tropical toxic

The Known Universe

2012-01-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

A Valentine's Day limited edition print will be released this Friday, January 20th.The Known Universe is 13″ x 19″ Giclee, with an edition of 55, and is $85.The print will be added to the shop on Friday morning (NY time).

Overkill :: Special Edition

2011-12-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

A limited edition of Overkill is released this morning. Signed & numbered 120 copies, includes a signed & numbered 8.5" X 11" giclee print, and a cream colored debossed cloth slipcase. $100. on sale at Upper Playground. Happy holidays!

Tomer.

Ai Weiwei X 2

2011-11-29T11:00:00.001-08:00

Ai Weiwei, artist as instigator. If you're new to the AWW experience i suggest learning about it. He is doing some amazing cerebral acrobatics vs. the Chinese government (while risking his life) that somehow translate into powerful art.

Art directed by Luke Canning for Grand.

OVERKILL :: monograph

2011-10-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

OVERKILL comes out tomorrow!

*Designed and edited by Anton Ioukhnovets.

T.

Society of Illustrators Call for Entries Poster

2011-08-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've been submitting work for the Society of Illustrators annual exhibition since the late 90s, while still a student, so it was a rare pleasure/pressure taking a shot at creating a 'call for entries' poster.

the unmatched Anton Ioukhnovets did the design and typography. Yuko Shimizu, who's chairing the competition, assigned the project. personally, the Society's annual book/show has been very effective at getting the work out there, so to end with a word of advice-- ENTER.

TH

The Atlantic Fiction Issue

2011-07-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Tomer: scenes of the flooding in the south kept washing up on our TV screens until they became invisible. The Atlantic envisioned a post disaster landscape as the theme for this cover-- a survivor escapes-- conveying the unique power of literature.

Art directed by Jason Treat.

From God’s Mountain IV

2011-07-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

A New limited edition print will be released (here) this Wednesday, July 13th,

From God’s Mountain IV is 13″ x 19″ Giclee with an edition of 45.

Not A Self Portrait

2011-06-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

Tomer: more on this soon.

How to Illustrate a Chart

2011-06-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

Tomer: the Play section in Wired focuses on a single theme and measures certain aspects of it throughout the magazine. it's an info-graphic, or a pie chart, showing the relative sizes of the different parts of a whole.

This chart was about the Apocalypse. my initial idea was a lone mutant survivor climbing a heap of junk, sporting a multi-lens glasses. each lens represents a different segment. no luck.

Another round: ghosts; rainbow; toxic puddle; totem. no luck.

But the totem led to this idea.

Which became this page--

Art directed by Alice Cho for Wired magazine.

From God’s Mountain III

2011-05-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

A new limited edition print will be released this Thursday, May 12th.

From God’s Mountain III is 13″ x 19″ Giclee, with an edition of 45, and is $85.
The print will be added to the shop on Thursday afternoon (NY time).

Why We Celebrate a Killing

2011-05-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Tomer: A man is shot in the head, and joyous celebrations break out 7,000 miles away. Although Americans are in full agreement that the slaying of Osama Bin Laden is a good thing, many are disturbed by the revelry. From an op-ed piece by Jonathan Haidt in today's NY Times.

UPDATE: my favorite rumination on this matter, by The Realist->

art directed by uber illustrator Josh Cochran.

How to Illustrate a Reflection

2011-04-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

T: new print: Star Trek / Mirror, Mirror. 24″ x 36″ Screenprint, Edition 175, on sale today at Mondo.

Spock's cold logic and Kirk's messy humanity exist at the core of their characters even when their personalities invert-- as they do in Mirror, Mirror, an episode from the original TV run taking place in a parallel universe populated with their evil counterparts -- suggesting a different kind of mirroring effect; one which reflects a familiar dynamic between archetypes. Independent of context or moral standing, their yin-yang like balance remains intact.

TanTan

2011-04-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hollywood Fixer

2011-03-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Tomer : "Often, only a man stands between a celebrity and danger. Meet the go-to guy for stars in peril". the story of Aaron Cohen, super star bodyguard.

Art directed and designed by Cody Tilson for Playboy.

Swallowed By the Sea

2011-03-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Tomer: for Newsweek-- "As Japan reels from the tsunami, archeologists claim to have discovered the lost city of Atlantis, a fabled place built--like much of the world--in the crosshairs of nature." The idea was to keep the focus on the human peril aspect of this primal threat looming above civilazation since the dawn of time.

Art directed by Dirk Barnett.

A Psychic Moment Illustrated

2011-03-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

T: a few weeks ago I've sent this sketch to the NYer about Gaddafi's fear barrier collapsing and the country's twitterers suddenly unafraid to slam him. the AD mentioned that another illustrator came up with something similar. got my copy earlier this week with Barry Blitt's delightful solution. instead of twitts he went with doves, which works well for a country with no internets. visual ideas float around like free radicals. further reading here->

You Tell Me

2011-02-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

Tomer: who are these kids? and what are they waiting for?

Spider-Man for the New Yorker

2011-02-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

Tomer: for John Lahr's review of Turn Off The Dark, the high adrenaline Spider-Man musical.

Art directed by Chris Curry.

