posted: May 2, 2012

More from an ongoing, shared sketchbook project by Scott Bakal and myself...

posted: December 14, 2011

Every illustrator would love to be able to fill up their time doing the very plum assignments, like Time magazine or New Yorker covers. But in reality a lot of us, myself included, must rely on getting some assignments that may be a little less glamorous but are no less important, to earn a living in this business. The bread and butter jobs. If it’s a project that you know fits your style and you have the time, why not do it? That’s how you build your client base.

When I got an email from Shape magazine asking me to do a series of plates of prepared food, comparing a healthy meal to a less healthy one, I didn’t hesitate to accept. I’ve illustrated a number of cookbooks so I was familiar with this type of work. I also knew the assignment would fill in a gap between a couple other jobs and that it would be fun and pretty straightforward. Art Directors Susanne Johansson and Sarah Munoz were great to work with and the job went very smoothly.

This all brings me to an exchange I had a long time ago with my former Greek landlord, who didn’t speak English very well. (He turned out to be a great landlord and a real gentleman). When I was a prospective tenant and he was interviewing me, he asked what I did for a living. I replied, “I’m an Illustrator, that’s my bread and butter.” He looked at me incredulously and asked, “You sell bread and butter?” Well Mr. Anastasopoulos, I guess I do sell bread and butter – sometimes.

posted: November 29, 2011

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a sketchbook with Scott Bakal. We take turns drawing and painting whatever comes into our heads and subtly, (or not so subtly), “altering” what the other person has done. There are no rules. I really enjoy the artistic challenge of feeding off of what Scott does, and the anticipation and surprise when I see what he has done with my stuff. I’m learning as I go. To be continued…

posted: August 23, 2011

This oldie was my first assignment for Rolling Stone, for the January 18, 2001 issue. It’s being included in the group show of illustrations from the Rolling Stone and the Art of the Record Review show at the Society of Illustrators from September 1 – October 22. Here’s a little background on how this job came about:
I was in NY for one of the American Illustration weekends that included visits to illustrator’s studios and a few designer/art director workplaces. I jumped at the chance to go to RS and meet the legendary Fred Woodward. After his presentation, I handed him a packet of samples of my work, as did a bunch of other attendees. Later that evening, I saw him at another AI event and mustered up the courage to talk to him. He surprised me by saying he had looked at my work and liked it. Maybe it was my statement that my teenage son would go ape if his dad were published in RS but about 3 weeks later, Fred called my studio and asked if I was “doing anything over the next week or so.” Senior Art Director Gail Anderson took over after that, but I remember I was walking on a cloud for a while. One of the cool things about this profession is getting to meet and sometimes work with the people you admire most. This job was an example of that.
Apparently, Jann Wenner liked the illustration too, because he purchased the original. SI tried valiantly to track it down for the show but Mr. Wenner had given it to Erykah Badu. Nice to know that it’s in good hands but I was kind of looking forward to seeing the original again because I haven’t seen it since I finished painting it. There will be a digital print in place of the original.