if it is/was then i would burn it.

oh come on mel, you know what im sayin', come on mel. she says that's her smile. We go way back, I know Melissa from 1999 my freshman year at Albany. I stayed at her house all week, thanks mel.

Jan Jan and Karol bought me some dirty mags, which i could go to jail for having here

Karol is from Chile, Jan Jan is from Jersey or something lame like that

these guys. monu and sonu. the punjabi bandit brothers. their rapid fire speech attacks will leave you open and defenseless to any kind of counter. I know sonu from 1999 Albany, the very first day. He was carrying a single slice of paper in a grocery bag. hahahah. These are two awesome guys.

back and melissa's house there is this guy. he's melissa's friend's. his name is pudge. way to give him a complex and make him totally give up on life. Anyway that's it for NY. who knows when i'll be back. Thanks everyone for coming out to see me. Hopefully next time I don't have to work so much so we can really kick it.

NY Winter 2011 - Work and Play

2011-01-17T06:09:00.001-05:00

I had to work a lot while i was in New York and upstate. I can't afford to say no to jobs. That's why there aren't a lot of pictures and why i had a lot less fun than i should have, plus I'm from NY so naturally i wouldn't be taking as many pictures of stuff.

they don't really have delis in asia

or my love, bologna and cheese, always there for $6.50.... WHAT! when the F did bologna and cheese sandwiches become $6.50! i was amazed by how much everything went up in price in NY.

like this chicken cutlet sandwich, another staple food but it's like $5. what the hell.

they tell me there was a huge bed bug problem in NY.

vietnamese sandwich on 12th st.

I visited my friend John Jay's studio on Meserole in brooklyn. He's an illustrator and teaches at FIT. I wasn't in school when he started though. He's sucessful, has agents in NY and Paris, and maybe more. After this visit I really want to get a studio. Maybe in HK.

www.johnjayart.com/

some stuff he was working on. below is more of his work

graphic novel

we went to the society of illustrators sequential and uncommissioned opening uptown on 63rd and Lex. Edel Rodriguez always have smart stuff. the guy on the right is Nimit Malavia, he's young and coming up fast so what out for him
http://nimitmalavia.com/

as always tight work from yuko shimizu
http://www.yukoart.com/

this guy sam makes some awesome stuff
http://www.sbosma.com/

after the opening its upstairs to bar where all the top dogs of illustration are boozing it up.

party time at Fat Buddah on ave A and 13th st. with a bunch of buddies i haven't see in a while.

it seemed like everytime i went out i was getting drinks spilled on me. is NY really 400x more spilly than Japan? probably, cuz they respect personal space more

some of a section of the FIT crew, except for who the hell is that girl in the front?

it hasn't done this in tokyo in the 2 winters i've been here.

grey's papaya hot dogs are now like $4.75 so its not really worth it for me anymore cuz i could eat like 10 of these.

halal lamb and rice with white sauce and hot sauce from sammy's cart somewhere on 6th ave near 4th street. oh how i missed this. and then immediately remembered how unhealthy and weird it makes you feel afterwords.

Presbyterians Today Lenten Devotional Booklet

2011-01-15T21:09:00.004-05:00

cover for a Lenten devotional booklet that comes inside of Presbyterians Today. This year they were translating it into Korean as well so they wanted a Korean influenced crossover style cover. Last year it was done by Heidi Younger, who teaches at FIT now, I wish i had her when I went to FIT. They saw that I lived in Korea before from my website bio so they decided to call me. I'm Korean and was born in Seoul, and studied there for a year in 2001 but this is the first time i've ever drawn a hanbok (traditional Korean dress).

alternate colors. I don't know which i like better

spot about ash wednesday.

i'm showing this final drawing to show how i sometimes edit the drawings in photoshop. I usually like skewed and distorted drawings but the client probably wanted something more "beautiful" so i tried to make the final product more symmetrical and beautiful.

spot about foot washing that happens during lent.

reading the bible.

spot about palm sunday

spot about fish and loaves that fed the masses. I used a young photo of my brother for this one. I had to tone down the indignant smirk on his face that he is infamous for though. and i updated his flannel shirt from an 80's flannel to a modern hip pattern. I want that shirt.

Movie Inspiration - Tarsem Singh's "The Fall"

2010-12-13T06:26:00.004-05:00

The Fall is directed by Tarsem Singh. The film was shot on 26 locations over 18 countries. This is an unbelievably beautiful movie. Is it cheating to use the most exotic and beautiful locations in the world as your set? If so then its ok with me. Singh funded this movie himself, risked everything he owned, so its his baby and it shows. Ebert is all up on this movie and i usually agree with the guy. The child actress Catinca Untaru was great and was an excellent choice. This movie is more style than substance but what an amazing style it is. If you're an artist or a lover of vast, beautiful, sweeping landscapes then you've got to see this movie. Excellent camera movements, cinematography, composition, color, and all that technical stuff. The guy is an artist. I'm gonna make it to that blue city of Jodhpur someday!

the kind of compositions that i dream about. I wish i had this kind of space to work with in my illustrations.

i know this is framed and all but its still amazing that there is a wall of sand this tall somewhere in the world.

Jodhpur, the blue city, India

also India somewhere

Phobias Book Singapore

2010-12-02T13:24:00.002-05:00

A big 20" x 20" illustration for Kult design agency in Singapore. Its for a book about fears. my assigned fear was Gephydrophobia - (Fear of crossing bridges). Some people with this affliction imagine monsters under the bridges they must cross. I thought this would a great time to illustration some Japanese themed stuff i've been wanting to draw. this illo almost didnt happen. That bridge took like 8 hours to complete and i had to do it all over again because the photoshop file got corrupted when i was halfway done with the whole illustration! then my keyboard stopped working and more time was wasted finding the fix for that. This is acrylic paint, pencil, japanese patterned paper, chinese ink, and photoshop. I used a sponge for the tree leaves and moss. What a monster it was completing this. I'm sorry to say I logged 60+ hours on this one.

I have seen all this stuff while living in Japan, except for the monsters of course. Jizo are little stone statues that are the protectors of travellers and children. they often are decorated with red clothing. Ravens are bad omens. There is a whole encyclopedia of Japanese monsters (Yokai). Here are 6 (and a raven, so i guess this continues my Japanese crow series too). They are all based on the original Japanese design but with my twist of course. I sourced some real life disturbing looking animals for some of these. The melting face guy in the back is based on a blob fish (truly disturbing). The red oni is based on a Chinese girl in my Japanese class hahaha. the bug eyed furry guy is based on a Tarsier (some kind of monkey with huuuuge eyes). The guy on the upper left is a Hitotsume-kozo (one eyed monster that resembles a bald Buddhist priest)

an umi bozu (sea monster)

a Suushi Nuppeppo (animated lump of decaying human flesh), a Kijimuna (a forest sprite from Okinawa). All Yokai have crazy stories that are super strange and intersting to me as a westerner, for example the Kijimuna bug-eyed monster on the right, here is an excerpt "a kijimuna may offer to carry a human on it's back as it leaps through the mountains and over the seas. The kijimuna dislike people passing gas on their backs, however, and will immediately throw the human off their backs, no matter where they were at the moment."

Seen here is a kappa (turtle like thing that will do bad things to you but has a hole in his head with water in it so if you bow to him he must bow to you therefore losing the water in his head and disabling him so you can run away), an oni (demon/ogre, you throw beans at people wearing these masks on setsubun day)

awesome japanese papers i found at various stores for the kimono.

and one final thing you didn't want to see. After 3 days of not shaving and not very much hygiene I was dead but had met the deadline. why do i always make these things so complex so i have to work 16 hrs a day on them?

Kobe Bryant for Nike and Motortrend Classic

2010-11-28T12:53:00.002-05:00

So I can finally show this Kobe Bryant T-shirt design that I did for Nike last year. It features Kobe and his new shoe. His nickname is "The Black Mamba". Unfortunately this project got killed so this design will never see the light of day. :(

it took a really long time to render all those snake scales. :-(

story for motortrend classic magazine about a man remembering his childhood dream of racing around the globe in various international cars.

for Motortrend Classic Magazine. a reflection story about a man remembering his father and their love for cars through the years together.

for motortrend classic magazine. about how non-experts can instinctively pick the best cars. In this case, the author's wife.

Design Festa 2010 Fall

2010-11-15T06:17:00.000-05:00

It's that time again. time for Design Festa. As always if you are in Tokyo during one of these Design Festa events I highly recommend it!

Design Festa, full of weirdos, artists, musicians, photographers, designers of all types, illustrators, painters, and weirdly cute girls

I saw this lil' adult man on the train ride there.

This woman Mi-Tan made this custom Daruma dolls. I love Daruma so I was disappointed to find out she wasn't selling all of these, only a few. She's still working on them. It's an A to Z series of I'm not really sure but I like it.

3 pairs of eyes for 3 wishes!

