Jody Hewgill at Drawger.com!

Rolling Stone: the hits, the misses

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:54:05 EDT

I always get an adrenaline rush receiving an assignment from Rolling Stone. The deadline is often short, the story's seldom available, but the creative team at RS are always amiable and helpful to work with. When I get it right I'm on a creative high, when I get it wrong, I kick myself mercilessly for weeks on end. But I'm learning to take that in stride, because the failures are part of what drives me to reach higher. They say you learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. An interesting thing about working with Rolling Stone, is how they match up an artist with an artist. It seems serendipitous that most often (but not always ), I already happen to be a fan of the subject's music. Sometimes I've had the added benefit of having seen the musician or band perform live and that can greatly contribute to my point of view for the art.

Steven Charny recently assigned me to create a portrait of John Mayer for the review of Mayer's upcoming album "Born and Raised". When I listened to the album the lyrics seemed to be contrite, a confession of a young man who's made some big mistakes and is on a journey of renewal and self discovery. His website revealed very little information when I started my research, but I did see photos of him strumming his guitar against the backdrop of Monument Valley. To create a mood that would be convincing for me, I tapped into my photos and memories of my own solo road trip to the Southwest when I was 30, brokenhearted and searching for renewal. Echoes of vintage Eagle's, James Taylor, and Neil Young also inspired this piece.

This is a perfect case of drawing reference from your own work, but here I go way, way back to a drawing I did of Wild Bill Cody in art school. I had an interest in cowboy culture back then. I remembered the fringes on the jacket, and retrieved this from my side drawger. This is a scan from a slide. I have no idea where the original is.

Wilco "The Whole Love". I truly appreciate the sincere efforts of creative director Joe Hutchinson and art director Matt Cooley in trying to push this tattoo concept forward but, alas, the final decision was to go with my flower concept, because it had a more classic portrait approach. The dog humping the leg was my response to Jeff Tweedy's comment "the album glows like a powerful smile". There's nothing like the joyous grimace of a dog humping a leg, I spend plenty of time in the dog park with Betty to be a witness to this display of affection. I used my photos of a dog like this ( without the Wilco markings ) named Winston. I was also playing with the idea that the "Whole Love" was a fan who was so obsessed, she tattooed the entire band's portraits on her body.

I think this post might also respond to a comment from someone months ago… do any of us ever complete rejected sketches? Often I don't have the time, or I've lost interest, but every now and then a piece haunts me until I see it realized. A huge thanks to the Steven, Joe, and Matt at Rolling Stone. It's an honour and a pleasure to work with these guys.

Joe Kimberling

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:44:06 EDT

Joe Kimberling was passionate about design and a great champion of illustration. It was always a good day when you received a call from Joe and got to hear his enthusiastic preamble expounding on why this assignment would be a perfect match for you. If I wasn't convinced, he would find ways to inspire me. Hearing Joe talk was like an aural ray of sunshine coming through the phone, but he was like that even before he moved to LA. Like many illustrators, I work in isolation but I don't work alone. I think an art director's input on the assignment, from the initial introduction to reviewing sketches, can be a vital component to the success of any given illustration. The art director is setting the stage. Joe would inspire and challenge me, enlighten me, sometimes suggesting an additional element to the piece, and other times he knew to give me the freedom to just run with it. He brought out the best in me. Almost every piece I worked on for Joe at Los Angeles magazine was with the great assistance of art director Lisa Lewis. They were a team par excéllence. Often, he would start the phone conversation and then hand it over to Lisa. Like many brilliant comedic teams she played the straight man to his ebullience. Joe was a brilliantly talented art director and designer. He was also a sweetheart of a guy with a wonderful sense of humour. I can see by the many posts I've read over the last few days, and by comments from my colleagues here, that he had a gift of knowing how to connect with people. His passing is a huge loss for our community. Joe we will miss you, you were a shinning star, full of heart and soul. This post is a salute to Joe by offering a few examples of some of the illustrations he has commissioned over the years to many many illustrators. If anyone one else who has work that they did for Joe and they would like to contribute to this post, please email me your images jody@jodyhewgill.com Lastly, I'm reposting this from Joe's Facebook page. Steve Rogers ( Joe's Partner) and the Kimberling family have asked that in lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to send something in Joe's memory, send contributions:   In Memory of Joe Kimberling to KU Endowment, School of Journalism, P.O. Box 928, Lawrence, Kansas 66044-0928.   You can also donate on-line at www.kuendowment.org by clicking "give now" and making your contribution in Joe's name.

The Tree of Life

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:35:29 EDT

On the heels of this week's Oscar nominations, I thought this would be a fitting time to post my illustration for the review of this film in Entertainment Weekly's "Best and Worst of 2011" issue. "The Tree of Life " by Terrence Malick was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and best Cinematography, and was winner of the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film festival. The Tree of Life is a visual and ethereal poem about loss, despair, God and the search for faith and reconciliation. (quote from a review: www.theendofthepage.com) I tried to narrow my focus on the central aspect of the film, the O'Brien family dynamic: the eldest child, Jack caught between the polarizing personalities of his parents and his (metaphorical) struggle with choosing between the way of nature and the way of grace. The primary important element for me was creating a composition that reflected the mood and tension of the family dynamic, and to focus on the portraits later. My composition focuses on the tension between Jack and his overbearing father, played by Brad Pitt, juxtaposed by the ethereal mother played by Jessica Chastain. The actor Hunter McCraken (Jack) gives a magically performance as the protagonist. He also emotes great facial expressions, so it was a joy to create his portrait. Portraying his vulnerability was important aspect and a central aspect to the evoke the mood of this film. It's interesting how much a hairstyle can alter the way we perceive a person. I was amazed how that haircut helped visually transformed Brad Pitt into the strict, abusive, authoritarian father. The nebula in the sky represents the cosmic beginning section of the film, where Malick wants us to be awestruck by the wonder of the world as though seen through the eyes of a child.

