Super thanks again to Jason at CRP for letting me do this one! Frogger is one of the most iconic video games out there, and to do the cover art for it is just pretty sweet awesome. Yes I said sweet awesome. It just is.

This is the cover for the North American version; Japan and Europe have different covers. This cover is aimed more at kids, and we tried to convey different things in the game, like the classic trucks and cars, as well as the new additions. Apparently this poor frog also has to hop over tanks, evade mean snakes and rats and dodge Apache helicopters. I don’t know why, perhaps he escaped from Raccoon City or something.

My original art featured a night scene as I thought the lights would show up better. But I guess since the other covers featured day scenes we hanged it to a day scene as well. Below is the original color scheme and art. Frog had a longer tongue as well.

Another Journal piece for the ‘Ask Teri’ column. ‘Ask Teri’ is a question-and-answer column where readers ask the fashion editor, Teri Jones, for her advice on different things.

For this piece, the reader was a 40-something year old lady who said she was a size 12 and fit, and wanted advice on what swimsuit to wear. The editor suggested a few things, including a one-piece with cutouts.

Now, size can be a tricky issue. Being a size 12 does not have to mean a person is fat, and these days it’s even more important to depict various weights as acceptable so long as the person appears healthy. But that being said, in a fashion column, people are usually depicted as extremely thin. So I try to maintain a balance by depicting someone who’s not fashion-model skinny, but who probably isn’t a true size 12 either.

The Journal usually has a fast turnaround – I get the brief on Monday evening and expected to produce 2 – 3 sketches by Tuesday morning. The approvals come some time on Tuesday afternoon and we shoot for a Wednesday morning delivery so that everything can be put together for delivery in the Thursday paper.

Considering the short timeframe, I sometimes do roughs and sometimes I just got straight into a sketch. I did do some roughs for this piece. Roughs are usually not shown to the client, they’re just my own ideas for layouts:

I pick 3 roughs to work on and did them up. Here are the sketches I delivered:

The final artwork was done up in Illustrator and imported in Photoshop for additional touchups and to enhance the soft edges.

Another one for the Journal. This was about getting special offers and things on your smartphone. Was a bit surprised that they asked for this concept, but I guess it showed off the phone with the mannequin better than the sketches where you could see the lady’s face.

Another piece for the Wall Street Journal. I have actually already forgotten what the article was abo0ut… my memory seems to be getting worse and worse. Oh well. The ‘fashion mags’ were done in Painter, which was quite interesting. And quick.

Another fun, and quick, job for the great guys at the Journal! Did this for last weeks ‘Ask Teri’ column. The lady on the left is wearing a tight top (you know the kind – the super tight superhero ones where it’s actually fastened at the crotch), and the lady on the right is wearing a twofer. Being fashion-challenged, I had to Google up ‘twofers’. Thankfully the art director sent me some links to check out. Thanks a bunch – that was super helpful!

WSJ Ask Teri / Charlene Chua illustration

This was done for the Wall Street Journal’s Ask Teri column for Thursday Jan 20. It was a very quick turnaround (same day). The column is about a man who lost weight and so got his suits remade to fit. He was asking if he should get his shirts remade as well since the necklines were still uncomfortable. The art director originally asked for a picture of a tailor working at making a suit, and I supplied him a sketch of that. I also supplied an alternative sketch for an idea with a pair of hands with a measuring tape across a businessman’s neck, which I thought had related more to the text. The team at the Journal liked the idea and we ran with that. I ended up making the guy look older with a bit of a heavier neck. It was a nice, quick job, and it was great working with the folks at the Journal again (who are simply amazing with their response time!).

These were the sketches I provided:

This was the original tailor idea.

This was my original alternative. I adjusted the guy to be older.

Did this as a sketch a while back. Started by drawing the girl and didn’t know what else to do so I kept drawing and added the hands and chicken. It reminded me of Baba Yaga’s chicken house so that’s why it’s titled as such. But honestly I have no idea what’s really go on…

Did this a while back. My agent requested a piece that had more guys in it, so I cooked this up. Hopefully they do, indeed, look like guys!

Thanks to Angela over at Santa Fe Reporter for working with me on this one! This is the cover for the magazine’s ‘winter guide’ issue. The space at the top is reserved for the masthead. The brief was open so I came up with some ideas involving winter. We both liked the idea of some sort of ice princss, so I married a couple of concepts together and came up with this.

Below are the other sketches I roughed:

(I ended up re-using this one for my own Xmas card.)

This was the reworked sketch:

Some new work for Penthouse. Did these recently for their December erotic fiction piece. It was a fun piece although somewhat challenging since not all that much was happening in the story (a girl meets an old flame at a condo she’s eyeing, they make out in the pad’s outdoor shower). I tried to come up with some ideas that didn’t involve showers, but couldn’t really. The magazine prefers the images to be more direct and less conceptual anyway. The suds were quite fun to figure out, and I think generally it worked out well.

Here’s the spot that accompanied it:

I kinda liked this sketch that didn’t make it (thanks for the anatomy help Vince!), might do it up when I have the time: