Also, last week’s This American Life was another fantastic show on the banking system and why things seem to be still melting down. Most basically, banks need to hang onto most of the capital they’ve received from the government, not freely lend all over the place, because it’s the only way to avoid falling deeper into the hole. We are, indeed screwed, and there’s no way to make the guys who fostered the mess pay without nationalizing banks for a time, because the taxpayers would end up having to fix the collapse of institutions just as we are being asked to save them. Go listen after you see the video.

Only it’s not as good.

Here’s the second image. Company name changed, of course. More stuf in the new year, so I’ll try to get regular, as I try each year.

See? The snowman is actually a percent sign. Percentage –> mortgage? Not everybody got that, so maybe I should have done something to make the connection obvious.

And, yes, that is Harrington. Don’t judge too harshly.

I haven’t been completely idle, it’s just that there isn’t much to post about that’s tangible. Here’s one, though, a promotional mailer that I did earlier in the year that the client rejected. Not one of my favorites, but that’s what you get with rush orders, sometimes.

(Company name changed to protect the you-know-what.)

This gets turned into a larger sketch . . .

Which gets refined in the computer . . .

Then bits are added that further complete the thing . . .

Once the drawing is done, it’s painted.

Finishing touches are added . . .

And, finally, a wash background makes it pop.

This is last year’s Xmas card. I’ll try to remember to link to a bigger view, since I’ve restricted myself to 450 pixels wide on the main page, here. The haiku at the left side of the image reads as follows:

Snow falls in silence
Over mountains in winter
Soft spheres in steel hands