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 some time ago for Penthouse magazine’s erotic fiction article. This is the fullpage illustration, and it was accompanied by a spot. You can see both illustrations on my website: fullpage and spot.

Did this recently for Lucid Media. It’s the cover for the issue featuring Canadian director Atom Egoyan. The illustration is  portrait of him, with characters from his various movies woven into his hair. the watermark background is based off Armenian patterns in recognition of his heritage.

Here’s the work as it appeared (the inner black and white spot was another cover concept that we decided to use for the article instead):

Here were the roughs I did. I normally don’t do color roughs, but decided to for this one:

These were done for Best Health magazine for their New Year Resolutions article. From the top: taking up a dance class, getting a bra fitting (yes there is such a thing), and putting on sunscreen.

This is probably my favorite piece of work this year. A fullpage and spot for Penthouse, for their erotic fiction section. The piece was about a lady who enjoys diddling herself on planes. She gets found out by her hunky seat-neighbor, who proceeds to literally give her a helping hand. Perhaps not the most intelligent of stories, but certainly one of the more entertaining things for an illustrator to work on!

These were done earlier in the year for Acco Brands. A bunch of illustrators were asked to create designs for laptop skins, and these were the two I made. I’m not sure if they are available for sale yet, but if they are I’ll make an announcement!

The final days of free money

This was a fun little piece that was rushed out over a weekend. The article for Seattle Metropolitan was titled ‘The final days of free money‘ and it was about some financial incentives that were about to run out.  I just went with the concept the art director had as the time was very tight; we decided on Cinderella theme for the piece.

Little spot I did a while back for Seattle Metropolitan. They had a reporter covering a local election completely by Twitter, so the art director asked for a Twitter-esque bird to be pecking on a Blackberry.

Did this a couple of months ago for Hyphen magazine. It was a fun piece to work on, about hipster scam artists – basically people who seem really cool and ‘alternative’ who really are just scammers who ‘borrow’ money from their likewise trendy (or wannabe-trendy) friends to pay off their debts or else fund their lifestyle.

Been very busy with work over the last couple of months (at least I think it’s been a couple of months, I’ve sorta lost track of time). Am STILL really busy, which is a good thing all things considered. Am currently working on something for Oxford University Press, as well as several other things.

Anyways, here’s the new stuff that’s been added to the site:

Eating Well – Nourish

For Eating Well magazine, in the new ink brush style. Very happy with it. It’s about the joy of growing and eating your own food. I love food. Even though I don’t eat all that much.

Kayak – Summer in Canada spread

For Kayak’s summer issue featuring Monty Moose.

Know Magazine – Baked Alaska

For Know science magazine for kids. About the discovery of Baked Alaska. More food, strangely.