I've never seen this done before but this artist put a decorative fabric border around the edge of the canvas!

this girl made a ton of cool paper masks. I bought the Mexican style one. she was selling them for 300 yen only.

fairy tale point stitch or something bags. snow white and the 7 dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, Pinocchio

its fumiko, my old FIT illustration classmate stuck in this little booth all day because the guy that made the models of her characters had a booth and said she could be there too. here she has printed her children's book onto cards and has to switch them in and out of this magic box as she reads the book aloud to whoever wants to listen to it. ganbatte fumiko

the amazing sculpts of her pancake gorilla and pink penguin guy.

this is one of the resin casts that he used to make the sculpts, not hers though, another piece.

so jealous of children's drawings

i bought this postcard. i could never do this.

Ok ok, hold up. I hear what you're saying bro, but, BUT, stand there and tell me that you ain't feeling this here samurai hot lick right now! Your sh!tty giant baby man samurai rock clan ain't go sh!t on this here sh!tty giant baby man samurai rock clan.

papercut

breaktime, turkish beer and a kebab

the mask i bought

Some photographer douche was giving this girl his card. that's why being a photographer is awesome.

these are all made out of orange peels and egg shells and stuff. and they are always here at every design festa.

there was a lot of daruma action going on at this design festa.

i asked why the suck my ass? and i didn't understand their answer. but they said it was a positive message. ok

skinny alley near shimbashi station that stretches as far as the eye can see. weirdness.

creamy white hoposhus in hibiya park afterwards.

i bought this guy. i still have to think about 3 reasonable goals so i can fill his 3 right eyes in.

A Batch of Fall Illustrations

2010-11-03T10:09:00.003-04:00

for one of the departments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The guy Gene Robinson's email signature lists so many departments and programs that He is involved in that I'm not sure what this is for. Anyway they are working on a study about bees who are injected with cocaine and how this effects them socially and makes them dance more. "dancing" is how they tell others where food is.

Also for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

spot for THE (Times Higher Education) in the UK. It's about professors and academics roles when it comes to at risk students for students in need of help. I don't know which version they went with.

Risk magazine from the UK, full page illustration, or cover, not sure which. It's about a bunch of complex finance stuff as usual that I don't know anything about. They always have a very specific brief, so in this case I am thankful for that because it would require me to use a lot of my brain and research to understand the article and create concepts. I guess something has run out and that is making this financial system machine about to blow its top.

spot for Emory Magazine. Its about AIDS/HIV awareness and speaking out.

Goodbye Summer

2010-09-27T23:41:00.002-04:00

Last batch of illustration from the summer.

spot illustration for Cleveland magazine for a Theatre production featuring all the great murders and fights from Shakespeare's works.

spread for Backbone magazine (Canada) about customers interacting with the web and shopping. One example was a game on Facebook called Social City where you can install solar panels on your virtual houses and then click to buy solar panels for your real house.

monthly rules guy column in Golf Magzine. this one is about how to rule a ball that lands on a stump.

full page for Mojo magazine (UK). they wanted me to emulate the Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers cover because this new Clapton album is more blues-y.

the original cover that blows mine away because its a real painting. mine is paint and pencil with photoshop :(

Changes for Foreign Editions

2010-08-28T12:33:00.003-04:00

Everytime I do an illustration for Risk Magazine in the UK a week later they contact me to make some changes to the illustration for republication in a foreign edition of the magazine. This time around i thought it was interesting enough to post because this was going in the German edition and they wanted the flag popping out the gun to change colors because they didn't want it to resemble the red swastika flag at all. i had to change the words to german too. Just an interesting little insight into the world of European illustration.

the original english version

the sensitive German version

Summertime Illo Fun

2010-08-18T11:10:00.002-04:00

This summer has seen me trolling the streets of Kyoto, climbing to on the top of Mt. Fuji, and most recently swizzlin' soju in Seoul. Also i've managed to do some work too. Let's take a look.

for the monthly rules guy column about how to rule a ball that is on an extremely steep incline

cover for the health and science section of the Washington Post. They asked some scientists what their summer reading would be.
for the technolouge column in MotorTrend magazine. there is a new seat belt attatchment that keeps drivers snug in their seat which increases lap times but it was also found that it keeps backseat booster seats snug and safe as well.

for the monthly rules guy column in golf magazine about a guy who had to play a round while balls from other players were coming down around him.

for Emory Magazine in Atlanta. accompanies a story written by one of their alumni who is a comedy writer for television. It says if you're gonna lie, make it a good one. in the story he lies to two old co-workers about his current job situation.

Spring Cleaning

2010-06-15T11:13:00.002-04:00

Its summer now so its time to toss out these final bits left from the spring

spot for the Radio Times in the UK. its about how football (soccer) is woven into politics, religion and life in countries throughout the world.

for the monthly rules guy column. its about what to do about a ball that gets stuck to a club

for my friend's wedding board. At japanese weddings they usually have a "wedding board" which is displayed at the door. They are a fun couple so they were cool with my idea of them riding on some big animal. They went with the Alpaca

this is detail from the hand lettering that i did.

Alpaca detail

for boston college magazine for the reunion giving issue. they wanted some kind of theme that says "trifecta", like in horse racing. glad they went with the exotic animals instead of actual racing horses.

for Strategic Finance magazine, a full page. it was about the CPO (chief procurement officer) working with the CFO (chief financial officer) to avoid supplier risk. Basically, working together to prevent their suppliers from crapping out.

hand lettered sign for me and my friend's Design Festa booth in tokyo Japan.

Illustrator or Salaryman? Is there even a Choice?

2010-05-23T10:31:00.001-04:00

After speaking with many of the artists at Design Festa it looks like the state of illustration in Japan is horrible and it is impossible to be a fulltime illustrator in this country. After you overcome the obstacle of finding work the pay is horrible. Editorial illustration in magazines and newspapers doesn't exist. That's why if you are an illustrator from the US/UK/western world you should be greatful that you dont live in Korea, Japan, or China where being an illustrator is super tough/impossible. Yes there are japanese illustrators, but the ones you know are probably famous and rare. Look at me, i'm not a famous illustrator but i can still live off of illustration. There are so many others in the UK an the US living off of illustration. I am so lucky. not in the conventional sense. I have worked so hard for what i have now, so its not really luck. But i am so lucky that I am american and speak english because right there opens up a huge market, the UK/US market that pays a whole lot better than the asian market. I am lucky that i got my start in the US and that i can make dollars and pounds. This has allowed me to live in China and Japan. How awesome is my life? i draw pictures for a living. I ride my bike through Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo Japan every day too and from Japanese class. last year i was riding through the streets of beijing, all on the strength of illustration. Its just really sad to see that all these talented japanese artists don't stand a chance in the japanese market. It seems like there is no such thing as a real freelance illustration career. they will have to follow the rules of japanese society and career paths. So, at least briefly while the feeling is still there, I feel greatful and almost feel like i can pat myself on the back because of where i've been and where i'm going thanks to my illustration career. A lot of it though is that i was lucky enough to have been raised in the US.....basically that im not Japanese. This is not a racist post, its just the sad truth of the illustration industry that i have seen thusfar during my time in Japan.

Design Festa 2010 Spring - Day 2

2010-05-23T10:30:00.002-04:00

"My Darling is a Foreigner" i wonder how this movie is received here.

My teacher Eguchi sensei on the left and a guy who is a grown man who's wife lets him walk around in a middle school girls uniform by her side.

i saw a guy in panda make up near this thing too. I didnt see what happened next. acutally there aren't that many pictures because i didnt have time to look around that much cuz i had to stay in my booth.

the girl with the rubber ducky gag ball in a swimsuit all day.

this girl Makoto was across from us and was all tuckered out.

how freaky are these things? its suspected that some or all of them were men too. they even had fake legs.

Marco said that this man/woman was singing the song from Laputa(Castle in the sky), the Miyazaki movie, really badly all day long in a booth near them.

space is tight in the booths. these girls had to sit like this with their skulls crushed behind this table all day long for 10 hrs.

its easy to forget that tokyo is by the sea. right behind here is the harbor. anyway Tokyo Big Sight is humongous. So my final verdict is that Design Festa is awesome and super recommended as a spectator but being in it sucks because you dont get to see anything being shackled to your booth.

