Editorial Illustration: Fall Book Review Cover

It's been a little while since I've posted some editorial work. Here was a cover illo that I did this past fall for Christian Century for their annual fall book review. A fun, fall theme, landscaped with many leather and cloth bound towering stacks of knowledge. These cover assignments are always a treat and I really like it when it's just a general/broad theme that is required for illustration. Hope you like it...

Last Day(s) for Holiday RTDs!

Just a quick reminder that this Thursday, the 15th, is the last day for online ordering of RTD prints in order to guarantee arrival by the 24th. (anything ordered after that I will do my best on, but can't guarantee arrival by the 24th)

http://www.rawtoastdesign.com/store/index.htm

For folks shopping in the NYC area, I will be at the BKCC Holiday Market on Saturday, Dec. 17th, at the Littlefield in Park Slope. details here

RTD prints pretty much cover the full range of sweet, salty, and strange to fit any of your giftmas needs :) Give 'em a look... RTD Store. Stay awesome everyone, and have a Happy New Year!

Best,

Jesse
http://www.rawtoastdesign.com

RTD & Holiday Shows: 1 Day Only

Hey everybody! I was at Target four weeks ago and they already had Christmas trees for sale. Which confused me, then made me a little sick to my stomach, then I got excited about the possibility of being a Christmas tree for Halloween. Anyhow, it also made me realize that the holidays were here weather I liked it or not. My time is a bit limited this season for craft markets, but you will be able to find me at the Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market on Saturday, December 17. Hope to see some of you there! Details below...

NOTE: RTD will be at the SATURDAY market ONLY, NOT Sunday.



Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market 2011
Sat + Sun, Dec. 17 + 18.   12 - 6pm.
Littlefield: 622 Degraw St. in Park Slope
Different vendors each day!
Info: BrooklynCraftCentral.com

MoMo Monster Editorial Illustration

St. Louis Magazine editorial illustration done for an article about a Missouri monster legend that is being turned into a movie. The Return of Momo brings the state’s one-time famous monster back to life with a new, low-budget horror flick. Momo the Monster was a mysterious hairy biped spotted near the town of Louisiana, MO in 1972. “It looked like a Bigfoot-type creature with a pumpkin-shaped head,” explains Johnno Zee, the writer/producer/director of Momo: The Missouri Monster, a horror-spoof film. Zee pays tribute to the monster’s enduring mystery with what he’s calling a “small-budget, B-movie grindhouse type of movie” featuring “Momo being pursued by a cryptozoologist Elvis impersonator.

Always a pleasure when these types of assignments show up. Here’s the original message from the art director at STL Mag... “This struck me as a topic you would be particularly good at illustrating as you generally draw lovely monsters and imagined creatures.”

Please count me in and consider me for all future monster assignments :)

Next Stop: London - Renegade Craft Fair

Yup, it's true. RTD is finally leaving the U.S. of A. (just temporarily though). Renegade Craft Fair has gone global and RTD is joining them. If you're in London stop by for a look at some wonderful artists. There are a bunch of great names on this years roster. If you're not in London (I'm sorry), but want to share any advice on it, please do! (especially getting artwork through customs). Details below...

The Renegade Craft Fair is headed across the pond to The Old Truman Brewery for our 1st Ever London Fair on October 8+9, 2011, from 11am – 6pm each day! Along with hundreds of today’s best makers of handmade goods, we’ll be hosting hands-on crafting workshops and planning a handful of fun surprises! This exciting indoor showcase of indie-craft is free-to-attend!

At the Renegade Craft Fair you can expect to find only the best indie-craft and DIY artisans! Featuring both local and international talent, shoppers can anticipate a vast array of independently designed jewelry, clothing, paper goods, home + garden goods, posters, artwork, plush objects, bath + body products, and so much more!!

Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn 10/02/11

RTD will be at Atlantic Antic this coming Sunday! Stop by and say hello and stock up on some art prints for those naked walls! RTD will be at H549 between Bond and Nevins Street (closer to Bond). Details for the full event below...

THE 37TH ANNUAL ATLANTIC ANTIC STREET FESTIVAL
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2011
12:00PM TO 6:00PM RAIN OR SHINE
ATLANTIC AVENUE: HICKS STREET TO FOURTH AVENUE



THE 37TH ANNUAL ATLANTIC ANTIC is an event not to be missed! On this beautiful autumn day in Brooklyn, the Atlantic Antic will bring together one million people to Atlantic Avenue to celebrate the longstanding tradition of food, festivities, and fun!

