James O'Brien's Studio Blog » hands

Wall Street Journal Jan 9

J. O'Brien — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:10:45 +0000

This illo was for a story about firms providing non-profits, governments, and businesses in developing countries with free, short-term consulting services while at the same time gaining firsthand insight into the needs of emerging markets.

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AARP illo

J. O'Brien — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:54:36 +0000

How fitting that I am commissioned by AARP for an illustration on the eve of my 50th birthday. This is for a story about phone scamming.

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The Wall Street Journal: Which spouse gets the house?

J. O'Brien — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 16:29:09 +0000

I did a quick assignment for the Wall Street Journal this week, a piece for their October 1 issue for a story about how the market is affecting divorce arrangements.

I really wanted to do the bird cage sketch but the art director wisely chose the house sketch and completely avoided discussing the cat sketch.

Below is my Colorforms version, all the vector paths separated.

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Hand with pencil

J. O'Brien — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:35:40 +0000

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Barry Hannah

J. O'Brien — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:38:17 +0000

I have three illustrations in the March 2011 issue of The Oxford American. This issue is about the author Barry Hannah who died one year ago this month.

Here’s some of the process, ink and gouache, assembled in Photoshop.

Here’s a repeating pattern tile I made from the drops.

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Lucky Funds cereal

J. O'Brien — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:34:50 +0000

Here’s some process from a piece I did last December, an exec reading the back of a box of Lucky Funds cereal.

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NYTimes illo in today’s Home section

J. O'Brien — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:17:37 +0000

Here’s the final illo, in today’s NYTimes Home section.

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Universal remote illo sketch

J. O'Brien — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 01:34:03 +0000

So I hope the previous post image isn’t being misread. ; )

Here is the sketch for the illo, for a story about universal remote controls, how they don’t necessarily work that well. I arranged the letter buttons to suggest the shape of the remote, and to allow some of the letter buttons to overlap the thumb and finger to imply that it wasn’t working. The floating letters suggest a flimsy, rickety construction, as if pushing a button causes it to move and move around the other buttons.

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Pink hand

J. O'Brien — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:45:02 +0000

This is a study for an illo I’m working on. Gouache with ink linework. My beginning gouache palette consists of Pthalo Blue, Magenta, and White, so a lot of pink and light blue images for now, til I expand the palette.

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Art House Co-op Sketchbook

J. O'Brien — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:04:29 +0000

I’m filling up an Art House Co-op sketchbook with drawings and whatnot, need to send it out this next week. The sketchbook will be exhibited at their Brooklyn Art Library. I was assigned the theme, “Trading forever.” Here is one of the spreads, more to come.

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