Design Festa 2010 Spring - Day 1

2010-05-17T13:02:00.002-04:00

Tokyo, Japan. Design festa is the biggest art event in asia with over 2000 booths full of cool art, illustration, painting, design, crafts, clothing, jewelery, live painting, music, performances, weirdos, cosplay, and weirdos. its super fun and i recommend it for anyone in tokyo at the time. they have it a few times a year. I rented a booth with my friend Fumiko aka Fumi Koala, my old Illustration class buddy from FIT.

night before. got 3 hrs of sleep. had to print so much stuff and prepare so much crap. i dont know if i would do this again. there are so many things you have to think about and so much money you have to spend. renting the space costs like $380 for both saturday and sunday. renting the walls costs like $260!!!! electricity costs $75!!! and then you have all your ink and paper and other costs.

tokyo big sight looks crazy. its huge. like jacob javitts center size

fumikos dad came at 8 am in the morning to help her and then just dissapeared with the job was done.

outside wall of the booth. thats fumikos huge bird apartment painting.

girl next to us was tying these s and m things all day. she had like 5 little paintings on the wall. one of many many many booths that leave me scratching my head and asking why they paid $600 to be here for two days.

i love this guys naive paitings.

my classmate from spain rented a booth too. Marco Pardo

www.MarcoPardo.com

Chihiro was there too. she drew my friend Salih

chihiro-ota.blogspot.com/

and jennifer

her artist name is Carapapa. which means potato face in spanish. previously we saw a real life japanese carapapa at an izakaya

this guy was just drinking sake out of a bottle whilst walking around.

this girl was in a swimsuit all day which is cool, but then she turns around and looks 15 with a rubber duckie gag ball in her mouth. there was a website and i went to it and it looks like maybe its a website for a fetish photographer? another head scratcher

www.selfer.net

some building on meiji dori in shibuya across the street from the taito game station. its pretty cool to see all the various establishments through the core of the building.

it was a meeting of old FIT japanese buddies. Fumika, Yuri and Shunta were all roomates on 18th street in chelsea in NY. Vivi was my roomate on 52nd st. there were also a few other from fit there as well. Shunta is a funny guy who gets super drunk and falls asleep all the time. he had these and said if you take these you are guaranteed no hangover the next day. I don't know if thats true or not cuz i made sure i didnt drink too much because of design festa again the next day. im sure they dont work though.

you gotta love these girls fumika and yuri

i can walk home from shibuya. the liquid room in ebisu is on the way.

New Shizzle

2010-04-27T11:52:00.002-04:00

A full page illustration for Risk Magazine in the UK about banking of some sort

2 Illustrations for Utne Magazine about Weathermen and their views on global warming. It gets into how they discredit global warming are able to impose their views easily to the public, which they are not qualified as scientists to do. Basically they don't believe in global warming, hence this guy trying to wish away this sad sun guy. What's going on with this color scheme, its very un-Jason Raish-like. I am glad the art director went with my crazy weird idea with the sun guy. I hope she didn't catch too much flak from the editors for this one.

Movie Inspiration - Mika Ninagawa's "Sakuran"

2010-04-20T11:42:00.002-04:00

Another movie that inspires me as an artist, Sakuran. It's the directorial debut of photographer Mika Ninagawa so it is definitely a super aesthetically pleasing movie. In fact this isnt really a good movie, i mean its OK, its all style over substance, but for me as an artist it looks amazing. I guess just from looking at these stills it might look like a rainbow vomited on your screen but when you see it all moving it looks amazing. It stars Anna Tsuchiya who is a half japanese half russian singer in Japan. The music in the movie is by Ringo Shiina, the music is also good. It's about Oiran (Geishas weren't prostitutes, Oiran were but they were higher than Yujo who at the bottom).

Movie Inspiration - Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr Fox"

2010-04-20T10:58:00.004-04:00

The 10th installment of Movies that inspire me as an artist. This time it is Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox". last year when i first saw this movie in production I thought it looked like crap. I love Wes Anderson and most of his movies are on my inspirational list so I still had my faith in him and boy did he deliver. This movie is sooooooo good. It is soooooo well done. I think the voice acting is as high on the list of goodness as the stop motion is. Sure its an all star celeb cast but it works due to the quirkiness of the cast and the quirky dry humor that Wes and Noah dish out. I love how he shot it at a super low frame rate like 15 fps or something like that so the stop mo really shows. You have to see this movie MOVE.

as always I love the type he uses. Maybe its the same one everytime? the context its used in works. Otherwise it is a crappy crappy font.

the landscape is stark and lonely but the characters keep you occupied. Again you have to be a fan of anderson's quirk and humor.

Anderson always takes advantage of the wide ratio. How awesome would it be if the illustration assignments i got were widescreen? Every frame is like an awesome lesson in composition.

awesome set designs and lighting

love this composition. The opossum guy is in the super background

he pushed the edges in this movie a lot, meaning less than a third of the screen contained the characters. Like here less than a third of the characters are framed in this shot. I'm diggin' it.

I can't recommend this movie enough for artists and for regular people. His compositions, camera movements, color choices, lighting, music choices, dialog, dry wit, humor, casting, and misc aesthetic choices are all on point AGAIN. Check it out, Anderson has proven himself again!

American Illustration 29 two illustrations Selected!

2010-04-19T09:31:00.003-04:00

I had 2 illustrations selected for the American Illustration 29 book. Here they are. You know what stings? the 95$ publication fee for each illustration selected! I guess that is the real price of recognition :(

This is for Yahoo! its part of this Yahoo! PurpleScape project with other artists. this will be shown in exhibitions in southeast asian countries. They also used mine on limited edition PS3's, postcards, t-shirts, and other products. They said I could do anything i wanted so i thought now is my chance to do all the Japanese themed stuff i have been wanting to do. Japanese design is crazy and detailed so this of course meant major work for me. this beast took me a whole 7 days working on it at least 8 hrs a day. Here is my rational:
This piece is Japanese inspired. The concept makes a spin on the processions that Daimyo warlords had to make every year to the capital of Edo. I tried to make this a little more fun and less serious that the shows of power and wealth that they really were. Instead of flying the Clan flag they are flying Koi fish windsocks, which are used for Children's day in Japan. Instead of Ninjas blowing poison darts for assasinations they are blowing bubbles. Fun bubbles! Instead of a Daimyo Warlord being carried they are carrying a Tanuki, which is a mischevious mythical Racoon-like creature. I thought it would be fun to reverse the scale of things like the mini sumo wrestlers and the giant rabbits and giant trees.

too bad you can't see this in person. he has a gold chain with a "T", T for Tanuki

samurais take super long to draw. if you tried to be true to all the detail it would take you a month to draw one.

This is for Tiger Beer for their Tiger Translate artist project. I was paired with a photographer and had to "remix" the photo and illustrate ontop of it. The photographer was Sin Kok Wai from Singapore. clothes are hanging from poles outside the apartment complexes. straight and uniform buildings didnt give me a lot to work. Here is my rationale:
The scale of the laundry and everything in the photo is so small so I created this huge gentle giant to contrast the tiny clothes hanging out to dry. The photo is of a modern apartment complex made of concrete and steel so I tried to show something living and organic. I wanted it to look like he meant well and was helping out with the laundry, but the whole story of this beast is up the viewer. This piece is also pretty big, probably 2.5'x1.5'. I like this guy. he kind of just showed up on my napkin when i put my pen down on it when i was at dinner one night.

Golf Magazine Illos

2010-04-15T08:42:00.002-04:00

These are all separate projects over the months. Good Ol' Golf Magazine has been my bestest client with a monthly column and occasional extra assignments too. Cheers to the fellas over there.

for the golf rules column about how to rule a ball stuck in a tree.

this one is about cheating in golf. kicking the ball from behind something and rationalizing with yourself that its ok is apparently one of the top cheats.

about how even with a cart you still log lots of miles walking around and and the end of the day your dogs can still be barking and swollen and red. I love doing ugly run down 5 oclock shadow havin' guys.

Communication Arts 51 Winner!

2010-03-17T00:38:00.002-04:00

My huge 3' x 2' Illustration for Tiger Beer won a spot in the Communication Arts 51 Illustration Annual. A first for me, finally!

This was for Tiger Beer. They invited me to be a part of their "Tiger Translate" artist series that they have every so often. It is the biggest physical size i've ever done. it's 3 feet by 2 feet. Printed out this is a beaut. This year's tiger translate theme Change/Society. This piece is about losing culture. Here is my little statement: "Since I’ve been living in China I have been attracted to tiger hats and tiger toys for children because these representations of tigers are very different than western interpretations. In Chinese culture the tiger hat is meant to protect children from evil spirits and other bad things. I thought the tiger hat would be perfect for this concept because it is supposed to protect the boy yet it needs the boy to protect it from becoming another forgotten tradition. This made me think about how culture is always changing resulting in old traditions being lost. As an artist I am saddened by the loss of visual culture, such as these tiger hats. The orange tigers represent some of the ways culture is lost. A lot of my friends' immigrant parents withheld their culture from their children to westernize the children thinking it would give them a better life. Some people reject their culture or it could be forcibly taken and outlawed. It could be bastardized, commercialized or watered down. These are represented by different tigers in this illustration. Behind it all this piece has a positive message. The hat is a cultural icon that you can physically see but it also represents the boy's culture as a whole, a symbol of what he needs to protect. It's tied firmly to his head, giving us hope that he will be one of the few that preserves his cultural heritage."

I'm working on 3 more of these to make a nice series. they take a long time so we'll see how far i get into this. I brainstormed on this piece for weeks so i had some other really good concepts that I wanted to do as well.

Comps for BM Savings

2010-03-09T05:33:00.002-05:00

These were black and white comps done for BM Savings in the UK. They were done Via DLKW, and agency in London. After they first round they came back and said they wanted to commision a new set of comps with older guys, 30, 40, and 50 yrs old, dressed more smart casual rather than slick suits. I never heard the results even after asking. I looked today and saw that they ended up going with the agency's comp which was exactly the same red carpet background with a black clipart silhouette of a guy walking. How sad. Thus is the world of advertising. Thanks Marion for calling me though.

