Daniel Fishel Illustration + Design

Social Media's cool, E-Dating is not - LA Times

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:00:44 -0400

I had the pleasure of working with Wes at the LA Times again, but this time it was for a section of the newspaper called ‘LA Affairs’. The article I was given to work on was about a millennial/hipster who is down with being wired into her smart phone/twitter/instagram/you name it but can’t get down with online dating.

Her reasoning is that everyone posts pictures of themselves from 10 years ago, lie about some of their interest/hobbies, ect. It’s kinda sad to hear all of that but in the end, everyone needs a little bit of love.

Riding Bikes. Driving Cars. - Honolulu Magazine

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:25:28 -0400

Here’s my latest piece for Honolulu Magazine’s “Afterthoughts section”. This month, I illustrated an article about Mikes personal dilemma. On one hand he is a huge supporter of riding his bike every where in the city, but as he get’s older he starts to see the benefits of owning a car. He can drive his friends everywhere, and make grocery shopping much easier too. Meaning he can carry more than one bag full of groceries back to his place. This was super fun to work on.

On a side note, I am pretty sure this is my ninth or tenth illustration over the past year that I’ve drawn a bike(s). None of which was drawn for a bicycle magazine. Hit me up guys!

Fade to Black: VOL 1

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:25:00 -0400

I made a zine of some of my favorite works that would translate well in black and white. After sending a couple out to a few art directors and some friends, I got a lot of positive feedback. Soooo I thought I would make more zines to sell online for cheap…..

Lack of Police Presence - Honolulu Magazine

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:02:00 -0400

For May, I was asked to illustrate an opinion-driven piece for Honolulu Magazine’s “Afterthoughts.”

The article described the lack of police presence in Honolulu’s up and coming China Town. The authors used Otto of Otto’s Cakes (a famous local cake shop) to show how drug dealers are threatening local merchants to move out of the neighborhood.

Otto attempted to gain the attention of police with no luck. Eventually, he wrote “HELP” on the window and a note saying he would only take orders placed over the phone/email and no longer held regular business hours . What a shame!

Here are two other ideas I conjured up. The first, a switch blade in a cake. The second, Otto waiting for phone calls hunched behind the counter while the doors remained locked. Thanks again Cody + Mike for an awesome written piece to illustrate.

Davids Discovery

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:56:00 -0400

I was approached a few months ago by a non-profit to create sample images for a children’s book. The director of the non-profit believed that my work would bring a more mature look to a children’s book, making it less traditional.

I do not see myself as an illustrator for children’s book, but am open to trying something new. Sadly, I was not chosen but I love the images I created and wish to share them with you.

There were a few moments in the story where the main character, while in bed, tells all of his fears to his stuffed monkey, Somo. I thought that this was really a nice charming moment in the story to paint.

At the climax of the story, David calls his mom to tell her that something went wrong at his friends house and his friends sister and he were alone and needed her. So, they went to the Library to wait for his mom to show up to tell her what happened.

I wanted to make a more open spread so the art could breath. And, I wanted space for the type.

I was most excited by the possibility of interpreting the story. I wanted the characters to have different ethnicities where a child of any background could save the day.

After this experience I can see myself as an illustrator of children’s books and would say yes without hesitation if approached again.

Stairway to Heaven - Honolulu Magazine

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:57:00 -0400

This month I was generously given some breath-taking photographs to use as reference for a column I illustrate for Honolulu Magazine, “After thoughts”. The story is about a trail called “the Stairway to Heaven” which consists of 3,922 metal stairs bolted to the side of lush mountains that stretch miles.

Unfortunately, the Hawaiian government has banned walking on the the trail since 1987. However, many people sneak onto the trail in the thick of night when guards are least likely to protect the entrance.

After reading the story, I wondered why it’s such a concern to keep people off of the trail. Is it for health reasons? Did something really terrible happen? All I know is that after seeing some of the photographs of the trail, I really want to walk it.

Anyway, Cody and I decided to combine both of the sketch ideas seen above.

Alumni Stories - Notre Dame Magazine

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:04:00 -0400

Recently I had the pleasure of working with Kerry at Notre Dame magazine. The series consisted of shot stories written by alumni. This a dream job for me because I believe that my work fits well with a lot of content, but short stories go the extra mile in terms of visuals.

