The last of NEW YORK PRESS illos for now

Until I find more. There are more somewhere. Most likely locked in storage. Until then, this all the rest what I have. I did all kinds of illustrations for New York Press articles from about 1994-2000.

This was in the listings probably of a screening of some 60's drug addiction film. That's my guess. A symposium of Bust Magazine. I think I was told to make everyone Cathy. These next two were for Mistress Ruby's column The back of this says "Eddie Murphy". Anyone remember a film where he's in old person make-up and in prison? I think it was for a review of that. Another Mistress Ruby illo. I think the guy in the wheelchair is supposed to be Larry Flynt. For the listings for Karen Finley. At the time, Senator Jesse Helms was making a big deal about her getting an NEA grant. Anytime I was able to use my He Aims to Please character as a stand-in for “dirty old man”, I would. I probably did more illustrations with him than I did strips in my own comics. This was for an adult bookstore in their Holiday Gift Guide one year.

Cousin Blew Them All was a book title I or someone saw somewhere, probably among the freebies in the front of the Screw offices, and that was something else I tried to fit in where I could. Something about the NC-17 rating, and how the South Park movie was its latest potential casualty. For article about Dogme 95 filmmaking. About how in New York there wouldn't be any controversy over a Gay Pride Parade Happy New Year, everyone!

NEW YORK PRESS 1994-1999

Here are some more illustrations I did as an illustrator for the now-defunct New York Press when I worked for them. The Press and Screw have since unfortunately been rendered obsolete by the internet, but in the 90s were a Who's Who of cartoonists working in New York City. I'll try to say what these drawings are for from memory. I don't feel like making hyperlinks for anything this time. Find info yourself.

In the past I've cleaned up the originals but here I scanned from the originals so you can see the original pencils and paste lines. Let me know if you prefer one over the other.

This was an illo for a review of Eyes Wide Shut. I drew a few movie reviews I didn't get screeners or often see the reviews.

I think the idea here is since the movie was finished posthumously, director Stanley Kubrick would be rolling in his grave if he saw it. Get it? I don't remember what these were particularly for, but I think this was done for Seven-Day Itch, a column of the events that week written by my friend Jenny Ryan, who was assistant art director for them. An article written by Jim Knipfel, who was also New York Press's receptionist. He looked like the kid raising his hand. This was about getting an online chat by surprise when you were checking your e-mail, something that happened then. I think this was for a review of The Blair Witch Project. I tried to avoid likenesses if I could. For a long time, I illustrated a column by Mistress Ruby, a professional dominatrix. This was something she wrote for some kind of Madonna festival. For the listings. Maybe an outdoor concert? Review of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. I don't know what this is. An article about dirty old men, maybe. Notice a cameo by my He Aims to Please character. The next three are Mistress Ruby illustrations. I recognize Christopher Walken. I'm not sure who the D.J. Is supposed to be.

NEW YORK PRESS ILLOS IV

Here is the last of the illustrations I've featured every Sunday that I did from 1994-1998. I did a lot more, but they're lost forever. Or in storage somewhere.

The guy on TV is porn star Ron Jeremy with my stock dirty old man character for Mistress Ruby's sex advice column. I must have done this while on vacation, since it's the only illustration on typing paper, on the back of Embassy Suites stationary, where I stayed that year while at the San Diego Comicon (back when it was the only comic convention and actually about comics). Prostitution advocate/cartoonist Chester Brown would appreciate this one. Cover illo I did for Letter From LA column before ever having been there. Notice the difference between coloring on acetate before computers. I guess this was the listing for some Andy Warhol exhibit. Another cover illustration.

NEW YORK PRESS III

Some more illustrations I did for New York Press way back in the 90s. The others I did were shown last Sunday and the Sunday before that. Click the "New York Press" label on the bottom for those.

Article about the latex craze. The prospect of coming out. I did a lot of comics of the He Aims to Please guy but never actually gave him a name. For a while he was Enema Jack and in some strips he's been Professor Ross, but generally he's a stand-in for the archetypal dirty old man, which I'm starting to resemble more and more every day. He seems to have walked upon the back room of an S & M dungeon. I intentionally made those boots into the shape of a swastika. Isn't that clever? This was one of many Mistress Ruby columns I illustrated about life as a dominatrix. Here is one about the Mandingo fetish many of her clients had. Something about the many characters a dominatrix would play. About being in a Hustler store. The guy in the wheelchair is supposed to be Larry Flynt. That's supposed to be a cardboard cutout of him. I think this was for Letter From LA. Something by J.R. Taylor about his stint working for the tabloids. The writer is supposed to be him. He didn't like when artists drew him unflatteringly like this and artists that would draw him as the George Costanza lookalike he was wouldn't ever be allowed to draw for articles by him again.

New York Press illos, part 2

Here's more illustrations that kept me in Ramen noodles from 1994-1998. Continued from here.

This was in the listings I think for an upcoming nuclear protest. Another listings illo for the Vans Warped Tour that year. Article about “greylisting”, the idea of not casting actors or actresses for being too old. Something about projectors not working. I have no idea what I or the article was trying to say. The projector itself looks like a video projector as does the way video malfunctions. A film on celluloid with sprockets wouldn't look like this if it broke down. This seems like it would be about the prospect of films going digital, but that wasn't even talked about 15 years ago. There's so much wrong looking at everything logically.

Most likely, I didn't know what I was talking about. At New York Press, there was no going back and forth between editor and artist and making slight changes, like what most editorial illustrators hate about the job. It sounds great, but the drawback is things that don't make sense get printed. Something about growing old together. I don't know what this was. Something in the listings, maybe? I don't know what this is either. For a while, my friend Jenny Ryan was doing the listings under the name “Queen Itchie”. For a while, I was drawing for the column Letter From L.A. by Catherine Seipp even though I had never been to Los Angeles. The editors often didn't care I knew nothing about some of the subject matter. I have no idea what she ever thought of my drawings.

This is the typical out-of-towner's vision of all of Los Angeles having swimming pools and palm trees. When I lived there most of it looked like 14th Street in New York. For Mistress Ruby's column about being chaste in her youth. Another Mistress Ruby illo. For their food column. Letter From L.A. illustration.

Another out-of-towner's vision of all of L.A. looking like the Venice boardwalk without the sleazy merchants.

More next week.