Sketches for Portrait of Rick Rubin

Client: Chris Browne

Portrait of famed music producer Rick Rubin, for a dear friend and soon to be famed motion-picture man, Chris Browne. Content of the picture being the monumental profile of the man himself, with the background being one of his many gold records. Etched into that record will be a lauscaux [french-cave painting] style rendering of a bison.] As Rubin is famed for is stripping down of music to it's most essential elements, so enters the nod to prehistoric cave paintings, which SOME consider to be the first illustrations. As it happens, Mr. Rubin has a thing for Bison. Which of these sketches do YOU prefer?

Happy Birthday, Chris.

And on a seemingly unrelated note:
if I need it in the morning or the middle of the night
I ain't 2 proud 2 beg (no)
If the lovin' is strong then he got it goin' on and
I ain't 2 proud 2 beg (no)
2 inches or a yard rock hard or if it's saggin'
I ain't 2 proud 2 beg (no)
So it ain't like I'm braggin' just join the paddywagon cause
I ain't 2 proud 2 beg, I ain't 2 proud 2 beg

Cheers,
--rz

National Labor Federation Calendar Sketch

Client: National Labor Federation
A.D. Michael Petteys
Liason: Dave Fuller, Bay Area Alternative Press

I didn't care for the first sketch that I turned out for this job, and so I asked for more time to show more ideas. Thankfully, time was available. Sketches for the month of January, depicting exhaustion of black and latino workers, still dreaming Dr. King's dream of equality.

FATIMA BHUTTO

Client: GOATMILK

A.D. and Author: Wajahat Ali


To accompany an exclusive interview, a portrait of Fatima Bhutto, Pakistani journalist and poet, and niece to the recently deceased former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. Ms. Bhutto, apart from being charming, polite, clever, funny and exceedingly pretty, keeps a regular column at The News, an English-language Pakistani Paper.

The Dark Knight: The Rise of "The Real" Obama

Client: Goatmilk
A.D. : Wajahat Ali

Editorial comparing Obama to the Batman. Sketches below. I'm not entirely pleased with it, but then, I don't like hardly anything I do. Mr. Ali might give me another day to polish/reinforce/color. All praise and copyright recognition to Bob Kane, DC Comics, et al. And thanks to Waj for the fun opportunity.

Cheers,
--rz

The Pretty Glass Fortress of the European Union

Client: The Mule, Manchester, England

A.D. : Andy Bowman and the Mule Collective

Medium: Acrylic.

For a cover story on the barrier that immigrants encounter trying to enter the European Union.
A big thanks to my buddy, Manny Silva, who gave me a brief tele-conference tutorial on the 'quick-mask' photoshop kung-fu technique.

And thanks to Jeremy Forson who told me that it wasn't quite done in it's prior incarnation of pencil and Photoshop.

Cheers,
--rz

Robert Fisk

Client: Goatmilk
A.D. : Wajahat Ali


Portrait of Robert Fisk, seasoned and celebrated British Foreign Correspondent, for an exclusive interview between Fisk and Mr. Ali.

Click here for more on Fisk

Click here for more on Wajahat Ali.


Cheers, --rz

Sketch for Mule Immigration Issue

Title: Pending
Client: The Mule, Manchester, UK
A.D. : Andy Bowman and the Mule Collective

Cover story about immigration into the European Union, and the "increasingly harsh and supra-nationally coordinated mechanisms employed to keep the poor out of Europe while letting capital flow in." I learned a two-dollar word in 'supra-national,' and working for the Mule helps me with my goal of getting 5 pieces published in the UK this year to submit to the AOI's big book, Images.

Cheers, --rz