Edel Rodriguez at Drawger.com!

Violence series / LA Times

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:52:59 EST

I was commissioned by The Los Angeles Times to create a series of images about violence in the entertainment industry and its link to the current gun control debate, to appear in the paper this weekend. The stories ranged from the good aspects of violence on screen and theater, the psychological release of fantasy, to the negative aspects of gore, video games, and pop music lyrics. It made for a strong topic to work with at length since it brings up so many issues. Above is one of the main images and below are sketches and the rest of the entire series.

L.A. Show / Taschen portrait

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:04:36 EST

Here are a couple of recent paintings. The top one is for a group show opening this Saturday, Feb. 16, 7-10pm. Gallery Nucleus, 210 East Main St., Alhambra. Please contact the gallery with inquiries: gallery@gallerynucleus.com. Some details of the painting below.

This painting is a self portrait I was asked to contribute by TASCHEN for an upcoming book they're publishing titled 100 ILLUSTRATORS. The portrait will accompany a selection of work by each artist in the book, which is edited by Steven Heller. A two volumes hardcover in slipcase package, publishing date: Summer 2013. Painting details below.

Inaugural Op-Ed

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:33:38 EST

I was asked to create an image for The New York Times Op-Ed page to coincide with today's inaugural. This is my contribution, appearing in today's paper. The story focuses on second inaugurals and how Obama's legacy will be cemented by the direction he takes the country in during the next four years. The traffic signs came to mind as I thought about this theme. It was great to see in the paper that, to go with the theme in the art, the editors went with the headline, "Are We There Yet?". Very happy to have the work published on this day. The article is online here

The art was published in color online at The New York Times website. I'd also like to add here the inaugural poem by Richard Blanco. Being of similar immigrant Cuban background, my family was very proud that he was chosen to be this year's Inaugural poet.

One Today One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies. One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story told by our silent gestures moving behind windows. My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors, each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day: pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights, fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper- bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us, on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives- to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did for twenty years, so I could write this poem. All of us as vital as the one light we move through, the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day: equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined, the "I have a dream" we keep dreaming, or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't explain the empty desks of twenty children marked absent today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light breathing color into stained glass windows, life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth onto the steps of our museums and park benches as mothers watch children slide into the day. One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane so my brother and I could have books and shoes. The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains mingled by one wind-our breath. Breathe. Hear it through the day's gorgeous din of honking cabs, buses launching down avenues, the symphony of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways, the unexpected song bird on your clothes line. Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling, or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom, buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días in the language my mother taught me-in every language spoken into one wind carrying our lives without prejudice, as these words break from my lips. One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands: weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report for the boss on time, stitching another wound or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait, or the last floor on the Freedom Tower jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience. One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes tired from work: some days guessing at the weather of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother who knew how to give, or forgiving a father who couldn't give what you wanted. We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always-home, always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop and every window, of one country-all of us- facing the stars hope-a new constellation waiting for us to map it, waiting for us to name it-together

Newsweek Cover - Issues 2013

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:51:44 EST

Last month I got a call from Leah Purcell, art director at Newsweek, to create the international edition's last print cover. The topic was their annual issue looking at the year ahead and would be at the newsstands for an extended time since Newsweek was moving to digital from then on.   Their annual issue always uses a metallic color for the logo, silver or gold, so I was asked to keep that in mind.

These are some random thoughts I jotted down while trying to figure out a direction.   While sketching I wondered if the image could use some of the gold ink from the logo and asked Leah if the spot color could be used as part of the image. Usually when a page is being run through a press you can use that color throughout the page so she said yes. Leah was a colleague at TIME magazine while I worked there so we have an easy shorthand about design solutions, inks, etc. We spent many nights over the years working out problems late into the night.

With that in mind, I tried a variety of solutions taking advantage of the gold ink and sent the ideas to Leah.   She liked a couple of directions and we agreed that the eye sketch seemed to stand out.

As I looked at the arrows pointing in different directions, the idea popped into my head that the arrows themselves could point to the "issues" covered inside the magazine.   I worked up these rough ideas for type placement, sent them off, and got the o.k. to go ahead with this concept.   Something like this is hard to work out because it involves a lot of back and forth between myself, the AD, and the editors. Arrow and type placement, how they go in and out of the typography, etc., took a while to tighten up.

This week, the issues arrived in the mail in full metallic gold glory, there's just something to print.   It was great to work with an old friend on this cover and to see the care taken to get the final Newsweek International print issue done right.

Newspaper Covers

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:12:37 EST

Here's a selection of recent main and section covers for a number of newspapers. First is this week's Village Voice cover on the controversy in the comics world surrounding the killing off of Spiderman.

Sketches for Voice cover, the end of Spider Man and his connection to Manhattan were both considered as directions in the sketch stage.

Every detail of the cover layout was thoroughly thought through so that the cover would look great in the Voice's red boxes around the city....

This is a cover for the NY Times Sunday Review from around the time of the election. The topic was how the enthusiasm over Obama's election has silenced voices of protest in the African American community. For many years, the movement for social change started in these communities but the hesitancy to criticize Obama has had an effect on policies.

Sketches for Sunday Review opener

Cover for The Washington Post Science section on women's health.

Cover for The Washington Post, special report on ways to manage the pending world food crisis.

Cover for Ideas section of The Boston Globe, on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

for Entertainment Weekly

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 04:46:24 EST

This is an image for Entertainment Weekly's year end Best and Worst issue. It ran as a full page opener for the books section, touting "Bring Up the Bodies", as the best book of the year. Here's some info about the book: Bring Up the Bodies is a historical novel by Hilary Mantel and sequel to her award-winning Wolf Hall. It is the second part of a planned trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. Bring Up the Bodies won the 2012 Man Booker Prize, following Wolf Hall's win of the Booker in 2009. Bring Up the Bodies begins where the previous novel finished. The King and Master Secretary Thomas Cromwell are the guests of the Seymour family at Wolf Hall. The King shares private moments with Jane Seymour, and begins to fall in love with her. His present queen, Anne Boleyn, has failed to give him a male heir and, as rumours of her infidelity spread, the King seeks a way to be rid of her, and marry the new object of his affections. Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell owe their current high status to each other. They become pitted against each other, as Cromwell seeks to find a legitimate excuse to expel her from the King's court. Cromwell, master politician, uses Anne's fall from grace as a chance to settle scores with old enemies. The book ends with the death of Anne.

I tried a variety of solutions in the roughs. Interlocking the three main characters in some, and working on other simpler and direct ideas in others. I usually just jot down the basic shapes in the sketches and figure out the details later. The final design of the crown took some time to work out. Thanks to Steven Charny and Kory Kennedy at EW for the great assignment.