Editorial Illustration for Utne Reader : When Smart Kids Grow Up

This was an editorial illustration done for an article titled, When Smart Kids Grow Up.

This article highlighted findings from the Harvard Business Review about the confidence levels of gifted children after they grow up.

In a Columbia University study, bright fifth graders were evaluated to determine how different kinds of praise affected their performances. The students were given three sets of problems—the first relatively easy, the second nearly impossible, and the third simple. Every child succeeded easily on the first set and failed the second set, but their performance on the third set varied depending on earlier feedback. Offering the praise “You must be really smart!” to one group resulted in a 25 percent drop in performance on the third set of problems. Conversely, the group that received praise that focused on their effort (“You must have worked really hard!”) improved their performance by 25 percent. The “smart” group became stymied, while the “hard-working” group persisted, feeling that if they tried hard enough, they would succeed.

Ironically, writes the Review, “gifted children grow up to be more vulnerable, and less confident, even when they should be the most confident people in the room.”

I really wanted to magnify the feeling of the gifted adults looming academic success in this illustration.

RTD, Art Prints, & Handmade Cavalcade

RTD will be at Littlefield this Saturday for a rompin' good time at The Fourth Annual Spring Handmade Cavalcade. Info below and maps and stuff too. Tell all your friends to stop on by and say hello with a Facebook on this shiz! http://www.facebook.com/events/337503342981033/

 

Lovers of all things local and handmade are marking their calendars for Saturday May 5th, when Etsy New York, your local street team, hosts its fourth annual Spring Handmade Cavalcade at the arts and performance venue Littlefield in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood. From 11AM until 5PM shoppers can load up on clothing, jewelry, accessories, paper goods, bath and body treasures, toys, housewares and more, all handmade by some of the most creative local artisans and crafters in the NYC metropolitan area. Hang out and celebrate Cinco de Mayo with our "Cavalcade Cocktail" from your Littlefield bartender, being served specially for this event. 

All are encouraged to arrive early, for the first 100 shoppers will receive an amazing goodie bag packed with a unique sampling of handmade wares from members of Etsy New York and local small businesses sponsoring the event. With each purchase, shoppers will also receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of three Etsy New York prize packages, filled with handmade donations from our talented members. 

http://www.handmadecavalcade.com/

 

Spring Weekender @ Dekalb Market

Stop on by and say hello this weekend! Join Raw Toast Design at the Dekalb Market Spring Weekender. Details below...

APRIL 7th & 8th // 10 – 6pm

SPRING WEEKENDER will be held April 7 – 8 to celebrate the inaugural market in 2012. The two-day extravaganza will be host a myriad of activities including:

* 40 retail & food outdoor vendors showcasing arts & crafts, antiques, new & vintage clothing, jewelry, furniture, prints and more

* A curated flower and garden market

* Classes & workshops for adults and children centered around cooking, farming, gardening, and crafting

* Easter activities including a market wide Easter egg hunt

* Live music from local bands & DJ sets

* Beer & wine garden featuring local brews

Check out the Dekalb Market website to learn more about this really cool space and their upcoming shows and programming.

Creative Quarterly 27 Winners Announced

CQ will be featuring a couple of my illustrations on their online gallery for Creative Quarterly 27. The Alternative Medicine cover illustration for Oakland Magazine and the Momo Monster illo for St. Louis Magazine.

Congrats to all the other CQ winners as well! Here's the full list and post from CQ's website

Congratulations to our winners and runner-ups. Judging was tough as always and there were a good many pieces that fell just shy of getting in. Winners will be featured in Issue 27 coming out this Spring; we’ll also feature them and our runner’s-up online as soon as the issue is out.

*Denote multiple winners

CQ27: Winners
Fine Art: Professional
Jerry Berg
Garrett Bergemann
Laura Bifano
Bryan Christie
Matthew Dols
Michael E. Hockenbury
Bruce Humphries
Anita Kunz
Alison Kuo
Francine leClercq
Douglas Malone
Charles Williams
Brandi La Zard

Fine Art: Student
Erica Hoosic, Meyers School of Art

Graphic Design: Professional
Brian Danaher*
Jeff Dumire
Andrew Effendy
Simon Fong
Ian Jamieson
Reina Koyano
Andrew Nilsen
Colin Nun
Ologie
Shine Advertising
Joe Shouldice
Brian Singer
Daniel Taylor

Graphic Design: Student
Viktoriya Dubskiy, Tyler School of Art/Temple University
Jiin Kim, Art Center College of Design
Karen Liong, Academy of Art University
Jennifer Reeves, University of North Texas
Wayne Tang, Art Center College of Design
Jennifer Wijaya, Academy of Art University*
Shushi Yoshinaga, Drexel University

Illustration: Professional
Vlad Alvarez
Scott Bakal
Sylvie Daigneault
Matthew Daley
Mohamed Danawi
Paul Garland
Ilaria Grimaldi
Jerry Hoare
Mark Hoffmann
Daniel Horowitz
Yina Kim
Karen Klassen
Monika Maniecki
Doug Panton
Jon Rice
Matt Richards
Jamie Runnells
Mario Zucca

Illustration: Student
Blaine Burgos, Fashion Institute of Technology
Maelle Doliveux, School of Visual Arts*
Kisung Koh
Jessica LeClerc, New Hampshire Institute of Art*
Haejeon Lee
Llewellyn Mejia, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Adam Osgood, North Carolina State University
Elisabeth Pulido, Brigham Young University
Angela Rizza, Fashion Institute of Technology
Cecilia Ruiz, School of Visual Arts
Nancy Zhang, OCAD University

Photography: Professional
Andy Bloxham
William Castellana*
Paula Dixon
Adam Goudreau
Frank Hamrick
James Heil
Alan Horsager
Ken Mizoguchi
Kelly Nicolaisen
Johanna Warwick

Photography: Student
Russell Beazell, Ringling College of Art & Design
Elizabeth Bowman, UW La Crosse
Danielle Burke, Ringling College of Art & Design
Sarah Gersbach, Moore College of Art & Design
Sol Han, Seoul Art College
Andrew Hefter, Savannah College of Art & Design
June Korea, Art Center College of Design
Sophie Schwartz, Laurel School
Gabriella Sturchio
Jerome Sturm, Radford University
Samantha Swartz

CQ27: Runners-Up
Runners-up will be displayed on the online Gallery Spring 2012.

