Football stickers for ESPN
John Korpics at ESPN and I go back to Washington DC days working for Regardie’s Magazine in the late 80’s. Since then we have played many rounds of golf together and as a team have never won a match. It is an unblemished record we are still proud of today. He asked AD Chin Wan to call and request stickers for an ESPN fantasy football league which opened up this year. The timing was perfect because I was wanting to create a series of stickers. Football was also my favorite sport as a child and probably my best team sport. You wouldn’t think it but as a tiny Korean running back in Oklahoma, nothing made me happier than breaking off a run and pretending I was in the NFL .
Not only was it a perfect project, John had the perfect art direction. He asked me to go a little nuts.
Much thanks to John, Chin, and Neil Jamieson for making it happen.
To download the app and stickers from either iTunes or Google Play visit here. My team is called the Super Crushers. (Inspired by The Crusher from Bugs Bunny)
Ducks in a row
This is how you know SooJin Buzelli is an excellent art director for illustrators: Illustrators are excited about a magazine about financial planning. If someone were to ask me how she managed to pull it off the answer is simple: 1) She is a fan of illustration and knows good work 2) She has convinced both her editors and illustrators that good ideas will be used and 3) they pay a fair budget. It is no surprise illustrators put out their best effort when SooJin calls.
She called with a story about advisors who find many tiny accounts that are forgotten by their owners. They are usually the result of accounts moving to different firms which get lost in the shuffle. SooJin needed to communicate the concept of collecting and finding a way to responsibly manage these tiny accounts. By coincidence it was the last week of preparation for ICON8, and illustration conference in Portland and as a board member I was scrambling around with last minute details. Naturally, the metaphor of “herding cats” or “ducks in a row” came to mind. Soojin liked the frantic approach. Even nicer was turning in the assignment and seeing her next week in Portland.
The structure of language
Coming from a family of scientists, it’s always exciting to when Scientific American calls and even better when the subject is about language. In my book, language as a subject matter is fertile ground for ideas. Patti Nemoto had a fascinating series of articles. The first article dealt with a study finding bilingual people have more empathy in their native vs second language while the second discussed the structure and rhythms of language. It was fascinating learning about how languages were developed and how humans innately have a common understanding about structure.
Much thanks to Patti and Scientific American for a fun and creatively satisfying project.
Playing with the big boys.
Got a nice call from Jia Baek, art director for the Wall St Journal for a cover piece about investing like a hedge fund. The idea is the tools are available for small investors like ourselves to unleash our inner George Soros. Since I always joke to friends about “The Yang Global Hedge Fund” this right up my alley. The direction which immediately came to mind was getting inside the head of the big boys analyzing complex data. Jia also sent a comp of the type and space which always helps with imagining the proper approach for the final art. The space screamed for a colorful approach against a white background.
In case you’re wondering how the Yang Global Hedge Fund invests, a financial manager handles it for me. I prefer leaving that stuff to the big boys.
Here’s the layout for the top part of the page. The art almost drew itself after seeing the space.
Star Wars with a handicap.
Golf World’s Art Director Tim Carr and I have worked on different golf publications together over the years. He is one of the few art directors to see my growth both as an artist and golfer. It’s nice to mix the passions of golf and illustration and work with an art director who appreciates both. His most recent assignment was an idea by a columnist for a team competition of older stars vs today stars. Golf is one of the few sports where it’s possible to see a competition between stars from different eras. I did a few fun competition metaphors but we both agreed the dueling metaphor was the most elegant idea.
Tim mentioned how much I’ve grown as a golfer the last time we played. Hope he won’t be too harsh when he sees how much it regressed this year due to lack of practice.
Here’s the sketches. I felt the story would be perfect with a humorous quick to read idea catching competition between generations.
You better bring it.
Art Director Dan Smith for the Wall St Journal is the first person to assign me a project by tweet. After returning from an exhilarating week in Portland at a biennial illustration conference known as ICON8, I tweeted about feeling pressure to bring it after seeing so much great work. Dan saw it and tweeted asking if I was ready to bring it for a project. We continued tweeting “Bring It On” lines from the cheerleader movie for laughs.
The assignment was for an article about a trend among CEO’s to pick successors from their alma mater. One proposed idea was CEO’s as Siamese Twins-like cheerleaders. Dan went for he idea. It wasn’t until later I realized the irony of doing a cheerleader metaphor after our “Bring It On” routine.
Much thanks to Dan for the assignment and great anecdote.
Millennials rising
Everyone is thinking about millennials these days if the number of assignments I have are any indication. People want to reach them and figure out how they tick. Many of my friends are millennials who have been nothing but helpful in keeping me up to snuff in the ever changing world of design and illustration. Investment News had an article about advisors learning to connect with millennials since they are the next huge investing generation. I decided to represent them with hats since my millennial friends are always wearing cool hats that somehow look wrong on me. It’s always a pleasure working with AD David Stokes.
