Scott Bakal

High and Low

2008-12-03T18:48:20+00:00

So as you may be aware of by now, I take the Long Island Railroad pretty frequently in and out of NYC. Actually, I've been regularly riding it since I went to SVA for my undergrad since 1989, so I've gotten to see a lot of the changes over the years.

One change I'd like to touch upon today are the new train cars. When I was starting SVA, there were new cars being put into service at the time. As with most new things, they were pretty cool and comfortable. Now, over the last two or three years, updated and new train cars are being brought into service. Besides the obvious differences in comfort, smoother and quieter ride, one big difference is the seat height. The seat design went from mid-back height to full back height.

At first, when I rode the new car, I thought I enjoyed the new high seats because it allowed a bit more privacy. In overall comfort though, I think the low seats are better for sleeping and relaxing because the headrest of the old ones allow you to put your head back comfortably but news ones bring the head forward a little too much so in the end, your chin ends up on your chest and when you wake, you wake with a sore neck. I digress...

Now, after taking a few rides in some of the older models that they've been keeping in service, I have decided I dislike the newer seats. I like the new train cars, but not the seats.

Reason being, it is too isolating. I found myself being more self conscious than I used to be in the older seats because I got used to being isolated. It is very easy to make eye contact with people nearby in the older cars and what you do and say is more out in the open. I actually prefer that there is more contact between people because in the case of riding the train with the public, I noticed that people are more respectful when they are out in the open more than hiding in isolation behind their seats.

If anyone takes the train regularly, notice how loud and disrespectful cell phone usage is cut down on the older trains and how much quieter and respectful people are. I think it may have something to do with people being more exposed. Just a theory.

So: Low seats are more comfortable and possibly force people to be more socially aware.

Plus...people are so much more interesting to draw when you can SEE them! There are a few locations that you can be face to face with someone but you have to hope they're asleep in order to draw.

Here is a tiny selection of train-based drawings I did over the last year. I emphasize tiny because I went through 3-4 Moleskines and Handbooks this year alone just for travelling not including the 1-2 special sketchbook projects I am doing. I literally do 1-5 drawings per ride...unless I am sleeping...some from life, most are fantasy and decorative and just ideas that I have.

Me + the Devil at PCAD

2008-11-18T04:52:57+00:00

This Friday I will be going to the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design to give a presentation of my work and spent some time with the seniors. My friend Charles Beyl invited me down there for the weekend and I never pass up to opportunity like this. I can't wait to see some old friends and make some new ones!

The Me + the Devil Collection will be exhibited there also this week.

Deforestation

2008-11-11T13:44:44+00:00

I'm a tree hugger. I've had this image rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks, in particular, the horizon line and the tree stump tangent pushing an image of a before and after.

Considering the speed at which the planet is being deforested, world powers are seemingly slow to move on protecting the trees and incidentally, our possible futures.

According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s forests already have been destroyed. Up to 90 percent of West Africa’s coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900. Brazil and Indonesia, which contain the world’s two largest surviving regions of rain forest, are being stripped at an by logging, fires, and land-clearing for agriculture and cattle-grazing.

Among the obvious consequences of deforestation is the loss of living space. Seventy percent of the Earth’s land animals and plants reside in forests. Rain forests help generate rainfall in drought-prone countries elsewhere. Studies have shown that destruction of rain forests in such West African countries as Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire may have caused two decades of droughts in the interior of Africa, with attendant hardship and famine.

Deforestation has global effects as well. Trees are natural consumers of carbon dioxide—one of the greenhouse gases whose buildup in the atmosphere contributes to global warming.

-Information and stats from National Geographic

Here's an interesting article at the NASA website.

Cheap Trust

2008-10-21T13:39:50+00:00

I did this one for a favorite art director Bryan Gray and again, working with him is a dream because I pretty much have the ability to do whatever I think would work for the story.

This story was about whether or not one should put trust into other people. The article cite examples of people doing good things for others yet still getting 'screwed over' in the end. I thought of the visual of someone giving 'a flower of trust' to someone else yet the flower itself becomes the source of the pain.

I also wanted to really experiment with a VERY limited palette. I think there are only 2 or 3 blues, white and a splash of red. I used a sepia pen for the line work.

I thought I would make a comment about this as some students questioned why I send in such rough sketches for approval....really they're just thumbnails. They're not ALL like this but most of them are. I think if the Art Director, especially in an editorial market, knows the work, the details aren't always necessary. Sometimes I'll send in a little bit more refined sketches usually to new clients but I like to keep the ideas looking loose in case I need or want to change something. Laboring over a final sketch at this point sometimes seems to be work that doesn't need to be done and I have a technique that allows for this loosness.

The refined drawing below is what I make for myself prior to the finish. Sometimes I'll send them this one also just so they know what the real final will look like in the proper format. Sometimes art directors like to drop final drawings into the layouts as placeholders.

Bells & Whistles - Updated

2008-10-14T15:18:30+00:00

Apparently, jumping right along with JD, I am posting a piece I did for SooJin this past month also for PlanSponsor's Bells & Whistles section. As usual, working with SooJin was wonderful because I had complete freedom to paint what I wanted.

I wanted to show birds in hibernation in 'bell' jars except for the one that freed himself and is 'whistling' loudly to the world.

I loved doing this piece...it's a recent favorite of mine.

'Shake' It Up

2008-09-22T14:14:12+00:00

I've had some successes and failures with portraiture. I've never been a portrait artist or even a 'likeness' artist. Over the last few years, on and off between other work, I've been working on how to translate my evolving technique into portraiture and think I am finally finding my way through it. I think, in my case, it is more about the essence of the person being painted rather than a dead-on likeness, although there needs to be some semblance of them. That's the balance.

That being said, and after some practice, I came up with a couple of good ones including this William Shakespeare. It opened a new door creatively for me and I like where its heading. Even better, the Shakespeare piece recently led to doing four conceptual portraits of some scientists for Discover Magazine of which I posted two of my favorites.

Me & the Devil Limited Edition Book

2008-08-13T13:51:27+00:00

Me & the Devil! I am finally getting around to annoucing this book release here! I've been darting all over the northeast and Florida enjoying the summer with friends and family for the last 2-3 months so I haven't been in one place long enough to get to this properly. I've been selling them as I've been travelling around, getting them into book stores and doing signings and all that stuff...what a great time!

