Mortgages for the rich
This illustration accompanies an article that exposes a new phenomenon in the US real estate market:
As luxury home sales take off, some home buyers with deep pockets safe avoiding large mortgages and are instead tinkering with creative payment options. Some are making massive down payments in exchange for a smaller loan with a lower rate. Others are sticking to all cash.
Elections blues
A weekly pulse of illustration of more than twenty years did not cease to exist with Yair’s departure.
The energy invested in illustrating his column has now been diverted to accompany the words of yet another colossal Israeli icon: Shlomo Artzi.
Artzi’s columns was forwarded to the opening page of Yedioth’s weekend supplement and I am more than proud to share this canvas with him now.
I am curious and keen to start this new collaboration with a writer, that like Yair, is one of the more important contributors to the definition of the modern Israeli.
Here are my first illustrations for the column published this week. The leading theme evolves around Artzi’s lack of enthusiasm with the upcoming elections, in which of course, Yair is a leading protagonist…
Monopoly voting
During the last year, together with a group of exceptionally talented people, I’ve participated in the creation of this remarkable Webdoc project: La Duce Vita
At the moment, the project exists only in its French/Italian versions. Soon it will be translated into English Still, the imagery is striking and the testimonies surpass the language barrier
The authors are: Cyril Bérard & Samuel Picas
The design is by conceived by: Pauline Schleimer
and the animation by: Artur Kalinowski
the project was produced by: darjeeling
New studies are showing the existence of templates of language acquisition in babies.
The birth of language
an emphasis is being laid on the association between a sound, an object or a material. So, here’s my take on that theme for Calcalist.
Stretching round figures
An article from investment news.
Numbers are a frequent topic of conversation among people working on Wall Street. We can debate which number is the most important, but a number that looms large in the minds of many traders, sales representatives and bankers is the number that tells them they are done — they have saved enough so that they can leave the toil of the Street either to retire or pursue a lower-paying occupation that provides them with more satisfaction, more time with their family or whatever else in life that gives them more fulfillment. (to the full article)
Lapid’s Last illustration October 16.2012
After 30 years of the most fruitful collaboration I lived through as an illustrator, Yair and I had our last word. This last Friday our weekly column in Shivaa Yamim, Yedioth Achronot’s Weekly supplement appeared for the last time.
Our weekly column was born somewhere in the late 80s’. We’ve met in Paris for dinner in a small sushi restaurant, which was something of a novelty in those days, and were practicing a conversation about the past, only we were too young to qualify this conversation to nostalgic reminiscing. At the time I was still held a grudge against him for a girl he took away from me when we wer still in the army (this was the story I told myself at the time, in fact she wasnt interested in me at all…) so the conversation was started off with some difficulty.
Yair was saying that he was about to start writing a weekly column in Maariv, and that he would like me to be his permanent illustrator. I immediately gave up my animosity towards him.
Yair and I met in Bamahane; the Israeli army’s weekly magazine. We both arrived there following a relegation in our health rating by the army’s health authorities. We started our collaboration there, with him obviously writing and me illustrating. and equally became good friends.
As the years went by, the weekly column turned out to be a pivotal journalistic monument of the Israeli press. Later we’ve moved from Maariv to Yedioth Achronoth, and opened the weekend supplement. The column became the most read page in the Israeli printed press, and my work benefited from that exposure.
Lapid’s Last secondary illustration
Our working relationship, is one of full trust. Yair would send me the text, knowing that my angel and interpretation would derive from a deep understanding of his world and intentions. In return, he will see the illustration for the first time , together with his readers, in print.
Throughout the years, and I am fearful with the term never. I was never invited by him to look at his text in a particular way, I was given free rein, both by him as well as by the editors, to express my own views and ideas alongside his text.
In an illustrator’s life, an opportunity such as the one I was blessed with until the publication of this last column, is rare and precious. I couldn’t have wished to make this journey with a better writer than Yair. His choice of subjects, wit, fluency, choice of words, original metaphors, sense of humor and robust consistent and stylish writing makes him a world-class columnist.
Lapid’s Last spot illustration
This weekly correspondence helped me to define myself as a creative and a thinking person, and for that I am for ever grateful.
Yair has embarked on a political quest, into which his investing all his talents and might.
Indeed, for me, this is a defining moment. A second, a first nature has been interrupted and ceased to exist. I haven’t realised how emotionally invested I was in this weekly rendezvous. Tomorrow’s the first Monday that I will not be receiving Yair’s text, and I am left with a big void to be filled now.
I full heartedly, wish him the best of luck in the world. I for one, will always miss my friend’s writing.
When a car breaks down after the warranty expires, owners have more power than ever before to negotiate with car dealers and car makers to fix the problems.
The link for the full article here
cars extended warranty
An article in the Wall Street Journal about the difficulty in obtaining a loan amongst wealthy people.
This segment of the population, although being wealthy, simply passes under the credit rating radar as it trades in different avenues of the economical realm, without the usage of credit cards or money transfers.
When Wealthy Buyers Look Risky to Banks
On the site, the illustration was cropped, so here is the ‘director’s uncut version’
When Wealthy Buyers Look Risky to Banks, uncut
Which Millionaire Are You Voting For?
I came back from New York about a week ago. It was a very intensive experience that filled me with a youthful spirit and a recharge of energy. I have met up with some wonderful people to whom I have presented my work and enjoyed myself a lot. It gave me the opportunity to learn and refresh my understanding of what illustration is all about. I have learned (for the thousandth time…) that simplicity is king, yet, it is so hard to achieve.
So, here is an example of an illustration I did for the NYT, which is definitely not a simple one…
The working class president’s lunch break
My Window - Izhar Cohen 