Warren G Harding

Warren Harding was an affable man, but he faced the plight of many ineffective leaders gone before him. Whatever historians may consider to be his good qualities, one of those was definitely not taking a stand.

Unlike Woodrow Wilson, Harding flipped and he flopped. As a Senator it is said that he missed nearly 40% of the votes. His past was filled with mistresses and possibly an illegitimate child. His presidency was filled with scandal and corruption. Though none of the scandal was directly tied to him, a man is known by the friends he chooses and Harding’s friends gave him nothing but trouble.

The quote I used for the painting attests to this fact: “My God this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies… but my damn friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”

To be fair to Harding, there is no evidence that suggests he made any personal gain from the bribes and fraud that went on during his time in office. But after taking an extended vacation out west to Seattle, a trip where he planned to meet ordinary people and explain his policies, his troubles followed and he was unable to shake talks of the scandals on Capitol Hill thousands of miles away. He died unexpectedly in San Francisco, leaving the office to Calvin Coolidge.

Coolidge was so disgusted by the turmoil he didn’t even attend the former presidents funeral service.

Warren Harding was also famous for his terrible use of the English language. He insisted on using the word “normalcy” which was basically unheard of at the time. He also insisted on writing his own speeches, which led to many baffling statements such as “I would like the government to do all it can to mitigate, then, in understanding, in mutuality of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be solved” which comes from Stephen Piles Book of Heroic Failures.

Upon his death, famous poet EE Cummings stated “The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.” The quote was taken from the same source.

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Woodrow Wilson

“I do not want a government that takes care of me. I want a government that will make other men take their hands off so I can take care of myself!”

Painting through a series meas I paint them all, regardless of what they did. I am usually able to find interest in every subject, I like that ability. But when it comes to Woodrow Wilson, we come to one of my favorite presidents and that is why I spent so long hovered over this painting. I’m currently reading through this awesome, full fledged 500 page biography of the man. So as to not write my own book in this post, I will save writing about Woodrow for a later date. I’ll update this page when that’s done.

If you must know, my other favorite presidents are James K Polk, Theodore Roosevelt and to a lesser extent Harry Truman. Through this project I gained respect for Grover Cleveland and the mini series HBO did on John Adams (and my wife gave me for Valentines) will hopefully shed a new light on the man. Of course I’m a fan of George Washington, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. That’s a given.

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Arthur Capper

The third and final piece in my reThink Topeka triptych. It also happens to be my favorite of the 3.

If you’re from the area, you should instantly recognize the name Capper from Capper’s Weekly (rural farming newsweekly) and the Capper Foundation (assists children with disabilities). Capper was also the 20th governor of the state of Kansas and a state senator.

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Alf Landon

Part 2 of the 3 part series for reThink Topeka (which I guess as of right now is reThink Google, more on that in a possible blog).

This painting is of Alf Landon, governor of Kansas and the poor individual who tried to get in the way of FDRs reelection in 1936. Landon was Republican nominee for President, but he was bowled over by the unstoppable force that was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the solution to the great depression and the saviour to everyone living in that generation. Landon lost the election by nearly 10 million votes.

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Charles Curtis

This portrait of Charles Curtis is part 1 of my 3 part submission to the reThink Topeka project.

It’s a painting of Charles Curtis, the Topekan born politician who was Vice President under Herbert Hoover and the first Native American to reach either of our Nation’s highest offices.

Two more pieces will be posted in the coming days.

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Grading Obama

Rest assured, this illustration set has nothing to do with my Us Presidents series. These two illustrations go with an article on the topic “Grading Obama’s First Year.” The first illustration is of a slightly insecure looking Obama and touches on the idea that he did a lot of smooth talking, but so far has struggled with results. The illustrated portrait of him is called “Red, White & Barack.”

Personally, I didn’t expect him to change the world in 1 year, nor do I think it fair to be too critical of him after only a year.

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Time Magazine Cover History

I’ve been doing some research for a project and I came across a very sweet collection of Time Magazine covers, basically the whole history of their visual identity.

Check it out here. There are all kinds of other publications on the site, so be prepared to waste a lot of time if you’re into visual history.

