Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Gerald & Cullen Rapp's Best of 2012!

The end of each year brings a variety of "best of" lists covering movies to desserts. So why not illustration? We asked our illustrators to pick their best of 2012. No editing from the hovering agents, simply their favorite from this past year. Interesting to see the results. The pieces are seldom the biggest jobs or the ones with the greatest commercial appeal. We've compiled the results below. Each image can be enlarged for a better view, and of course you can go to our website (www.rappart.com) to see complete portfolios. Happy New Year!
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Brian Ajhar
Illustration for CTN Animation Expo 2012, promoting
character development work.
Joseph Adolphe
Illustration of two doctors and a teen for a brochure
for BD Sentry's new blood glucose monitoring lancet.














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Raul Allen
Monthly "Francofile" illustrations for Playboy, depicting
actor James Franco with his interviewees.
Martin Ansin
Limited edition poster for the 1932 horror classic
"The Mummy" (commissioned by Alamo Drafthouse).

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Stuart Briers
Image for review of a new album by Headspace.
Reflects themes of birth, death, and
the survival of war.
David M. Brinley
Cover for Harper's Magazine: "Starving
Your Way to Vigor: the benefits of an empty stomach".
















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Nigel Buchanan
One of a series of cyclists who use Nigel's local
track. "This one is a fixy hipster."
Lonnie Busch
Spot for an NYU Physicians Magazine story about
low testosterone.















--

Stephanie Dalton Cowan
Three posters for the Austin Lyric Opera.
"Opera makes for great inspiration!"
Jack Davis
Poster for the third annual Cincinnati Comic Expo.















--

Robert de Michiell
Portrait of Daniel Craig to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of James Bond.
Jan Feindt
Spot for article in German magazine Philosophie
about changing perceptions of plastic surgery.

--
Phil Foster
Cover of Penn Law Journal addressing how states can
avoid bankruptcy.
Anthony Freda
Book cover for a neo-Cold War thriller about espionage
and financial terrorism.
















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Arthur E. Giron
Self-promotional piece based on Arthur's favorite
TV show: Mad Men.
Daniel Hertzberg
Spot for a New Yorker review of the BBC television
drama "The Hour".















--

Jakob Hinrichs
Cover of Jakob's first graphic novel, based on the
famous book Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler.

Peter & Maria Hoey
One of three images from "Shroud Line", a short comic story
of an American pilot and a secret mission gone wrong.


--
Celia Johnson
"The Biofuel Industry in the Pacific Northwest Economy"
Oregon State University, Terra Magazine

Douglas B. Jones
"It's Never Too Late" -- a story for American Way
about the author learning how to ride a bike in college.















--
James Kaczman
Non-traditional self-portrait for an exhibition at
the Mystic Arts Center.
J.D. King
Spot for the New York Times' Sunday Business Section
about the life and death of an online company.
















--
Richard Mia
Intro page for book called Feeding the Young Athlete.


Bruce Morser
"Ecology of the Sadbury River" -- one of 16 drawings
created for a book by Bruce's sister, Sue Klem.













--

Roman Muradov
Cover for the New York Times Sunday Styles Section
about unfortunate table seating at parties.
Robert Neubecker
Art for Robert's personal Holiday card.
--
Shaw Nielsen
Detail of image printed on a skateboard, sold for charity
by Bordo Bello.
James O'Brien
Series of portraits for Oxford American magazine.















--

Yuta Onoda
Spot for Penn Stater magazine.
A curriculum that incorporates video games may help boys
get excited about learning. 
Hank Osuna
Illustration of a new two-story Media Wall at
Occidental College.

















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Dan Page
Spot in Profit magazine about the succession crisis.
John Pirman
Image presented to Sarasota Magazine, advocating
for the purchase and permanent installation of this
(once temporary) sculpture. 

--
Rafael Ricoy
Spot in El Pais about financial rules and development.
Alison Seiffer
"Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner"cover of the
New York Times Styles Section.