Here is the description from my website:

This series of art has been published into a full color, hand-signed, hard-bound limited edition book of 666 copies. This largely wordless book visually narrates the part fictional and part non-fictional story of legendary blues musician, Robert Johnson.

The book is cloth hard bound with silver inlay book title on the cover. The interior pages have been carefully proofed to match the color and values of the original art and printed on 80# Xpressions paper. A special red book jacket was produced for the first 333 copies. The book contains 44 pages and each book is hand numbered and signed by the artist on a special page printed within the book.

Various illustrations in this book have been so far accepted a total of 15 times from all the major illustration competitions including the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, American Illustration, Spectrum and 3X3. One of the images, "Got Down On My Knees and Prayed" has also won a prestigious Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators of New York.

Below are some shots of the book, links to pages to purchase the book and shots of a couple of exhibitions the work has been in already. Thank you to everyone that has commented in the past here on Drawger when I was in the process of doing the work. Here's the final result and I couldn't have been happier!

View The Book! (There will be links to purchase by credit card or download an order form for check, money order or well hidden cash!)

FYI: Any Drawger, Illoz and Illogator members will get a discount if they decide to purchase a book...e-mail me for a special link.

Gene Doping

2008-08-07T21:05:08+00:00

Here's another couple of illustrations I've done for Discover Magazine's special 'The Body' issue on newstands now.

It's an interesting article about steriods, doping and all its wonderful options which makes it so easy to get and use. So not only are the top athletes using it, but even your Mom and Dad...or even the guy serving you coffee in the morning. Talk about getting your 'Morning Boost'!

As the Olympics get moving along, i am sure we'll be hearing loads about this stuff.

The other illustration I did in the same issue. The article was about a fellow named Michael West who sees a day that humans can go without surgery, design stronger bodies and I quote "Even grow wings!". He also goes on about stem cell research and trying to beat the problems associated with freezing bodies to hopefully be regenerated another day.

Sort of makes one stop for while...and think about science and what it is being used for out there, huh?

The art directors and I decided to try something a little odd with the spread layout which accounts for the open areas and odd placements. I had a great time working with them and how open they are to ideas and playing around with space.

PlanAdvisor Illustration

2008-08-04T18:12:54+00:00

While I was in Miami hanging out with Brian Stauffer, we ended up talking about illustrators and art directors, who we've worked for and spinning interesting yarns about jobs and all that.

While out by the pool I said: "You know, it seems like everyone has worked with SooJin Buzelli except for me! I feel so left out." Then I proceeded to sob furiously in my hands.

A few days later at home, guess who shoots over an e-mail to do an illustration? Mrs. Buzelli herself! Talk about good karma!

It is all true about what they say about her art direction, simple and direct with enough freedom to scare the pants off you. Her only art direction was: "Too much/overdoing something" That was pretty much it. I sent her some thumbs I posted below and she chose one. An excellent experience and I enjoy what came out of it.

(Thinking hard: "It seems like I'm the only one who's never done a TIME cover!"

;o)

WSJ - Back to School

2008-07-02T14:24:11+00:00

This job was a fight...not for content, but for time. I got the call on my cell phone Thursday from Pete Hausler while I was in a cafeteria eating lunch with some military officials in Colorado Springs working on a 3 day reportage assignment (info about that coming soon). He needed to see sketches by Friday AM and the final done by Monday 9AM.

Since I was working on a job at the moment (and I was at this location on their dime so I felt I should be paying attention to the job at hand) and Friday was a flight day to come home, and Saturday was previously booked with a birthday thing, I needed to get sketches done the moment he called and really work this into my schedule. Pete gave me the option of doing something another time after I told him what was going down but I have a hard time turning down work, especially with people I like to work with.

I found a Xerox copier that can FAX and e-mail where I was so I grabbed some printer paper and got to work. Art direction was simple: "Come up with something...here's the article." My favorite kind of art direction! Pete is really cool about jobs and let's me do what I need to do. He certainly was very understanding with this job as there were a few technology bumps with him getting the sketches. He finally got them though.

While I was flittering about the place like a madman, I was busted by security by the Xerox machines because at the location I was, I needed to have a full-time escort with me wherever I went...again...military stuff. I ditched everyone for a couple of hours to get these sketches done but was caught and reprimanded. All in the name of art, man! At least I didn't have to do 200 pushups!

On Friday, while I was delayed again at the airport (American Airlines has earned the Badge of Suckness from me), I got a call from him saying that a sketch was approved and I can go to final. So I did when I finally got back in the studio on Sunday.

The job was printed in yesterday's paper. The article was about folks in their late 40's-50's going back to their colleges to consult with councellors to get new jobs.

briCON08: Miami

2008-06-10T22:26:19+00:00

I went to a new illustration conference last week. Being guest keynote speaker and helping with some of the workshops and sessions, I was treated very well by the organizers and staff at briCON.

Here below are some photos I took and a promotional video that the conference people made for this convention. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be going to this annual event again! Thanks to Brian, Alina and the Stauffer kids for the wonderful time!

briCON08: Miami promotional video of Break Out Session #2: Strokes of Genius

Black Dog

2008-05-22T03:26:02+00:00

It's been a while since I posted up anything work related and now I think I am going to start catching up. I also wanted to expand a bit on my normal 'here's a new piece' sort of posts and show some process. Minnesota Magazine called a while back to do a job. The story was really good and even better, the art direction was excellent: "Read it and draw what you want." and the deadline was long. Oooo...we all can only hope for this sort of thing. As a matter of fact, it seems to be a dream job!

There was a lot of interesting imagery in the article. Since I had time, my usual methods is to just draw and draw and then pick and chose from those drawings and build upon it further. I am posting about 2/3rds of the sketches I did (most of which the art director didn't see) just to show process and thinking.

"Winston Churchill called it his Black Dog..."

"I've called it the Black Horrors and have been known to lie in bed, curtains drawn, waiting fo the storm clouds to pass."

This is my final rough sketch prior to hitting the board.

Sometimes I'll scan in a piece of art in progress to see how it looks. For some reason, it gives me a fresh eye to see it in another format...in this case, on screen. As soon as I looked at it, I knew that the pill bottles needed to be changed. It didn't feel heavy enough.

