Hello Blog. First off, who watches the Watchmen? I do apparently. Zack Snyder didn't compromise much in the way of vision (unlike the ultra crappy
V For Vendetta). Its two and a half hours long and takes dialogue straight from the mini-series, which is sometimes a good and bad thing. There were a lot of genius moments, and even though it makes for a flawed whole, I dug it. Jackie Earle Hailey as Rorschach was pretty great, as was Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. Good Stuff. The ever-present glowing blue phallus was distracting tho.
So onto the work. Last week I worked on a piece for
Nicholas Blechman at the venerable New York Times Book Review. The book is called
The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer. Its about a globe hopping hitman whose profession is referred to as "extreme terrorism", and must hunt down those that betrayed him. The story is unlike a lot of the material I'm used to getting, and definitely invokes some great symbols and imagery. Here's the approved sketch:
I stuck fairly close to it, and was happy that he chose this idea. I love strong silhouettes and pistols definitely fall into that category.
The travel stickers are completely made up, but evoke some real countries in the book. On the handle is a Russian sticker, next to a round sticker using elements from the Croatian flag. Actually, now that I think about it, those might be the only ones, haha. Either way, I felt the actual countries being represented were secondary to the colors and overall graphic strength necessary to push the concept. Overall, I'm really happy with this one, and really dig juicy stories like this.
So finally, I'm leaving this Saturday for the west coast, and won't be available for commissions until the 16th of March. Its a massive road trip and I'll definitely be documenting (photos, drawings, journal), so expect stories when I get back. Until then, stay safe Blog.
