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.

*********

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

Editorial Illustration - Utne Reader: Debtors Anonymous

This was an editorial illustration done for Utne Reader's March-April issue for an article on the Debtors Anonymous organization. Debtors Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from compulsive debting. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt.

The final illustration drew inspiration from part of the article that focused on the emotion that DA is fighting, "when one tries to cover up shame or acts unconsciously with money, looking to get unmet needs satisfied."

This assignment was an interesting one, not necessarily due to the article, but the conditions in which I delivered the initial concepts to Stephanie over at Utne.

I was flying back to NYC a couple days before the concept sketches were due(thinking I had plenty of time still) with a layover in Charlotte, NC. This layover just so happened to coincide with their big ice-storm-freak-out-end-of-days-debauchery that took place there this winter. I actually made it on my connecting flight and was in the plane on the runway when the captain informed us that the airport had run out of de-icer and all remaining flights had been canceled for the night. By the time I got a flight rebooked, all the hotels were sold out for the night. Myself and thousands of other humans were then left to fend for ourselves for the night at an "airport lock-in."

Long story short, one canceled flight evolved to a total of nine canceled flights over the course of three days. I was actually traveling without my portable scanner(Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner) too, but fortunately had my iPhone and was able to take photos of my sketches and prepare them for sending. My iPhone actually worked just as well as a scanner for this purpose since sketches don't need to be really high quality at this stage. On the due date for concept sketches everything was sent off on time from my makeshift airport shelter, Steph never knew the difference, and I was saved by my portable studio once again. Another reason why I love and embrace the freedom and mobility that constantly evolving technology gives humans and their businesses.


The three concept sketches that were delivered for this freelance illustration project.

Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Awards Winners

RTD is pleased to announce that two illustrations were chosen to be included in this years 2011 Applied Arts Photography & Illustration Awards. I found out last week that The Departure and Mustache On My Mind were both selected by the judging panel as winners. Details from the Applied Arts site are below...

Applied Arts is pleased to announce the winners of our 2011 Photography & Illustration Awards!

The winning work represents some of the very best produced in North America and abroad over the past year. All winning work will be showcased in the May/June 2011 issue of the magazine, the Winners Gallery on our website and at our annual Winners Exhibit, which we’re happy to announce will be held on Wednesday, October 26 and Thursday, October 27, 2011 at Artscape Wychwood Barns in Toronto.

The full list of this years winners is below. Congratulations to everyone!

Photography & Illustration

Michael Alberstat
Andric
KC Armstrong
Yuliya Art
Stefanie Augustine
Matt Barnes
Christine Battuz
Martin Beaulieu
Wesley Bedrosian
Laura Bifano
Maxime Bigras
Craig Boyko
Doug Bradshaw
Ian Brown
Marnie Burkhart
Dean Casavechia
Seb Cazes
Aaron Cobb
Michael Cooper
Michael Crichton
Lucie Crovatto
David Curleigh
Hugh D’Andrade
Geneviève Demers
Alain Desjean
Daniel Desmarais
Geneviève Després
Peter Diamond
James Digby-Jones
Bojana Dimitrovski
Don Dixon
Daniel Dociu
Simon Duhamel
Jess Dupuis
Jason Dwyer
Daniel Ehrenworth
Eydis Einarsdottir
Genevieve Faubert
Colin Faulkner
Tom Feiler
Michael Fellini
Rob Fiocca
Lisa Fleischmann
Antoine Fortin
Victor Fraile
Chris Frazer Smith
Manon Gauthier
Paul Giamou
Rogé Girard
Martin Girard
Pierre Girard
Chris Gordaneer
Valery Goulet
Jean-François Gratton
Tyler Gray
Charlotte Hale
Marie-Claude Hébert
Jane Heller
Leslie Hossack
James Ingram
Darren Jacknisky
Nicolett Jakab
John Jenson
Douglas Jones
Gabriel Jones
Karen Klassen
Jeremy Kohm
Chris Kotsakis
Jesse Kuhn - freelance illustrator
Dominique Lafond
Markku Lahdesmaki
Corey Lansdell
Stephane Lauzon
Leda & St.Jacques
Aaron Leighton
Peter Leverman
Will Lew
Brent Lewin
Jeremy Lewis
Pablo Lobato
John Londono
Peter Andrew Lusztyk
Eamon Mac Mahon
Angus Macgillivray
Mat MacQuarrie
Pierre Manning
Angelina McCormick
Edward McGowan
Yves Médam
René Milot
Russell Monk
Benjamin Antony Monn
Igor Morski
Stan Musilek
Amyn Nasser
Juliana Neufeld
Ewan Nicholson
Sandy Nicholson
Meaghan Ogilvie
Julien Pacaud
Laurent Pinabel
Istvan (Steve) Pinter
Scott Plumbe
Ian Pool
Andy Potts
Erik Putz
Raina + Wilson
RED the Agency
Jim Reed
Raul Rincon
Roy Ritchie
Philip Rostron
Roth and Ramberg
Angus Rowe MacPherson
Kristen Ruggles
Christian Schmidt
Mark Schwartz
Rick Sealock
Kira Shaimanova
Derek Shapton
Jay Shuster
George Simhoni
Christopher Simmons
Steve Simpson
Sai Sivanesan
Lasse Skarbovik
Brendan Smyth
Ryan Szulc
Peter Tamlin
Shannon Toth
Christian Tremblay
Carl Tremblay
James Tse
Pol Turgeon
Theodore Ushev
Sri Utami
Niels Van Iperen
Fabricio Vanden Broeck
Varial
Terry Vine
Paul Vismara
Grant Waddell
Tracy Walker
George Webber
Ben Weeks
Ashlea Wessel
Dean West
Carl Wiens
David Wile
Aaron Wilkin
Jimmy Williams
Chris Woods
Felix Wong

Young Blood Winners (this was a new category added this year for young creatives who have been out of school for three years or less)

Matthew Liteplo
Cate Francis
Adora Beatty
David Bornfriend
Annemarie Bourgeois
Robert Desroches
Jillian Ditner
Jessica Edwards
Peggy Faye
Matthew Higgins
Melanie Jane
Speers Landon
Eli Leavitt
Josee Lecompte
Jeremy Lewis
Angus Macgillivray
Katty Maurey
Robyn Ng
Shane Oosterhoff
Leigh Righton
Denyse Rizzo
Stuart Thursby
Stacy Weber
Drew Young

----------

Check out my full editorial illustration portfolio at http://www.rawtoastdesign.com

Editorial Illustration - Tennis Magazine: Stress Test

Just recently finished up this editorial illustration for the digital launch of Smash (the teen version of Tennis Magazine). It was for a piece called “Stress Test” about dealing with the top 10 pressure filled moments in tennis. Here's the link to the article to check out the full story and the new publication.

RTD would love to hear from ya! Please leave a comment below and let me know how you think it turned out.

--------------

Check out more of my freelance illustration work at http://www.rawtoastdesign.com.