Even More new 2010 work

2010-03-01T12:18:00.000-05:00

spot for the Radio Times in the UK for a play called "Not Bobby". its about a mum and her son and a rabbit that he brings home that can complete crossword puzzles. the son is played by Mackenzie Crook (The Office, UK version). i am glad the art director went with my crazy off the wall idea with the giant rabbit.

spot illo for Network world about becoming a data center top dog.

spot for CSO magazine about biometrics. Conventional identifying traits include: fingerprints, face topography, iris structure, hand geometry, vein structure, voice, signature, and keystroke recognition. Emerging tech includes gait, odor, and even ear shape.

More New Work in 2010

2010-03-01T11:57:00.003-05:00

spot for the monthly rules guy column about the ball landing in a pile of fire ants

full page for Risk magazine in the UK. about exciting things like collateralised trade and uncollateralised trade. With an S no less.

a full page for Airtran Go magazine that you find in the back of the seats on Air Tran flights. this was about how st. louis is a man's city filled with steak houses, barber shops, go kart racing, and was the stomping ground for Lincoln and john Dillinger the gangster.

spot for the same St. Louis is a man's city story.

this is the sketch i wish they had gone with.

and Chris if you see this can you post the other new post with the giant rabbit instead of these illos? thanks!

So new illos in the new year

2010-02-07T04:41:00.001-05:00

A fun assignment for Virgin Hotline Magazine which is the magazine in the backs of the chairs of Virgin trains in the UK. you can cut these out and punch out the eyes and wear it as a mask. this is David Attenborough, the narrator of BBC stuff such as the amazing Planet Earth series. So if you're in the UK and ride on Virgin trains check for my illos!

A fun assignment for Virgin Hotline Magazine which is the magazine in the backs of the chairs of Virgin trains in the UK. you can cut these out and punch out the eyes and wear it as a mask. this is Lewis Hamilton, F1 race car driver and boyfriend of pussycat doll lead singer Nicole Scherzinger. well i just saw that they split in the daily telegraph so there you go.

illo for the hartford courant about what the right age is to start taking your kids to the theatre. The Lion King was coming to Hartford so i used a lion king like actor for the show in the illo.

Some Work from the end of 2008

2010-01-22T10:05:00.002-05:00

full page illo for associations now magazine. its about generation Y'ers having trouble being heard in the workplace

bigger than a spot illo for the cover of the business section of American Medical News. its about hospitals trying to make a connection with doctors or something, actually i forget..

full page illo for the Milken Institute Review about how china is hording US dollars and all that stuff.

kind of a half page illo for the Milken Institute Review. about China vs. the US dollar.

double page spread for "The Scientist" magazine this month i think. story was about how vaccines are the next big money making thing for the pharmacutecal industry. since this article was written i see in the news that everybody is cancelling their H1N1 swine flu shots cuz its not really a problem anymore. This was ...the illustration that i finished and then went running and got hit by a taxi and woke up in the hospital not remembering anything and was freaked out to see that it was already done and that i was going to make the deadline afterall.

Sketches of Japanese People

2010-01-12T12:18:00.002-05:00

a girl with a guitar on her way to shimokitazawa and a bourgie woman going home in a fur jacket.

new illustrator buddy Boojil. Her website

her buddy, oops i forgot his name.

2 big Yahoo! Singapore illustrations

2010-01-09T08:14:00.003-05:00

2 large illustrations for Yahoo! in Singapore. It was done through Kult, and agency in Singapore. The only requirement was that I use the Yahoo! pantone color and include their big purple idea chair. Other than that I had total creative control. So i went and did a lot of stuff i've been wanting to do and used a lot of inspirational references from my inspiration folders that i've been wanting to use. These are 17" x 24" so they took quite some time to do, probably around 35 hours each.

after my brother gets his PHD in a few years we are going on a trip to India, Darjeeling Limited style and hopefully I will get to see some decorated elephants. The sunflowers in the back idea actually came from an amazing photo I found of some kids riding on an elephant through a field of sunflowers.

I've regret not being able to get to the one last place on my list of places to go in China, the bamboo forests where they filmed House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and countless other movies. This illustration will have to do for now, someday I will get there. It was a challenge trying to use the Chinese ink for the bamboo and combine it with my atmospheric style. A giant panda is holding a cage up in the background.

I liked the idea of this elegant older chinese gentleman chillin' in the forest enjoying the fineries of life, the birdman.

More Karasu Art

2010-01-03T00:55:00.001-05:00

portait of my roommate for his birthday. no computer used yay! acrylic, brush pen, japanese ink, colored pencil on paper.

crow on paper bamboo fan that i bought at the art store here in Tokyo. japanese ink, acrylic, brush pen.

Movie Inspiration - Masaaki Yuasa's "Mind Game"

2009-12-28T13:34:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post screen shots for the movie that probably inspires me most. This might be my FAVORITE MOVIE. "Mind Game" written and directed by Masaaki Yuasa and animated by Studio 4°C, which is my favorite animation studio. Check out their other offerings like "Tekkon Kinkreet" and Genius Party which i have posted before on this blog. They have an awesome line up of talent at their studio. This is not like other Japanese animation you have seen. This is fresh, crazy, and funny. they use famous japanese comedians as voice actors. They switch styles up a lot of times. I have never been in love with background paintings more in my life. When i saw this a few years back it just smacked me in the face with inspiration. Don't sleep on this movie, get it somehow and watch it! this movie is not only inspirational for artists, but its theme is also inspiration for your life. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

rotoscoping galore, but im ok with it in this movie.

i love the sloppy in the right places backgrounds with lines on top

love the sloppy/exaggerated animation and drawing, its like they maintained the fun loose experimental feel but still made and awesome looking product.

clever color shifts means super eye candy. violent red vs. calm green

crazy styles get thrown in.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

2009-12-24T08:45:00.002-05:00

This christmas is a special one for me, and not for good reasons. I was hit by a taxi last week when i was jogging somewhere in the streets of tokyo. I don't remember the accident or even the day prior. I had a deadline for a magazine and was worried that i wouldn't be able to make it only to look on my computer and see that it was done already. I escaped with only 4 days in the hospital, a black eye, and a tiny skull fracture that will heal in 2-3 months on its own they say. I didnt even have any bruises on my body. of course my neck still kills, It feels like how your neck feels the next day after getting punched in the face by a big guy in sparring class, only this time i got punched in the face by a 2 ton vehicle. When i look at that windsheild though i just cringe. So this holiday make sure you love your family, love your friends, and make sure you are doing things your way, because you never know when you're could leave this earth. I almost did.

In Japan its traditional to send a new years card. It usually features the asian zodiac animal for that year. 2010 is the year of the Tiger. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Acrylic, colored pencil, chinese ink, brush pen. This was my original idea, the crow representing the bad, with the tiger vanquishing the bad and leaping into the new year ready for 2010. I edited it out for the final holiday/new years card. You are supposed to mail these to your friends and fam and the post office in japan delivers it ONLY on January 1st cuz its bad luck or something if its before or after.

LImited Edition stuff with my stuff on it

2009-12-10T10:03:00.002-05:00

These were both done via Kult, an agency out of Singapore.

cool getting mail from Singapore

this limited edition book with my japan themed artwork on one of the pages. I did this for Yahoo! Philippines. It was used on a lot of other products and limited edition PS3's.

I did this tiger translate artist series project last year for Tiger beer so they sent me this limited edition view master. I haven't used one of these since i was 6 looking at he man discs.

My piece with the little tigers flying out the window over the kid is on one of these discs

Movie Inspiration - Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo"

2009-12-08T08:14:00.003-05:00

as almost everyone knows and cannont deny, Hayao Miyazaki is the man and his latest movie Ponyo was amazing and made me feel as giddy as a little school girl. The Japanese creative mind often leaves me in awe, amazement, and whatever the word would be to describe how i wish i had the creative faculty and mind of a Japanese person that is capable of creating things so different from my western mind. There are a lot of "what the heck is going on this is awesome moments". I don't know how the guys comes up with this stuff but living in Japan everyday i am seeing slowly how its possible if you grew up in Japan. Anyway Joe Hisaishi's music is awesome as always and very fitting. I saw lots of people complaining on IMDB about how the animation was crappy. It wasn't crappy, its stylized. the animation was great and had a fluidity very different from western stuff or even eastern stuff. very imaginative stuff and of course top notch inspiration for artists. Miyazaki's visual style is simple, rounded, soft, but the combination of music, animation, and most of all imaginative elements and story create a universe that is truly inspiring

all hand drawn, no computer animation used in this movie. probably digital cell painting though.

who the heck would think of turning the little mermaid into a goldfish with a face and hair and a quasi dress/body? animated so you can feel it with your eyes no less. what a weird and great character design.

amazing whimsical opening titles.

pastely background work.

i love how miyazaki has tons of gross creatures run away at the switch of a light or like they are here. Just another thing that i guess japanese kids get exposed to and western kids dont because it might scare them.

i like how the animation would get "crappy" at some points. not crappy, just less detailed but still fluid.

the way the water was animated in this movie was great, like it was inbtwn gel and water.

favorite scene in the whole movie, truly magical and imagination capturing.

look at that water in the pot! nice way to stylize water, if only you could see it move. which you should you need to watch this movie!

simplified animation in the back

awesome end credits.

end credits panned over various very long artwork (which i saw in person at the Ghibli museum!). anyway you need to see this movie and you need to see it with subtitles and the Japanese voice track, the actors are always better.