Memories of the Gore Administration

2011-02-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

T : lead art for a New York Magazine story chronicling a fictional decade where the 2000 election had gone the other way, and Al Gore became president. America: This is your parallel life. In the first chapter, written by Kurt Andersen, Gore moves in, and United Flight 93 strikes the White House. Al Qaeda doesn’t care who’s president.

art directed by Josef Reyes.

Perfect Storm / Valentine's Day Print

2011-01-27T04:13:00.000-08:00

The original drawing was pitched as a NYer cover and wasn't used (blogged here), and I wanted to see where it would go with actual skin. It's a metaphor for intimacy: two bodies in a warm vessel sailing through space while the world outside is slowly being covered with ice.

Perfect Storm is a Valentine's Day themed limited edition print. It goes on sale this morning here.

T. H

solving it IS the problem

2011-01-16T04:07:00.000-08:00

A :: somedays you need to forget everything you know and go exactly the opposite direction of whatever your instincts are telling you. this was the case working on a piece for POZE magazine. AD Steve Morrison asked me to illustrate the concept of isolation, specifically for a story on the plight of HIV people in the poverty stricken south of the USA. the process started with me on auto pilot generating conceptual "solutions" for "isolation". Steve was there to suggest an alternative: just draw it, don't solve it.

The Year That Never Was

2010-12-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

T :: a collection of rejected New Yorker cover ideas.

the first one was for Summer / Fiction (actually went to final on it)

this one was for Fall / of the news-paper industry.

here is one about Winter / Valentine's day / over-heated apartments / relationships

this was predicting a tough year by depicting a preemptively spent New-Year's Baby.

was an alright year after all, it turns out.

A.A., The Cult that Cures :: Harper's Cover

2010-12-20T18:16:00.000-08:00

T :: a cover feature for an essay by Clancy W. Martin, looking at the religious aspects of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Twelve Steps Program and why alcohol is the devil (or at least, a different kind of cure).

This blow up on the cover flap was a nice accident.

Happy Holidays, and drink safely.
Art Directed by Robb Rice for Harper's.

Hard Apple :: in development

2010-12-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

This is very much still in development, but here goes: we've been working on concept art for Hard Apple-- an animated series based on the cult crime novels of Jerome Charyn. At it's center is Isaac Sidel, a brainy Manhattan detective, and a gritty mix of characters bringing to life the five boroughs of New York City and its many dissonant sub-cultures. It's about family and tribal allegiances and how the bonds that tie can, in an instant, turn into people trying to slit each other’s throats. It is a universe riddled with risk and betrayal as everyone desperately tries to master the art of simply staying alive.

penciled by Asaf, colored by Tomer.

Gold :: Silver

2010-11-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

Some good news from the Society of Illustrators.

Asaf received a Gold medal for The Realist, his weekly comics. Opening Reception on January 7th, 2011.

Tomer received a Silver medal for his MGMT art for Rolling Stone. Opening Reception on February 4th, 2011

we're having a happy Hanuka. Hope you can join us at the receptions.

Thirsty like a Wolf :: Wine Label

2010-11-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

Tomer :: Had the pleasure of working on another wine label for Some Young Punks, terrific wine makers based in Australia. The title is Taken Brave, the assigned beast: a wolf.

some older labels here -->

Trusing the Babysitter :: Not

2010-11-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

T :: Mistrust is a tricky thing. When your child is involved, it can tip over to paranoia in a heartbeat.

For Swiss mag Annabelle.

he's walking down the streets of homage

2010-10-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

A: this piece was created after the 'giant magical princess: she's walking down the streets of akihabara' by Takashi Murakami. it's the second featuring lost school girl in urban Japanese setting, this was the first. both are for mural in thai food restaurant in israel.
art director: adi eini hamizer

in the center the original image by murakami

Surrogacy Tourism :: Mother Jones Magazine

2010-09-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

T :: Gestational dormitories. Routine C-sections. Quintuple embryo implants. Brave New World? Nope, surrogacy tourism. This balanced article touches on the positive (lifting Indian women out of poverty, giving the gift of motherhood to women who can't have kids) and the negatives (industrializing birth, Indian mothers are treatment is somewhat shady). more here.
The concept was growing a flower out of the surrogate's Sari pattern, and have the flower crown a baby (white baby, dark surrogate). Trying to evoke the idea of 'farming' or 'harvesting' therefor the use of a flower, a plant growing upwards to be picked when ready. The baby and surrogate are connected by the flower's stem, obviously a reference to the umbilical cord. Cutting it off wouldn't be painless. Lastly, a flower is a universal form of giving good will, giving a present, which expresses the positive aspect of this exchange.

Art directed by Tim Luddy.

Bankers at the Dawn of Civilization :: for Playboy (nsfw)

2010-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

T :: this would have been disturbing if it wasn't so prevalent. They took the bailout cash, pocketed it as bonuses and blew it on coke and whores in Vegas. The 1st sketch had to be cleaned up somewhat, to keep it classy.

Double spread, art directed by Rob Wilson.

BLOW-UP :: exhibit info

2010-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

tomer :: Three illustrators from vastly different backgrounds; Sam Weber (Canada), Yuko Shimizu (Japan) and Tomer Hanuka (Israel); meeting at the crossroads of a distinct American aesthetic to examine their new found artistic voices.

showing new work, process scraps, references and drawings.

