I was fortunate enough to land a great gig with Twoseven Inc. They had a design job. The client, Hermes, wanted a comic book style for their store windows on Madison and 62nd St. Some people still remember me as a comic book artist… from the early 1990’s! Comics aren’t something you really ever forget how to do. So I gave it a shot and they really liked it.

An establishing shot. There was no story really. They just wanted the feeling there was. I tried to suggest more story and began to take some risks by injecting some critters in the panels.

Some panels were pretty large. Painted with latex paint using a range of different brushes. Sandpaper was my eraser!

Fred Harper is a New York City illustrator who’s wielded his pen for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Sports Illustrated, … and soon enough, you.

Born in the wilds of Western PA, Fred began his career drawing caricatures in the carnival (traumatizing many a teenage girl in the process.)  A few years later, he was drawing Spiderman, Conan and Dr. Strange for Marvel and DC Comics.

Fred now does caricatures and editorial illustrations for places like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Village Voice, and Sports Illustrated. He also paints three out of four covers for The Week Magazine.  Fred’s art has been published from Hong Kong to Honolulu.  He’s visually mocked everything from pug dogs to motorcycles, landscapes to Angelina Jolie’s lips.  Fred mostly works in gouache and Bristol (good for a fast turnaround!), but he’s also happy with oil paints, pencils, and Photoshop.

Sick of stock photography?  Fred is too.  So use the magic of his illustration to punch up annual reports, bedazzle your corporate communications, and polish your marketing brochures to a high sheen.  Fred can even do a portrait of that special executive someone.  And boy will investor relations improve when you give them something swank to look at!

So, use your sales collateral and hire Fred.

For Crain’s NY last week. Steve Wynn wants to buy Aquaduct race track in Queens, NY.

Cover for The Week Magazine.

I think I’m almost completely mobile. I’ve drawn out sketches in coffee shops. I’ve actually painted finals in coffee shops. Painting outside is cool on a nice day in a park. Intersections might be a problem. I just bought a small Wacom tablet that fits in a book bag easily. I have a big digital camera. My only technical difficulty is lighting. I’m hoping for nice sunny weather and shooting in the shade. Carrying lights would be a pain. I’m off to San Diego this weekend for the big comic convention. I told Sports Illustrated I’d be out this weekend almost 2 months ago. They seemed reluctant to hire someone else for this week. I got the impression it would be bad for me to take off, so I figured I’d try and make it work. Now I’m mainly concerned about flight delays since I’m coming back Sunday night while the final is due Monday. I hope to have the final done before I go home.

Three covers for The Week and a portrait of Felix Dennis, the fellow who owns The Week. I really like the diversity I get to paint for them. It’s a great challenge to produce images that have been done a zillion times and try and stay fresh for it.