Karasu Kimono

2009-11-20T12:30:00.002-05:00

Time to start thinking about a "Japan Project" now that i'm in Japan. I have decided on a Crow theme since they are everywhere in Tokyo. This is a quick 3 hr experiment i did last night. I went to the biggest art store in tokyo the other day and got this tube of lilac paint and was really feelin' the color so I couldn't resist and put everything off and finally painted like i have been saying i would. I am trying to do some work totally analog, no computer, all traditional mediums. If you didn't know i have done all of my work with pencil on paper, acrylic paint texture backgrounds and then photoshop color. I did this with no photoshop yay! it feels so good to paint again. except this isn't fully painting, its kind of cheating, i'm letting the black ink lines do a lot of the talking for me instead of meticulous hrs of exact painting. I am messing around with the chinese ink still. I will comment on what i was thinking and the concept behind this and more crow themed pieces once i get my concept fully cemented. Acrylic, chinese ink, brush pens, colored pencil on paper.

Bernie Fuchs

2009-11-11T12:21:00.004-05:00

Bernie Fuchs was the guy that I saw slides of in illustration school and didn't like because all i saw were sports illustrations for sports illustrated. I stumbled across these illos on Leif Peng's Flickr account and have now been slapped silly by his work. For tons more inspiration check out Leif's flickr account and his today's inspiration site to get your daily illustration education. The sites specialize in 40's and 50's illustration. Bernie died in september. He painted a few presidents including JFK. What a guy. If all you know is his sports illos try to find his other stuff!

such an amazing spread, such an amazing shape made

reminds me of robert mcguinnis a little.

awesome yellow graphic shape

always been a fan of fadeaways.

and blue, my favorite color

subtle texture sets this apart from the computer crap that i turn out. oh it makes me want get paint out.

Another work pile

2009-11-10T06:28:00.004-05:00

These characters are for various literature for Choonhae University (춘해보건대학 로고), a special trades college in Pusan, South Korea. My friends Mom is the dean of the school so i got to do this job! features are an optometrist, radiologist, yoga instructor, EMS rescue worker, dental assistant, and nurse. Most of the students are female so it was stressed that the girls need to be cute.

for UTNE magazine about volunteer groups that go to Malawi, Africa. the article is poking fun at these groups and asking if the volunteer groups are doing any good. Malawi is where madonna adopted a baby from and where other celebs have jumped on the wagon. There are also resorts there. sad to see an impoverished african nation and then bam! resorts and fat american highschool kids having pool parties after their "volunteer" work.
full page for strategic finance magazine about some boring and hard to grasp topic. i think it was something to do with cash flow. this is different from my usually style because i felt i couldn't capture the feeling i wanted with the jelly fish using pencil cuz pencil is dark and the jelly fish i wanted are luminescent. dont know which version they went with
monthly column about golf rules for golf magazine. this time it asks about getting a penalty for not playing a hole because the sprinklers were on. I forgot what the ruling was. I'm pretty happy with this one and think i captured the guy like i wanted to this time. I guess in the back of my brain i have the disney character Goofy in mind, i remember some old cartoon of goofy playing golf when i was a child.

for Texas Monthly. yay i finally got to work for them. this is a humorous article about being a human lab rat and offering up your body as a test subject for cash.

Magical Camp in Sapporo, Japan

2009-10-18T12:51:00.003-04:00

My friend Akari asked me to submit some art for the Magical Camp postcard project where the sales would go towards planting trees. Magical camp was at the end of august and is actually an overnight music festival in Sapporo, Japan. Sapporo is on Hokkaido island, the huge nothern island of japan. Wish i could have been there!

not my art.

my tanuki character

my chinese wish tree head girl

my light bulb deer

my Michael Jackson

Tons of New Work

2009-10-07T11:16:00.002-04:00

Here is a Ton of work done during the summer that I can post now cuz it's published.

for the Radio Times in London. its a spot for a program airing about footballers (soccer players for us Yanks) and how they make so much money and what they do with it. the title is "The Men with the Golden Feet". i liked this version better than the gold coins cuz it pops more, thankfully the art director did too.

Characters designs for a pitch for Chef Boyardee done for SuperFad, a motion graphics agency in New York. the client wanted a version of Chef Boyardee before he became the old guy on the can logo. they wanted him to be martial arts trained and cool. I found it challenging to do this cuz i had to keep the hat and mustache action. Anyway I put special edition Chef Boyardee Mustache Dunks on him!

this one has an extremely high collar all the way up to his mustache

i put samurai armor shin guards on all the guys.

samurai mask wearing urban vigilante version

more samurai armor.

spinach sandwich villan

for IBM systems magazine about some new software called EGL. the title was the EGL has landed. The art director and I thought the falconer/eagler's glove with the eagle landing on it signifying the user harnessing the awesome power of this new EGL software but the editors wanted it changed to a branch :(

for Pheonix Magazine. The art director was cool. I am into cryptozoological crap so this was cool to do. its about the Mogollon monster which is the bigfoot of Arizona. also about the Pheonix lights UFO sighting and haunted mines. had fun using chinese ink and paint for the background

spot for JazzTimes magazine about choosing a career in Jazz instead of something academic. I was hoping they would go with the flying concept but went with this safer one

for scholastic scope magazine, they adapted the Edgar Allen Poe story "William Wilson" into a play for kids. basically william wilson's "twin" follows him around through the years ratting him out and causing problems for him until he kills him in a sword fight and learns that he was his concience.

tons more to post later after it publishes!

New Work Dump

2009-09-02T14:45:00.001-04:00

I have done a ton of work in the last 2 months so here is more of it that i can show now.

spot illo for St. Louis Magazine about people who have graduated from LOGOS high school in St. Louis and their hesitation to mention it because it is a school for at risk youth.
a spot illo for Career World Published by Reader's digest. Its about No Frills colleges. Basically they take out all the extras like sports, lounges, and activities to provide a lower cost college education. Type went across the left side of the illustration.
for Slate.com it was a week long series about how the USA could come to an end. This was the lead image for "The End of the USA"

for Slate.com it was a week long series about how the USA could come to an end. This option is Totalitarian take over.

for Slate.com it was a week long series about how the USA could come to an end. This option is how the Mormons could rise to power after the USA goes down

for Slate.com it was a week long series about how the USA could come to an end. This option is about global warming and environmental disaster
for Slate.com it was a week long series about how the USA could come to an end. This option is about global warming and environmental disaster
a spot illo for Rides magazine for the Talkin' Crash column. Rapper Sticky Fingaz of Onyx fame talks about how he is a maniac behind the wheel.

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Movie Inspiration - Johnnie To's "Sparrow"

2009-08-03T08:49:00.001-04:00

Time for another installation of Movie Inspiration, movies that inspire me as an artist. I was finally able to get a hold of a proper copy of "Sparrow" by Johnnie To, a Hong Kong director famous for his "Triad Election" hong kong gangster movies. This movie is not in the vein of his other movies and took him 3 years to make, this is the movie that he wanted to make, and whenever there is a directors dream project on hand you should pay attention. This movie is beautiful and equally as amazing is the soundtrack! It really added a 4th dimension to the movie. it was eerily beautiful and out of place. mixing jazz and old school chinese instruments and sound. There were several scenes where the marraige of music and visuals was so awesome that i was grinning from ear to ear. This shows that Johnnie To is an artist, I saw people complaining that this movie was about style over substance but when it's this beautiful who cares (if you're an artist)? It's about pickpockets in Hong Kong. I read somewhere that this movie is Johnnie To's love letter to Hong Kong because he loves his city and it shows. That's about right.

a lot of noir-ishness going on, lots of slow motion, and lots of well lit, well composed money shots! The music during this scene topped it all off and is my fav scene.

super amazingly shot final rain scene. I can highly recommend this to artists and music lovers.

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Lots of July work

2009-07-30T10:05:00.000-04:00

I did a ton of work in July. Here is some of it that I can show now.

this is my goodbye present for my friend angel, my first friend in Beijing. she is moving to London. this is a rare item because i don't do paintings.
this was a quick drawing for her going away party invite.
this is 1 of 5 illustrations for slate.com which will be a series for each day of the week about the possible ways the USA could end such as sucession, global warming, totalitarian takeover, and mormons.

for THE (Times Higher Education) UK. about why US patent lawyers a better than UK patent lawyers. the answer is because they are overall more qualified.
second illo for THE (Times Higher Education) UK. about why US patent lawyers a better than UK patent lawyers. the answer is because they are overall more qualified and they seek out marketable, patentable inventions

box of NPR 2010 calendars featuring my art for the month of April! They use big illustrators every year so I was happy to be asked to do the calendar this year.

