I'm cleaning house and selling some work!! Check out my new store at shannonfreshwater.bigcartel.com

© shannon freshwater

 Here's a piece from a while back for The New York Times Op-Ed about criminalizing fetal homicide and fetuses being granted personhood.  This was a really tough one to figure out but it turned out great thanks to the help of awesome AD Matt Dorfman.

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 Here's a new piece for The New York Times Science section about cancer clusters in neighborhoods and how the findings might not be totally accurate. Thanks to Catherine Gilmore-Barnes for this one.

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A month ago Le Monde in Paris asked me to contribute an illustration in memory of Charlie Hebdo and in response to the attacks on their office. We were all stunned by this attack. Whether we like or dislike the way Charlie uses their cartoons as commentary, I think we can agree that having the freedom to express your views is important and that any outside threats should not squelch that liberty. As someone who works in the industry of visualizing ideas and making social commentary through pictures, this attack felt like it hit too close to home. Therefore my illustration was meant to emote the sadness we were all feeling but at the same time to emphasize the power the written word and drawn images can have. Sometimes as artists and illustrators we forget the power of our images, and the attack on Charlie Hebdo acts as a reminder and should reinforce our commitment to making strong and purposeful imagery.

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 I came home today to find the newest American Illustration 33 on the doorstep! Yay! I am so honored to be included, and especially honored to be sharing the spread with the amazing Vivienne Flesher! What a serendipitous meeting of two pieces! Thanks to all the judges and congrats to all the selected.

 Here's a studio shot just as an example of how much I love this poster:

While I'm talking about books, my work is also included in the newest Illustration Now book published by Tashen. Yet another honor! This is looking to be a great year!

 Here's a couple illustrations I worked on over the holidays for Matt Dorfman over at the NYT Op Ed.

The first one is about how abortion and anti-abortion campaigns continue to rely on caricatures of the others view. This was a really tough topic and struggled a bit with concepts until I succumbed to the idea of the cliched caricature. The line was to not offend anyone, but still hold true to the ridiculous stereotypes. I researched tons of old cartoons, and eventually ended up drawing them myself with the help of reference from Richie Rich and a hippie strip from the 70's. This was one of those rare times where frustration and mental block turn into a really fun and successful illustration. Yay!

The next piece was for an article about north east America's racial history. This was a really timely article, with multiple controversies concerning police behavior against black men. I thought the image should be powerful enough to reflect the frustrations in the black community. It was really fun to work on that smoke and collaborate to fit it onto the page.

© shannon freshwater

 Once again I've been included in Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson's post it show! This commemorates the 10th year of the show which opens tomorrow at Giant Robot here in LA. It's cash and carry and each original piece is only $25. Hope to see you there! Here's a few of my contributions:

I even tried some drawing this time around:

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I am super excited to be the guest artist over at annasee.com. For a limited time I'll have tons of awesome prints for sale at multiple price and size ranges. Go get some now in time for the holidays!!

 Here's a recent piece for the NYT health section about a medical condition that causes infertility. This was a fun one, a little different from my usual work.

 

© shannon freshwater

I've recently been working on some promotional material for Jitter, a really cool band. Here's a banner and a couple posters. This has been a really fun project and I'm really proud of these pieces as I've had total creative freedom. It's also pretty rad to do work for a band I really like. You can check out their songs here.

 

© Shannon Freshwater

 Here's one I completely forgot to post. It was a quick one for the New York Times Op-Ed about teenage abuse in the prison system.

 

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Here's a recent one for The New York Times Well Blog about how doctors favor future worst-case scenarios when treating patients. This was a really fun one, as I had old magic posters in the back of my mind when creating it. Thanks again to Peter Morance who always throws me interesting articles.

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Here's a piece I did recently for The New York Times Op-Ed about threats to clean drinking water. This was a fun one. Thanks again to Matt for the assignment.

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Here's a new piece that was out yesterday in The Washington Post for the Sunday Outlook section about the problem behind calling abortion a difficult decision. Thanks a bunch to Chris and Emmet for working with me on this one.

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Here's a new one in today's New York Times about patients being readmitted to hospitals. The symmetry reinforces the idea of institution. I am realizing my sketches are getting more and more cartoony and ridiculous. Hope the art directors out there don't mind. It's the idea that counts, right? Haha. Thanks again to Peter for the assignment.

© shannon freshwater