Greg Clarke at Drawger.com!

But Is It Art?

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:32:07 EDT

Yes, the artist references are not exactly au courant, but this was created for an "Arts & Culture" themed issue of a local publication in the 'burbs—had to stick with reasonably recognizable names...

The Amazing Raymond

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:20:38 EDT

Just before the holidays, I was asked by my friend Stuart Karten (industrial designer extraordinaire), to create a wine label for a custom-bottling through Eric Kent Wine Cellars as a gift for one of his clients. The brief was brief: "He's an amazing guy and his name is Ray—can you work with that?" He also sent me some photo reference of Ray on a fishing trip, so I included a sketch with a fish because it looked so absurd. To my surprise, the fish sketch was the winner (apparently the fish had some deeper significance to Ray—but I won't go into that here). An added bonus—this is one very good syrah (as are all of the Eric Kent offerings)!

Political Fact-Checkers

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:43:51 EDT

This piece accompanied an excellent article by David Corn in the Sept/Oct issue of Mother Jones (the one with Mr. Stephanos' fine cover). This blithe disregard for facts on the part of politicians was on full display from both candidates in the recent presidential debates... http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/factcheck-politifact-lying-politicians

SoCal Tans

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 05:07:47 EDT

This is a piece I pitched to Los Angeles Magazine a few months ago that missed the final cut for their summer issue. I'm still waiting to hear back from Melanin Monthly...

More V-Day...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:53:49 EDT

The Licentious Nutcracker

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:31:13 EDT

In keeping with the Kim Jong Il theme of degenerate characters, here's another story of an image subjected to the scrutiny of wary editors afraid of offending their readership. This one, a recent cover for the Chicago Trib's Sunday mag, squeaked through after much handwringing and a few modifications. The sketch was initially well received until someone wondered aloud if it was a bit "creepy."

A revised sketch was requested with a bigger towel, no nipple or belly button, and hand moved away from crotch. There was a brief discussion about whether we should lose the towel and put pants on him, but the AD and I agreed that nobody wears pants in a sauna.

Final art was delivered. No decision had been reached regarding the belly button or the nipple so I left them in (because nipples and navels are inherently funny), figuring they could be removed at the last minute if necessary. But new alarm bells were sounded when somebody mentioned that the forearm over his lap looked like a penis. It only had to be mentioned, and now everyone was seeing it.

The final alteration was making his hands black and adding screws to his body to underscore his "puppetness" (less human = less creepy). To their credit, the nipple and navel stayed. Thanks to AD David Syrek for shepherding this through treacherous waters, and the the SI 54 judges for accepting it into this year's editorial show.