Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Evolution

TOM - Time Out New York called me last week to do a piece for their Eat Out section. They called on Wednesday afternoon around 1pm and needed it by the next day, or possibly that Friday morning. Problem was, I was leaving town early the next morning, so the only way I could do it was if I pulled it off that day and sent it to the Art Director before he left the office. Luckily they had already had an idea in mind for the story. The story is about a food writer who goes back to working as a hostess for an NYC restaurant, so that she can get a better idea of how a restaurant works outside of the kitchen, and in turn have a different perspective when writing about food.
The idea they had in mind was sort of a play on the Evolution of Man drawings. She starts off being bombarded with coats, not knowing the computer system, trouble cleaning, then slowly getting a hold of things and having it all together in the end. After speaking with the AD about the idea, I did this sketch right away. After some quick changes on his part, I went and started the illustration. A few hours later I sent the final to the AD right before he left the office. Whew!
Check out this weeks issue on stands now.

5 comments:

james flames said...

from now on, i'll call you Mr. McFeely. not cuz you remind me of a pedofile....but because you do spots with the "speedy delivery"!

this is a really great one, and if you didn't say you rushed it, i'd have never known. what size did you do it at? and is the computer station a copy/paste - or did you draw it 4 times?

the question mark lettering is really good too (i know that's a minor detail, but i dig it).

thomas pitilli said...

Ha,HA,Thanks dude. I actually did it pretty big, 'cause it's a simpler style and I wanted to get 'cartoony' brush strokes. All together it took up a 14x17 sheet of bristol, and I just scanned each figure at a time. And yea, I only drew the computer station once, thats the kind of cheat I could live with.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised they just don't take your quick sketches, cool on both sides...

james flames said...

y'know, now that edo mentions it...most of your concept sketches are good enough for a spot illo in a magazine. i've definitely seen less developed stuff printed before.
but from my own experience, i know there's a bit of ego taht makes it hard to submit something that you know you can improve upon (or at least elaborate on - more work doesn't always mean better).

thomas pitilli said...

It's true.I tend to think slaving over something makes it better, which isn't always true.