Rural Internet

I just finished another illustration for Plenty Magazine. This illo accompanies an article about how most people in rural areas of the US don't have internet access or if they do it's dial up. And with all that the internet has to offer these days many of these people are left in the dark. But soon many rural areas will get the opportunity to cable internet due the open spaces left by when all TV switches to HD.

NYC RISK!

So I play a lot of RISK, the game of world domination, and I got tired of playing on the same map over and over again. With my spare time I redesigned the game based on the boroughs of New York City and east Jersey. (For those unfamiliar with the game the original board and cards are below as well). Also a different variable I added to the game is the bridge blowing card, which one could blow up bridges or tunnels to adjoining territories.

With naming and shaping the territories on the map I apologize in advance to all neighborhoods grossly misrepresented in shape or size or not included at all. But this is a game board not meant to be used as a accurate map of the NYC area, and it would be impossible to include all neighborhoods.

As for the cards, I used the movie, The Warriors, as inspiration. In order from left to right they represent (as from the original game) infantry, cavalry, and artillery. And below is the bridge blowing card and the wild card. Before I carried away and poorly describe all aspects of the game, go to the RISK wiki page for a full explanation the game and its rules.



Detail:


Dorkly yours,

Barry

Art for sale At Rumors Boutique

Apparently I make hipster art. No, just kidding. For I don't use stencils, like graffiti or draw deer and owls, but my work will be for sale on the walls of Rumors Boutique ("injecting the south with style") at 404 N Harrison St., Richmond, VA. If your unfamiliar with Rumors, it's an independent clothing/music/etc. store that also functions as a Venue for live music. It's a pretty interesting place to say in the least. Anywho, my work will be for sale until early Dec. so come by and check it out. Thanks Casey!

Barry

Jan Van Eyck's Cat's

This past weekend I was a groomsman in the wedding of my very good friends, Neal Iwan and Kristen Lowery. It was a ton of fun, I went golfing for the first time, and drank too much Maker's Mark at the reception. But the greatest part of all was making the bride cry for 30 minutes. No, I didn't ream her out for trying to steal my friend from me, and no I did not object to their union by feigning a seizure in the middle of the aisle. What I did do was give them a really good wedding present.

Neal and Kristen have two cats, Charlie and Kitten, who they both adore, so I decided to redo Jan Van Eyck's famous "The Arnolfini Marriage" with their cat's heads switched with the people's in the painting and Neal's with the dog's. Unbeknown to me that painting happened to be Kristen's all time favorite, so when she opened it, my altered version moved her quite a bit.

Apparently, Kitten didn't like it as much they did. Neal reported when they got home, he sat the framed illo on their kitchen counter, and Kitten jumped on it thus knocking it onto the floor, breaking the frame. Oh well... So here's the piece:

Team 8 shirts

I forgot to post that I printed some T-shirts with Team 8 Press a few weeks ago. Each shirt is printed on navy American Apparel T's and there's a variety of men's and women's sizes available. Also the shirts are treated as a limited edition print and comes with a signed and numbered tag (out of 100). So go to Team 8's website if your interested in getting one.

New Stuff

Here are some new illos that I've completed. The first one was for an article in Plenty Magazine about the politics of salmon. It dealt with how politicians block legislation to help save salmon populations and put in measures that might destroy their habitats. I had a great time with the content (of course) this illo, but drawing the the environment around the figures and handling of the color was a lot of fun to play with too.

The second drawing is just another portrait that was intended was promo mailing. It's of Vladamir Putin.

1933 Cotton Strike

I just finished this piece for the cover of Inland Empire Weekly. It was a lot of fun to work on since the article was about Steinbeck and the history of the 1933 Cotton Strike in California. The issue should be available by 9/24/08.

Well, I probably should have posted this before the show opening, but last Friday, Sept. 5th I had a gallery show at Ghost Print Gallery In Richmond, Va. It's a joint show with three other young, talented illustrators from the Richmond area. It'll be up until Sept. 27, so if you're in town you should take a peek. Here's Ghost Print's info:

220 W Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
www.ghostprintgallery.com
804.344.1557
open Wed.-Sat. 1-7pm or by appointment

And examples of the other guys' work :

Neal Iwan:

Danny Robbins:


and Chris White:

Dictators! II

I just finished the second collection of dictator drawings for the Dictator's project. From top left, the portraits are as follows: Benito Mussolini, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, Haile Selassie, Manuel Noriega, King Fahd, Hideki Tojo, Francisco Franco, Ian Smith, Suharto, Ho Chi Minh, Francois Duvalier, and Pol Pot.



And this is a limited edition screen print of Robert Mugabe done in collaboration with Team 8 Press. (If interested the print can be purchased from the Team 8 Press website).

C-Ville Weekly

These following illos were for C-ville Weekly. They depict several scenes from a story about the rise and fall of a typical pot dealer.

The urine test:

Weed fight in class:

Here's a series of portraits that I just completed for Seattle Magazine's upcoming theater & arts section. All the people featured are involved in supporting and building the Seattle arts community. Their names are Carlo Scandiuzzi, Stuart Smithers, Steve Peters, Lyall Bush, and Paige Weinheimer.










Here are the black and white versions:

Here are two recent jobs I did. The first one was for an article in Plenty Magazine about how our upcoming president will be the "climate change president" whether he likes it or not. The Second is portrait of Steven Seagal I did for the Stranger.

Illo Promo

Here are a few portrait promos I've been working on the last few days. A lot of these (and illustrations of the like) will be attached to the outside of promo packages mailed to art directors.



Javier Bardem


Steve McQueen



Phil Spector



Amy Winehouse

"Freaky Illustration"

The new issue of XFUNS came out this month which contains an eight page feature on me under the theme of "Freaky Illustration." If you haven't heard of XFUNS, it's a really cool bimonthly design/illustration magazine based in Taiwan. Check out their website, but you may to use an online translator, since it's written in Chinese and their English version page doesn't seem to be working. I'm not sure if it's available for sale in US bookstores, but copies can be bought from their website. This issue also features the work of Nicholas Di Genova (who did the cover), Ric Stultz, Dekore, and Kato5 among others. Here's a link to the interview (note: There are a few errors/oddly worded phrases in it due to it being translated), and here's what cover and the spreads look like:

So a few things have happened in the past month or so. First off, I won gold in the Richmond Illustrators Club Second Annual Juried show (Juried by Anita Kunz, Greg Swaringen, and Josh George). Second show, second time I won gold. I have a legacy to protect now. If you're unaware of the Richmond Illustrators Club, check em' out. They're up to some interesting things.




Also, I just finished going the cover for "The Deal Magazine." The idea behind the illo is that Japanese Pharmaceutical companies are taking over the US market, so what better way of showing that than using Godzilla.




Here's what they did with it:



About a week and half ago I did an illo for the cover of Inland Empire Weekly. They wanted an image depicting McCain's changing attitudes towards Bush.



And the final version:

Hey everyone, so this is my new blog! Please bear with as I figure this thing out and slowly begin to post new things.