SI Student Show

2008-04-29T13:27:58+00:00

I am privileged to announce that after over a year’s worth of planning and work, the new Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Exhibition is now up and the opening reception is Friday, May 2nd at 6PM. There is no admission fee. This year we are giving away approximately $50,000 in scholarship money to illustration students from all over the country! We had a GREAT line-up of 25 wonderful judges including Brian Stauffer, Jim Bennett, Coco Masuda, and Greg Manchess to name only a few.

The judging this year was handled a little differently. Instead of schools entering this competition with slides as they have been for probably over 20 years, schools are now entering their students work using a new digital upload/judging system. This new system couldn’t have been possible without the help of our favorite men behind the curtain, Robert Zimmerman and Joshua Carpenter of BugLogic. Zimm and I have been going back and forth since the beginning of last year try to create a viable, workable and modern system for this competition and possibly the other competitions in the future at the Society….and it friggin’ rocks! Thank you Zimm and Josh!

Take a look at the portal and art: www.soicompetitions.org

Also, as a follow up, the Annual Auction was a huge hit and thank you to all my friends and Drawgerites for submitting work at the last minute. I don’t have any actual numbers in front of me but as I understand it, we broke last year’s numbers! On behalf of the Education Committee, thank you….the students will be grateful!

If you are in the New York area, a student, a professional iller, art director or designer, please come down to the Society Friday night. The art is amazing!

My Show

2008-04-08T15:01:03+00:00

Unfortunately, due to scheduling and time constraints, there will be no formal opening. Weep! S'okay though, something else will be brewing soon...

Found / Street Art

2008-04-06T14:49:49+00:00

I am piggy-backing on Kroninger’s and my last post at the same time. I’ve been thinking about posting this stuff in a gallery for a while and Kroninger opened the door. When I was in Arles, walking around and meandering through the city I was taking shots of whatever interested me. Besides the 2,000 year old beauty of the place, I also took shots of Street Art. Some of it was graffiti and stencil art but the other stuff was areas where posters and notices were posted and ripped down then something else was posted on top of it and so on. I guess I can call it 'found art' or 'accidental art' or if you are a non arty-type: 'a mess'. I love the look and texture of it.

Here is a collection of some of the shots I took.

Novillada Sans Picadors

2008-03-25T13:28:38+00:00

Novillada Sans Picadors can be loosely translated into ‘Young bull without schmuck on horseback stabbing it with a spear’. That's what it said on my ticket...before I knew what the translation was.

Where do I begin with this image? Last week I had a bit of a break: Spring Break so I didn’t have to deal with school stuff; a big project I am about to begin work on was pushed back until this week and the sketch deadline for another job isn’t due for another few days. So after getting some extra sleep, I decided to work on this piece because it has been in my head (among others) since the summer of 2005 and I can’t seem to shake it. It was tough to do this image. I mean, it took 3 years to paint something that I thought worthy of finishing. It is one thing to imaginatively create a powerful image but once you see something horrific, it is hard to figure out a way of illustrating it with the same power as seeing it live. It makes me think about WWII artists and what they had to contend with. I felt like it was never ‘enough’…and maybe this still isn’t ‘enough’.

I’ll explain as briefly as I can: I was fortunate enough to spend nearly a month in an apartment in Arles, France in ‘05 and probably unfortunate enough to go to a bull fight. You see, we went in thinking…’Okay…bullfight…neat.’ A bunch of guys with red capes and ferocious animals charging at them. Sure. They bow after, say thank you. Cool. Then we can go get a glass of Cotes du Rhone and this incredible St. Remy goat cheese I discovered down there.

The reality was unexpected.

The toreador punctured the bull with his sword through the spinal column into the heart while 3 spears that were stuck in its back from earlier ‘duels’ between the bull and the toreador. Blood cascaded down the bull’s sides and out it its mouth while the bull honked and growled in pain staggering, tongue hanging out of the mouth swaying back and forth. The other toreador ‘helpers’ swept in to wear out the bull flashing their capes across its snout as it tried to lunge with its horns at whatever was nearby. Then after the toreador brought down the bull with the one lunge of the sword, a sort of ‘referee’ walked out into the ring, cut off the bull’s ear, gave it to the toreador and he walked, no…pranced with his chin high, and chest pushed out around the 2000 year old arena displaying this ear to the crowd as a trophy. He threw the severed ear to a couple of kids around the ages of 6 to 16 in front of me who were ecstatic and cheering along with the parents. They were shooting dozens of photos of the kids displaying the ear with blood dripping down their fingers and hands which they wiped on the 2000 year old stone divider walls in front of them.

Apparently, in areas of France, this is legal. Also, if you are interested enough, you can go to the local record and video shop and buy a DVD of your favorite toreador doing their thing.

Seven more bulls were killed that afternoon. All for about $15 American dollars.

Perforated For Easy Removal 4 & 5

2008-03-22T00:49:37+00:00

I've added about 30 more drawings from two model sessions back in January I attended to my Micro-Perfore Gallery. I haven't been to one since because work has kept me home on the weekends. I am missing it which is probably why I am taking these quick shots and looking them over.

You can pick up where the gallery left off by clicking here.

Perforated for Easy Removal 2 & 3

Perforated for Easy Removal 1

The drawings below are some of my favorites from the two sessions. They're my favs probably because I was well warmed up by then and really exploring beyond just doing a model drawing. Instead, using the model as influence for experimentation. This stuff has been creeping into my work...and I'm liking it. Dorinda and Tiffany were the models.

(Oooops...needed to correct the title and a few links here...sorry about that.)

Artists Against The War

2008-01-04T14:48:15+00:00

Here is my addition to the Artists Against the War show at the Society of Illustrators. Steve Brodner asked me to be part of it as I was in the throws of doing some personal drawings on my weekly commutes in and out of Manhattan so I had plenty of material to work off of. Around that time I watched a few documentaries on the subject which were absolutely horrifying. One was called Cheney’s Law and the other No End in Sight. The very idea of how this administration is acting and the complacency of the American people, or even apathy, is truly astounding.

Last night’s Iowa Caucuses was a refreshing clink up to the top of the rollercoaster called the Presidential Elections with some surprising results and with a stance toward change for the future. My only hope this time around is that people are voting on substance.

I can't wait to see the show and look forward to seeing a bunch of you there.

New Year's Resolutions

2007-12-31T18:15:05+00:00

Yup...it is that time of year where everyone feels the pain of looking at their waistline or their packs of cigarettes or their finances or their loved one's or their chocolate addiction and decide (or not) to make changes for the next year. Yes...very painful indeed. I don't know about you but dark chocolate is here to stay in my house buddy so back off.

