1000 Voices Part II

This illustration if for my friend Mimi. It illustrates her opinion for Evan Turk's A Picture for a Thousand Voices project.

Often, I do a couple of versions. Here's the other one that I liked:

Equality is achievable if we keep our hopes alive,

because the minute we back down is the minute

they'll think they've won! - Mimi

Mostly I wanted to express Mimi's determination to persevere, and her hope that, through that perseverance, over time we can achieve equality. Since Mimi's opinion was fairly general and abstract, I kept the illustration abstract. I hope she likes it!

Cherry Blossom Festival

A few months ago, when spring had just sprung, I visited the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It felt like walking in a fantasy garden. The trees were laden with pink and white blooms, and every time the wind stirred the trees, pink and white petals would float past. It was magical.

It was also nice to see New Yorkers of all kinds, usually known for our "rush-rush-rush" approach to life, gathered to appreciate something as simple as a garden. Many were sprawled underneath the trees to contemplate the beauty of the blooms.

And of course, there were plenty of children. These three girls were posing to have their picture taken by their father (in the plaid shirt at the left).

The trees themselves are so much fun to draw, with their twistings and movements in space. They are *almost* as satisfying to draw as people, and they certainly move around less!

A Picture for 1000 Voices

My friend Evan Turk has a blog called A Picture for 1000 Voices that seeks to" create a dialogue about the individual hopes for the LGBT equal rights movement through the medium of illustration." I've submitted an illustration you can see below. Hopefully, you'll be able to see it on Evan's blog soon:

My illustration is about trying to quantify and weigh an abstraction like love. How can the law say that someone's love isn't valid and in some way not equal to someone else's? I think it's pointless to try to weigh them on some kind of scale. Anyone should be able to have their relationship legalized, if that's what they want. Please check out Evan's blog, and if you are an illustrator, definitely submit a piece!