Illustration: Professional: Runner Up
Richard Abarno
Abbey Aichinger
Paula Airth
Scott Bakal
Dan Billen
Kristina Carroll
Samantha Chron
Caitlin Clarkson*
Alice Crawford
Sylvie Daigneault
Matthew Daley*
Mohamed Danawi*
Peter Diamond
Bojana Dimitrovski
Andy Gabrisiak
Denise Gallagher
Paul Garland
Barbara Ana Gomez
Ohara Hale
Jesse Kuhn*
Anita Kunz
Anne Lueck
Cassia Lupo
Nicholas McNally
Mr. Papriko
Jake Pauls
Doug Pedersen
Pimlada Phuapradit
Andy Potts
Nick Ramos
Corinne Reid
Franziska Walther
Michelle Woodward
Daniel Zender

Illustration: Student: Runner Up
Ricardo Bessa, Kingston University London
Danielle Feliciano, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Kelsey Heinrichs, Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Amanda Ho, Brigham Young University
Jaesun Kim, Art Center College of Design
Agnes Lee, Art Center College of Design
Veronica Miller, Pratt
Amanda Mocci, Université du Québec à Montréal
Elisabeth Pulido, Brigham Young University*
Bill Rebholz, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Mushk Rizvi, The Academy of Arts
Katie Skau, Pratt

Fine Art: Professional: Runner Up
Takanori Aiba
Scott Bakal
Amanda Bennett
Ben Bonner
Alexander Bostic
Alistair Chang
Bryan Christie
Brent Funderburk
Jenie Gao
Michael E. Hockenbury
Shauna Holiman and Penny Putnam
Joseph Kucinski
Anita Kunz
Kresimir Letinic
Julie Lieberman
Douglas Malone*
Viki Quinn
Semion Rabinkov
Dave Sheppard
Lucy Wilson

Graphic Design: Professional: Runner Up
Paula Airth
Naama Benziman
Kelly Bryant
Ellen Bruss Design
Namoo Kim
Leibold Associates, Inc.
Daniel Mason
Mucca Deslgn Corp.
Andrew Nilsen*
Jimmy Parker
Nick Ramos*
Kriston Sellier
Shine Advertising*

Graphic Design: Student: Runner Up
Lauren Bernal, University of North Texas
Ashley Bryant, Shepherd University
Randi Giles
Julie Goodwin, Academy of Art University*
Adam Hale, Art Center College of Design
Kevin Han, Art Center College of Design
Paul Hoppe, Art Center College of Design
Sonya Houston, Tyler School of Art
Shin-Yun Huang, Academy of Art University
Erin Kim
Michael Kim, Art Center College of Design
Mercy Lomelin, University of North Texas
Carol Ly, Tyler School of Art/Temple University
Aanchal Mandhyan, Academy of Art University
Macy Nguyen, University of North Texas
Ji Yong Raisa Park, Art Center College of Design
Johnny Selman
Wei Sun, Academy of Art University
Sarah Surrette, Tyler School of Art
Andrea Yung Toth, Academy of Art University
Molly Weber, Academy of Art University
Ben Wong, Academy of Art University
Shushi Yoshinaga, Drexel University

Photography: Professional: Runner Up
Marti Belcher
William Castellana
Bryan Christie
Victor Currie
Erin Dobosiewicz
Natalie Evans
Alan Horsager
Catherine Redmond
Bev Short
Bev Short
Alec Sun
Kimberly Boyd Vickrey
Daniel Victor

Photography: Student: Runner Up
Cyndi Waldron

Editorial Illustration for Oakland Magazine

This was a cover illustration that I did for Oakland Magazine last month. The feature focused on all the different alternative therapies that are available to alleviate ailments and the rising popularity of these forms of medicine. I was really happy with how simple, bold, and conceptual the final cover turned out. Debbi from Oakland Mag was a real pleasure to work with too!

Kickstarter Game + The Departure = Awesome App

Hey everybody! I've been encouraged to turn some of my characters into games for awhile now. I'm looking to make that happen with The Departure and am hoping that it will become a reality with the help of this kickstarter game campaign.

It's a super cool way to raise funding for projects like this. I've included a bunch of cool rewards for all the donation levels. Please check it out and share it with everyone you know! Thanks so much! Kickstarter Game : The Departure

Illustration Commission

It's been awhile since I've been available for personal illustration commissions, and have had to turn most down over the past year. If you've been itching to get something personalized by RTD please contact me through my website. Subject matter is wide open, but I've always been attracted to strange and bizarre... the weirder the better! So hop on over and get your illustration commission started here...
Illustration Commission - Raw Toast Design

Illustrations For an iPhone / iPad Game

One of my latest projects was creating the illustrations for the Meow Maze iPhone/iPad racing game app. It's a fun little maze game that you can race friends through by using GameCenter. It's on itunes now, check it out...
http://bit.ly/meow-maze-game







Meow Maze iTunes screenshots...











Meow Maze video demo...



Meow Maze merch...



Meow Maze Merchandise - http://bit.ly/meowmazemerch

Get the App - Meow Maze Racing Game