There is so much pain associated not only with the New Year's Resolutions but the holidays in general, especially if you were raised as a guity catholic such as myself. "Did I buy enough gifts?" "Will they like them?" "Did I send everyone a card?" "Am I giving Mom this year's fruitcake or LAST year's?" ...and it is all a ferocious mess of visiting the mall, checking lists, racking up the credit card until Christmas Day.

Then finally...silence, peace and quiet for a week. I was lucky enough to be with my family up in CT for the last week enjoying everyone, eating too much and, ah-hem, drinking my share of wine. Lovely. The gifts were cool too. I got one of those fancy 80GB iPod Classics. Not sure what to do with it yet but I do feel more hip and cool now through osmosis.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the pain of self-evaluation. Questions about one's life comes up: Where am I now? Where have I come from? Where am I going? All good questions but if we had any sense, we would ignore them because they can lead to anerysms and unneeded stress especially 7 days after a mad rush fueled by catholic guilt. Should one only take stock once a year? Probably not. It should be a weekly or even a daily ritual. But today and tonight, I will have a brick of chocolate in my left hand and a beer in my right and friends all around me. Life is good.

Happy New Year, folks!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

2007-12-19T12:44:43+00:00

The beginning of the end of another year which requires by CONTRACT a sappy holiday post. It's written into the Drawger contract right under Sub-Section 12 which states: "Zimm has the right to use your spleen whenever necessary throughout the life of this contract throughout the known world and the entire universe....oh and your gall bladder too, but that's just for fun."

I wanted to wish my Drawger family and all the folks that come and visit here to read and see us ramble about art and various livestock, a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

...and to put you in a hop-skip-and-a-jump mood, here's a little Jim Noir to tap your toes to. (I can't get the darn thing to embed.)

Jim Noir - My Patch Watch for the livestock!

Perforated For Easy Removal 2 & 3

2007-12-13T02:00:19+00:00

Here are some select drawings from two drawing sessions I attended way back at the end of October and the beginning of November. The models are John and Rebecca. John was a good model and Rebecca moved around so much that I am not sure I got anything that really looks like her. My life is so difficult.

Click here to see Perforated for Easy Removal #1.

....or even better...

Click here to see the new gallery where I'll be dropping these life drawings in from now on. Go to the gallery to see ALL the drawings not posted here.

I haven't been to one since the beginning of November and I am starting to really miss it. My Saturdays and Sundays this past two months have been dedicated to working on illustration jobs that overflow from the weekdays. I am certainly not complaining about that but it sure is nice to go get dirty for 6-7 hours and chew the fat with other illustrators and artists while we heckle the model. Don't worry, the models heckle us back!

"Hey buddy! I didn't realize my arm came out of my back! Why don't you try drawing ME!" We're all very professional.

2007 Student Scholarship Auction

2007-11-28T15:21:14+00:00

As Chair of the Education Committee and the Student Scholarship Competition, I invite everyone to come down to the Society of Illustrators Monday, December 3rd at 6PM to have the unique opportunity to buy original works of art by esteemed American painters and illustrators. The preview is up right now! You can also view most of the work being auctioned at the Society's website.

The proceeds raised will go directly to the Student Scholarship Fund which annually awards up to $50,000 to college-level students who are in illustration programs. This is the largest scholarship competition for to-be illustrators in the United States and dare I say, the world.

You can bid on such artists as: Leo and Diane Dillon, Mark English, James Bennett, Anita Kunz, Robert Hunt, Ted and Betsy Lewin, John Thompson, Teresa Fasolino, Etienne Delessert, Al Lorenz, Mort Walker, CF Payne, James Montgomery Flagg (!!!!), Robert McGinnis (!!!!), Joe Ciardiello, Rafal Olbinski, Gary Kelley, Tristan Elwell, Victor Juhasz and piles more amazing artists.

As an illustrator, if you wish to be part of this wonderful show, it is not too late. Please get original artwork to the Society by Monday the 3rd. If you work digitally, prints will be auctioned also!

2007 Auction - Follow this link to look at the art!

Last year's Scholarship Exhibition was absolutely stunning. The work was top notch, the students came in from all over the country and the opening rivalled the Editorial Opening in numbers with both students, professionals and even art directors having a great time. It got to the point where it was so crowded, it emptied out into the street! 2008 is going to be an amazing year for the Scholarship Show.

I will step off the soapbox now.

Windchill

2007-10-23T13:32:47+00:00

You wouldn't know it from the weather we're having here on the East Coast but it is supposed to be getting cold. I was going to go to the beach last weekend if I didn't have a cold I've battling this week. I am feeling better so maybe if this Global Warming thing keeps up, I'll go down there this weekend.

I did this job for Women of Spirit a while ago for a recent issue with Bryan Gray. It is a heart-warming story about a woman who sees a homeless man standing out in a below zero storm as she goes into a food store. She buys him a sandwich and soup to help him out. A real sappy story to warm the 'ole bones.

Since I ate my share of soup this week to help fight my cold and I finally met Bryan Gray (in from Idaho) and put together a lunch for him at the Society with a few fellow Drawgers, I thought this was a timely post.

Robert's Snow Interview

2007-10-16T13:34:06+00:00

For some odd reason, for the last three auctions, I've been asked to contribute to the Robert's Snow Auction. It is usually reserved for children's book illustrators but they still keep asking. That's fine by me because I did it to help raise money for cancer research. This has been one of my pro bono things that I do yearly. The two 'causes' I usually do stuff for are Cancer and Diabetes research.

I think it is important to contribute to these thing, especially if they a reputable and are actually getting things done. The Robert's Snow auctions have raised over $200,000 so far. The 2004 auction was even developed into a 'children's book' of the snowflakes created in which the profits go toward research.

I was asked to be interviewed for this blog on the Robert's Snow artists.

For more information: Robert's Snow Website

Iraq (Repost with Bonus Images!)

2007-10-16T02:31:45+00:00

This is a reposting of these drawings based upon my thoughts about the Iraq War.

To clarify, I ride the train three days a week in and out of NYC and I usually do a drawing each way. Lately, the theme has been on the war.

I thought I'd add a couple more so it isn't the exact post again. For you to enjoy....

