A Muxtape mix

12 songs, 47:16 minutes




Marcellus Hall - The First Line
  • Christopher O'Riley - Thinking About You
  • 1:55
  • Wilco - Jesus, etc.
    3:52
  • The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
    6:07
  • The Clash - Spanish Bombs
    3:21
  • The Magnetic Fields - Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
    2:27
  • Hound Dog Taylor And The Houserockers - Lets Get Funky
    5:06
  • The Beastie Boys - Shambala
    3:16
  • The White Stripes - Hello Operator
    2:39
  • The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
    4:22
  • The Decemberists - Red Right Ankle
    3:29
  • Sigur Rós - sæglópur
    7:39

Two Stars— The Dog Who Belonged to No One


A book that I am very proud of is coming into its own. Check it out.


The Dog Who Belonged to No One.
Hest, Amy (Author) , Bates, Amy (Illustrator)
Sep 2008. 32 p. Abrams, hardcover, $15.95. (9780810994836).
A “wisp of a girl named Lia” and a small alley dog are the principal players in this touching story. The
friendly dog wanders about town, but no matter how helpful he is, no one ever pays him much attention.
Lia is a lonesome girl who dreams up stories to serve as friends as she goes about her day. A fierce storm
propels the two toward a serendipitous meeting, to the delight of both, and thereafter they “belonged to
each other.” The pencil-and-watercolor artwork is homey and handsome, presented in glowing sepia tones
that suggest simpler times and quieter lives, until the storm washes the pages in deep and forbidding grays.
Throughout the book, the little pup is irresistibly, almost heartbreakingly cute—too cute to stay unloved
for long. The lesson, that you may not know you’re missing something until you find it, makes this simple
and eloquent story especially suitable for children who hold out hope for the day when that perfect dog
will cross their paths and warm their own homes.
— Ian Chipman


The Dog Who Belonged to No One receives a *STARRED* review in School Library Journal’s August edition as well!

Adventures with Steel Wool_ Creative process

Have you ever had a creative block? Can't write? Don't have a clue what to draw? Well you need to ask yourself have I really explored the other uses steel wool as?






Things you need.

1. Steel Wool.
2. A lighter.
3. A long rope.
4. A long arm.
5. A quite street corner.

Once lite the wool will only spark. But once you swing it around it will create an awesome light show. Just beware it does heat up and kinda burns if you get some on you but think of the photo you will get.


Okay, back to working for the kids.


p.s. Don't try this at home . . . go over a friends house.

NYT Essay I’m Y.A., and I’m O.K.

"Apparently, I had unintentionally slipped across an increasingly porous border, one patrolled by an unlikely guard. “The line between Y.A. and adult has become almost transparent,” said Michael Cart, a former president of the Young Adult Library Services Association and a columnist for Booklist. “These days, what makes a book Y.A. is not so much what makes it as who makes it — and the ‘who’ is the marketing department.”




http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/books/review/Rabb-t.html?ex=1374120000&en=a3ac5bf50062c649&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook

Summer Intern "Lunch & Learn"

Oh the poor interns had to listen to me yap on for 45 mins. I am so sorry kids.

Some of the topics I covered.
My position at HNA
Educational background
How your work experience led you to this position
What is you do – big picture and day to day routine
Difficulties/challenges involved in what you do
How what you do supports other departments at HNA




Brooklyn Waterfall



A drawing a day

In the past week I have gotten back on the horse with my drawings. I am still working out the direction of my work, but I have a feeling that is a good thing. It will help in my exploration, right? I plan on posting a new drawing at least once a day. I hope to keep this pace up for a while. I feel I need to, just to stay on course. It's so easy to get distracted. To stay focused I have been coming into the office/studio and working (since I get up stupid early because of a very needy kitty). Check out what I have been up to. http://cwdrawings.blogspot.com/

p.s. They are for sale and I do take commissions. Just sayin . . .

The Big Splash— Interiors


Most book interiors either Adult or Young Adult are not always designed by the same designer as the jacket. This is mainly a function of managing the huge work load of a list. (I think) Luckily I have been fortunate enough never to fall into just doing one or the other. I think I would get bored. As a designer I want to control the whole project, ( this is not a comment on my personality, I swear) to make sure it has one voice. As a consumer when a book is designed by one person there is a wholeness and vision that I appreciate. I feel cheated some how when the jacket and interior don't match in design. Like someone is telling you a story and the half way through they change the main characters name from Mary to Steve. ( Just trust me that's what its' like ) I know there are bigger things to worry about in life. Like, what's for dinner? Is that the cat making that noise? How old is this milk? But I don't really have anything else to worry about at the moment. Here is an example of an interior linking up with the jacket design to create beautiful jacket and interior love. (The Big Splash, Fall 2008)








