Detroit Stadiums for Next City

Series of illustrations for Next City Forefront article about Detroit pouring all their money into stadiums instead of the crumbling city.

Preview the article here - Forefront Excerpt: Red Wings Stadium Upset!

Or grab the Forefront App.

Did you know the Red Wings mascot is a maniacal giant purple octopus? Also threw in a nod to Detroit's lesser-known corned beef scene. 

Green Dystopia for Next City

Latest for Next City. Article about Philadelphia's image as a "green" city versus massive new opportunities for those oil refineries that make every trip to & from the airport look like Blade Runner. Click below for more detail. 

It's definitely a challenge not to interject humor into everything (especially with amazing photos of oil-worker activists plastered in borderline-tea party paraphernalia, and my brain goes right back to Steven Wells mode) but also a great opportunity to do something different and you know, get something in my portfolio other than mayonnaise slathered hot dogs and mouth-breathing mutants. 

It also helps that I'm fascinated by urban environments, and how they change and morph, even though i'm usually on the opposite side of these articles, preserving & romanticizing the past, but hey I can usually sneak in an old-school bakery or luncheonette next to the vegan laundry and reclaimed wood restaurant. Look out for some more work for Next City this month.

Place-Based Immigration for Next City

New illustrations for a Next American City article about place-based immigration, a system in place in Canada where immigrants with certain skills are routed to cities that need them, and whether or not this can work in the United States.

One of the concepts of the article was about immigrant communities revitalizing crumbling small towns and cities.. something I find pretty fascinating driving around looking for old-school hot dogs in small town America, but also finding awesome tacquerias, and wondering whether they hate each other or not. 

A little challenging but definitely interesting to do some non-humourous editorial illustration. It's also pretty amazing that a web-only publication is using so much illustration, when most of Philly's print publications are using zilch (newspapers at least). Working on another right now that you'll see in a couple weeks. Check out the article over at nextcity.org.