The Atlantic Antic is a Brooklyn institution, embracing the myriad of heritages that coexist in the Borough. Spanning four Brooklyn neighborhoods from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue, the Antic is the largest street festival in New York City! From start to finish, Atlantic Avenue is transformed into a sea of entertainment offering something for everyone.

Comprised of local and national vendors intertwined with trendy restaurants and boutiques, the Atlantic Antic features live music stages that showcase free performances from various cultural genres. Families enjoy pony rides, storytelling, and face painting on an entire block dedicated solely to kid-friendly activities. Best known for its eclectic delicacies, the Antic highlights an array of food from around the world including street fair favorites like funnel cake, sausage sandwiches, and roasted corn!

ATTEND

DIRECTIONS

The Atlantic Antic can be accessed from ten different blocks. Below is a list of nearby trains.

- Borough Hall: 2 3 4 5
- Jay Street-Metro Tech: A C F N R
- Bergen Street: F G
- Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets: A C G
- Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street: 2 3 4 5 B D N Q R

You can also take the ATLANTIC ANTIC SHUTTLE sponsored by NY Waterway's East River Ferry!

The ATLANTIC ANTIC SHUTTLE will run from 11:00AM to 7:00PM between Pier 11/Wall Street and Pier 6/Atlantic Avenue for $5 each way.

Editorial Illustration For Finning Canada: Safe Driving

Spot illustration for an employee magazine safety article about safe driving in Finning marked vehicles.

Advertising Illustration: Bayer Sustainability Campaign

These illustrations were a part of Bayer’s sustainability advertising campaign “Growing a Healthier World.” They were used within a brochure piece and as part of a tradeshow display to help their sustainability efforts stand out visually from their other photography driven marketing pieces.



Together With Nature:


Food, Health, and Well-being:


People and Partnerships:

Art of RTD app - FREE lite version

There is now a FREE version of the RTD art gallery app!

This lite version showcases 12 (36 images are in the full version) sample illustrations of Raw Toast Design’s most popular artwork! Every illustration includes the artist’s description and commentary about each one giving the viewer even more insight about the origin of the images. Each illustration can easily be saved as a wallpaper for your screen as well.

Get it here: http://bit.ly/Art-of-RTD-app-FREE

New Editorial Illustration For Baltimore Magazine

Here’s a recent editorial illustration created for an article on home delivery and the midwives that assist the process in this months issue of Baltimore Magazine. The idea was to convey a newborn image within a home environment and not the typical sterile hospital scene. You can check out the full article here.

I do continue to be randomly surprised by the twists and turns that projects take me through on this never-ending rabbit hole of a profession. One day I’m dabbling in technology, another I’m drawing creatures for fast food chains, and then I’m off to doing research on home birthing... never can predict what’s gonna pop up over at the good ol’ inbox next.

Art of RTD iPhone App Review Video

Here's a quick video of my recent Art of RTD app.

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Independent app developer Raw Toast Design has recently released Art of RTD, their first art gallery book app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch platforms. Get Jesse Kuhn of Raw Toast Design's art on your iPhone and put some illustration inspiration in your pocket with this art gallery app.

This handpicked selection showcases 36 illustrations of Raw Toast Design's most popular artwork. Every illustration includes the artist's description and commentary about each one giving the viewer even more insight about the origin of the images. Each illustration can easily be saved as a wallpaper for your screen as well.

Raw Toast Design is a multi-disciplinary picture making studio, a creative venture by Jesse Kuhn. Established in 2004, Raw Toast Design provides a wide range of visual matter solutions for clients including McDonalds, Pepcid, Bayer, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Wall Street Journal, American Way, Time Out New York, Time Out Chicago, Utne Reader, Tennis Magazine, and Johns Hopkins Magazine to name a few.

The work has been recognized and given honors through some appearances in fancy magazines and hardbound stacks of paper including Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, 3x3, Creative Quarterly, Applied Arts, and CMYK Magazine.

