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R Kikuo Johnson

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Gold Medal Winner, Society of Illustrators

Thank you to the Society of Illustrators for awarding my New Yorker cover, “Safe Travels,” a gold medal in the 2018 Editorial category. Thank you also to the jury, and of course to Art Editor, Françoise Mouly.

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Monday 02.11.19
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Interview and Profile on Itsnicethat.com

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Read the full interview here.

Friday 11.24.17
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Hana Hou Magazine Profile

I'm honored to have a profile in the June/July 2017 issue of Hawaiian Airlines' Hana Hou! magazine. Thank you to Cathay Che for the flattering prose, to Bailey Rebecca Roberts for the the beautiful photos, and to the rest of the magazine staff!

 

Monday 06.05.17
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

"Body and Soul" comic strip series in the New Yorker

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This week, I had the honor of having four comic strips published in the New Yorker's body and fitness-themed issue.

Art direction: Françoise Mouly.

tags: short comic, comic strip, yoga, gap tooth, bee sting, allergy, bicycle crash, bike
categories: short comics
Wednesday 03.29.17
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Maya Shankar and the Water In Flint Michigan

For the  New Yorker magazine.   Art Direction: Aviva Michaelov

For the New Yorker magazine.

Art Direction: Aviva Michaelov

Thursday 01.26.17
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

AI-AP Profile →

Thank you Robert Newman and American Illustration for the generous interview and profile.

Thursday 01.12.17
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

The New Yorker Cover: "The Finish Line."

↑  Fiction-themed  New Yorker cover.   Art Direction: Françoise Mouly

↑ Fiction-themed New Yorker cover.

Art Direction: Françoise Mouly

tags: New Yorker cover, gym, illustration, fiction issue, octoer
Monday 10.10.16
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

The New Yorker Cover: "Commencement"

↑  Graduation-themed  New Yorker cover.   Thank   you Michael Canva for the close and flattering analysis of this piece  in the  Washington Post .  Art Direction: Françoise Mouly

↑ Graduation-themed New Yorker cover.

Thank you Michael Canva for the close and flattering analysis of this piece  in the Washington Post.

Art Direction: Françoise Mouly

Wednesday 05.25.16
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

The New Yorker Cover: "Closing Set"

↑ Cover to the New Yorker's special entertainment issue.

Art Direction: Francoise Mouly

Monday 04.18.16
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Belief in Alien Life VS Faith in Evolution

↑ Newsweek's weekly "two numbers" column alleges "Americans are nearly as likely to believe in intelligent aliens as they are in evolution."

Art Direction: Jessica Fitzgerald 

tags: abduction, adam and eve, alien life, creationism, evolution, hand of god, illustration, newsweek, two numbers
categories: In Print
Friday 01.08.16
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Bloomberg: 50 Most Influential

 

↑ Bloomberg asked me draw the portraits for this year's 50 Most Influential list.

↑ All 50 portraits as seen in the print edition of Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

↑ John Taylor

↑ Jeff Besos

↑ Janet Yellen

↑ Reid Hoffman

↑ Jorge Paolo Lemann

↑ Warren Buffet

↑ The double gatefold chart in the print magazine seems to function better as an online presentation.

Art Direction: Lou Vega


tags: 50 influential, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Carl Icahn, Janet Yellen, Larry Fink, Lloyd Blankfein, Tim Cook, Warren Buffett, Xi Jinping, bloomberg, caricature
categories: In Print
Wednesday 11.11.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

"Spotlight" film review: The New Yorker

↑ The New Yorker's Review of the film, Spotlight.

↑ Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruff€alo, and Brian d’Arcy James play Boston Globe reporters in Tom McCarthy’s film.

Art Direction: Chris Curry.

tags: New Yorker, illustration, spotlight movie
categories: In Print, editorial illustartion, magazine illustration
Friday 11.06.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Symphony For the City Of The Dead

↑ Wraparound book jacket illustration. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson.

