Prostate Cancer - Men's Health Magazine

Every once in a while, I get a subject to illustrate that stumps me. I was a little nervous when the art director asked me to illustrate a story about prostate cancer? I drew a few sketches with people but they were not working visually. In the end I chose to use animals to tell the story. Here are three sketches that I sent and the final oil painting that was published last month.

Promise of Gene Therapy - Technology Review

It is very inspiring to illustrate for scientific articles. This one was about how gene therapy holds the promise of a cure for diseases. The article focused on Lesch-Nyhan disease. The victims are born with this disease and suffer from mental impairment. They must have their hands and arms splinted , because otherwise they bite their hands and arms. They also uncontrollably inflict harm on themselves by severely scratching and tearing at their face and body. The AD was a little hesitant about the scratches but left it up to me to decide.


However, I got a call from the assistant AD and he said that the editors did not like the scratches on the face. So, they photoshopped out the scratches. I was a little disheartened at first, but I think the piece still stands strong in the magazine.

Thanksgiving - San Francisco Chronicle

Earlier this month, I got a call from the San Francisco Chronicle to illustrate the cover of their book review section. The book, "A Great and Godly Adventure, The Pilgrims and the Myth of the First Thanksgiving", was about the historical account of the first Thanksgiving. Most of what we believe was "the invention of tradition". The biggest surprise, for me, was that there weren't any turkeys in the region. Most likely the settlers were dining on venison, raccoon and beaver. Yummy!


On Sunday morning, the art director chose my favorite sketch, the one with the Indians on horse back and the child's "turkery hand drawing". On Sunday night I was informed that the Indians did not have horses at that time. This was another big surprise. Here is the final oil painting and design.