It’s December in Vermont and I’m staring up the side of a mountain that is shrouded in fog. Beads of water are collecting on my goggles. From my perch on the chairlift I straighten my legs and watch a few islands of slush run down my skis. Below me, a couple walk their dog in…
Working from a home office allows me to avoid driving a car to a large extent. Still, it amazes me that I can experience two or three “incidents” on the road in a typical morning commute to drop the kids off at school. “Daddy, why did you call that man a f__ing a-hole?” was a…
After a busy Spring I decided to clean the office today and I thought, well, this doesn’t happen very often (at least, not often enough) so I thought I’d take a picture. It got me thinking about the psychological impact your work environment can have on you. Does it make you feel comfortable, at peace,…
Most creatives are familiar with the printed illustration annuals like Directory of Illustration and Workbook that get distributed to advertising agencies and publishers. These large books showcase the work of a comprehensive collection of illustrators trying to make an impression on potential art buyers. But at upwards of $2,500 per full-page ad, is it worth…
Unlike my father, who could not only fix a toaster but managed to construct an airplane in our garage, I’m not much of a handyman. For a technical illustrator who likes to draw mechanical subject matter, I’ve never been particularly excited about learning how to hang sheet rock or replace the rear struts on the…
I’ve been considering upgrading my point & shoot camera recently to a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR). After experiencing poor results shooting in low-light conditions and trying in vain to capture my hyperactive children with the delayed shutter release, I was thinking that now was as good a time as any to get a decent camera.…
As a fan of shows like “Modern Marvels” and “Build it Bigger” I’ve always been fascinated with giant bridges, buildings, tunnels, and other man-made wonders. My absolute favorite engineering accomplishment is something on a smaller scale, it’s claim to fame being speed. Co-developed by the the British and French governments in the sixties, Concorde still…
As a fan of professional tennis, I thought it would be fun to create an infographic of the amazing video replay technology that’s used to call lines on the ATP and WTA tours. The officiating system, known commercially as Hawk-Eye, uses an array of cameras that feed three dimensional coordinates of the flight of the…
The paper towel dispenser at my daughter’s preschool has a small note attached to it that implores the prospective hand-dryer to “please use only two towels…save a tree!”. But instead of considering the ecological impact of paper towels each time I’ve confronted this note, I find myself questioning the financial health of the school, or…
Back in the early days of Photoshop, it seemed like every couch artist tried their hand at Adobe’s magical bag of tricks and did a fine job of creating “cool” artwork. I too failed to resist the temptation of applying certain fun filters in the program, “Find Edges” being a personal favorite. My first digital…