 

↑ Unused Sketches.

Art Direction: Matt Roeser

tags: Book Cover, Shostakovich, bombing, candlewick, dust jacket, illustration, lenningrad
categories: cover
Wednesday 11.04.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Mission Impossible

 

↑ The New Yorker's Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation film review.

 

↑ Unused Sketches.

Art direction: Chris Curry.

tags: New Yorker, Tom Cruise, aerial, airbus, airplane, illustartion, mission impossible, rogue nation
categories: In Print
Friday 10.16.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Where She Got The Gun

↑ The New York Times Sunday Book Review "Summer Fiction" edition's cover story: a review of Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen.

↑ Unused Sketch. Snowy New England features prominently in novel. After my first set of sketches was received, I was informed that this was the Summer Fiction edition and asked to remove the snow and add the headline.

Art Direction: Joele Cuyler

 

tags: Cover, Eileen, New York Times, book review, car interior, dead rat, illustartion
categories: In Print, cover
Wednesday 10.07.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

How Indie Rock Changed the World

↑ The D.I.Y. ethos of indie rock gave rise to the start-up culture of the tech industry according to The Atlantic Monthly.

↑ Zines, mixtapes, nerds. 

 Art Direction: Elisa Glass

tags: Indie rock, concert, illustration, punk, show
categories: In Print
Saturday 06.13.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

ASME "Best Cover" Award Finalist.

↑ The American Society of Magazine Editors named my nov 2014 cover of the MIT Technology Review a finalist in Readers’ Choice Award Business and Technology category. Thanks ASME, and thanks to Art Director Nick Vokey who worked super closely with me on this! 

tags: Cover, MMIT technology review, inequality
categories: award, cover
Thursday 05.14.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

NY Times: Summer Movies

 

↑ Aging celebrities Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, and Helen Mirren explode onto the cover of the New York Times Summer Movie section.

↑ "This summer's action heros are several shades of gray."

Art direction: Shannon Robertson

tags: Denzel Washington, Helen Mirren, New York Times, Tom Cruise, illustration, old celebrities, old stars
categories: cover
Tuesday 05.05.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

Nike: Basketbaltar

↑ Nike's "Basketbaltar" ad campaign. 

↑ Basketbaltar is a mechanical fortuneteller who offers predictions for the 2015 NBA playoffs via social media (Twitter/Facebook).

↑ Modular graphics are customized with up-to-the-minute game highlights of Nike-sponsored athletes.↓


↑ A "zodiac" of sixteen reimagined team logos.

↑ Milwaukee Bucks "zodiac."

↑ Atlanta Hawks "zodiac."

↑ Early concept sketch. Originally, Nike planned to build real-life fortuneteller machines to plant in cities across the U.S. Like the "Zoltar" machines in the movie "Big," Basketbaltar would reward users with a printed fortune ticket. Unfortunately, time restraints forced Nike to scrap the 3-D component of the campaign.

↑ Two of the many decorative graphics I produced for the campaign.

New predictions and graphics will continue to be appear throughout the NBA Finals primarily via Twitter.

Art direction/Graphic design: Jacob Weinstein, Wieden + Kennedy.

tags: Basketbaltar, NBA playoffs, Nike, fortune teller, predictions, twitter
Thursday 04.30.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 

New Yorker: "Fun Home," "Snowpiercer"

↑ A reimagined scene from the broadway musical, "Fun Home" based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel of the same name.

 

↑ In print.

↑ An illustration which accompanied the New Yorker's review of "Snowpiercer" last summer.

Thanks to Art Director Chris Curry for thinking of me for such varied assignments!

tags: Alison Bechdel, Bong Joon-Ho, Chris Evans, Fun Home, Snowpiercer, illustration
categories: In Print
Thursday 04.30.15
Posted by Reid K Johnson
 
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Copyright R Kikuo Johnson 2018