I like the internet and all, it obviously makes research such as this much easier, but I hope we never see the day where printed newspapers and magazines cease to exist. Digital is just not the same in my opinion. I often wonder what our generation will leave behind. Museums have innumerable written correspondance between friends, lovers and haters. Children find vintage records, baseball cards and other priceless ephemera in their parents and grandparents attics. What will I leave behind? A hard drive with a bunch of files on it? Yeah, that’s just not that exciting at all.

Also, I feel that the Time covers aren’t quite as good the more modern they become. Older issues had lively illustrations and ideas, new ones look more like photo collages. Wonder if my opinion has anything to do with the fact that I’m an illustrator, haha. Obviously I’m really drawn to the individual portraits of the older covers and would love to do that kind of work.

A few of my favorites are:

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Cleanest Bathrooms Illustration

An editorial illustration for an article with the subject matter of “Restaurants with the cleanest bathrooms.” I did a few sketches on this one, trying to figure out how to get the idea across without distastefully focusing too much on what goes on in the bathroom. I finally came to the conclusion that if these bathrooms really are that clean, the person should want to order from within the bathroom. And I ran with that idea….

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Food Network Page

I feel I’m safe in posting a scan of the page I had in the December issue of Food Network magazine. I wanted to be sure it was well off the shelves before posting it. I was truly blessed to be given a full page, page 185 to be exact, and from that little page many wonderful people visited my site. Thanks to all those at Food Network Magazine for finding me, reaching out to contact me and making it all happen!

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William Howard Taft

Unfortunately known for his weight, he is after all the heftiest president in history, Taft was always self conscious of his weight problems, something that followed him since childhood.

Taft’s presidency also wasn’t the most successful, even he admitted so, and that is supported by the fact that he gained fewer votes for reelection than any other incumbent. This, however, could be due to the fact that he was in a race against the popular Woodrow Wilson and the old stalwart back with a new party, Theodore Roosevelt.

Like many others who held office, though, Taft’s lasting legacy is left in what he did outside of office. It’s actually believed that he never wanted the presidency and that his wife and her ambitions pushed him into the oval office. He has been quoted as saying he was uncomfortable holding such office, and that he had always wanted to serve as Chief Justice on the Supreme Court. In fact, while he was president he had to appoint another for the position of Chief Justice. He appointed an older man to the position, many believe he did this because his appointee would not live as long and the position would open up after he left office.

Taft was a likable fellow with a cheery personality and a generous chuckle (hence the bright, happy color palette in his portrait). However, he was an unhappy man during his 4 years in office, but he regained his cheer after leaving office.

After leaving office, 8 years later, he did just that- he became Chief Justice. Taft is the only man to have led both the Executive and Judicial branches and was allegedly quoted as saying “The truth is that in my present life I don’t remember that I ever was president.” He considered his 9 years as Chief Justice his proudest achievement.

Taft served our nation well, though his time was unmemorable. Heavily criticized during his time in office for his disdain for rampant executive power, time has since shown Taft may not have been so wrong after all. So maybe he wasn’t great, but he wasn’t terrible either.

Taft was the first president to throw out the first pitch to inaugurate the baseball season.

Taft was the first president to preside over the 48 states, or the continental U.S.

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Topeka Capital-Journal Article

This excellent article on my United Plates series appeared in the Topeka Capital Journal on December 12, 2009. It was written by Jan Biles. The original post can be viewed on the Capital Journal’s website.

Artist creates ‘tasteful’ depictions of 50 states

MAYETTA — A Mayetta-based artist is finding out Americans have a hunger for his hand-drawn posters.

John Holcomb, 25, has created a series of tongue-in-cheek posters titled “The United Plates” that depict each state as food. A rectangular Kansas is made from triangular turnovers. Indiana is a bunch of asparagus, while Minnesota is a frothy mug of beer.

The sales of his unique artwork recently were boosted after catching the eye of SeriousEats.com, a recipe blog, and the Food Network Magazine, which featured his posters in its December issue.

“It’s my goal to create something that people will enjoy and hopefully something that will last longer than I will,” Holcomb explains in a flyer about his series. “I’m always working and always pushing myself to do something better.”