Quimby Gallery Show, Vermont

2007-10-03T01:13:35+00:00

Yesterday I shipped out 22 paintings for an exhibition I was invited to have at the Quimby Gallery at Lyndon College in Vermont. I will also be doing a digital slide lecture later in the evening opening night. If anyone is nearby it'll be cool to see you!

Quimby Gallery/Lyndon College | 1001 College Road | Lyndonville | Vermont | 05851

October 11-31, 2008

Cathie Bleck Interview @ Illoz

2007-09-18T02:53:28+00:00

My very telling interview with Cathie Bleck just went up over at Illoz! Why don't you meander over yonder and give it a read. It was a lot of fun putting the whole thing together and it helped that Cathie is not only one of my favorite artists but one of my favorite people.

Perforated For Easy Removal #1

2007-09-17T14:30:33+00:00

More and more I have been going to sketch and drawing classes from the Society to out here on Long Island. It is starting to become a weekly habit. On Sunday, I told myself that I would go for "only a couple of hours". Six hours later and a hand cramp, I finally came home and did some work that I intended on doing that afternoon.

Here are some of the selected results of the afternoon. The model's name was Tiffany and one of my more favorite models to draw out here.

The First Day

2007-09-05T13:08:52+00:00

This post is dedicated to all the teachers out there.

The new semester started and I happily prepped for my classes…well, sort of. This semester I am teaching a portfolio class and a couple of sections of digital illustration for sophomores. I would have to admit that after a lazy August, I really wasn’t excited to get back to all the chaos that is the academic/educational system. I knew though, that after a day or two of people discussing rubrics, measurable results and proper syllabus formats, I KNEW I would go numb which would invariably save me from launching myself out of the 8th floor window shouting “DOWN WITH RUBRIC!!” on the way down to my crushing death. I also knew that once I started seeing these incredible brave and creative students, I would relax and get into it again.

So, knowing that the groove will come back, I walked into the building confident and assured that I will have a delightful first day of school. I even dressed up for the occasion wearing a nice striped button up, sport jacket and Converse sneakers. Who said I wasn’t ‘hip’? I arrived to my first class a half hour early to check over the facilities and computers to make sure things started up properly and I had everything I needed.

As I walked into the room, the first thing that hit me was the 90 degree weather in the room. Apparently the heat was on. The second issue was a wall of stink that smelled like 10 day old fermenting cow. I briskly walked across this computer lab to open up the windows and halfway through the room my feet started sloshing on the carpet. Half the room was flooded! Looking at about $30,000 of computers including these new fangled digital blackboards…AND power cords all over, I ran (actually skipped-hopped) out of the room.

I called IT on one of the emergency phones in the hall and worked out transferring the class for that day to another room. There were students already showing up to class. I had to move fast and make some signage to get 20 students corralled onto another floor and room. Apparently, a pipe burst in the radiator but they couldn’t explain why the heat was on. This ate about 45 minutes into a 3 hour class.
Finally, all the new students and I were in the new temporary classroom. I took my sport jacket off as I was beginning to perspire. I went through the usual schpeel about attendance, professionalism and grading procedures and went over to the computer to begin showing a slide presentation of illustrations. As I clicked the remote to turn on the projector mounted on the ceiling, those two words that all fear “Replace Lamp” glowed menacing on the screen. Already an hour and fifteen into class.

I tossed the remote on the desk and said a rather scruffy comment under my breath which prompted giggles from the students as I went across the hall to IT and told them the issue.

I gathered the 20 students around my computer and showed them the presentation as an IT guy tinkered with the projector by standing on the desk in the middle of the room. No, it wasn’t distracting in the least. As soon as I was done the projector lit up like a Christmas Tree and projected my desktop across the room. Poetic.

Trying to keep things moving along, I decided to refocus the class (and myself) to their computers and start going over some of the tools and palettes and get to know these students capabilities by assigning a couple of in-class projects. Things started moving along normally; my frustration and nervousness started to dissipate. The students were peering attentively at their screens then a couple of gentlemen in blue coveralls barge into the room and started chatting and pointing. I BRISKLY (note the caps) walked over and in a gentle way asked, “WTF?!?” By now my sleeves were rolled up. One said, “We were supposed to reimage these computers at 3PM and we were told you’d be out by 5PM.” I started thinking about the 8th floor window and pondering that a good up-draft could keep me afloat for an extra few seconds….cool, I’d be like Superman....or hiding under my desk in the office...slowly rocking back and forth. It would certainly be safer.

Being that this was the first day and I essentially got done what I needed to get done, I wrapped the class up in the most classy way I could and got them started on work to be done for the following week.
The moral of the story: Never, in any part of your life, EVER stop and think that you have things under control…and never work in a building that has more than 2 floors.

Put Some South In Your Mouth

2007-08-10T02:08:19+00:00

As many of you know, I went down to Savannah back in March for school and pleasure and saw Joe Bowler among other neat bits of this and that.

Being a person that loves to cook, go to restaurants and often try new foods, I was disappointed there. The food in Savannah wasn't all that great to me. If you wanted some spicy wings or pretty much anything deep fried, this is the place to be! Maybe it was my unlucky choices of places to eat? The beer was great. Anyway, I went to a BBQ place along with a bunch of buddies and I had a rather nervous stomach reaction to the food which is documented here. That wasn't a fun morning.

Back at the airport waiting to board my flight to come home I was wandering around the shops looking at junk and saw a cooking section which had cookbooks, cooking utensils, spices and cooks clothing. I saw an apron that said "Put Some South in Your Mouth!" I thought, that is one of the coolest and probably dirtiest line you can say and still maintain a PG rating. This painting is a culmination of my gustatorial experiences in Savannah...and the fact that it is the most haunted place in the United States.

The Death Bird Cometh

2007-08-07T14:10:04+00:00

He tweets and howls

succumbing to death aloud

musical wisps from beak and mouth

blown a kiss, buried south

Zankel Scholarship

2007-07-31T21:47:56+00:00

I've been away for a while finishing my Master’s Degree and trying to catch up here. Here's some great news from mid-June. As chair of the Education Committee, Judy Francis Zankel, Terry Brown and myself put together and launched a new scholarship for students which is different than the annual scholarship competition. This one is called the Zankel Scholarship, named for Judy's late husband Arthur. This scholarship has one prize. How it works: Illustration departments from all over the country submit work of their best Junior level students...a portfolio, essay and transcripts. The jury this year included Donato Giancola, Jack Tom, Marcos Chin, Dennis Dittrich and Vicki Nightingale went through over 70 submissions. The entries were absolutely amazing! The jury came out of the other end with four finalists. The finalists were Tina Sweep (Ringling), Christina Mrosik (Grand Valley), Adrienne Balthuis (Grand Valley) and Andrea Rhodes (San Jose State).