Blow-Up: September 1 – October 16, 2010
Opening reception: Friday, September 10, 2010 6:30 pm.
SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS 128 east 63 street, new york city.

Our thanks to David Rhodes for his generous support in helping to make this show possible, Tim O’Brien for giving us a shot, Attack for their killer work on the flyer, and everyone at The Society for their help and patience while we put this all together.

The Last Realist :: Or Is IT?

2010-08-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

the journey is over... or is it just beginning? a special Realist unpack and wraps.

Father :: Encounter on Dagobah Screen Print

2010-07-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

tomer :: the central idea going into this image was depicting planet Dagobah itself as a portrait of Luke’s subconscious in it’s most interesting and unformed phase.

in a nightmarish sequence Luke runs into the mist where he finds Vader and a lightsaber duel ends when Luke decapitates his nemesis. The mask cracks off the severed head to reveal the frozen face of a dead Luke Skywalker.

the suggestion here is that somewhere within Luke’s psyche there is a potential for ultimate evil. Luke’s greatest challenge isn’t the Galactic Empire and it’s endless rows of faceless troops, but the magnetism of the dark side, the seductive idea of choosing his own potential for power over everything else

for LucasFilm Ltd / The Alamo Drafthouse poster series revisiting Star Wars. this screen print is 19″ x 25″ has an Edition of 350 and goes on sale today on Mondo Tees here. and thanks Mitch Putnam.

BP oil spill

2010-07-20T03:59:00.000-07:00

asaf :: man destroys nature then tries to fix it.

process

and final

why Hitchcock can make you a better illustrator :: or some other outrageous title

2010-07-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

tomer :: the real birds in Hitchcock's The Birds are modern city girls, armed with irony and good legs, about to take the men away from their families and by doing so unleash chaos upon the universe.

when Tippi Hedren brings a pair of love birds to a gentleman who resides with his mother and sister in an idyllic small town, it's an obvious gesture to which his mother reacts by covering the bird cage with a blanket. she can't stand the idea of her son leaving. but there is no escape, and by the end of the film the birds have shredded the town to pieces.

the metaphor flies far from the tree and circles back around as Hitchcock folds complex ideas into arresting visuals. the relationship between symbol and meaning is mutually beneficial. like two reflective surfaces facing each other, their depth multiplies times eternity.

above, Hedren's sexy french twist is the eye of the storm.

romaction :: washington post

2010-06-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

asaf :: ACTION, LOVE AND DEATH: Why do romantic comedies now have to be romantic-action-comedies? this was the brief for the washington post arts and style opening story. thanks to AD susana sanchez for this fun ride.

The Warriors :: Film Poster for The Alamo Drafthouse

2010-05-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

tomer :: watching this 1979 classic in loops one weekend I was struck by an irregular wall in the subway in one of the chase scenes. the wall is missing a bunch of tiles which created an unusual abstract shape. it resonated with the structure of the film-- a video game narrative arch with consistently harder challenges 'next level' type curve. the subway tiles, like pixels, established parallel interpretations of NYC. a hellish shit hole, sure, but also a playful maze.

this is my first official screen print. 24″ x 36″ Edition of 180, $40. and goes on sale today (Thursday, May 27th) at a random time. Visit Mondotees.com.

MGMT / Congratulations :: Limited Edition Print

2010-05-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

tomer: a new limited edition print is available. The art originally appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine for a review of the album. MGMT / Congratulations is a 13″ x 19″ Giclee, has an edition of 45, and is $85.

The Boy Who Stole Planes :: Rolling Stone Mag

2010-05-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

tomer: meet Colton, an authentic teen outlaw of the modern world. grew up in a poor area in Washington, zero prospects, his eyes set to the sky as private jets of millionaires zip above to the other side of town. so, naturally he broke into their summer mansions and used their internet to teach himself to fly via flight simulators. by 17 he was stealing their airplanes for joy flights, usually landing at some field with impressive skill. has a knack for never getting caught and leaving funny notes to the police. so, naturally he becomes a legend, a T-shirt, a facebook page. join his 30k strong fan group. he is still in hiding.

the first hit at this double spread was going for bold and graphic a-la propaganda poster: a fugitive celebrated and mythologized by the 'people'. Colton is wearing a bandana and 'riding' the plane like a horse-- in the spirit of a wild-west 'Jesse James' idealized outlaw persona. this was shot down by the magazine, they wanted a more realistic approach.

a landing site, with his first crashed plane. only he never crashed a plane since his landings where impressively slick. back to the drawing board.

this one was approved. ready for take off.

art direction by Steven Charny.

Masters Meshup :: Photographers Edition

2010-04-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

tomer: initially inspired by this Helmut Newton editorial from an ancient french Vogue, then moved to action by the secret stash of photos on google's Life archive. finally warping with a seasonal blue on blue and a sea of scribbly leafs.

red light :: masters meshup

2010-04-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

asaf :: an asian food restaurant in israel need decoration for a 3 meter high wall in the restroom.

i meshed up two masters, and humbly stole sparks from both.tatsuyuki tanaka (a.k.a "cannabis works") for his composition and rotko for the colors.

in other news:

we dumped some toxic waste on facebook.

MGMT / Congratulations :: Rolling Stone Mag

2010-04-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

tomer:: editor had a vision of the band "in kind of hipster versions of astronaut uniforms. background can be a trippy version of outer space"

art directed by Steven Charny.

spring :: vacation

2010-03-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

tomer :: my wife was to lazy too swim, i couldn't bother with flipping pages. taking a break from vacationing.

in other news: toxic twitts.