My art for the 2010 NPR (National Public Radio) Calendar. month of april. me on my bike riding through the hutong alleys of Beijing listening to my ipod. good times. notice the little beijing gremlin dog on the side.

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2 new illos in from June I think

2009-07-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

teachers can't decide what to do with grades. they don't know if they are a good or bad thing. for The Times Higher Education in London. I liked doing this sad little A, like he is a poor little street urchin that the headmasters at cambridge university are deciding what his fate will be.

For Golf Magazine. monthly rules guy column. this asked if your ball issunk really deep in the sand if there is a penalty for pulling out out.the answer is yes!

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Movie Inspiration - Genius Party Beyond

2009-07-11T14:16:00.002-04:00

My favorite animation studio "Studio 4C" from Japan with the second part of their Genius Party project. The first genius party was good and i can recommend but Genius Party Beyond had more visual inspiration for me. they both get a rating of 8 on IMDB from me though, check them both out! Studio 4C is responsible for maybe my favorite inspirational artist move "Mind Game" They also did Tekkon Kinkreet which i have blogged about before. They also did several pieces for the Animatrix and a bunch of other stuff. For the Genius party series they let something like 14 directors do whatever they wanted and this is the result. Some of the shorts use an insane combo of increasingly crazy music and increasingly crazy animation that creates so much tension while you wait for the bubble to burst that you want to rip your skin off and then your brain out. It gets that intense at points. mostly insane crazy animation.

loving how they did the uncropped painted background look. love the gritty dark color schemes too. I can definitly see the work of many of these directors in "Mind Game"

When this first starts you're like what is this crappy animation but then you realize this could be the best short on the whole dvd because they make this childrens book animation style look so effortless and crazy. insane animation and perspectives. great story and style

look how awesome these are and its all animated! you gotta see to believe

this short was just a crazy skull numbing animation explosion. i dont know whats going on here but tons to like visually. love the lighting in the grass fields and the over exposure pushing the whites with extreme pockets of shadows look

yea basically insanity for 20 min in this short. Anyway kudos to studio 4C for letting their directors get down with whatever they wanted to do. There were more shorts with more inspiration but i dont have time to take screen shots of everything!

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Michael Jackson Portrait

2009-06-29T10:02:00.001-04:00

some more self promo work. the king of pop - Michael Jackson

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The Sprit of Michael Jackson is free

2009-06-29T03:44:00.001-04:00

two versions of an illo in response to the recent death of Michael Jackson. I once read an article about how we are all responsible for what Michael became. We as the public demanded a lot from him and enjoyed pointing fingers at him too. His childhood was stolen from him. He was a little child singing songs with sexual content that he didnt understand. Fame probably tore him apart as it does many child stars. His father nicknamed him "Big Nose". Anyway it was an interesting article and kind of true.

The spirit of Michael Jackson is now free from its tortured vessel that has been torn apart by the public. Maybe little Michael can now have that childhood he never got to have.

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Chinese ink and brush quick drawings

2009-06-21T04:59:00.001-04:00

Some quick experiments with Chinese brushes and ink. go on try it. you will forever admire people who can harness this awesome medium. I have about 50 more years to go. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate brushwork into my work.

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Prep for 798 Show

2009-06-01T15:13:00.002-04:00

in preparation for a little show in 798 that would include 3 of my illustrations i had to take on the laborious task of finding a good print shop in beijing again. i had given up. this time around i found a place that had the same epson printer we had at FIT and even the newest one. It's at the Central Academy of Fine Art or something like that. and yes the prints were very satisfactory this time. i had them printed on genuine epson fine art paper.

an older model of the Canon copier from FIT

the lastest Epson printer. it has 11 inks! and is super fast

they probably have these at all chinese colleges, just like they have them on all the trains (not subway). a hot water dispensor for tea and ramen and the like.

a macro shot of the awesome allergens in beijing.

awesome homemade toilet seat at the college

at the frame shop. mostly these guys frame crap all day. i mean needle point stuff made from a pattern. things so tacky that i am ashamed i forgot to take a pic of some examples.

a frame cutting machine.

smoke stack at the school. this got out of order somehow.

including the frame and 8cm matte this thing is huge. like 75% the size of my bed!

New illozzzzz

2009-05-17T01:58:00.000-04:00

Cover for Strategic Finance magazine. the had a 3 issue feature on Chinese accounting in China and how it is progressing and or staying traditional/old

a spot illustration for The New Physician. the article talked a lot about empathizing with the patients.

Cover for Practical Accountant. The feature story is about "Onboarding" new staff, meaning getting young people to join your company and stay there.
spot illo for the golf magazine rules column. this time it was asking if its ok to remove leaves from the line of putt. the answer was you can if you use the back of your hand only.

illo for the golf magazine rules column. this is saying you are out of luck if water like a stream carries your ball out of bounds.

China National Gallery in Beijing again

2009-05-07T12:55:00.004-04:00

went back to the China national gallery because Zizzo wanted to go see the Joseph Turner Exhibition on loan from the Tate. No pics of the Joseph turner exhibit beacuse it was dark and they were really militant about taking photos. that doesn't mean i didnt take fotos but i found this chinese painter's stuff waaaaay more inspirational. There were like at least 100 paintings by this guy. the guy is 69 and he looks pretty healthy so he looks like he has some more years of turning out these amazing paintings in him. This style is the Xie Yi style of Chinese painting (black ink brushes, not really any lines). I am absolutely dumbstruck as an artist by this kind of stuff. I am looking for a way to incorporate it into my work.

to give you a scale of how big this guy works. this was the biggest piece. the rest are either huge or really big. Xie Yi painting uses the white of the paper in combination with varying the amount of water and how diluted the inks are to achieve depth. that means if you F up its really bad. can you imagine how intimidating it would be to paint on this huuuuuge piece of paper that probably costs a fortune and had to be prepped and treated and soaked for days?!!

he had several differnt rooster paintings but this composition was the coolest.

I like this guy because he mixed some gong bi hua elements in there (the lines on the flower petals) to create this brush strokey but at the same time graphic look.

this one was the second biggest. look at all the white on there. look at all the layering and differnt opacities of ink and paint. can you imagine painting on this? its like 10 feet long. by the time you get over to the 9 foot mark i would have soiled my daipers 20 times over from fear of a misplaced ink droplet or a smear.

awesome topaz color used on this instead of green.

a muted green on red color scheme also awesome.

a lot of his stuff features 2 birds on the branches. there is probably an extremely poetic and beautiful reason why its always two birds. as we were walking through Zizzo was saying that every painting had a beautiful title that really hits the heart. this is a time when i wish i had a full grasp of the chinese language because if the names of the paintings alone can move Zizzo, who i don't take as an arty guy at all, then it would probably knock me out!

love the splashes of graphic leaves and flowers randomly in his work

this is not part of the exhibition. everything in these rooms looked of lesser quality and def not done by "masters", yet there were still some cool things. this thing seriusly looks like it was made with one of those fat magic markers but its still awesome and looks very illustrative.

so in conclusion the china national gallery is awesome again and if you like art then you should def come here. Debbie and Salih were are def going here when you come! another note is that i feel like Chinese and Japanese people have a better appreciation for art, especially their countries art than Americans have. i guess it doesn't help that American art is all over the place due to our history but still it seems like Chinese and Japanese people have a deeper appreciation. good job guys.

Movie Inspiration - Wong Kar Wai's "2046"

2009-04-27T00:30:00.003-04:00

More movie inspiration. 2046 is a movie by Wong Kar Wai, a Hong Kong director. He is a true artist. The guy has consistently turned out beautiful, colorful, well composed movies. I have posted before his movie "In the Mood for Love" and 2046 is more of the same. There are brief parts of the movie that are futuristic and i don't care for those so luckily most of the movie is in the 50's and 60's time period in Hong Kong. Again Wong Kar Wai uses analogous color schemes and has great wardrobes and moody lighting. Christopher Doyle again delivers awesome cinematography and shot transfers. This is a long movie because it takes a relaxed laid back pace. The Actor Tony Leung is good as always. Zhang Zi Yi is good at playing slutty bad girl characters and looks great in a Qi Pao dress. Wong always has great scores and song selections as well.

Faye Wong was not bad

This face

I have become a fan of the 50's Hong Kong style, just like i'm a fan of 50's American style.

green on green on green. me likes because me use this kind of color scheme too

here she is breaking up with that boyfriend so he put her in a red dress against the green to add some stress to the shot.

Zhang Zi Yi was just sizzling in this movie. All my chinese girl friends hate her and all the guys love her. go figure.