The finalists, on the Society's dime, flew them all in and put them up in a hotel and gave a gratis 36 hour adventure in New York City. They barely had enough time to drop their portfolios off when I whisked them to the Museum of Modern Art for a few hours and to get to know the finalists. They are mature well beyond their years as people and as artists. After a couple of hours at MOMA, I ran them back to the hotel for about 25 minutes so they can change their clothes and grab their portfolios and off to the final interview with the esteemed jury.

After a few hours, the jury made their decision. Tina Sweep is the first Zankel Scholar! This scholarship gives her $20,000 to put toward any and all expenses for her senior year in college. Of course, we didn't forget the runner ups. On top of the gratis trip to New York, we gave them each $1,000 cash for being a finalist. After the 'big announcement', I took them downtown for dinner at a Vietnamese place along with Donato who accompanied us. After that, of all places, they wanted to go to Strand! Two of the ladies went back early the next day to pick up even more books to add to their piles of purchases the night before!

My personal comment about this whole experience is that these ladies are unbelievable artists and wonderful people. I also found it interesting that all the finalists were women! They have a lot of savvy and they all have wonderful instructors who are certainly leading them in the right directions. The next day I went back to the Society to see them off and I have to say, as they were getting into the 'limo' to take them back to the airport, I felt a little choked up. I wish them all the best into the future and congratulations. Remember when looking at their work…THEY’RE JUNIORS! A couple of them already had work in the Student Scholarship Competition and it stand to reason that they’ll find their way into the Pro Shows in the future!

I'd like to thank specially, Mark Korsack for picking up the ladies at the airport and really helping making sure that everything goes off without a hitch.

Zankel Scholarship

More Zankel News and Photos

Tina Sweep Blog Site and her website

Andrea Rhodes Blog Site

I will post the other's web sites or blogs when they send them over.

I Am Being F'ed!

2007-06-19T02:56:56+00:00

I am being F'ed in July.

I was F'ed earlier this month when I had to deal with an IRS Tax Audit...that's right, I said AUDIT but that's another story. No...this is another kind of F'ed. I am obtaining my second and finally, terminal Master of Fine Arts in Illustration (MFA) degree from the University of Hartford! Yeah! WooHoo! I currently had an MA (Master of Arts) from Syracuse University.

I won't be posting up the final work for the thesis yet because I need to do some more work on it outside of the Masters requirements but I wanted to announce the first exhibition for the series. If anyone is in the area, contact me because I will be up in CT for the couple of weeks that the show is up. This project has been an exciting adventure. I've learned so much about Robert Johnson, that era and music.

An interesting clip:

Son House - Death Letter: An influence of Johnson with appropriate subject matter. House said the words: "He sold his soul to play like that!" after Robert left town for about a year to practice his guitar playing and came back with a new amazing ability. This comment helped fuel the speculations that Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

Silpe Gallery
Hartford Art School
200 Bloomfield Avenue
West Hartford, CT 06117

July 9-20, 2007

Monday - Friday
8:30am - 4:30 pm

I took a picture earlier today as I was framing some of the work. There are a bunch of black and whites that need to be framed which weren't included in the photo. After I completed the canvases (and thank you to all who helped me figure out the best thing to do with the edges) I started framing the black and whites. Unexpectedly, I ordered the wrong mats. Apparently, in 2007, when you order WHITE mats, you should expect something closer to Egg Nog color. WTF? Sheesh! I am waiting on new color swatches from the framer but it seems like I can't just order WHITE. It needs to be Artic White or Very White or Polar Bear White...oh brother! Anyway, here's a snap of just under half the total pieces moments before they were bubble wrapped.

Conquering Clutter

2007-06-06T17:17:02+00:00

After seeing some fellow Drawgers studios, I think maybe this could be an article they should read...

After doing my "Dead Dad' job for art director Bryan Gray a couple of months ago he liked the work so much that he threw a couple of manuscripts at me and said "Pick one and do whatever you want!" An illustrator's dream. We also had some back and forth about the page design also and ended up drawing a hand placing one of the balls into the headline based on one of my other sketches. It is great to have that collaboration with the director.

I picked this one only because I was beginning to start doing my 'Spring Cleaning' which usually takes a couple of weekends to do...(so far 2 Sundays and probably one to go). I usually take all the electronic equipment out of the cabinets and desks and clean all the wires and behind furniture, kitchen cabinets...you know...that 'top to bottom' cleaning stuff . Sparkely fresh. In the process, giving away stacks of books I don't read or use anymore; going through closets and getting rid of clothes...in all, a very big purge.

Coinciding with my purge, I have been photographing some real old illustration and art that I've done since 1989 and been collecting dust in the bottom of closets. Mainly an excuse to go through them, save and photograph what is good and reappropriate the bad ones to paint over...or just toss them out all together. We photographed between 200-300 and I got about another year's worth of four and five ply Strathmore illustration board to use from the stuff I am getting rid of. Cool!

So, OCD people unite and clean! Not surprising this is one of my favorite shows.

American Illustration

2007-06-04T17:08:44+00:00

I am happy to say that I've gotten the notices from American Illustration that this one will be included in the AI26 book! Oh yeah!!! It has been a long time coming and I am proud to be part of the book along with so many other fabulous artists including fellow Drawgers!

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T16:45:37+00:00

I posted up a version of this a few hours ago but decided to repost it with more information. Apologies to Randy (and all who e-mailed me) for deleting the post and your comment.

As I was working on my original post a very low flying military helicopter scared the hell out of me as I looked out my top story window to see it buzz my roof top. (I wish I had my camera in hand.) I didn't know what that was all about but as it turned out, it signified the beginning of the local Bay Shore Memorial Day Parade. I heard High School bands fire up and the pounding of the drums. I grabbed my camera and went down to see neighbors and loads of children lining the street. I have to say, I was moved by the experience. I only took a few shots as I was more involved with watching the parade and all the smiling families.