--
Jeffrey Smith
Illustration for fiction story "Big Zelig" in PaknTreger magazine.

Ryan Snook
Opener for MoneySense: "Make Your Child a Millionaire".



--
James Steinberg
Full-pager for Project Management article about
organizational agility.
Sharon Tancredi
Cover for The Rescue Princesses: The Snow Jewel.















--
Eva Vazquez
Cover for the New York Times Weekend Arts section:
"From 20 Critics, a Ticket to Summer".
Andy Ward
"Rude Las Vegas" for Las Vegas Weekly. Vegas was recently
voted the 12th rudest city to visit in the U.S.















--
Michael Witte
Caricature of Prince Fielder from the program of the 2012
Major League Baseball All Star Game.
Noah Woods
One of four posters for Scholastic on inspiration.

--
Phil Wrigglesworth
"Doggie Dystopia", commissioned by 3x3 Magazine
and selected for Society of Illustrators 55.
Brad Yeo
Image for the advertiser's brochure for
Serbin's Directory of Illustration #33,
based on the idea of perpetual motion.

--

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Scents for the Season!


Peter Horjus has created fantastic holiday icons for Glade! Peter created six images in total, which now appear on dozens of scented holiday products. You can check out the entire Glade Limited Edition Winter Collection here. Glade even turned Peter's designs into adorable cloth ornaments (below)! Peter's versatile designs, both commercial and editorial, have a place in every home.

CLICK HERE for Peter Horjus's portfolio.




CLICK HERE for Peter Horjus's portfolio.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Alison Seiffer's Coming to Dinner


This wonderful piece by Alison Seiffer accompanies an article in today's New York Times about the endangered art of dinner parties. Alison uses bold colors and vector design to convey how dinner parties--the classic arena for social networking--have become less popular in recent years.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article: "Guess Who Isn't Coming to Dinner"

CLICK HERE for Alison Seiffer's portfolio

Monday, November 26, 2012

In Case of Emergency, Call Sean McCabe

Sean McCabe created these two photo illustrations for "In Case of Emergency, Call Offspring," a Wall Street Journal article about a tech-savvy son who solves his mother's most vexing computer problems. Sean used old photos of a stereotypical mom from the 50's to depict the character's before and after scenarios. Now we know: in case of emergency, call Sean McCabe!


CLICK HERE for Sean McCabe's portfolio.




Monday, November 5, 2012

Child's play? The 2012 Presidential Election


Andy Ward has just completed a brilliant three-part series for KidsPost, a section of the Washington Post devoted to young readers. The articles provide a fun, accessible, and informative overview of the mechanics behind the 2012 presidential election.
 
Andy contributed images for cover articles about (1) the presidential debates, (2) campaign ads, and (3) voting. In each illustration, Andy depicts Barack Obama and Mitt Romney as thirteen year-olds... which we think may have been a bit generous.

 
Initial sketches for 'debate' image


 
Andy's first illustration (top left) addresses the presidential debates. Andy drew Obama and Romney sitting in a classroom, cramming for their "really big test." Study materials surround the candidates, and each has written "Barack rules" or "Mitt is king" on the chalkboard in the background. In his initial sketches (above), Andy proposed several different layouts to express candidates' preparation for these debates.

The second illustration (left) likens campaign ads to children hurling petty insults on television. Of the three sketches Andy proposed (below), the "Romneybot vs. Obama Flakes" concept made the final cut. As Andy says, "Negative advertising with a generous coating of untruths and a frosted sprinkling of exaggerated facts... Delicious!"

Initial sketches for 'capaign ads' image


The final illustration addresses the voting process. Andy depicts Obama and Romney coloring in a United States map with blue and red paint. He thereby references both the experience of watching the election results unfold--each candidate claiming his won states, and newscasters declaring these states "blue" or "red"--and an interactive "color-as-you-go"section of KidsPost that encourages young readers to color in a map as they follow the election.
 
No matter which candidate wins the 2012 presidential election, Andy Ward deserves the title of Illustrator Extraordinaire!