The above image is for a story about how distance is created in a friendship due Facebook’s false representations of self. You can be so distant from seeing all the signs that your friend of so many years might be depressed to the point of taking her own life and in the story that is exactly what happens.

This is a story written by an alumni about a crazy adventure in the Congo where she had to get a signature from an arch bishop. What would of normally been a 3 hour drive became a five event because of different conflicts that came along the way.

50 Shades of Grey - Boston Globe

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:54:54 -0400

I am very pleased to share a cover that I did for the Boston Globe’s “G Style”. I’ve been wanting to do one of their “G” covers for a while after I saw illustrators like Kali Ciesemier, Tim Goodman and Martin Gee’s beautiful covers for the publication.

Anyways, I’m really lucky to work with Catherine again on this cover, who is really great to work with. The brief I got for this cover is that there is a semi-new book that is being republished on a larger press called “50 Shades of Grey”. It’s supposed to be the next big twilight series and suburban mom’s are going nuts to get a copy of the book. After reading the description of the book, I’ve found out that the book is about S&M, and risky relationships. I was getting ready to draw a bunch of sketches of house wives with whips and chains but the art direction lead me to focus on how the books make it easier to talk about sex (with their spouse and other wives), and aren’t ashamed to be reading the book in public.

It’s been really nice out so some idea’s revolved around people reading it outside, in coffee shops, ect. In the end, we wanted to focus on having a hip late 20/early 30 women getting steamy while reading the book over tea. In the window you can see other women reading the book as well.

It's harder to talk about Race with Obama in office - Washington Post

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:00:05 -0400

Talking about racial ethnicity has always been a funny topic for me. Mostly because when I tell people that I am Ethiopian, I usually get rattled off of a long list of ethnicities they thought I was (Latino being the usual first assumption.) As fun as it is to play twenty questions every once in a while, it was interesting for me to be assigned an article for the Washington Post about how it’s even harder to talk about race now that Obama is in office. Renique Allen did an excellent job writing the article. She really connected with how strange it is that even with an African American President, a greater sense of diversity and tolerance, it’s still hard to talk about race. This is mostly because of the uncomfortable fear/judgement of being called a racist for having a simple conversation about race.

I collaborated with Kristin Lenz on this article to come up with the best solution. We talked back and forth on whether to include Obama or to have it be more of an abstract piece to talk more in general about the disconnect and deflection people had when talking about race. After talking with her and getting some feedback from the editors, we decided that the design/headline will help solve the problem in connection with the illustration.

Kristin did an amazing job with the layout of the article. When I picked up the paper Sunday morning, I was really taken back by how well the marriage between the design and the illustration melded together.

Here’s a follow up spot that goes along with the continuation of the article. Thanks again Kristin for taking a chance, and making a great piece of work with me.

You can read the article here….

What you get for buying cheap bank stock - Bloomberg View

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:41:00 -0400

I had the pleasure of working with Phil on a piece for the Bloomberg View. The article is about how buying bank stock may still be cheap but that there are all sorts of problems that come along with it.

On Sale Gold bicycle = Bank Stocks.

Click here to view the image larger…

Read the article here…

Daylight Savings

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:29:00 -0500

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour. Summer is getting closer and closer.

Quonset huts - Honolulu Magazine

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0500

I hope everyone had a great leap day!

Here is the latest piece I completed for my monthly “After Thoughts” section in Honolulu Magazine. Mike wrote a story in this month’s issue that tells of his love for the old Quonset huts that are native in Hawaii. After much research I discovered that Quonset huts were used in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s when military was set up in Pearl Harbor. These huts have been slightly modified over the years and have been redesigned for other uses all over the world. As we progress more into the 21st century, these huts have been put on the back burner, and Mike wanted to highlight this cool piece of Hawaiian history.

The two concepts portrayed in the illustrations were the hut in the landscape or of its alternative use outside of city life.

Thanks again, Cody for asking me to do another piece for Honolulu Magazine and sharing a little piece of Hawaiian history in the process.

Reminiscing - The Globe & Mail

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:24:00 -0500

I had the pleasure of working with Cinders at the Globe & Mail for a piece in their “Facts and Arguments” section. She assigned a narrative story about a man reminiscing about his childhood in Port Credit, Ontario while with his wife, two year old son and dog. The overall art direction was to show the family walking around their neighborhood into which, it is alluded, they could move back.