Jesse is constantly studying visual culture, and draws inspiration from books, magazines, galleries, films, humans, and travel. He is also fascinated by all things odd, strange and peculiar. He tries to dream on a regular basis and hopes that his work provokes a thought and perhaps a smile from it's viewer.

http://bit.ly/Art-App-RTD

Art App Of RTD: Now Available On Your iPhone, iPod, and iPad Devices

I’m very excited to announce that you can officially fit RTD comfortably in your pocket with the new fresh and shiny Art of RTD app. It’s now available in the iTunes store here http://bit.ly/Art-App-RTD. Please check it out, give it a spin, and leave a review (this gets you bonus points and really helps make the app more visible in the store).

I have personally handpicked this selection that showcases 36 illustrations of RTD’s most popular artwork! Every illustration includes an artist’s description and commentary about each one giving the viewer even more insight about the origin of the images. Each illustration can easily be saved as a wallpaper for your screen as well.

As always I really appreciate your support! It’s currently on sale for .99 cents, so go shake that couch, grab some quarters, nickles, and pennies, and put a little RTD magic in your pocket - http://bit.ly/Art-App-RTD.

I’ve got a few extra promo codes too. So...if the number .99 is something you have phobias towards or you’re one of those “I don’t pay for apps” types. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think is hiding inside the Earth’s moon for a shot at a free download code.

Check out the Art of RTD iPhone App Video Review too.

New Editorial Illustration For Tennis Magazine

This was a recent editorial illustration about night tennis done for Tennis Magazine. Fun assignment as always with Dennis H. who always encourages the conceptual nature of my work. I was really pleased with the way the final turned out.

Illustration Awards: 3x3 ProShow No. 8

Very excited to announce that "The Departure" illustration was selected by the jury for this years 3x3 ProShow No. 8.

Prints are available in the RTD Store... Art Prints & Greeting Cards

See my full freelance illustration portfolio at rawtoastdesign.com

Editorial Illustration For STL Magazine

Editorial illustration done for an article titled, "Midwestern Decency Is for Losers." It was a piece that went on to tell the story of editor Steve Friedman's journey from St. Louis to New York promoting his new memoir Lost on Treasure Island. There was a lot of colorful dialogue and text in the story. One prominent points was a lime green suit that Friedman buys under poor lighting conditions with the assumption that it is gray. The actual color isn't realized (to his horror) until he's walking down the streets of NYC and a mime begins mocking him during his interview lunch with GQ magazine.

As for the caterpillar reference... Friedman continuously illustrates himself through disempowering phrases his entire life, "I don't know," "I'm not sure," "I'll think about it," etc. He goes on to compare himself to a wily moth caterpillar as well. When he makes a failed attempt to return the lime green suit at Dillard's department store (altered suits are non-refundable), he begins repeating over and over in his head, "I am not a moth caterpillar, I am not a moth caterpillar." He then decides to use his new position he's just accepted as senior editor of GQ magazine to threaten the sales lady for being deceptive and selling him a gray suit that was actually lime green (not mentioning that he thought it was gray too). He tells her of his position and threatens to review the store's return policy and quote her name within the article. The scene ends with her writing him a refund voucher.



Initially, visuals for this story were a little hard to nail down because there was so much material to pull from. After discussing some of the lines from the story that I was drawn to with the art director this was where the final ended up. Strange and bizarre...just how I like it.

Editorial Illustrations For Utne Reader On Narcissism

Several editorial illustrations done for the May-June 2011 issue of UTNE Reader. These were done for a bundle of stories around the subject of narcissism.


Half page, opener for "The Culture of Narcissism" - playing off the idea of thinking you are the center of the universe.


"The Narcissism Myth" - this one revolves around the subject of young people and their need for outside validation (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) being rooted in their own insecurity.


"Just Do It" - the focus on this discussion was about self-improvement, self-help books, obsession with being the best we can be, and the power of positive thinking. More or less poking fun at this stuff.


"Whatever Happened to Empathy" - explored how much we've lost our ability to empathize with others, walk in other people's shoes, etc.


"Narcissus Regards a Book" - People want to read about themselves and what they're into, not great literature.

Album design - Foster McGinty: Chateau Fiasco

Album design and illustration for Foster McGinty's new album Chateau Fiasco.

Having designed his first album Peach Red a couple years back. I wanted to continue the evolution of that style on this one, incorporating a similar bizarre and surreal flavor with the same illustrative approach.

