Death is not the end

Yesterday, on the morning after we sent the SF Bay Guardian's 40th annual Best of the Bay issue to press, staff were informed that the 48-year-old alternative weekly — "raising hell since 1966" — would be shut down effective immediately.

There's still a lot to process. Many things, including how to handle the paper's storied archives —online and in print — still need to be sorted out between the owners, the staff and the community. 

I'm sad, obviously. But I'm glad that the SF Bay Guardian's last issue (at least in this incarnation) is a great one. 

Publisher/Executive Editor Marke B. and I worked with local legend Jeremy Fish for this year's Best of the Bay artwork. Fish being Fish, I gave him very little art direction aside from the issue's theme (ironically Día de los Muertos, more on that below) and the four categories in which we give awards (City Living, Food+Drink, Arts+Entertainment, and Shopping). Per usual, Fish killed it, making this not only one of the most exciting issues I've worked on, but one of the easiest covers I've ever produced.

The Best of the Bay issue hits stands today, so go to your nearest SFBG newsstand, pick up a copy, admire Jeremy Fish's insane talent, and read about all of the reasons why we love San Francisco and the Bay Area. See Fish's artwork below, and scroll to the bottom to check out the entire paper on ISSUU.

I'll end with some all too relevant words from Marke B.'s introduction to Best of the Bay, on why we chose Día de los Muertos as this year's theme:

Lately when it comes to the Bay Area, "change" has been the dominant subject of conversation — especially in terms of what's been lost in arts, industry, creative types, and overall freak factor. But change can be a great positive motivator, and in celebrating the things no longer with us, we keep their spirits alive — and at the ready to help us embrace new beginnings.

Scroll through the entire 40th annual Best of the Bay edition, the SF Bay Guardian's last issue:

Awkward sexy magic

For the SF Bay Guardian's annual Sex Issue, arts intern Daniel Bromfield wrote a feature/playlist on awkward songs to give oral to, which was hilarious and amazing. (Read it online here.)

I sent an early copy of the text to illustrator Gracy Henry Pincer, and we came up with this awkward sexy magic:

Layout for the Music section opener in the Bay Guardian's 2014 Sex Issue; illustration by Grace Henry Pincer

Streets of San Francisco, Revisited

This year's Streets Issue featured one of my favorite SF Bay Guardian covers of all time.

Influenced by the process and aesthetic used for that cover, illustrator Patrick Sean Gibson redrew a few of the illustrations and expanded the concept into a new poster, below. It's such a compliment to see how the Streets Issue cover project continued to inspire, and eventually transformed into this new work!

See the original cover here.

Illustration by Patrick Sean Gibson

Life and death at SF General

Matthew Fleming makes my job insanely easy.

I literally asked him to do a hospital illustration that conveyed a lot of interconnected activity — ambulances traveling, IVs, beds, nurses, mental health care, bandages — and that would include a big human heart for me to superimpose a headline on.

And then this happened, with no further direction:

Matthew Fleming, you're amazing. Also check out the tech cover he illustrated for me last year.

Furqan's First Flat Top

Robert Trujillo, the mega-talented local artist I worked with for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay issue, is making a children's book! 

Please check out his Kickstarter page, and contribute if you can. 

Cover illustration for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay edition by Robert Trujillo

City Living illustration for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay edition by Robert Trujillo

Food + Drink illustration for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay edition by Robert Trujillo

Arts + Entertainment illustration for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay edition by Robert Trujillo

Shopping illustration for the SF Bay Guardian's 2013 Best of the Bay edition by Robert Trujillo

Future of tech in transit

Ever since the SF Bay Guardian's graphic feature on Aaron Swartz, I've been wanting to do an illustrative series about San Francisco life. Our streets issue presented the perfect medium.

I had to wrestle with the writer a bit to keep these concepts relevant to San Francisco life, instead of this feature purely being an excuse to put "Star Wars" and "Back to the Future" references in the paper. The final result, I hope, paints a humorous picture of a dystopian San Francisco that is somewhat foreseeable ... with "Star Wars" and "Back to the Future" references. Bonus! 

Illustrated by the wonderful Matthew Smith.

Streets of San Francisco

Illustrator Patrick Sean Gibson took over the SF Bay Guardian cover this week, with fabulous results. I've never had an illustrator ask to hand-letter not only the main headline and subhead, but the masthead, issue info, and teaser heds as well. He wanted to make the whole cover consistent with the illustration, and I'm super into the effect.

For the 2014 edition of the annual Streets Issue, we wanted to convey the busy, lively, colorful feeling of traveling around SF streets without creating a too-busy Where's Waldo scene. Using a 1969 Time magazine cover by Milton Glaser as inspiration, we picked out a few common street scenes and iconic architecture, and Patrick swirled them together with '70s colors and a '70s typography treatment.

Maybe it's just because it hit stands today, I can't stop looking at it, and I've been getting tons of compliments ... but I'll go ahead and say this is one of my favorite Bay Guardian covers I've worked on.

Guardian illustration by Patrick Sean Gibson

Now that you've stared at it sufficiently (but feel free to go back and look again), check out the Streets Issue online.

Evolution of a cover

The cover for the SF Bay Guardian's Freedom of Information issue, which focused on Aaron Swartz, wasn't fully realized until the interior graphic feature was completed.

We knew we wanted to feature Aaron prominently on the cover, but have the focus be on the achievements and impact of his work. Illustrator Sean Morgan and I went through a few sketches before settling on the use of circular connectors and a thumbprint — two elements recurring throughout the graphic feature — to help connect the feature with the cover cleanly and vibrantly.

Illustration by Sean Morgan

The Saga of Aaron Swartz

Last week's SF Bay Guardian graphic feature on the life and work of Internet activist and icon Aaron Swartz, illustrated by Sean Morgan, reminded me how powerful art can be, and how much of an impact we can have when we think outside the box of traditional storytelling. 

I met Morgan at a CCA Illustration Thesis Review I attended in December, where I was blown away by his black-and-white work ... and the fact that I was frantically searching for someone with exactly his talent to illustrate the SFBG's Candidate X issue — the fictional saga of a political superhero's emergence in San Francisco.

The black-and-white Candidate X was a success, and as soon as I heard the words "political graphic novel" in a planning meeting for the SFBG's annual Freedom of Information issue, I knew Morgan would again be a perfect choice. I was really excited to work with him again — this time in color — and create something impactful, relevant, and just plain fun to read.

Illustrations by Sean Morgan

Good tech

The SF Bay Guardian's Good Tech cover story was finally published today! We had first planned to print the issue in July 2013 (and I even commissioned this fantastic cover illustration by Matthew Fleming in late June) ... but that launch was hijacked by other, more timely stories, and by the abrupt departure of longtime SF Bay Guardian publisher Tim Redmond (now writing at 48 hills), who first envisioned the issue.

But I'm really happy the concept made a comeback, and the timing couldn't be more perfect.

In recent months, the tech industry has consistently been the scapegoat for San Francisco's changing neighborhoods and housing crisis, and the words "Google bus" are prone to incite a deluge of techie hate. Now more than ever, it's important to highlight the socially conscious tech workers, and the ways tech can aid government and solve real problems. All-encompassing anti-techie prejudice can hurt the city, because like all of us, geeks have the power to change the world. Let's get together, combine our resources and change it for the better.

Check out all five Good Tech articles at sfbg.com.

Illustration by Matthew Fleming

Stay warm

This arrived in my mailbox today from the wonderful Andrea Tsurumi.

Warm and fuzzy feelings all around.