When I watched the film I was spellbound by the cinematography ( Emmanuel Lubezki) and the art direction. Almost the entire film is painted with a green/ turquoise palette. When I begin painting, I'll most often have a set colour palette in mind, but sometimes I can't decide on a direction, in which case I'll do a few colour studies with colour pencil. I began this one with the gold background (because of the frequent setting sun in the film). Midway through I decided this wasn't working so I repainted the entire background ( underpainting and all) in the green tones. I'm glad I made the colour change because I think the greens reflect a more 1950's feel. Art director Jennie Chang also let me know in advance the selected colours for design for the spread (the cayenne square on the right in my studies) , so I kept this in mind when working on my palette.

Another inspiration was Lubezki's use of natural light that frequently picked up the rays cast by the setting sun. My technique seems to have become unconsciously tighter over the last few years. I try to find a balance between the rougher textured areas, juxtaposed with detail done with tighter brush work. Sometimes I really loose myself in a piece and it's a struggle to pull myself back, not to overwork it and let the paint and colour breath some life into the piece.

Thanks to art director Jennie Chang and creative director Amid Capeci for the great assignment.

Mourning Cloak

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:06:38 EDT

I am honoured to have two of my paintings selected for the uncommissioned category, the gala opening January 6 (tonight) at The Society of Illustrators (along with sequential and moving image categories). The exhibit is up until Jan 21st. One of the two pieces included, "Mourning Cloak" was created this summer while working up at the cottage. The painting is based on the ephemeral nature of life.

The piece turned out differently than what I had initially intended. As opposed to illustration work , where I labour over carefully crafted compositions in the sketch phase, I started this piece with a very brief sketch and let the painting lead me.

My inspirations were from some of the flowers I had planted and the moths on the back porch.

The back door at our cottage is a moth magnet. The largest was approx 6" in wing span ( the size of a small bird ), it was dark and sort of looked like a bat, and it held dominance over those back steps. It totally freaked me out. All the photos here are courtesy of Balvis Rubess ( hey, I wasn't going to be closer than 5 feet from that huge one ) The moth in this painting is called "Mourning Cloak".

I also believe in the "reuse, revisit, revise" rule. I have noticed a thorny theme in my recent work, unfortunately, I can't offer a good explanation, and thorns aren't an issue at the cottage.

A big thanks to the Society of Illustrators, the chair Yuko Shimizu, and the 54th annual exhibition jury !

Scrooge vs Aliens

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:47:47 EDT

Scrooge vs Aliens : a Christmas Carol Mash-up written by Ben Winters (author of two mash-up novels) for the cover and inside full page of USA Weekend magazine.

I preferred the rough above, metaphorically it represents the two writing genre's face to face ( the mash-up of science fiction with the Dickens classic ), but it also depicts Scrooge as a real tough grumpy old man even when face to face with with this alien. Design director Leon Lawrence III preferred that we just show a hint of the alien on the cover. I tried to keep it very simple to allow room for type.

I thought it would be a good segway if the inside illustration depicted the scene in this story where the carollers protect Scrooge by creating a circle around him. They continue singing even as some are eaten whole by the alien. The story ends with Scrooge shooting the alien. This also would have been fun to illustrate. It's not often that I get to illustrate an alien, so thanks to Leon for this fun assignment.

Deconstructing Ground Zero

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:07:49 EDT

I was up at our cottage when Pamela Fogg , the art director for Middlebury magazine called me and asked if I would be interested in illustrating this story on 911. I hesitated. I stared out at the blue sky and calm lake, it was a stunningly beautiful day just like September 11, I just couldn't believe 10 years had passed. I was at home on September 11, 2001 waiting for new studio doors to be delivered. My husband Balvis called out to me to come to the TV; an airplane had just flown into one of the trade towers. Then in utter disbelief we watched the second plane hit. After the shock subsided a little, I came to the realization that my cousin's husband worked in the trade towers. Luckily he was able to escape the second tower before it went down, although he was stuck in the stairwell for a while because they wouldn't let people out into the square those first few minutes after the first tower was hit. Over the P.A. system they told everyone to go back to work, so his fellow colleagues did as they were told and they all perished. He refused to comply. He stayed in the stairwell and waited until the doors were finally opened so that he could leave. When I work on a piece I find it helpful to immerse myself in reference material. Looking over the special issue magazines from 2001 still evoked shock, disbelief, horror and sadness. This story for Middlebury magazine is a first person account of a welder and his experience working with firemen during the first early days after 911. The moment I am illustrating depicts a scene where the firemen uncover the remains of one of their colleagues. I can't even begin to imagine how those firemen felt recovering the bodies of so many of their colleagues. I only have the reference material to guide me, and the memory of the look of my cousin's husband's face as he told me about his experience losing all his office colleagues.

In the story, the welder has to burn and cut a beam, so they can lift it offf the pile. When they lift up the beam, they discovered part of the helmet with the number melted on to the beam, the only remain found for this one fireman.

This sketch better reflected a moment of prayer upon the discovery of their fallen collegue. Pamela and the editor thought I should somehow include the narrator, so in the final, I turned the fireman on the far upper left into the welder, and I switched the shovel for a welding hose.

Pamela's beautifully designed spread nicely echos the focal point of the illustration: A flashlight emanating from the open hole left when the beams were removed.