Tim wanted a brighter background, and while I was changing that I pulled the new type in and inadvertently found a better cropping and sent it to Tim. I sent it to him, because I liked how it sort of let the guy get a little bigger, and seem to add a little motion to the illustration. It also got rid of those feet I was having trouble with....naturally © Bill Mayer 2010
This cover for Mother Jones started as an inside illustration, full page of this little guy. When I did the thumbnails I already had something in my head, so just a few little thumbnails to get the idea on paper. Tim thought he should not be quite the heffer of a fat cat, so we slimmed him down a bit in the sketches. They wanted Him to look a bit more like the Monopoly guy....but not too close.
http://drawger.com/billmayer/images/3352830964.jpg
Where Have All the Whistleblowers Gone? Get Out of Jail Free Cards.... Big Wall Street Banks take a walk around the board on the tax payer, and Washington does not have the balls to let them all go belly up. "When President Barack Obama's jobs bill passed the House in early March, it contained a little-noticed provision to recover part of its $35 billion price tag by cracking down on offshore tax evasion, which costs the US some $100 billion a year in lost revenue. The provision, which requires foreign financial institutions to report more data to the Internal Revenue Service, was likely prompted by a 2008 Senate investigation that revealed the systematic efforts made by Swiss bank UBS to help moneyed Americans hide massive sums from the IRS." Well basically we are still suffering through the remains of these actions. and it looks like several more years before we may recover.....if ever.
Thumbnails for the inside illustration, not so many I just loved this really fat cat business guy with Uncle Sam under his thumb, but the editor wanted it to look like Sam and the cat were snuggleing up. They chose the up-close-in-your-face version. "C". © Bill Mayer 2010
Sketch showing the changes to the attitude and posture to make Uncle Sam look happy..© Bill Mayer 2010
I got this note from Tim the other day; thought I'd pass it along...
The Jan/Feb cover you illustrated is currently not only projected to outsell the March/April 2010 issue, but if the current numbers hold, will sell better than every one of the 2009 issues; so thanks for your great work on that! And I believe those stories (with your outstanding lead illustration) have gotten a good amount of exposure, both the print and online versions; so thanks for that too!
I’ll definitely look at your drawger posts. Love that site.
Best, Tim
Okay a great way to stay sharp. take an object from your studio and do ten sketches :10 min.... The keys are so dull and cold let’s try something a bit more ….festive….. Candy Corn works for me.
Right brain thinking....So it's a little exercise I started when I was in art school...Doesn't have to be brilliant, ( and sometimes there not) just a great way of staying fresh and keeping the ideas flowing. Honestly this little set of drawings only took :10 but then another 20 minutes to scan them and figure out how to post them....but you get the idea.
