BBB gets a C

The AARP Magazine commissioned these illustrations for an article Kate Ashford wrote on the BBB.  The Better Business Bureau has come under scrutiny recently for unethical grading practices on it's referral site. Paying members are given a significant boost to their online rating, and critics charge that the BBB isn't capable of accurately evaluating businesses on it's newly instituted letter grading system. Check out the article here.

I generally don't use a lot of reference for my work, and this piece was no exception, but I do have to recommend an incredible little architecture book I found when I was working on this. It is called The Observer's Book of Architecture. It is about the size of a bar of soap, and it is laid out like a bird watcher's guide. Every entry gives a little history and physical description of a different architectural detail you might see walking through the city. The details are all illustrated as isolated little vignettes, and color highlighted so you know what piece they are talking about. Now I want to find a book like this on everything else. Recommendations?

ARRP Magazine | 2010 (for A and B book)

 

ARRP Magazine | 2010 (for C book)

AARP in the Gym

Commissioned by The AARP Magazine for their fitness section, this illustration accompanied the statistic that 25 percent of all health club members are 55 or older.  ( In the original sketch the figure looked like he was about 500 years old. I am learning how to make my little guys look just old enough.)

Smoking Vs. Loneliness in the AARP

Pick up the phone and light a Pall Mall, a recent study comparing the health of smokers with that of antisocial nonsmokers and found that living without friends is as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Who knew? These illustrations were used by The AARP Magazine for a piece on the subject. (On second thought, it's possible that the piece was not advocating smoking after all. My mistake.)

New Illustration in the OP-ED

I had a chance to do some work for the New York Times' OP-ED section yesterday. I am on vacation in Florida at the moment, and I converted a corner of the hotel's breakfast room into a rather comfortable workspace. (My studio back in New York doesn't have free coffee refills.) I had a good time with this one so I thought I would detail my process.

On Wednesday, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released 50 page proposal for deficit reduction. In an OP-ED published on Thursday, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson gave a critique of the proposed cuts, and offered a few ideas of their own. My illustration would accompany a set of letters that readers had made in response to the OP-ED. So I had some reading to do. 

What interested me more than any of the issues being discussed, was the idea that all of this mental energy could be expended without effecting any actual change in policy. The image that first came to mind was that of two firemen arguing over methods while the house burns down around them.

Or maybe just one guy...

After a few sketches I went back to the text to see if I could scare up an alternative. Something the fire image hadn't quite addressed was the idea that everyone involved has something to gain, and that in the end, a dollar for this project means a dollar less somewhere else. This was an idea that called for a pie. I took a few different approaches on my "pie fight," but eventually settled on the sketch below. Which is the one that was approved.

And now, back to my piña colada.