These were two sketches I thought would have been cool to follow through with and luckily the first one was chosen. In the second sketch I wanted to focus on a moment in the story where his wife was looking at him with a smile (which is something that is repeated a lot in the story) as he looks at az old home remembering a moment in time.

I am flattered to now be a contributing writer for Agency...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:02:00 -0500

I am flattered to now be a contributing writer for Agency Access. Just about every month, I will be writing an article about the business of illustration based on questions asked on an Agency Access poll done last year.

My first post is about preparing for/setting up Portfolio Reviews.

Hitting the Mark - Paradigm Gallery

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:51:00 -0500

Hitting the mark - 9”x12” Acrylic and ink on paper mounted to board
You can purchase my piece online here

I was asked to be a part of a group show at paradigm gallery, where the theme was having a lack of confidence in terms of creating artwork or having lots of confidence. All in all the theme was loose enough so that every artist in the group show could make a really great piece of artwork from of it. My piece deals with the idea of risk and testing the paths we take before following through with them.

A few days before the opening, I bought an iPhone which is why the video below has been made possible. Enjoy….

Too Many Whistle Blowers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:24:00 -0500

I totally forgot to blog about this piece. I did work for Levi, the art director of Nexus magazine, who is associated with the University of Toronto law program.

The article focused on the incentives given to those who whistle blow on their companies and the influx of these clients to lawyers. So, now lawyers have to find new ways to sift through the poor information to find out who is really trying to do the right thing and who is trying to get some extra coin by giving lame information, which could both shame the company and be a huge cost to the lawyers when they lose their suit. HEAVY STUFF!

Allison Weiss + Rachel Cantu go on tour

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:26:00 -0500

Allison Weiss hit me up to do a tour poster that also translated into an awesome website so you can check out Allison or Rachel anywhere on tour.

I did the illustration, Allison did the print/web design for this project.

My favorite part about working on this piece was playing around with and loosely translating stuff with painterly brush strokes so that the car would be more of a focal point. I also had to paint the “canyon-like forms a few times to get it just right and not look too loosely painted or in bad form.

The Charters are coming...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:59:00 -0500

I finally got a chance to work with Elizabeth at the Nashville Scene. She gave me a tricky article about whether or not charter schools were going to be good for the city of Nashville. She proposed the idea of a teacher writing out “The Charters Are Coming” over and over like she’s in detention and the students are monitoring her.

Like always, I try to thrown in my best alternative ideas to see what works…

One of my ideas, a student heading into school with different schools on each of the corners and across the street, stressing that there are too many popping up. Another is about the range of schools which is demonstrated by the diversity of children in their uniforms shown as they get on a city bus. The final showing too many classes going on at once.

It’s not too often that I am handed a conceptual solution and really like the outcome. Also, I am starting to see a trend in these last two months of hand lettering seeping into my editorial work which is something that I’ve been wanting to see.

Benefits of Good Sportsmanship

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:04:00 -0500

I had the chance to work with the lovely people at Southern Poverty Law. I was given the opportunity to do a piece for their magazine called “Teaching Tolerance”. The article they had me work on was about Sportsmanship in football. Specifically, how rivalry is totally fine except when it leads to poor sportsmanship, in which case it can be really hurtful. In the full page image that was published, I wanted to show how poor sportsmanship can create a divide and can really hurt the players on the field.

Another idea I thought would have been cool to show was how poor sportsmanship can travel amongst the team like a wild fire. This would be shown by depicting a player going from color to black and white.

I was also asked to do a follow up illustration that was pretty simple.

A note: It was really interesting to think about this article on a personal level. During my middle school and high school years I played football and really loved the game. However, I ultimately stopped playing football because I tired of the trash talk, and poor sportsmanship which is sadly part of the game. So, it is kind of interesting to put my own commentary into an illustration for an article that is reflective of my younger self.

Confidence....Paradigm Gallery

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:43:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, I was kindly asked to take part in a group show with a stellar line of folks. If you don’t have anything to do this friday in Philadelphia, please swing by Paradigm Gallery to check it out.

I was able to take a few quick photos of the piece before getting it out the door. Here’s a preview of what the painting looks like.