Holcomb, who grew up in Mayetta, attended Topeka High School and graduated from John Brown University in 2007 with a degree in design and illustration. After his graduation, he and his wife, Ali, returned to Mayetta to live. His wife took a job at the Holton newspaper while he concentrated on his art and taking care of his ailing great-grandmother.

In March 2008, when he was at his great-grandmother’s home, the idea of “The United Plates” series popped into his head.

“I thought Delaware looked like a dead fish,” he said. “It was a random thought. I sketch every thought I have. I did 20 states right there and then.”

Iowa became a green bell pepper; Oregon, a pile of spaghetti and meatballs; Tennessee, a hot dog; and North Carolina, a slice of cherry pie.

The following July, Holcomb began screen-printing his designs in his garage.

“I printed 5,000 to start with — 100 of each state,” he said.

The last state he drew was Missouri. Holcomb said he is an ardent Jayhawk fan and didn’t want to let the Kansas-Missouri rivalry influence what food he chose to use for that state.

“Chinese — I gave them my favorite food,” he said.

In January 2009, Holcomb launched a Web site, theunitedplates.com, to sell his prints. But traffic at the site was slow and sales were sparse.

“It was really hard for seven months,” he said.

Last July, Holcomb said he and his wife said a prayer and put his fate as an artist in God’s hands.

“The next day I was featured on SeriousEats.com, and traffic on the Web site jumped 3,000 percent, and I got an e-mail from the Food Network the next day,” he said.

The magazine gave him a full-page feature story that showed several of his posters.

Since then, he receives two to three e-mails a day from people inquiring about his artwork and has gone from screen-printing each poster to printing them on the computer. Holcomb includes a hand-written thank-you and a brief note about the state with each order.

Holcomb said “The United Plates” series was a “confidence builder” that has led to other projects: a coffeetable-style book based on the “United Plates” series and a series of watercolor paintings of the U.S. presidents, which can be seen at www.shorthandedstudio.com/us-presidents/.

“I work with the ideas I have,” he said, “and see where it goes.”

Jan Biles can be reached at (785) 295-1292 or jan.biles@cjonline.com.

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Shorthanded v 4.0

Enter the code “newsite” for a 10% discount in my shop!

I’ve been slightly derailed from the Presidents series of late, but it’s not for lack of good reason. One of which is new jobs, the other is a brand new Shorthandedstudio.com!

If you’ve happened by the site of late, you will have seen some of these growing pains. I’m not a “web designer” so I choose to tweak my site a piece at a time instead of launching new versions overnight. However, I believe I have finally put the finishing polish on this version of the site and I’m really excited with how it turned out. It’s much cleaner than the last iteration, and most importantly to me it features a brand new store!

If you’ve really been following Shorthanded since it’s debut launch in January of 2008, this is in fact version 4.0 (4.5 if you count the crash and collapse that happened on January of 09 that caused a massive loss of data and many unkind words spoken on my part). The second version was launched January 2009, the 3rd in November of 2009 and now this version in February 2010. I wish I would have kept screenshots of each version because it would have been nice to see the progression, but I’ve never been that organized.

This version directly adresses two areas that I’ve always felt were problem areas for my site.

Problem #1, the store. Paypal is a great tool, but their popup and cart system are hideous not to mention I dread adding products because it means I’ll have to login to Paypal’s backend site. As a person interested in design and usability, Paypal’s administrator area is the nastiest place on the web. Even though I came up with a quite genius setup for adding products to the store, I always felt it was a weak link. Now I cannot lie, the store I just added to this site rules! You should really go check it out. I’m so excited to finally have it integrated as a shopping cart.

Problem #2, the navigation. I’ve never liked the navigation systems I’ve employed in the past. To me, the beauty in a navigation is hidden in its simplicity yet as a peddler of visual goods I want every viewer to see everything I do, but that’s the worst approach to a navigation system possible. When those two opposing ideas collide, there’s chaos. Your best bet in navigation is always sub navigation and since I hate hate hate dropdown menus, I chose to employ a sub navigation system my own way.

There is a photo of a recent version of the site so you can see the changes.

Those who choose to shop in my store are my means of existence, my most appreciated visitors. To say thanks, and to entice anyone who may want to make a purchase from my shop, enter the code “newsite” in the discount code field and take 10% off the order total.

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