Carmelo Anthony for The New York Observer

Only ended up with about 7 hours to complete this one so I decided to keep it loose and take more of a sketchy approach to it.

New Yoker and Southern Seminary.

Portrait of Allen Gurganus for the New Yorker.

Cover for Southern Seminary.

Ghosts of Mayors Past for The New York Times

I really enjoyed working on this one and would like to thank Richard at the NYT for giving me the freedom to exaggerate and create the characters in the most natural way for me. It's great working for people who let you do what you do. As the norm of late, I only had two days to complete this one. I didn't think I'd be able to finish a painting in the way that I wanted so I decided to combine drawing and painting . . . has a nice life to it that I really enjoy.

This is a Freud that I hadn't yet shared here. I did this while in Vienna a couple of weeks ago where I was teaching a workshop on caricature, drawing and painting and the process of illustration and working for publications.

Der Spiegel "Slothful, frustrated, arrogant – how non-voters f@#k up democracy"

Latest cover painted for Der Spiegel. This is already my 6th cover for them, the other four are on hold and will print when the time is right. One of those covers is an obituary cover so sadly we have to wait for a certain person to pass on before that artwork will be released. My first Obituary cover. A strange thing to have to paint but it was an honor for me for sure. This cover was quite the challenge, but before I get into that, the copy on the cover reads: "Slothful, frustrated, arrogant – how non-voters f@#k up democracy" The idea was to come up with 8 characters who are all using their ballot's for things other than voting. I had less than two days to do this cover which was crazy. I decided the only way I could pull it off while maintaining my style would be to keep the painting style much looser than normal. I knew that would work out fine because of the size the characters on the final cover.

Always cool to see the work on news stands or in book stores. What is weird is that I finished around 5:00 am Friday morning and by Monday morning it was all over Europe. Crazy business.

Close up of main character to show how loose I kept the painting.

I really liked the look and feel of this guy, this was a fun job!

This was my favorite character but in the end there wasn't enough room.

Tattoo man sketch.

Originally this character was bigger and in my opinion a lot more fun and exaggerated.

There was a worry that the way I was painting her would offend people so if you compare this to the final version on the cover, you can see how I had to soften her a little more. Make her cuter.

Johnny Cash

Prints of my work are available if anyone is interested. I recorded the entire process while painting this Johnny . . . stay tuned to learn how you can watch it.

Quick turnaround I did this week for The Weekly Standard . . . BAMA!

Another quick turn around . . . could have used more time but enjoyed the time I had!

Rest in Peace brother . . .

CASH

Johnny sketch . . . working on the block in . . .

Kanye West for Rolling Stone!

Kanye West for Rolling Stone. Look for it this week! I gotta say that I really enjoyed working on this one! I wanted to keep things loose and painterly and more expressive. Thank you Mark at RS for letting me explore!

Best Ink

Here is a shot of me last night on the T.V. show "Best Ink". It was strange, I was there for an entire day, filming and mostly they have me saying things like, " What's up, how's it going?" Hahah! Of course, I said so much more that would have been helpful to have shared with viewers at home but at least the artists themselves got to hear what they needed to hear. Perhaps I was a little harsh with what I actually thought and said about their art? It would have been great for all of your enjoyment to actually hear what I said to the five remaining artists. :) It was also interesting to see that they edited everything in a way to obviously add more drama and suspense and to try and trick the viewer into thinking something else might happen. It was very interesting experience.

Warm up figure sketch . . .

Mother can you spare a room?

My latest illustration for the Wall Street Journal accompanies an article about 30 year olds who have to live with their parents because of the current state of the economy.

Jim James warm up sketch . . . value study.

Prints Available!

Prints available! If interested please contact me. Look through my portfolio to choose any drawing or painting that you like! It's that easy!

King of Fearmongers!

This was a one day turnaround. I was asked to make this guy look creepy and so I did, and had a fun time doing it too. Because I only had one day to paint it I decided to keep things really loose and painterly which is how I prefer it anyways. You can see from the image below that I started off with a green base and built my colors from there.

Wagner for Der Spiegel!

My latest cover painted for Der Spiegel! This cover was a dream job come true for me. I've been wanting to paint a cover for Der Spiegel for years now, and finally I've done it! Feels good! I was also pleased that they didn't want caricature for this cover, it obviously wouldn't have been appropriate for the article or the man. I've never painted a dragon before and I loved it! They had a very specific dragon in mind and for a while I took it in a very different direction. I soon found out they didn't want a "wicked" looking dragon, or at least, not as wicked as I was making it. Hahah! Wagner was a challenge too but mostly because all the references of him are so old and are of course in black and white. It took me a little longer to figure out my color palette. This was a welcomed challenge and it was a great experience working with Suze who I think is a great art director! That goes a long way. I hope to work with her again real soon? First thing I did was try to get a solid likeness . . . After the likeness was established, I then began to compose the image. Once approved it was time to paint!

Why So Serious?

I tell myself, that I wish painting for me was effortless but the truth is, I want to struggle when I paint. In fact I believe I thrive off of that struggle, and if it weren't for the fight, I'd be bored out of my mind. The struggle and challenge is a pressure which enables me to create artwork which hopefully continues to grow as well as being of quality that I can live with.

Pope Francis for Der Spiegel

Last Thursday I was asked to do my second cover for Der Spiegel which is already out. The first cover I painted for them won't be out until the last week of March. I was asked to do a drawing of the new Pope and had one day to do it . . . this is the result. I think the editor wasn't quite sure if I could actually finish in the short amount of time that I had so they developed another cover to fall back on in case I couldn't finish. I of course finished on time but unfortunately the staff got used to seeing different layouts with a pop-arty-look on a photograph and decided to go with that instead of my drawing. I don't take it personally and I am grateful to work with them and know I will work with them more. They were very happy with this drawing but like I said, they were used to seeing the other version and decided to go in that direction. My cover debut for Der Spiegel will be in a couple weeks and I will be sure to share my final painting here!

Britney Shakes!

Today's warm up sketch . . . Britney Howard, Alabama Shakes.

Levon Helm Sketch

25 minute sketch of Levon Helm!

Bio for United States Post Office!

Jason Seiler grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where a simple teenage prank launched his artistic career. After getting caught drawing parodies of his high school history teacher, Seiler’s principal gave him a job creating caricatures of other faculty members, and he never looked back. In 1996, Seiler moved to Chicago and spent several years touring with bands as a guitarist and singer, torn between a life as an artist or as a musician. He ultimately chose art and went on to study fine art illustration at the American Academy of Art before becoming a full-time artist. Though he does not consider himself strictly a caricaturist, his paintings and illustrations often include elements of caricature, used to exaggerate and create humor and depth in his subjects. His work, both humorous and serious, has been featured in numerous publications, including Rolling Stone, TIME, Der Spiegel, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, MAD magazine, and The New Yorker. Seiler’s client list has also included Disney, Universal Pictures, Penguin Group, Sony Image, and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, for which he worked as a character designer. In 2010, Seiler won a silver award from the Society of Illustrators West for his portrait of Elvis Costello. For several years, Seiler has taught painting and drawing for the online art school Schoolism. Aside from drawing, he loves to skydive and dreams of one day cage diving with great white sharks. Until that day comes, he will spend his time not devoted to art with his two daughters, Isabeau and Ava. Seiler lives in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Celebrity Chefs (2014) is his first project for the U.S. Postal Service. I'm excited to say that it is official that I will be doing a series of paintings for the United States Postal Service! My official bio and pic have been approved! Let the painting begin!!!!