The title provided a nice foundation of word play to begin drawing inspiration from. Bringing down the house via a good ol' seafaring cephalopod was where things ultimately ended up. The music was a nice evolution from the first album as well. I definitely recommend checking it out and I hope you dig the cover too.

American Illustration 30

One of my illustrations, Mustache On My Mind, has been selected to appear in the American Illustration 30 annual. I've been included in the online gallery for the past couple years, but this is a first for making it into the book.

I'm honored to know that this years jury included Nicholas Blechman, The New York Times Book Review; Rachael Cole, Schwartz & Wade Books; Michael Ian Kaye, Mother New York; Todd Oldham, Todd Oldham Studio; D.W. Pine III, TIME; David Saylor, Scholastic Inc. and Dean Sebring, Worth. More than 7,000 images were entered by over 1,100 illustrators, magazines, agencies, publishers and schools. The jury selected, by a majority vote or better, only 316 images to appear in the book and represent the best illustrations from 2010. AI30 will be printed in full color and distributed worldwide in hardcover immediately after The Party, November 10, 2011. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at that too! Congratulations to all the other illustrators that made it in this year as well!

Behind the Scenes of TED

I love getting sucked into the TED vortex on a rainy day here in NYC. Which is exactly what happened yesterday. I actually came across a couple great behind the scenes videos over on the iso50 blog. What started off as the typical dose of TED inspiration, unfolded quickly into a very surreal experience.

Raghava who was part of the 2010 TED conference and can be seen in the second behind the scenes video above, was actually my roommate while I was studying animation at Parsons during the summer of 2001. This was my first taste of NYC living. We were housed in a tiny bunk-loft-style room above the Blue Water Grill in Union Square with no air conditioning and jack-hammering road construction that took place late at night all summer long. He and I unfortunately lost touch after Parsons, but after seeing his talk, and realizing that the New York City tractor beam had ironically pulled us both back to the island, I tracked him down and we are now planning to get reacquainted soon.

We both have passion for inspiring and working with kids, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this conversation evolves. You can read more about Raghava on his website raghavakk.com

Tales From the Sea... New Advertising Illustration Work For McDonalds Filet-O-Fish

Had the opportunity to work up some illustrations with Hoffman | Lewis for their McDonalds filet-o-fish "Tales From the Sea" campaign a few weeks ago. This one was a little tricky since there was only one week to work up sketches, get approval, and complete final artwork before poppin' these up in the air. Everyone over at Hoffman | Lewis was great though, and really helped streamline the process. These are only being used for a St. Louis, MO metro campaign though (not national unfortunately). So if you're in the STL keep eye out and see if you can spot all five!

2010 Illustration Art Print Winners

Congratulations to all of the illustration art print winners from 2010! I was still trying to round a few of them up which delayed the posting of the winner list. You can get in on the action for 2011 again too! Hop on over to the entry page now and get signed up.

Here's how it works... Sign up for the RTD mailing list and be entered for the monthly drawing - a FREE, signed, 5"x7" art print of your choice. You'll also be entered for the grand prize - a full sized 16"x20" limited edition, signed and numbered print that will be given away at the end of the year. RTD pays for the postage, so you've got nothing to lose. Sign up here.

January Illustration Print Winner

Gardener On Potato Island
Maya Kalabic - web | blog | twitter


February Illustration Print Winner

Boombox Love
John Eccleston - twitter


March Illustration Print Winner

Gardener On Potato Island
Jessica Fortner - web | twitter


April Illustration Print Winner

Pursuit of Runaway Keys
Amanda Potter - web | blog | twitter


May Illustration Print Winner

Fly Fishing
Allison Fraske - web


June Illustration Print Winner

The Patient Tree Hermit
Caitlin Cave - twitter


July Illustration Print Winner

Pot O' Gold
Josie Hughes - twitter


August Illustration Print Winner

Hope Is The New Fear
Susan Cervelli


September Illustration Print Winner

Let The Horns Blow
Tony Serebriany - twitter



October Illustration Print Winner

Fly Fishing
Mike Nelson - web | twitter


November Illustration Print Winner

Lost in Translation
Dora Hargittai


December Grand Prize Illustration Print Winner

Mustache On My Mind
Zac Alfson - web | twitter