IF: Flawed

Haven't posted to Illustration Friday for a little while. Sometimes flaws are only a state of mind... this was a self promo piece I did titled "Happy On The Inside"

Weekly Dig Cover

I was contacted early this week by Tak to contribute to the cover over at Weekly Dig. My first official cover too! Thanks for the opportunity guys! See the issue here - link.

Eyes to the Skies

This illustration was done for the Talk of the Town section in the February issue of 417 Magazine. The blurb was about the Branson Regional Airport kicking off its opening with a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds show.

Counter Currencies

Illustration done for the February issue of St. Louis Magazine about alternative currencies that are being revisited. link

The Other Wyeth

Illustration done for Main Line Today February issue on an article about the well know artist Andrew Wyeth and his lesser known brother, Nat. The full article can be found here - link. And fine art prints here - link

Wanna come live with RAWTOASTDESIGN?!?

So after living in NYC for a while your definition of normalcy becomes rather questionable and desensitized. So I'm not sure how normal this is but I figured I'd utilize all my options for posting this. Here's a little info about RAWTOASTDESIGN that you might not have known...I'm a renter, live near the East Village in Manhattan, I eat a lot of bread and butter, live in a great 3 bedroom apartment and have two roommates...until this month. One of our roommates has moved out and we are looking for a new one. We're open to the length of stay, but would like at least a 2-3 month commitment and if we all get along and you want to stay it could be long term. Details are on craigslist...http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sub/1008915636.html -- and if your interested, give me a shout, tell me a little about yourself, and we'll work out the details. And to any out-of-towners I'm sure the price probably seems pretty insane, rest assured, we think so too...but it is NYC and if you understand how great this city is, you'll understand why we pay what we pay. Cheers!

Jesse Kuhn
el presidente
RAWTOASTDESIGN

IF: Resolve

Been awhile since I've had some spare time to do one for IF. This weeks topic is "Resolve"... with a little careful planning this fatty is about to resolve his hunger pangs... unless that gluttonous belly sucks him down to his demise first.

Three Blind Mice prints available in the RTD store!

New Work / Time Out NY Kids

Had the pleasure of working with Skye Back, a wonderful Art Director over at Time Out New York Kids for this month's January issue. Four illos accompanied this "crack o’ dawn directory of things to do" in NYC article.


Things to do at dawn


Grab a booth


Mingle with mutts


Road to salvation

New Work / Cincinnati Magazine

I did this recently for an article in Cincinnati Magazine. It was about property values near bike trails. Homeowners near bike trails all across the country have complained that the trails would increase noise pollution and crime while decreasing property values. Turns out they were wrong...read the full article on cincinnatimagazine.com.

Happy Holidays from RAWTOASTDESIGN!

Things have been bustling around the factory here recently with several new illustration clients entrusting The Republic to add a little magic to their editorial spreads. Some new allies include; Time Out Chicago, Time Out NY Kids (4 illos due out in the Jan 09 issue), Cincinnati Magazine, Mainline Today, St. Louis Magazine, and 417 Magazine.

A couple album design projects are underway with two NY based bands - The Jon LaDeau Trio and The Foster McGinty Band. And as always The Quirkles are keepin' RTD plenty busy also. Two new products are in development/design stages and are slated for an early spring release date which can be read more about in this months newsletter over at http://www.quirkles.com/e-newsletter/000122008/index.htm.

In Spirit of the Holiday season we're offering up a couple print specials as well. All online print orders will receive a FREE 8"x10" print of their choice. Pretty simple...you place an order in the RTD $TORE and tell us in the Paypal comments section during checkout which print you would like us to include for FREE and we'll do just that.

We have also decided that in spirit of all the "Recession Specials" being plastered on store fronts throughout the city we would do our own Recession Web Special. We understand that times are less than great for a lot of our good friends out there right now and the last thing we want to see happen is your Christmas tree go neglected and sparse with gifts to your loved ones this year. If you've been wanting to get one of our art prints this year as a gift to a friend or even yourself and just haven't been able fit it in the ol' budget then this is definitely for you. No strings attached we'll send you a free signed 5"x7" print of your choice for bein' such a great friend to RTD. It's that simple for you...and our way of saying Merry Christmas as well. Shoot us an email at info@rawtoastdesign.com with your address and the title of the print you want and we'll ship one out to ya.

If you feel uncomfortable taking things from people for free then throw a couple bucks this way and then tell us what 5"x7" print you want. I've set up a donation link below. Any and all money contributed will be matched by RTD and then donated to planusa.org. They help kids, and we think that's great. They are a top rated organization within the charitywatch.org rankings and have met the standards of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. Donate through Paypal HERE.

Do act quickly though! All orders need to be in by midnight this Saturday (12/13/08) in order to get them to you before Christmas. Any orders received after that date may not ship until the 30th due to a scheduled sleigh ride for RTD over the holidays.

As always, thank you all for your support and constant encouragement! Stay safe, solid, pro pictures, and please keep stopping by and eyeballin' the work!

Best,

Jesse Kuhn

Emperor, Lover, Picture Maker
The Republic of Rawtoastdesign
www.rawtoastdesign.com
http://rawtoastdesign.blogspot.com

IF: Similar {3}

Cats all look the same too me... I'm sure they would say the same about us though too. This is a new illustration from my aluminum trash can series titled "Squatters". Prints available here.

IF: Similar {2}

I just finished this for 417 Magazine...The article is on a turkey processing plant that was recently closed down. I actually submitted it while it was still a work in progress last week for the IF: Balloons topic, but didn't get it in til late Thursday night. Anyways, I think it works for "Similar" as well so I'm posting the final version here for it too. Hope everyone is havin a great week!

Art prints available - link

Indypendent

This was an illustration done for the Indypendent that accompanied an article on tenant blacklisting. Apparently if you take your landlord to court for neglecting to maintain the property that you are renting you end up going on a list (even if you win the case and the judge rules in your favor) that makes it practically impossible to ever get a lease on another apartment/home again.

I also have a few friends who swear their keys run away from them after they set them down...so to all you key chasers out there I dedicate this one to you :) Prints available here.

IF: Similar

As always, I'm lookin forward to the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story this year and threw this together for fun/promo purposes last week. It seems to fit the bill for this weeks Illustration Friday topic as well. Prints available here.

IF: Balloon

This is actually a work in progress for an editorial piece I'm working on that's not due until next week so I thought I would post it here since it fit the Illustration Friday topic too. The article is on a turkey processing plant that was recently closed down. Feedback is welcomed!

*update*
Art prints are available now as well - All Turkeys Go To heaven