Last night I was working on some sketches for this. It's a work in progress or may never be 'done'. I've already done 4 versions. Original sketches indicated crosses lining across the bottom of the piece. Maybe too much I thought. The version posted seemed to work the best for me because I wanted to make it as pure as possible. The 'bird of peace' remembering our soldiers. A symbol wearing a symbol. I wanted to remove violence or 'hard imagery' if possible.

Originally called Decoration Day, is a day of rememberance of soldiers who have died in the service of our country. In 2000 a resolution was passed in which Americans are asked at 3PM their local time, to pause in their day routine to voluntarily observe a moment of rememberance and respect for those who have fallen.

Memorial Day

My father fought in the Vietnam War. I am glad that he is still here unlike so many unfortunate others. Regardless of politics, they deserve our respect for what they do.

Photos from this morning's parade follow.

Tree of Choices

2007-05-08T12:20:26+00:00

Amidst the 12 paintings I've done in the last 5 weeks for various projects, I did this personal piece. This is one of those personal pieces that I really didn't know what I was doing or where I was going with it until I got about half way through it and the concept started to reveal itself based upon what I have been thinking and going through lately. I did it out of the sheer need to escape for a couple of hours...to just start something with no sketches and let my brain go because things have been nuts around here.

This painting is about choices. All the choices one makes throughout their life, some good, some bad. This is that moment of contemplation when you look back at all these choices and analyze whether or not each choice, or branch you took was the right one, the wrong one...or the lucky one.

No matter which choice a person makes in life whether good or bad, that person is probably learning something.

Dealing with Death of Dad and Dog

2007-05-07T04:07:02+00:00

I landed this job fairly recently for a small little magazine called Women of Spirit and as it turned out, it was a great article and assignment. The Art Director is Bryan Gray; the kind of art director we can all hope for: He gets out of the way. His opinions were short and insightful, not that there were many at all and did not once step on any toes creatively.

The nutshell version is that a young boy loses his father but he never speaks of it. Later, when a 'family' dog dies, he is able to begin speaking and writing about his father's death by first using the dog's passing as a catalyst...with a little help from a therapist.

It was a touching story and everyone is happy in the end just like a story should be...too bad I like illustrating the miserable parts of the articles!

Society of Illustrators

2007-05-04T14:05:35+00:00

Anyone in the New York area: Tonight Friday, May 4th at 5:30PM the Student Scholarship Show will have its opening and awards ceremony at the Society of Illustrators. We intend on giving out over $50,000 in scholarship money to well deserving students.

This year, many-a-Drawger found its way onto the jury including: Randy Enos, Zina Saunders, Steve Wacksman, Dave Bamundo, Joe Ciardello and Peter Cusack to name a few of the great people that helped jury the show.

It's free and has got some amazing illustration like the one pictured above by School of Visual Arts student Christopher Fisher who won a $5,000 scholarship.

There is also a special exhibit starting this year called the '30 years of the Student Show.' Each year from now until 2009 we will show 10 years worth of student artists that 'made it big'! This year is from 1980-1990. Guess who is in this collection? If you said, Tim O'Brien you'd be right! I wonder what his student work looked like? Others include Peter DeSeve, Robert Hunt, Kam Mak and James Ransome.

I hope to see you there!

Scott Bakal

Chair, Education Committee

Bowled Over

2007-04-26T02:47:11+00:00

On March 30th, 2007 I was lucky enough to visit Joe Bowler's home and studio with my Master's class for the day and discuss with him the history of his work as an illustrator through to his life as a portrait painter.

Bowler was part of Cooper Studios in New York City starting in the mid 50's and quickly rose in popularity as an illustrator at the tail-end of the 'golden age' of illustration. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1992.

Joe Bowler Website

It was a pleasure to meet with him and amazing to watch him paint. It is not often one would get to see a master painter work but able to meet someone who experienced that wonderful time in illustration history. I created a special 'History' gallery here on Drawger with over 50 photos of his work and photos of Joe working on a portrait as a demo for us.

The thing I always found interesting of his work is his handling of color, in particular, the temperature. Warm, cold, warm, cold. Joe's palette is set up based on the temperature of the colors as you can see in the photos. Warm yellows and reds to cool reds for the skin tones then same for the greens and blues. I had a note somewhere around here about what his exact colors are. I'll post that when I find it. Watching him mix and throw paint was worth the trip alone. I hope that the gallery will at least give one the mere impression of what he does and how he does it. Enjoy.

The portrait he was working on in these photos was done in under 1 hour.

Joe Bowler Photo Gallery

All images copyright Joe Bowler.

A World in Black and White

2007-04-09T17:59:28+00:00

Over the last year in my sketchbooks, I have put down the pencil and picked up a pen. (Pilot P-500 Extra Fine Archival Ink) That was probably one of the best things I could have done. Using pens in the sketchbook makes the work I do so much more real and unchanging. Whatever line I put down, I have to really mean it and there is no turning back. Scarey, yet invigorating. It has made me more sensitive to how I handle a line or complete a drawing and in doing so, has sharpened my skills tremendously.

Over the last few months I have been using India Ink washes to give the work some texture and an abstract conceptual quality. A few weeks ago, I switched over to charcoal partially to make life easier when walking about but also try something new. I fell in love with the results.

The last week of March while most of the Drawgers and illustrators were in New York City partying at the Society of Illustrators Advertising opening, I was in Savannah Georgia for a week. Savannah is a great 'walking' city. The weather was perfect...75 to 80 degree with low humidity...perfect to bring some supplies to the local squares and draw, draw, draw.

The two drawings here are 'live' drawings:

The statue was done mid afternoon with the sun behind it sitting on the grass in one of the squares. Very peaceful.

The 'woman at table' was sort of live. Because she was running around, I had to take some reference shots on my camera while she was tending to other customers. Myself and a few colleagues I was with ended up at the hotel bar at the end of everyday with sketchbooks in hand. The bartender, Amie Sue (How much more 'southern' can you get) was our regular bartender for the week. She was a rather pretty 22 year old that we decided to pose her in different positions and draw her that evening. This of course led to a few free drinks which reminded me...

...it's good to be an artist.

More drawings from that week in the Gallery Sketchbook #14

Breathe Deeply Pt. 2

2007-04-04T14:09:48+00:00

Over a month ago I got a call from Joannah Ralston at Insight Design to do a series of illustrations for a trade magazine I never heard of. I found out that the guy Milken went to jail for some reason or another (??).