New Work in March

2009-03-24T01:49:00.001-04:00

This is for Yahoo! its part of this Yahoo! PurpleScape project with other artists. this will be shown in exhibitions in southeast asian countries. They said I could do anything i wanted so i thought now is my chance to do all the Japanese themed stuff i have been wanting to do. Japanese design is crazy and detailed so this of course meant major work for me. this beast took me a whole 7 days working on it at least 8 hrs a day. Like cultural African stuff Japanese stuff is kind of like cheating because everything looks so crazy already that you don't really need to do that much work in designing anything or making it look interesting. I prepped for this by watching Princess Mononoke and Totoro and Spirited Away, my fav Miyazaki movies. he is definitely influential and has an amazing imagination and makes the rest of us look like garbage. Here we have some mini sumos, samurais, tanukis, ninjas, giant rabbits, deer, koi no buri, those things they tie around huge trees, a pagoda like thing, paper umbrellas, bamboo poles, camphor trees, and bubbles instead of poison darts. I had to go and make it complicated did'nt i? Here is my rational:
This piece is Japanese inspired. The concept makes a spin on the processions that Daimyo warlords had to make every year to the capital of Edo. I tried to make this a little more fun and less serious that the shows of power and wealth that they really were. Instead of flying the Daimyo's flag they are flying Koi fish windsocks, which are used for Children's day in Japan. Instead of Ninjas blowing poison darts for assasinations they are blowing bubbles. Fun bubbles! Instead of a Daimyo Warlord being carried they are carrying a Tanuki, which is a mischevious mythical Racoon-like creature. I thought it would be fun to reverse the scale of things like the mini sumo wrestlers and the giant rabbits and giant trees.

too bad you can't see this in person. he has a gold chain with a "T", T for Tanuki

samurais take super long to draw. if you tried to be true to all the detail it would take you a month to draw one.

this is for Tiger Beer again. for their Tiger Translate artist project. this time they pair each illustrator up with a photographer and you have to "remix" the photo and illustrate ontop of it. The photographer was Sin Kok Wai from Singapore. clothes are hanging from poles outside the apartment complexes. straight and uniform buildings didnt give me a lot to work. Here is my rationale:
The scale of the laundry and everything in the photo is so small so I created this huge gentle giant to contrast the tiny clothes hanging out to dry. The photo is of a modern apartment complex made of concrete and steel so I tried to show something living and organic. I wanted it to look like he meant well and was helping out with the laundry, but the whole story of this beast is up the viewer. This piece is also pretty big, probably 2.5'x1.5'. I like this guy. he kind of just showed up on my napkin when i put my pen down on it when i was at dinner one night. it's awesome when things like that happen. (i mean i just drew the sketch of him without thinking, i would sheit myself if he really pulled up in a burger taxi, paid his fare in pickles, and plopped down on my napkin to havea chat with me).

Boston's weekly Dig used my kim jong il image for their cover.

This is for Employee Benefits advisor. its about finding your "moral compass". i guess benefit advisors face moral delimas because they are supposed to report the health of the employees to the insurance companies or something like that and they could make more money selling high priced plans to their clients by lying about the health of the employees or something like that. it's stories like there when i'm glad the art director just gives me a brief synopsis and tells me what they want.

4 Illustrations

2009-03-09T00:02:00.001-04:00

I have been a busy beaver in the new year so here are some illustrations that i have done.

a spot illustration for Motortrend. It is about Piezo crystal technology how it is being used in cars. if pressure is applied to piezo crystals they generate electricity.
a double page spread for American Medical News

a spot in a monthly column about the rules of golf for Golf Magazine. Here the reader asks if it is OK to hold an umbrella and putt with one hand, and the answer was yes.

A cover I did a while ago for Network World Magazine. It's about how we Americans are pack rats and storing away so much data and how to deal with it.

Movie Inspiration - Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic"

2009-02-23T06:43:00.003-05:00

Another installation of the Movies that Inspire me visually. Wes Anderson again directs a beautiful film with awesome color schemes, and shot composition. Bill Murray is on point, Owen Wilson is'nt annoying and Willem Dafoe is funny. Some people don't appreciate Anderson's/Murray's dry, sarcastic, subtle brand of humor but at least you can appreciate the visuals in this movie. West Anderson's aesthetic choices are on point, his compositions, his color choices, his focal range, cinemetography, wardrobe, etc... are all super swell.

I really like the type they used for this movie

the matching red caps throughout the movie make nice warms spots.

they used some technique like claymation to animate the sea creatures.

the matching pajamas and outfits throughout the movie are a hoot but also and artistic decision by Anderson that is great visually

check out the colors in the interior schenes. He has his interiors painted they way he wants them. I use analogous color schemes and so does Anderson so I am drawn to his interiors.

The cut away scene of this boat and other scenes is very fun and visually fresh

composition! I wish all the illustration assignments I got were widescreen

cutaway shot

When I was trying to do Children's books one thing people would say sometimes is make sure you have a variety of close ups, medium range, and pulled away compositions in your book. Anderson does a bang up job at this

how awesome would it be to be the artist that painted the portraits in this movie?

even gave him a red turban, which of course once you see it you realize that you wouldn't want it any other way

the matching baby blue uniforms and red caps are a signature from this movie and really sum it up visually. I can't wait to see what Wes Anderson is working on next, I think it is the Fantastic Mr. Fox, a Raold Dahl book

Dailies contact lens game for Saatchi and Saatchi NY

2009-02-16T04:27:00.002-05:00

for the Dailies contact lens website. Done for Saatchi and Saatchi agency in New York. the client was CIBA Vision. it was for a web game where the player studies the original illustration for 15 seconds then has to spot the 5 changes in the edited illustration. you can play the game here.
www.dailies.com

Mojo magazine Illustration

2009-02-16T03:51:00.003-05:00

This was for Mojo, a British music magazine. It was a full page for a review of Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream. they liked it and said it was working class bruce and wanted him as a dusty old hero that he has always been. there is a song on there called carnival which is why they wanted that background. Cool to do british stuff but sad i'll never see it.

Chinese New Year Art "Nian Hua'r"

2009-02-10T14:12:00.001-05:00

Art specifically to buy during chinese new year. at the Ditan Park Temple fair my friend Zizzo really wanted to buy what was in these bags, i had no idea what it was he just said if we all buy 4 total they will give it to us cheaper so i said ok. each bag ended up being 25 rmb. I didn't get to see what was inside until the week later and boy was I pleasantly surprised!

It turns out that it is "Nian Hua'r", Chinese/Lunar New Year Art. This whole package is pretty cool starting with the screen printed bag and next this "doorway" container.

these go on the sides of your door

these 4 guys with the red backgrounds are the 4 big gods of Chinese Buddhism, they don't have them in tibetian or other buddism. All this info is coming from Angel who is a wealth of information when it comes to this kind of stuff

This is the Ghost catcher god. Angel says there are usually captured ghosts under his feet

at the top of this thing is the old school 24 period calendar instead of 12 months.

don't know who these guys are but this guy is holding "longevity peaches" which are probably good to eat in the new year or something. Also my friend Jia jia calls me a longevity peach when i drink because i get rosy red and i have a huge head

here it is in action on my roomates door.

Illustration Magazine i got in Korea

China National Gallery Part 1

2009-02-05T06:52:00.001-05:00

I went to to go buy art supplies. All the stores in Beijing are pretty much across the street from the China National Gallery. I was meeting Angel and was late so she went to the museum. I had a deadline but I still had never gone and it's a shame so i said whatever I'm gonna go. And boy was I pleasantly surprised. Not only are there tons of awesome chinese painters from the "western school of painting" there of course were awesome chinese paintings as well. theres a lot so here is is in 2 parts.

directly across the street from here is where all the art stores in Beijing are. Also this is where My Aunt pointed out this tall skinny beautiful bohemian artist looking woman and bob took a picture of her and his flash went off and she turned around and stormed over to him and demanded he delete it in perfect english. hahahaah

my camera is so suck. it can't capture the correct colors and has wicked barreling so 4 ft paintings are warped, look at the frames.

all of these were from what seemed like the western style floor. now what famous american illustrator does this look like?

amazing blues ruined by my camera

in the middle is mao. on the right is deng xiao ping Angel thinks. i guess the close up i took will be in the second part, oops. Anyway Angel says she hates mao but that he is still a "great man". i said what! and she said yea he is one of the men who really changed history. we both agreed changed for the worse but she also said he was a great poet and a few other things as well making me think that she and other young people still think it was somewhat good/important/not a total jerk.

crazy water color

crazy fold details in this traditional painting.

doesn't this look like one of these female illustrators style, like Jessie Wilcox Smith i'm thinking maybe?

Angel didn't notice the wall of topless and unrealistically endowed women dancing in the background but that is the first thing i noticed! this is in Xinjian province, the Muslim minority province in western china.

this was a smaller painting, and this frame accented it so well! and then my camera destroyed that nice little harmony.

i need to start getting the paint out again. look at those horses legs!