The Pacific :: three color studies

2010-03-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

tomer :: this was done for the New Yorker's review of The Pacific, a new HBO miniseries about the United States Marine Corps's actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations. illu didn't make it to print.

google monster :: california lawyer

2010-03-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

asaf :: feels lucky, got to draw a monster. this was for an article published in california lawyer about google's plan to scan every book that was ever published and build the biggest digital book store. apperantly some authors and publishers are protesting this...

silk screen :: blue beard

2010-02-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

the realist :: new weekly comics

2010-02-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

asaf :: one phone call and it was over. we lost our home. i decided to keep a diary of the events, somewhat surrealist but always true. follow the struggle at the realist.

Beauty is a Beast :: New Print Set

2010-02-08T03:05:00.000-08:00

tomer :: A new set of two limited edition prints will be released this Wednesday, February 10th. Fierce Allure and Lust Collides are 13″ x 19″ Giclees, each with an edition of 40. Prints will be added to the shop on Wednesday morning (NY time).

*previously blogged process here.

the eco-bubble :: toronto life magazine

2010-01-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

asaf :: for an article about parents eco proofing their lives believing plastic toys and processed food are the major threat to their family safety.

Quiet Apocalypse :: Zeitoun

2010-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

tomer :: Entertainment Weekly selected Dave Egger's Zeitoun as their best book of the year. the challenge was to keep the tone subdued-- like a mute apocalypse, the sound of a scream heard underwater. art directed by Michael Schnaidt.

talking about colors :: two interviews

2010-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

tomer :: two recent interviews. one for IdN's color issue (they don't have the interview online).
the other for Brooklyn based multimedia blog Quiet Color.
this interview was conducted by my former student Jake Cohen. Rob Stites, who was in the same class, sat down with us as well. I urge you to check their unique and beautifully idiosyncratic works-- each week they would walk into the desert of the unknown and return with a crystal.

Beauty is a Beast :: wine labels for Some Young Punks

2009-12-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

tomer :: in the spirit of excusable intoxication exercised in the coming weeks, here are some wine labels created for Some Young Punks-- a fantastic wine maker based in Australia (whom Asaf worked with before here and here). Happy holidays to you too ;)

Amazon Best Covers of 2009 :: beyond Thunderdome

2009-11-30T07:00:00.001-08:00

tomer :: check out Amazon's Best Cover of the Year vote-- they narrowed down the thousands of books sold this year to a small number of finalists to be judged by the surfing public. the cover i did for The Gigolo Murder (blogged here) is competing against five other covers in the paperback category. the rest is in your hands. i'd twitt about about it, but I'm vegan.

* voting gives you a chance to win a set of the top vote-getters in each category

The Kiss Murder :: book cover

2009-11-23T16:58:00.000-08:00

tomer :: Illustration is like acting. you need to invest a strand of authentic emotion to make it work. otherwise it feels artificial. So you try to embody, in your head, the protagonist. Let's see: you're a slender man of Turkish descent who's a computer wiz, a private detective, a black belt and an Audrey Hepburn look alike. most prominently you are a transvestite. you sit in your night club, ready to punch someone softly or kiss him to death. either-way it's a deadly move. and then an epiphany: it's in the shoulders-- that potent combination of strength and sensuality. a pair of slender, well defined, boney yet muscular shoulders. a glorious pedestal for your pretty face.

art directed by Roseanne Serra.

happy thanksgiving! don't choke on it.

The Concert Ticket :: a book cover

2009-11-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

tomer :: the book in brief (from amazon): On any given morning, on the street corners of a Russian city, little kiosks suddenly appear. As soon as their shutters open, a queue forms, men and women lining up in the hope of a little bit of luxury: a pair of silk stockings or a box of chocolates. One morning news spreads that the exiled composer, Selinsky, will be returning to the city for one concert only, and there is one kiosk, somewhere, selling tickets to this most magical event of the year.

the direction was to showcase people queuing for this kiosk with Moscow in the background, and focus on the protagonist, a melancholic teacher who banks everything on this ticket as a last chance for happiness.

final color/type closer to last sketch.
for Penguin UK, art directed by Richard Bravery.

dodie smith

2009-10-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

asaf :: first I'd like to say thanks to fellow illustrators kevin cross and joshua kemble for having me over on their podcast big illustration party time - about the ins and outs of freelance illustration and cartooning. we had a nice chat about the daily struggle that is working as an illustrator. highly recommended to all newcomers out there but also to the veterans who are looking to expand their podcast listening while waiting for "the paint to dry".
on that same note, tomer and i talked about working on "waltz with bashir" to maclife magazine.

another cool thing we did together is this 3 panels illustration for a book about Ambrose Heal. our spread featured his one time mistress Dodie Smith, an english novelist and playwright (she wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians), as well as a 1920 fashion icon.
asaf- sketches. tomer - inks and colors.

