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Summertime in NYC

Randy Pollak — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:18:54 +0000

This is the cover for the Village Voice's Summer Arts preview which hit stands yesterday.

The Coolest Man in the World

Randy Pollak — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:35:20 +0000

When I was a kid, my Unlce Sandy was the coolest man in the world. He was Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies. He was Billy Joel from Glass Houses. He was tall, he played guitar and damn was he funny. He was who I wanted to be when I grew up. I do play guitar, very infrequently and not very well. I have been known to rattle off a quip or two and I am a remarkable 6 feet seven inches tall... OK, but I am funny! Love you Uncle Sandy! This is him circa 1971ish or 1972ish.

HUNGER GAMES

Randy Pollak — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:43:39 +0000

Jennifer Lawrence, Katniss. A digital painting.

Best of New York

Randy Pollak — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:50:25 +0000

I am FINALLY getting around to posting this! I was honored to do a series for the Village Voice's annual "Best of New York" issue. Brian T. Silak, my frequent collaborator and friend did some great landscape photography for me to use on this one. The concept was basically that here in New York we have a little something from every where! A little bit of Paris here, a dash of Italy there, you get the idea. So we inserted some of the great landmarks of the world into our fair city (Also, being a Knicks fan, I couldn't resist the temptation to take a little shot at the Heat)!

Halloween is on the MOVE (get it? cause the moving and such)

Randy Pollak — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:44:07 +0000

Another addition to my little growing gallery of motion ilustrations! Check the youtube channel for updates! get moving!

Things are really starting to MOVE around here!

Randy Pollak — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:17:04 +0000

If you haven't noticed already, I've added a new link to the main navigation of the site. "GET WATCHING" is the new YOUTUBE channel I've set up to house the After Effects work I intend to begin undertaking as part of the editorial illustration work I take on. I've uploaded the first video- a piece I created based on the illustration I recently completed for Associatoins Now magazine. I hope to do more of these "motion-illustrations" as time goes on and magazines begin the transition to tablet based devices in favor of, or in additoin to, print. So here we go- let's get moving!

Long time no see!

Randy Pollak — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:19:11 +0000

I realize it's been a while since I've posted here. I have been busy! I've just completed work on a series of 7 pieces that will take you through a very unusual day in New York. So excited to show this new work. Look for it in the Village Voice (if you are here in NY) in the next week or two. Afterwards, I'll post them here on the blog. See you soon!

Tiger

Randy Pollak — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:21:05 +0000

An older piece I did of Tiger Woods. Just a bit of practice.

Who Left the Window Open?

Randy Pollak — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:27:02 +0000

This is an older job and one I was always sort of torn about. It never really got me excited like some of my other images do but there was...something I liked about it. See, I like including people wherever I can to my work. I like people. So it is as much to my surprise as anyone's that I submitted the sketch for this job to begin with. But it got accepted to go to finish and here it is. It's not a perfect work by any means and I would have liked to have had someone in the piece. BUT I thought it kind of a ballsy move to make the city green. My palette, while not usually what anyone would consider "natural", doesn't usualy go as "out there" as to make a green cityscape. But here it is. There's kind of a strange lit-from-below thing happening with the chair in the corner. The creepy lighting and the weird cityscape color goes towards making the whole thing feel a little foreboding, a little "off". We have a NOIR-thing going on. THe GREENS, REDS and YELLOWS make me think of those great pulp novel covers. Some of the light and dark work- specifically the unnatural hilight on the panes of glass in the windows, and those shapes of the open window frames themselves remind me of the amazing Tamara De Lempicka. Maybe my human element was JUST HERE and left in a hurry, without closing the window, letting the papers are fly out the window. Que noir music!

Unions

Randy Pollak — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 00:14:43 +0000

Now seems like a good time to post this illustration I recently completed for American School Board Magazine concerning the attempts to decertify teachers unions and how this time, attempts may prove to be successful. The paper doll metaphor was initially thought of by my wonderful wife while the other inspirations were the great Saul Bass' poster for EXODUS and the 1980's movie poster for TEACHERS.