Happy 2007!

Having worked in the newspaper biz for the past six years I've become familiar with many cyclical topics that we must wade through annually. You have your standard "news," of course– and that provides surprise and unique opportunities for art & graphics– but many of the stories that are generated by the writers themselves tend to address familiar topics and events that are often recurring.

For example, the summer movie package. Every year we must find a way to package and present the information on the slew of blockbusters– or busts– are coming to a theater near you. You'd think that it wouldn't be tedious since they don't release the same movies every year, but somehow it often feels like you're doing the same thing you did last year. It's a challenge to come up with different ways of making it interesting, not only to the readers but to yourself.

There's back-to-school, new TV show season, the holidays, parades, local annual events, elections... I don't think two weeks go by without having to address a topic that you have covered before– like the arrival of the new year.

I try to avoid falling back on a cliche, such as the New Years Baby shtick, but I couldn't get around it this time, so I embraced it! I took the idea and I tried to give it a gentle tweak. It gave me a chance to indulge my retro-sci-fi tendencies. Lotta fun to work on.

Here are a few screenshots of this piece's progression. Painted in Photoshop!

The End.