The Lost Boy of the Ozarks :: Early Halloween Special

2009-09-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

tomer :: this biting horror story by Steve Freidman unfolds as a boy who's been lost in the woods a century ago creeps back into contemporary consciousness in the form of a ghost suspected as the reason behind a recent missing person incident of another boy, last seen in those same woods.
the first stab at illustrating this consisted of a ghost boy dragging a modern boy to the edges of the image and beyond, letting the woods take center stage. eventually focusing solely on the ghost boy, eating something not quite definable while looking straight at the viewer.

while digging for photographic references this eerie still of an out of focus girl standing in a perfectly sharp surrounding came up. seems to be the classic approach of getting that other-worldly ghost feel, in this case completely accidental. and so, for the execution a similar logic was applied only inverted.

for Backpacker magazine, art directed by Matthew Bates.

Old Moab :: in limited edition

2009-08-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

A new limited edition print to be released on Tuesday, September 1st.
Old Moab is a 13″ x 19″ Giclee, has an edition of 50 and will be $85.

update: we're out of prints. thanks everybody!

The Price of the Ticket :: for the New Yorker

2009-08-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

tomer :: for an article about the history and future of the concert-ticket industry and it's inevitable secondary market. from sketch to final was asked to pump up the happy.

sex crimes on-line :: maxim

2009-07-31T02:32:00.000-07:00

asaf :: about the recent craig's list controversy

Mother :: and her sprawling presence

2009-06-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday July 1st a new limited edition print would go up on thanuka.com
“Mother” is 13″ x 19″ signed archival Giclee print, has an edition of 50, is $85 and very red.

update: print sold out.

Bots, Blasts and Boys :: about Automated Weapons and the Men who Love Them

2009-05-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

--
tomer :: two recent New Yorker pieces with killer robots. above- for an article titled Shoot! about gunsmith Jerry Baber and the remote-controlled armed machines he has created in partnership with two robotics companies. Bellow- an image for the Terminator: Salvation movie review.

Sometimes it Takes a Village :: or rather a Forest :: of Pencils

2009-04-01T08:21:00.001-07:00

tomer :: a 2nd cover in a series of novels by Mehmet Murat Somer, staring a Turkish Audrey Hepburn deadringer transvestite detective. in this chapter she is crossing over into the ritzy and morally anorectic upper echelon of Istanbul's social elite to solve a murder of a local gigolo. art directed by Roseanne Serra.

...and done!

wine labels :: trilogy

2009-03-20T02:19:00.000-07:00

asaf :: this is the third and last image in a series of labels for some young punks winery featuring the sexy adventures of trixie and tessa love. chin chin!

Morning Routine :: With Avedon In The American West

2009-03-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

tomer :: right after the first coffee, when the day is still packed with potential this daily exercise is about messing up. drawn from a brilliant collection of photos by Richard Avedon called In the American West.

gangsters and oscars

2009-02-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

asaf :: waltz with bashir didn't win the oscar. there was great expectation and hope, but no golden statue. however, ari folman's film made a long and impressive way from a small studio in north tel-aviv winning many prizes and gaining critical acclaim world wide.

life goes on, and work is piling on the table corner. here is a series of images for the milken institute about economical gangsters. the text examines the different aspects of criminal behavior in the new economy. the art direction went for a film noir aesthetic evoking old gangsters films.

there is a bit of economic gangster in each of us (capone as accountant)

sewer traffic smuggling cellphones

bribe

the evil twins - corruption and violence

also, check out my new website at asafhanuka.com as well as hilit's even newer website at hilitshefer.com !

Rogue to suck the life out of it :: this time on HBO

2009-01-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

tomer :: Anna Paquin picked up the golden globe a few weeks back and it brought to mind this spot -- it never ran, the article was killed-- done for the New Yorker late last year for a review of Paquin's new HBO show True Blood, where she plays a vampire sympathizer waitress.

buisiness and pleasure :: sex tourism

2009-01-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

asaf :: the article published in Poz magazine discussed the different aspect of sex tourism. one of the people interview was a european woman who talked about her experience from spending a vacation in Jamaica. in this illustration i tried to convey a bit of the paradox of the subject - for one person this temporary relationship is part of his travel pleasures while for the other its just a way to survive another day. here is the process on rewind mode -

more good news from the Waltz with Bashir front - it now got an Oscar nomination for best foreign film!
i talked with Spoiler Aler Radio about Bashir, comics and illustration. audio interview here.

also, check out david polonsky's graphic novel adaptation of Israeli director ari folman’s much acclaimed animated documentary here.

The Dirties :: the full comics

2009-01-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

The Dirties is a short comics we've collaborated on a while back. We thought we're doing a story about twins but it ended up being about something else entirely. We wrote the story by sending tiny thumbnails back and forth and eventually Asaf penciled the whole thing and Tomer inked and colored. to read the entire Dirties saga follow this ->

this story was originally published in Meathaus SOS, an anthology packed with our favorite artists.

Waltz With Bashir wins the Golden Globe!

2009-01-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

congrats to Ari Fulman and the Gang!
this is at least as surreal as some of the scenes in the movie...
----

asaf :: here are few more backgrounds I've done for the film:

previously blogged art here.

