By Mark Kaufman
Here's a detail of a recently completed illustration I did that will be used for direct mail, advertising and online. On the left is the first iteration, on the right is the same character sporting a delightful hairpiece. I was specifically asked not to use so many old, bald guys. As an old, bald guy I resemble that remark.

By Mark Kaufman
Thanksfully I have been swamped over the past few weeks, so not a lot of posts, but here’s one of several spots I did for the Portland Mercury’s Bike Issue. Something about the former and current mayors and their attitudes on bicycles and public policy. I personally prefer the Amsterdam bike policy, flatten the terrain for a leisurely ride and outlaw spandex and the attitude.

By Mark Kaufman
This one’s for the ladies. 

By Mark Kaufman
Everything has a label on it nowadays, from t-shirts to glasses to shoes. You wouldn’t wear a plaid jacket with striped pants would you? So why mix up the corporate labels that you so proudly shill for?

By Mark Kaufman
Watched the premiere episode of AMC’s Mad Men last night. Much like a cheap and tawdry coupon that was a minor plot point it will keep me coming back for more. The producers have figured out several old school/fresh ways to add advertising into the programming itself. This is basically the first cigarette advertising I have seen on TV since I was a kid! One major blooper was inferring that Lucky Strike started using the slogan “It’s Toasted” in 1960, when in fact it was first used in 1917! One minor blooper, it’s doubtful that the Metro North logo seen when the creative director/main character heads home was the one used in 1960. The image here is of the character Midge, described as “A smart, ambitious art illustrator, Midge is a thoroughly independent career woman – much like the multitudes of women venturing into the workforce for the first time. Midge sets her own rules…”. she is the quasi-bohemian mistress of the main character.  Hooray for illustrators! Most of the characters so far are despicable, flawed human beings, just like any office in the world. The series takes place in 1960s era Madison Avenue and has everything you could hope for, sexism, racism, closeted creatives, the “Italian” agencies, the Jewish “agencies”, smoking in the office, drinking in the office, strippers, infidelity, crises of conscience, lying, bitching…all of the things that make this business so different, so appealing. Just kidding of course, it has all that, but all of those things were and are true in corporate America and life in general. I am old enough to have gotten into the business at the tail end of many of these anachronistic elements, I remember smoking at the office, wearing suits to work everyday, more blatant forms of mysogeny, anti-Semitism and racism, closet cases, and most of all total douche bag account executives. Happily most of those things have been tossed aside or at least swept under the rug in the last 25 years. Although I do miss when everyone wore a suit or a dress to work everyday.

By Mark Kaufman
Davidson Galleries in Seattle is selling publisher proofs of the legend, the master, the amazing Ronald Searle. Although it is great to see the work of Mr. Searle up close and personal it kind of sucks for a gallery to sell proofs such as these which contain HUGE stamps that scream Specimen/Not For Sale pretty much in the middle of each main image. You’d be better off going to the RonaldSearle.co.uk site and see his gallery of work for sale. You will of course pay a great deal more, but at least the work won’t have a stamp of disapproval on it. Here’s a great tribute blog to this astounding artist with a truly amazing life story.

By Mark Kaufman
I Heart Fun is a website with drawings by a friend and collaborator Erin Leonard. This is an image of mine he posted on the site a while back. Check it out won’t you?

By Mark Kaufman
Watched the Copa America final yesterday, Brazil 3, Argentina 0. Disappointing result, however I did find this today, and I just love these kinds of things, what could be better, or worse in most cases than sporting mascots. One of my dreams would be to create a mascot for a sporting event. There was another creature besides Guaky on the sidelines yesterday, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what it was. A whale? A rhino? Can anyone shed some light on the greyish mascot at the Copa America final yesterday? Thanks.

By Mark Kaufman
Rock drummer and tuba for an article on a Rock Lottery in the Stranger. See article and a detail of the final art here.

By Mark Kaufman
Sure my politics and illustration skew to the far left, but that doesn’t mean that I'm blind to the excesses of the left either. This piece done for The Isthmus in Madison, WI. I am an avid Air America listener, but Jesus H Fucking Christ, most “progressives” are annoying whiners. Which is different from right wing talk radio which is just plain apeshit, forked tongue crazy.

By Mark Kaufman
Lots of blog/internet/forum discussion today on the fact that Barack Obama is on the cover of Newsweek again. Issue hits newsstands today, and I am sure that someone else will comment about this, but I've noticed something odd about the cover. In the upper left hand corner, just above the face of Obama reads the words Terror’s New Face. WTF? Coincidence? Deliberate? “Sublinibinal”? On a cover where the subject matter is race and a black and white divide, it just seems to be an odd juxtaposition. We design. You decide.

By Mark Kaufman

By Mark Kaufman
Latest installment of American Affairs Desk where Dick Cheney goes well beyond the infamous Jersey City Mayor and politcal boss Frank Hague who proclaimed “I AM THE LAW”, and considers himself above the laws of man. Perhaps he abides by the edicts of “The Law” from HG Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau where half-men, half-animal creatures have deemed the following prohibitions as “the Law,” which are repeated ad nauseam.

Not to go on All-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to suck up Drink: that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not men?
Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men? 

Sure sounds like something Vice might chant in his undisclosed location, eh? I know, I know, why do I hate America so much?

By Mark Kaufman
If you’ve seen the back page of the latest Seattle Metropolitan Monthly you’ve seen my illustrations for the Last Look feature, Pigs Not on Parade. What you won't see however is this image with the wino and the pig. Originally intended as the Pioneer Square Pig, for some reason the guy on the left was edited out. Go figure, we’ve had an office in Pioneer Square for  over 10 years, and this guy has been trying to bum cigarettes off me the whole time.