This was an interesting article that I wanted to feature here because it dealt with a new method of reducing carbon emissions which lead to global warming. The method is making money off of carbon pollution by buying and selling 'carbon credits'. The conservative right that always hemmed and hawed about greenhouse gasses and whether or not it actually leads to global warming are listening up and joining the bandwagon because now; they see dollar signs.

Briefly, how it works is that companies that emit gasses are given a certain amount of 'carbon credits' and they may buy or sell these credits to other companies if they have too many credits and the other company releases more gasses and needs these credits to offset their pollution. While it is an incentive for the larger companies to TRY to reduce their emissions, if they have the cash, they can buy their way out of it so it becomes a rather shady idea. Now, these carbon credits are traded on various stock markets and it is really gaining momentum.

While it is not commonplace to trade these credits yet, I feel this subject needs to be thought about a little more because other than a vehicle to make money, some of the methods of dealing with pollution are pretty thin. If it reduces emissions, I guess it could be a good way to go...my jury is out on this one.

This is a new client and the art director was absolutely grand to work for. I would post more sketches but I have dozens as I had the latitude to conceptualize whatever I wanted in the beginning and then we went through the piles of work and sifted through what she wanted and what the editor wanted. It also gave me a chance to play with doing some black and white work which I haven't done since 1995! There will be more posts of recent black and white stuff which I am excited about. This black and white work led to another job for another new client.

So, get green people...and make some money! Ugh.

Breathe Deeply

2007-03-20T13:34:02+00:00

A few weeks ago, I was reminded how sensitive I am to smoke and oils. One of my senior students was working in oils in class and had standard turps as his cleaning agent. I haven't used oils in 7 years so smelling the stuff was a pleasant surprise for my memory banks for the first 20 minutes of this lingering odor. Then, some odd things happened...my throat started closing up and my lungs started to feel heated...not really a burning sensation but sort of tightening up. Those sensations eventually lasted about two days.

What a surprise! I was surprised about how sensitive I got over time. (The girls dig that...) Thinking about it, I rarely even smell cigarette smoke anymore either but when I do, I try to clear the room. I smoked for 15 years while I was using oils and was constantly sick with strep throat and other bronchial issues. One time (because of a Crystal Clear incident where I was spraying outside and accidentally breathed in some fumes) I got so sick to the point of getting pneumonia and having to live on antibiotics and steroids for two months. Certainly nothing as bad as Parada's experience but still, every once in a while I think about the damage I've done to myself since 1987 using oils, Liquin, Cobalt Drier, turps and Crystal Clear on top of smoking well before that, the possible future scares the hell out of me.

Smoke Free: somewhere around 6 years Oil free: 7 years....

That is my Public Service Announcement for the year. Just say no.

The drawing for this was done last year when I was thinkng about my anniversary quitting smoking and I eventually did this piece a couple of months ago when I had some down time.

Leppy's Attempt for More Green

2007-03-17T15:26:16+00:00

I was asked by Dan Smith over at the Wall Street Journal to do this piece. As usual, an overnighter for today's issue (Saturday). Happy St. Patrick's Day!

He said he was initially embarrassed to assign a 'leprechaun' illustration (the editor wanted it) but thought I would give it a new interpretation rather than the 'ole schtick' of the cartoony sort of versions that are predominant out there.

Sadly it is going to print black and white with a spot in color on the front page of the Finance section. I really think the black and white version reads well especially the texture. I was excited to desaturate it and see the result. The type was added in the end digitally. The original didn't have type but I suggested to him that I think it would work better in this case. I drew out some text, scanned it and did some masking in Photoshop.

It is always fun to work for Wall Street, especially with the quick turnarounds and, of course, the snazzy people that work there!

Reprise

2007-02-27T03:56:05+00:00

Late at night for the last week when I am done with other stuff, I've been putzing around with this from my previous post as a full color piece. Not sure if it is completely done at the moment but I like where it is now.

When working on it, I decided to use some colors that while not cliche for the 70's, reminded me of the decor/colors in my house when I was young.

Six Children Die

2007-02-20T15:01:52+00:00

I was working on a series of drawings for a cover and 3 interiors over the weekend for a new client and got side tracked.

I was reading some articles Saturday morning on CNN.com while having the usual cup of Earl Grey and this story jumped out at me. Last night, I started noodling around with some images in the sketchbook thinking about the article while eating Fiery Habanero Doritos and watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent again. This is what came out of the pen around midnight.

Woman, 6 Children Die In Pa. House Fire

WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- Fire swept through a house in southwestern Pennsylvania early Saturday, killing six young children and a woman and injuring one other person, state police said.
Several people in the house were able to escape, state Trooper Brian Burden said.
Police said the young victims were four girls ages 4, 9, 7 and 10, and two boys ages 2 and 3. Authorities said the woman was the mother of three of the children.
Robert Husner, who was staying in the home, said Joshua Arthur Sr., the father of three of the children, woke him and the two of them tried to rescue all six children, who were sleeping in at least three separate bedrooms.
"The flames were just too high," said Husner, 27. "I couldn't get in, there was so much smoke."
The home's gas furnace was not working so the residents were using space heaters throughout the home to keep warm, Husner said. Authorities said it was unclear whether they contributed to the fire, which was being investigated by a state police fire marshal.
State police identified the victims as Rebecca Eddy, 26, and her children Tiffany Blake, 10, Rebecca Blake, 9, and Diamond Blake, 7; and Arthur's children, Donna Jo Arthur, 5, Joshua Arthur Jr., 3, and Christopher Arthur, 2. Arthur was listed in serious condition at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. Husner and two other people escaped from the flames, authorities aid.
Firefighters arrived at 3:15 a.m. and found flames 10 to 15 feet high coming from the split-level house, Waynesburg Volunteer Fire Company Chief Larry Marshall said.
"Fire was shooting out all the windows and doors," Marshall said. The blaze was under control in about 30 minutes, "but it was too late," he said.
Neighbor Mike Vukmanic, 23, who lives about 100 yards away, said he called 911 after he heard "a screaming, pounding noise" and looked out to see the home's back door open and flames inside.
A few minutes later, Vukmanic said, "it was just engulfed."
Vukmanic's stepfather, Tony Simonetti, ran to the house and found a man who told him there were people inside.
"I looked. There was no way to get into the house," Simonetti said.
Waynesburg is in rural southwestern Pennsylvania about 35 miles from Pittsburgh.