Old Moab :: Playboy Fiction

2009-01-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

tomer :: writer Ron Carlson creates a devastating moment at the end of Old Moab, a short story published in Playboy a few months back. the protagonist, in a chance meeting with a man at a personal threshold, becomes a witness and a facilitator. there was no way to use the final act in the drawing so i was left with an attempt at foreshadowing an event that has yet to take place.

revolver magazine :: jonathan and sonny

2008-12-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

asaf :: Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn and Sonny Moore, lead singer of From First To Last.

will blog for food :: promo magazine

2008-12-20T00:54:00.000-08:00

asaf :: promo's december issue is about how the recession is affecting online promotions. here is the illustration made for the cover from sketch to final. the image was suggested by the ad, as well as the text on the sandwich board. you know the drill.

Comics to Film :: Elephant Graveyard

2008-12-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

tomer :: towards the end of the last century I've started working on a fictionalized biography in comics form of Johnny Weissmuller, one of the early actors who played Tarzan on the silver screen. I've watched those black and white movies as a child and the most memorable detail was the one communicated by my dad after the screenings-- the actor's later years, which where spent in an insane asylum believing himself to be Tarzan, walking the halls and ripping the air with his trademark Tarzan scream. An invitation from Jim Higgins to create a story on the theme of identity for a comics anthology he was editing (called New Thing) prompt the whole project into gear and a slim fourteen pager found it's way into print. the story attempts to imagine Weissmuller's last day, reminiscing on his time as Tarzan and as a (problematic) Hollywood player without the ability to tell apart fiction from reality and past from present. Now, almost a decade later, the comics was picked up by filmmaker Avi Belkin who created a short film based on it. the film is currently playing the festival circuit. as you can see bellow the art in the comics leaves much to be desired to put it mildly, but it was a chance to look at some obligatory comics to film moments and a few other production shots.

inspiration

2008-11-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

is everywhere.

asaf :: this one was for an article about how ground breaking ideas are like virus popping in a few persons heads simultaneously, and so the classic perception of one-in-a-million-genius might be wrong. it was done for a newspaper in israel called "calcalist".

Unbreakable :: Pain is Glory

2008-11-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

tomer :: pain is glory. pain is pride. and pain is great to watch. Unbreakable is a reality show currently running on channel 5 UK. the campaign, created with Grey London, showcases moments of heightened drama and pain in an animated fashion. here is the original billboards art :

for the TV spots we've created animated sequences drawn over and mixed with the live footage.
here bellow is the breakdown that was given to the animators for the gas sequence where a young man struggles to survive as he inhales toxic gas in a sealed tent (fun!):

here is the final video edit with the animation and special effects:

another one for ant lovers:

and logo sequence:

into the whackness

2008-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

asaf :: this was done for 8-k magazine.
the brief : Find your own trail. A man is whacking bushes through a safari jungle, forging his own path (in business and in life). the title : The Bushwhacking Theory of Life

the sketches

the line art

the final

Beasts :: Mythology as cultural Vortex

2008-08-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

tomer :: this contribution to Beasts! 2 (published by Fantagraphics and edited by the unbreakable Jacob Covey), is re-imagining the Burmese Khimakha (an ogre in the style of the Tibetan yeti) through a contemporary lens, adding a 2nd act to the From God's Mountain series.

available as a limited edition print on Monomyth.

hilit shefer - untiteled woman

2008-07-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

asaf :: if you happen to be in the tel-aviv area this weekend come visit us at studio 23/16.
illustrator hilit shefer is having her first illustration expo!
big opening on thursday, july 31 at 19:30
there is also a facebook event page
disclaimer : i'm married to the woman.

retro wine labels

2008-07-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

asaf :: going back to regular gigs after a period of doing other stuff and spending quality time with the family.
here are 2 wine labels for some young punks - an australian winery that has an original attitude towards the red liquid. the brief suggested pulp imagery with a retro look. that's always fun.

a week in Monterrey :: Mexico

2008-06-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

tomer :: back from an intense visit at Monterrey, Mexico where the design university cedim graciously hosted me for a week long illustration workshop. the students, who where required to do the impossible- finish a piece *from sketch to final* per day, for five days- had original solutions with excellent results, and zero tolerance for fatigue. in the off hours i got to see some remarkable sites, joined by Federico and Oscar. a memorable moment at a downtown market included an extravagant showcase of saint death statues with a small replica of ghost rider among them, naturally filling in a spot.

waltz with bashir :: animated documentry feature

2008-05-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

we had the honor and pleasure of taking part in the animated movie "Waltz with Bashir", directed by ari fulman, with david polonsky as head of the art department and yoni goodman on the animation. the film was premiered at Cannes film festival a few days ago and got great reviews.
here is some of the the art we did for the project :

asaf:

tomer:

here is the trailer:

for more clips and art check out the official site.

Vintage O'Hara :: Random House UK

2008-03-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

tomer :: writer John O'Hara was a keen observer of social status and class differences, and wrote frequently about the socially ambitious.

Appointment in Samarra - in December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville social circuit is electrified with parties and dances, where the music plays late into the night and the liquor flows freely. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English—the envy of friends and strangers alike. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.

the sentiment that lingered after reading the book is of someone being smothered to death by luxury and I wanted the composition to reflect that with a big oppressive shape closing in on a face.