China National Gallery Part 2

2009-02-05T06:51:00.000-05:00

Part 2 of the national gallery work. truely inspiring stuff. most of these are from the traditional chinese section.

here is the close up of mao. doesnt really look like him. oh yea angel said he was a great poet, writer, and modern calligraphy artist. but can we get back on track? i'm mad at this guy. he took away my Chinese New Year. Since the cultural revolution spread from beijing tons of the new year traditions are forgotten but survive in the south. so i didnt get any lion dances or dragon dances or wish trees. Mao. punch in the balls. Oh yea this is your chinese art lesson, this is one of 2 big styles. it's called "xie yi hua" xie yi painting. it is usually graphic with drawn lines unlike the other kind with black ink and brushes is called gong bi painting.

this scroll is awesome. they attach the painting afterwords.

this might have been my favorite in the whole place. not because i'm a weirdo 50 yr old housewife that has japonism fever but because i really appreciate "gong bi hua". this was huge and the details on the peacock were amazing. I guess i really love these kind of paintings because they are super expressive beacuse it uses quick spontaneous brush strokes that are obviously super skillful to express form, instead of using lines. you get the essence of the form, and they say that the human brain likes not having everything fleshed out, but likes when it has to fill in a little of the details by itself. So envious. if you see my work it is the opposite of this.

look at the details from the branches in the foreground!

wat a beaute!

i've said a couple times on this blog that there is almost no graffiti in Beijing. I actually saw this guy doing it outside the art store with a red marker! I wonder what happens if they catch you. I wonder if money will get you out of it. probably

Visually inspiring stuff from Korea

2009-01-31T03:21:00.002-05:00

I went to Korea recently, here are some interesting visual bits. (back history, i studied there in 2001-2002 for a year so i have some friends there I was visiting)

this pink one is awesome

the food there is a thing of beauty. always laid out with lots of side dishes

met two illustrators there, Woo Jung Ahn and Sukgoo they are the friends of my old roomate Seung Eun who went to SVA and graduated the same time I did from FIT.

shots of Woojung's studio and house. Seung Eun has a little space there too

i bought this mask

this is a frech guy. this cat is also above rosa's pizza on the corner of 27th st and 7th ave across the street from FIT.

me working while there. had to do two jobs

this could never happen in New york in the subway.

illustration is used a lot in korea. it looks like 40-50 perecent of the book covers are illustrated. my friends said that they don't get paid that much though.

David Lynch book tranlated into korean.

on the last night my old friends from Yonsei drew me at a bar.

Movie Inspiration - Tekkon Kinkreet

2009-01-20T22:51:00.002-05:00

time to feature for another movie that is a visual inspiration for me: Tekkon Kinkreet (鉄コン筋クリート Tekkon Kinkurīto, a pun on "Tekkin Concrete", the Japanese term for reinforced concrete). It is based on the Japanese manga called "Black and White" by Taiyō Matsumoto. I originally read the Manga in school and thought this would be awesome as a Movie, and the next week i learned that it was being made into a movie. It is Japanese but unique because it is the first time an American has directed a Japanese animated movie. I met the director, Michael Arias at the north American premiere at the Moma in 2006 i think it was. It is animated by my favorite animation studio: Studio 4°C. These are the guys responsible for my fav animated movie "Mind Game". Arias and studio 4C created many of the sections for that Animatrix movie so the guy does have prior experience. Anyway the background paintings are insane. Blending of old and new technologies is very good. I love how studio 4C animates. The story is good. they were pretty faithful to the manga, even the compositions and shots. Anyway this is on DVD and Blueray everywhere so check it out. Here are some screenshots i took to inspire you!

the two kids can basically jump super high and are like super monkeys that will bash your head in.

look how cool they make ordinary scenes look.

great compositions and establishing shots. The background painters are amazing.

a wide painting from the opening pan sequence.

the cuts

some kind of production art

Tiger Beer Tiger Translate huge illustration!

2009-01-18T03:51:00.003-05:00

This was for Tiger Beer. They invited me to be a part of their "Tiger Translate" artist series that they have every so often. It is the biggest physical size i've ever done. it's 3 feet by 2 feet. Printed out this is a beaut. This year's tiger translate theme Change/Society. This piece is about losing culture. Here is my little statement: "Since I’ve been living in China I have been attracted to tiger hats and tiger toys for children because these representations of tigers are very different than western interpretations. In Chinese culture the tiger hat is meant to protect children from evil spirits and other bad things. I thought the tiger hat would be perfect for this concept because it is supposed to protect the boy yet it needs the boy to protect it from becoming another forgotten tradition. This made me think about how culture is always changing resulting in old traditions being lost. As an artist I am saddened by the loss of visual culture, such as these tiger hats. The orange tigers represent some of the ways culture is lost. A lot of my friends' immigrant parents withheld their culture from their children to westernize the children thinking it would give them a better life. Some people reject their culture or it could be forcibly taken and outlawed. It could be bastardized, commercialized or watered down. These are represented by different tigers in this illustration. Behind it all this piece has a positive message. The hat is a cultural icon that you can physically see but it also represents the boy's culture as a whole, a symbol of what he needs to protect. It's tied firmly to his head, giving us hope that he will be one of the few that preserves his cultural heritage."

I'm working on 3 more of these to make a nice series. they take a long time so we'll see how far i get into this. I brainstormed on this piece for weeks so i had some other really good concepts that I wanted to do as well.

Some sketchebook stuff

2009-01-18T03:30:00.002-05:00

Lily

Lily

Lily

present for my Chinese teacher, Christine

I found these and thought they were funny. they are from when i worked at FIT. They were supposed to be concepts for a sign about an elevator that doesn't stop on the 4th floor. its that japanese tanooki character all sad and dejected. I wish i had more time to do something with this guy.

2 new illossssss

2008-12-08T11:44:00.002-05:00

this is the cover for the business section of American Medical News. It's about doctors that are keen on adopting new technology and like spreading the word and good vibes to others.

This is for the new UGK calendar for the month of february. UGK is a cool T-shirt/coolstuff brand in Beijing, China. this year's theme was "The Green Effect" about being green and environmentally friendly and stuff. my take was giving back to nature hence a tree unwrapping a present. and i guess i'm seeing i like to do juxtaposed stuff so he is inside the house wearing a turtle neck and matching socks. anyway these will be available around Beijing in super limited editions (100).

City Pages

2008-11-14T04:48:00.003-05:00

this was for the minnisota city pages A-list weekly calendar. this one is about a green gifts fair for the holidays where the merchandise is all earth friendly and cuts down on carbon footprints and all that jazz. I thought of giving and green and gifts and thought of that old shel silverstein story "the giving tree" and used that as inspiration. you can see here that his is full of life and engergetic linework and mine is stale and too polished. Next to his mine looked like hot garbage. I am sorry Shel.

Jason Raish Illustration Blog

Year of the Dragon 2012

Society of Illustrators - Stevan Dohanos Award - Part 2

Spider Magazine - Gorilla Blues

Society of Illustrators - Stevan Dohanos Award - Part 1

Ding Dong Kim Jung Il is dead

Client Sketches and Cafe Sketches

Illustration Now! 4, I'm in there!

The benefits of being an Illustrator

Harvest Time Illos

End of Summer Illos

A spot of spots - Jason Raish

Japanese New Years Card - 8 months late

Scholasstic Read 180

Hello Canon 5D Mark II

2,000 Animals and the dangerous and thrilling life of an illustrator

I am one of Lürzers Archive's 200 best illustrators worldwide

Modern Fairy Tales for The Times London

Where in the world is Jason?

Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Radiation Fun

Godzilla and Jeopardy - Jason Raish

Artist Inspiration - 原田泰治 はらだ たいじ Taiji Harada

Leading off 2011

New Year's mix

NY Winter 2011 - NY Bye Bye

NY Winter 2011 - Work and Play

Presbyterians Today Lenten Devotional Booklet

Movie Inspiration - Tarsem Singh's "The Fall"

Phobias Book Singapore

Kobe Bryant for Nike and Motortrend Classic

Design Festa 2010 Fall

A Batch of Fall Illustrations

Goodbye Summer

Changes for Foreign Editions

Summertime Illo Fun

Spring Cleaning

Illustrator or Salaryman? Is there even a Choice?

Design Festa 2010 Spring - Day 2

Design Festa 2010 Spring - Day 1

New Shizzle

Movie Inspiration - Mika Ninagawa's "Sakuran"

Movie Inspiration - Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr Fox"

American Illustration 29 two illustrations Selected!

Golf Magazine Illos

Communication Arts 51 Winner!

Comps for BM Savings

Even More new 2010 work

More New Work in 2010

So new illos in the new year

Some Work from the end of 2008

Sketches of Japanese People

2 big Yahoo! Singapore illustrations

More Karasu Art

Movie Inspiration - Masaaki Yuasa's "Mind Game"

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

LImited Edition stuff with my stuff on it

Movie Inspiration - Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo"

Karasu Kimono

Bernie Fuchs

Another work pile

Magical Camp in Sapporo, Japan

Tons of New Work

New Work Dump

Movie Inspiration - Johnnie To's "Sparrow"

Lots of July work

2 new illos in from June I think

Movie Inspiration - Genius Party Beyond

Michael Jackson Portrait

The Sprit of Michael Jackson is free

Chinese ink and brush quick drawings

Prep for 798 Show

New illozzzzz

China National Gallery in Beijing again

Movie Inspiration - Wong Kar Wai's "2046"

New Work in March

4 Illustrations

Movie Inspiration - Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic"

Dailies contact lens game for Saatchi and Saatchi NY

Mojo magazine Illustration

Chinese New Year Art "Nian Hua'r"

Artist Inspiration - 原田泰治はらだたいじ Taiji Harada