I had fun creating this week's illustration for the Blotter, but I also thought it raised an interesting question. The item in the CL crime report had to do with a man nicknamed "Spider-Man" who was accused of beating his wheelchair-bound girlfriend and stealing her pain medicine. Given the grim subject matter, I didn't think my usual playful comic style of drawing was appropriate. What emerged was the more sinister-looking style you see above.
My question is: Do you think it's bad for an illustrator to play around with multiple styles of art like this? Or is it better to just choose one thing and always do that? (I'm thinking here of artists like Luc Latullipe or Steve Mac, folks who have settled on their one signature style and seem to do only that. I really love their work.)
The week before my drawing was far more playful, a carefree doodle about a man caught shoplifting sausages. Fun times!
It's Election Day in America and I'm a wreck. I've already pushed back tears twice this morning, once when I read about the death of Barack Obama's grandmother, and again after watching this spot (via Andrew Sullivan):
I am baffled to be experiencing such an emotional reaction to this election, but it seems to me that a lot of us are going through the same anxiety right now. Perhaps these are the tears that need to come at the end of an ugly era of American history, and tears that reflect the hope of a new era that just might be dawning.
I still can't let myself believe that Obama will actually win this thing -- typical Democratic superstition, I guess -- and I also realize that even if he does win, real "change" won't happen immediately. The clogged machinery of government will not correct itself overnight, and even an inspirational president can't do the job single-handedly.
But above all else, I've come to see this election as a possible symbol of American resiliency. It's our chance to say to the world, "We get it. Bush was a total clusterfuck. We're sorry 'bout all this." It's a fundamental choice of optimism over division, unity over segregation. Even if Obama should only prove to be a middling president, the fact of his ascendancy speaks volumes about the enduring power of the American Dream. I'm confident that he will be far more than middling.
The song that keeps playing in my head today is by India.Arie. Read the lyrics here. And here's a live performance of it:
Today is Write to Marry Day, a call for action in the battle to defeat California's discriminatory marriage amendment, Proposition 8.
Though I don't live in California, the issue carries a lot of concern for me. The BF and I got married earlier this year, but the union isn't likely to be recognized by Georgia anytime soon -- and especially not if Prop 8 gets written into the constitution of a stage as large and influential as California. It's a particularly odious piece of legislation that actually removes the right of same-sex couples to get married.
Although I was always gave lip service marriage rights, I never really understood what it meant until B and I tied the knot this May. The event had a unique and transformative effect not just on us, but on our entire families. For the first time in my life did I feel like my parents and close family members took my relationship seriously. It's brought us closer and cleaned up a lot of old baggage between us.
There have been some really great No On Prop 8 videos floating around the internets, and you can see many of them here.
What's really scary about all this is that it's come down largely to a money issue. The Mormon church and other "religious" groups have thrown barrels of cash at Prop 8 supporters, while fund-raising on the other side has been sluggish. That's why you should:
Sad news in the media world today. My former employer Creative Loafing has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company is $40 million in debt. Ouch. Another former employer, HX, is also in the weeds, with news that it might be closing its struggling Boston paper. (I'm actually not too shocked by that one, given my experience at HX.)
Seems like things are tough all over for print journalism. I was a skeptic for a long time that the medium of words on paper was actually in danger, but it appears now that the prophets of doom may have been right all along. Perhaps we really are witnessing the end of an era.
That said, here's my newest illustration for the Loaf's crime report, involving a street preacher with some fancy footwork who was distracting drivers on Boulevard. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Here are my two newest illustrations from the Creative Loafing crime report. I ended up two weeks in a row drawing items that involved ladies who'd had a bit too much to drink. Above, a girl who drank to the point of passing out, puking and soiling herself (probably not in that order), then laughing about it. Good times!
Below, a New Orleans woman who refused her DUI arrest because she was wearing "pink panties." Um, yeah. I guess the drinking issue has been on my mind lately. End of the summer pool party season and all.
Over in Woodruff Park, among the usual collection of makeshift sunglass stands that cover the area, I noticed one vendor selling obviously knockoff Barack Obama gear, including some hideous bright orange T-shirts with a poorly reproduced version of the image that appears to the right. Walking away from the stand, I nearly ran into a heavyset black man who was wearing a different shirt with similar messaging; it said: "My President is Black." (Really? Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves just a little?)
Back in my car, not five minutes later, I happened upon a small street corner protest outside one of the big downtown hotels. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't a protest at all but some sort of rally -- for John McCain. Yet the sign-wavers seemed completely devoid of any sense of pride or joy you might expect from a group of supporters. They were just a bunch of pissed-looking white folks. One middle-aged guy in particular had his jaws clenched up in a way that said, "Jesus, I hope I can make it back to Kennesaw before rush hour hits."
And it was at that moment that the new Big Boi/Mary J. Blige song "Somethin's Gotta Give" came on my car radio, which includes an explicit endorsement of Obama.
Seriously, have we ever experienced an election like this before?
The BF's baby sister starts school this week at UGA -- my alma mater -- but it was sheer coincidence that I chose an item from the police report involving a lost Georgia Bulldawg key chain. Really, it was.
Here's a recent Blotter doodle that I enjoyed drawing. You know, I've been cranking out these weekly illustrations for Creative Loafing's crime report for six (or is it seven?) years now, and I've decided that my favorite illustrations are the ones that include a sort of hidden joke -- taking the actual text of the police report and reading something into it that may not be there on first glance. That was definitely the case this week. My editor nearly didn't get the joke. But then she did, and she loved it. (Whew!)
I also have a bad tendency to draw animals. Like, a lot. So I guess this one's guilty on both counts.
Here's the actual item, written by Lauren Keating:
SPLITTING HAIRS? A 24-year-old Decatur woman said she got the wrong type of hair from a salon about three weeks ago. She said she was supposed to get human hair woven in, but later found out that she actually got synthetic hair. So she called police. "The hair cost her $180 to put in, and now she is claiming that the hair won't curl." So the officer talked to the owner of the hair-braiding salon on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. "She claimed the hair is really human hair," the officer wrote. The Decatur woman was adamant about filing a police report, since she believes she received the wrong services. No charges filed.