BUtterfield 8- was inspired by a news account of the discovery of the body of a beautiful young woman washed up on a Long Island beach. Was it an accident, a murder, a suicide? The circumstances of her death were never resolved, but O’Hara seized upon the tragedy to imagine the woman’s down-and-out life in New York City in the early 1930s.

the sketch is from a specific scene in the book that seemed to summarize it all, the vulnerable human flesh, naked, under an oversized mink.

executions:

the big overkill :: breaking out of love

2008-03-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

asaf :: this was one of those times. the AD was nice, the job's brief clear, and they even sent reference images. the article was about ways to break free from a romantic relationship. i started as usual with a sketch, but then was asked to do another one, and another, and suddenly found myself going full speed on a highway to nowhere.

when i finally got the sketch approved and moved to final, it turned out i missed the idea completely since they asked for a retro communist poster feel (meaning no contours, flat colors). i managed to forget this detail somewhere in between sketches, and here i was going all over it again.
with every new version the drawing lost a bit of energy, and the final result struggling to look alive. a bunch of lines on the highway to nowhere. a big overkill.

Design Museum Announces Award Winners

2008-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

from the creative review blog ::

Tomer Hanuka’s jacket illustration for the Penguin Classics Deluxe version of Philosophy In The Boudoir by the Marquis de Sade

The category winners of the Design Museum’s Brit Insurance Design Awards have been announced with Penguin’s US Classics Deluxe editions winning in the graphics category and Haque’s Burble London installation taking the interactive prize

The category winners were decided by a judging panel consisting of Vitra’s Rolf Fehlbaum, publisher Lars Müller and architect and designer Antonio Citterio.

The Penguin books, also known as the Graphic Classics, is a series of re-issued well-known books featuring special covers by the likes of Chris Ware (Candide, below)

Lady Chatterley’s Lover illustrated by Chester Brown

And The Portable Dorothy Parker by Seth

In choosing them the judges commented (somewhat ungrammatically) “It’s a great achievement by its creative director Paul Buckley in commissioning a highly skilled group of illustrators and cartoonists whose creative visions have produced some fantastic atmospheric yet very individual covers with high artistic flair and design integrity.” For the rest of the graphics category (including two CR projects) see here

The Darker Mask :: book cover

2008-03-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

tomer :: the brief : The Darker Mask is a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes and the worlds they fight to save. But unique to The Darker Mask stories is that these plots and characters color a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white, idiosyncratic, and male in previous homages to pulp. This is the stuff of urban legends, new mythos, and extraordinary folks who might live in a soon-to-be-gentrified ghetto, the dreary rust-belt of the city, or in another dimension. The Darker Mask offers an eclectic mix of popular fiction writers exploring worlds gritty, visceral, and fantastic.

free associations: an urban hero, a hero, captain America, suit with fish scales, like a chain-link fence, surrounding a ghetto, a sea of cement, a manhole half uncovered is half a moon, coming from under-ground, going through divides like they're not there, a secret power that can't be described with words, flickering like a flame.

later that day :

execution:

art direction: Irene Gallo, Design: Jamie Stafford-Hill

The Humana Festival :: Theater Poster

2008-02-25T18:09:00.000-08:00

tomer :: the festival: The 32-year old Humana Festival is an internationally renowned showcase of stage premieres held each March. Many of the plays premiered in this celebrated annual event have had subsequent productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on film, TV and at regional theaters across the country. Three festival plays have won Pulitzers.

job brief: There are usually around 8 full productions in the festival. But there is no attempt to make the poster art reflect these specific plays. Instead, the poster image usually has to do more generically with writers, the writer’s imagination, the tools they use or "words" themselves. Images of the human mind as well as images connected to the work of playwrights today have been used. Also seen have been images that create a feeling of the energy, impact and humanity of the stage or a live theatrical performance.

legacy: Brian Cronin, Chip Kidd, Wiktor Sadowski (3rd and 6th images), Rafal Oblinski, Stasys Eidrigevicius. (this is a partial sampler of my top favorites).

failed attempts: 'Fear' as an overall theme / a mixer of genres

new idea- have the paper coming out of the typewriter BE a slit in the back-stage curtain through which we see the stage:

execution:

Meathaus: S.O.S. :: preview pages

2008-02-20T17:56:00.000-08:00

S.O.S is the latest meathaus offering, published by Nerdcore. the book is a 272 page full color anthology edited by Brandon Graham and Chris McD who pitched it by asking a group of artists to "create a story as if it was the last comics you'll ever do". lots of great artists took part, including Farel Dalrymple, James Jean, Thomas Herpich, Zohar Lazar, Jim Rugg & Brian Maruca, Ralph Bakshi and much much more.

here are some preview pages->
to pre-order visit here ->

illustration :: even worse than you think

2008-01-31T01:13:00.000-08:00

asaf :: I love the free line drawing and the witty ideas of John Cuneo. he is always hitting the nail on its head when it comes to sharp editorial work. this piece, which recently appeared in the Rolling Stone was no different.

well, maybe a little bit, because it reminded me a piece I did not long ago-

illustration concepts are a funny thing. since they work mostly on contradictions it's not unlikely two completely different minds could eventually reach a similar conclusion.
when I posted my fetus illustration I was approach by 2 different illustrators, claiming they had done it before. one of them, Easy Gaon, even called me up and was rather upset, since his piece was self published in a delicate poem collection he gave me somewhere in the past. here it is -

did I steal his idea? no, because I was actually doing what the AD proposed. did John stole mine? I don't think so, but he probably came across the same photo reference as I did. ideas have viral tendencies. they come from nowhere and suddenly a little red light appears in 2 different brains. so what's left for us industrial image makers? sometimes I think it's all about fleshing it out, working on the craft. other times I give up.

and just to sum it up, a little ornament that tells the same story -

Juxtapoz cover :: and a sneak peek

2007-12-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

tomer :: current Juxtapoz cover feature and an interview by Aesop Rock.

image on cover showcasing characters from an upcoming graphic novel Asaf and I are working on... more updates soon.