Kirkus Reviews – August 1 Issue


THE BIG SPLASH

Welcome to Franklin Middle School, where a junior gang of petty thieves and mobsters shakes kids down and humiliates them with water guns. Seventh-grader Matt Stevens, the class detective, is hired by fellow middle-schooler Vinny Biggs (something of a pint-sized Godfather) to recover a lost trinket from Nikki “Fingers,” one of the fastest shots in school. Nikki has decided to go straight because her younger sister has entered the school. This knock-off noir kicks in when Nikki, about to hand over the charm to Matt, is “taken out”—soaked in a place to make it look like she’s had an accident. This humiliation, a highly visible and common practice, immediately turns victims into social outcasts. Matt’s detective instincts tell him that Vinny may have set him up, and he sets out to learn who was really behind this act. Matt Stevens may turn out to be a bankable franchise: His first-person present-tense narration carries in it echoes of Marlowe, and the simple plot makes some crafty twists and turns as it goes along. (Fiction. 9-11)

No Wave Post-Punk Underground NYC

A book debuting this month that I am very excited about is No Wave. I love the design of the book it's just damn cool. So check it out.


No Wave is the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the New York underground of 1976 to 1980. This in depth look at punk rock, new wave, experimental music, and the avant-garde art movement of the 70s and 80s focuses on the true architects of No Wave from James Chance to Lydia Lunch to Glenn Branca, as well as the luminaries that intersected the scene, such as David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Richard Hell.

This rarely documented scene was the creative stomping ground of young artists and filmmakers from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Jim Jarmusch as well as the musical genesis for the post-punk explosions of Sonic Youth and is here revealed for a new generation of fans and collectors.

Thurston Moore and Byron Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images, most of which have never been published previously, and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews to create an oral history of the movement, providing a never-seen-before exploration and celebration of No Wave.




No Wave had a notable influence on noise and industrial bands who formed after, like Big Black, Lev Six, Helmet, and Live Skull. The Theoretical Girls heavily influenced early Sonic Youth, who then emerged from this scene by creating music that eventually reached mass audiences and critical acclaim. Also for new bands like Liars, Ex Models, Neptune, Erase Errata the influence of the No Wave scene was important. The Brian Eno-produced album No New York is perhaps the best example of this genre, featuring songs by Mars, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, DNA and The Contortions.


Edited by Tamar Brazis
Designed by Roger Bova

The Evolution of The Big Splash cover—Fall 2008


Final Jacket
Final color plus texture
First color sketch
2nd round of sketches. Turning Matt toward the viewer to add strength to his character.
Pulp type idea
Nathan Fox's first sketches Boy vs. Girl
First cover ideas with help from Tomer Hanuka

The Big Splash

The Story: Matt Stevens is as tough as a steak from the school cafeteria. He’s a seventh-grade private eye, and he just did something he thought he’d never do: He accepted a job from Vincent “Vinny Biggs” Biggio, the kid behind every deal made at Franklin Middle School, from black market candy to forged hall passes. Matt had better watch his back as he tackles a case with more twists than a candy addict on a swivel chair.

Hallways
full of crime!
A school
full of suspects!
Will he crack
the case . . .
Or be the next
target?


Written by Jack D. Ferraiolo
Edited by Susan Van Metre
Jacket Illustration by Nathan Fox
Designed By Chad W. Beckerman

RISD reviews

My day started with my cat waking me before my alarm went off at 5 am. Apparently he was hungry and didn't want to wait to be feed. Jerk.

I caught a the 6:20 am Acela train to Providence arriving at 9:30am. I hadn't been to Providence in about 2 years. It was strangely cleansing.

11 am Stopped at the Nature lab to visit some old friends. ( That place smells like death)

From 1-5pm I reviewed Portfolios of RISD Junior and Senior Illustrations. The focus for this program is to help students be better prepared for life after RISD, but also allows reviewers (me) a first-hand look at emerging talent.

I asked the same question of all of them. First, " What do you want to do?" Second " What in your portfolio was the most fun to do?" I think we all know what we want to do but sometime its hard to see beyond ourselves to see it. These questions were asked in hopes of starting a dialogue about the direction each student was going or hoped to go.

5:30 pm I walked to Thayer street for some Eastside Pockets goodness. An later wandered around to all the places I used to live in Providence. Oddly enough everything had the same smells.

6:45 pm I was on the road back to New York arriving at 10:34 pm


Here is a link to this year's reviewers: http://intranet.risd.edu/pdfs/RealityCheckBrochure2008.pdf