* a limited edition print of this image now available at monomyth

the Un-Men cover you'll never see in print :: censorship and good taste

2007-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

tomer :: the plot does go there, but the editors felt it was a bit much.

* prints of this image are now available at monomyth

Un-Men Freak Tour '07 :: Saturday at NYC

2007-11-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

tomer :: The Un-Men is a book that uses horror beyond set designs and plot devices. the core of the story--it's heart, is a cadaverous septic organism dripping on your polished shoe. Whalen ups the anti with every issue and when you feel prepped for closure he butchers it and hangs it to dry.
Mike Hawthorne- who does the excellent interior art, John Whalen and I will be at Midtown Comics in New York City for a signing on Saturday Nov. 10, from 5-7pm.

some sketches that never made it into finals, and a few finals that i haven't posted before.

SOS cover :: a new Meathaus anthology

2007-10-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

tomer :: covering the latest anthology from the Meathaus crew, Meathaus SOS, edited by Chris McD and Brandon Graham.

the image is vaguely connected to Asaf's and mine contribution to the book, but also relates to the SOS idea. i tried to keep the narrative threads loose, one brother is down, the other is running away. is he calling for help? playing around? hiding a crime?

masmerim :: that's "nails" in hebrew

2007-10-12T02:57:00.000-07:00

for all you hebrew readers out there :
dirties, a 10 pages comic book co-created by the tropical toxic team, previously mentioned on the blog, is now available in the latest installment of the literary anthology masmerim.
six installments published so far, each by a different concept (the latest is victory?), masmerim offers a selection of fresh literary segments, photos and comics.
issue #2, in the future, featured elephant graveyard, a comics by tomer.

toxic bloggers

2007-09-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

asaf :: here is another illustration done for israeli paper Maariv.
the article talked about how popular blogs are turning into an undercover publicity device when bloggers are getting free merchandise to test and write about.

WU-TANG CLAN :: a national treasure

2007-08-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

tomer :: the concept for this URB cover was to combine the Wu-Tang Clan with the Birth of America. the group was at the origin of hip-hop and since "defined itself by brilliantly conjured and successfully united mythology". (B. Perkins, from the article).

looking at the iconic paintings that celebrated the union wasn't doing it for me, but I was inspired by these old envelopes designs with modest two color printing and millage of pathos.

*type design by Alex Chow.

kissing liberty :: men's health germany

2007-07-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

asaf :: this time the AD came with a specific idea in mind - Miss Liberty (the statue) and a Mr. Liberty, kissing.
I tried to create an old '30 poster feel with lots of drama, as to make that kiss bigger than life.
here are the sketches and final -

the Desert :: SPIN / Boston Mag

2007-07-16T18:50:00.002-07:00

tomer :: two unrelated projects ended up delivering scenes in desert locals:

the 1st project for Boston magazine-- a story profiling a lawyer who is defending soldiers that 'grew a conscience' while serving in the military and the legal complications that arises as they no longer believed in armed combat but already signed the dotted line. the immediate effect on the soldiers is the moral and social separation they felt from their peers while on the ground in Iraq.
the AD wanted to play off the "daisies in the barrel" imagery historically associated with the anti war movement of the 60's. to underline the soldier's sense of detachment some of the petals create a circle around his feet on the ground, functioning as a separating apparatus.

the 2nd project was for Spin, a review of the new White Stripes CD Icky Thump. Jack sounds pissed. the first single had an anti-anti-immigration slant and invokes an image of him being drunk on a wagon and crossing the border to Mexico. it's a heavier, nosier package.

the AD remarked that Meg was starting to disappear over the dark sky so we ended up with red ones.

the other global economy :: ode magazine

2007-07-09T12:52:00.001-07:00

asaf :: from the subhead : "money sent home by immigrant workers makes a dramatic impact in developing countries."
which means kids in the philippines(and elsewhere) are growing up without a mom, because she is working oversea and sends money to support the whole family. the ironic tragedy is that the abandoned children often buy western product with this money instead of investing it in their own country products.
here are the sketches -

and final -

an Unholy Trinity :: The Un-Men 2 cover

2007-06-24T15:43:00.001-07:00

tomer :: the second cover for this upcoming Vertigo title focuses on the three main players of the story: Kilcrop, the black albino FBI agent; Cranius, the brian-on-a-hand mad genius (often supported by a headless surgeon body); and Niko, the one armed winged beauty.
Cranius, who seems to be one step ahead of everyone and with the worst motivations in mind, requires a special place in this triangle. there is a scene in the book where he is operating on someone and the idea of using the surgical lights as a halo was concidered as an apparatus to highlight him.
while drawing the sketch, another halo, if negative, became apparent as the headless surgeon neckline and was used to highlight one of the implants Cranius is using on his patient/victim.

---------------------------------------------------------------

lastly, we've added Asaf's latest image Born to Kill as the newest print on Monomyth.