LARRY ROIBAL

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz has passed away at age 73. Don’s work is familiar to everyone having created the first Star Wars film poster, the cover of the Doom video game, science fiction book covers, campaigns for Exxon, Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi, illustrations for Playboy, Esquire and Rolling Stone as well as classic National Lampoon covers.

Punchatz suffered cardiac arrest without having health insurance, To help his widow pay his medical bills, donations can be made to Sandra Punchatz, c/o Lewis Glaser, TCU School of Art, TCU, Box 298000, Fort Worth TX 76129

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Today illustrator Larry Roibal was arrested and charged with copyright violation. Authorities have been building a case against the illustrator for posting his doodles over copyrighted newspaper articles. The raid took place at seven am this morning as the illustrator was sitting at his kitchen counter in a t-shirt and crocheted slippers, doodling on his morning paper. Arresting officers were forced to taser Roibal when a ball point pen was mistaken for a weapon. Detectives posing as workers for the Recycling Agency have been collecting evidence against the illustrator for a little over a year. Lawyers for the defendant claim the illustrator never profited from the doodles and his blog is mainly a way of saving on therapy bills as he has two children in college.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The Stone Pony has stood as the Mecca of the Jersey rock scene for decades. I burst with pride the first time my son Andrew and his band played there. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, Jefferson Starship, Elvis Costello, Peter Frampton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Russell Crowe, and Patti Smith are just a few of the acts that have graced the same stage of the famous Jersey club. A tribute was held last night at the Stone Pony for Danny Federici … Continue Reading

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Everyone on the pro tour has skills, but on Sunday it’s the golfers nerves not their skills that are tested.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

I think investing in the intelligence of our future generations is probably the most important expenditure for securing peace and economic strength as a people. I’m going to give ten dollars to Miramax. Not just because I’ll probably enjoy a movie of, by and for smart people, but to stimulate more of the same and maybe raise the level of culture.

Ball point pen on newsprint

Today I had two photo shoots for book covers I’m working on. That means a commute into the city. I think New Jersey Transit coaches might have the worst suspensions of any moving vehicles still in operation. Besides making it challenging to read a newspaper, it makes it very difficult to draw a picture…but not impossible. I did this doodle on the train. You have to abandon all hope of placing the pen down and moving it exactly where you’d like, in short, forget about line and think like a painter scribbling in … Continue Reading

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

There’s still hope that Jon Corzine’s legacy as New Jersey’s Governor will be that he balanced our wasteful, corrupt government’s debt, but more likely it will be to remind us all to buckle up.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

After I graduated from Parsons I started to get book cover work from Simon and Schuster. I loved going there to drop off work. Before the digital age, art departments were filled with racks and racks of original art by all of my heros in the business. But while I loved looking at the work, I also realized I needed to step up my game if I wanted to stick around in this field. So, even though I was keeping busy with commissions during the day, I started lugging my french … Continue Reading

Ball point pen on morning newsprint

Ball point on morning newsprint

Doodling over some of the reactions to Senator Obama’s speech on race…. I’m not sure if the country is ready.

Ball point on paper napkin

Yesterday I took a break from my work to watch Senator Obama deliver a speech about race relations in America. Sometimes we can recognize a transformative moment in history as it’s happening i.e., man steps on the moon, Kennedy is shot, a plane crashes into the World Trade Center. No matter what follows, you know the world will never be the same. Other times, society needs to digest it and history put said moment into context. Whether Obama goes on to loose the primary race to Senator Clinton, capture the nomination but loose in the general election, win the presidency but become an ineffective president, or win the presidency and become a transformative figure in American history will likely be the context by which we remember this speech. I hope I can someday say I remember watching the speech while I scribbled this doodled on a napkin in my kitchen. That would mean that history has judged Obama to be the latter. Can we do it? I’m not sure.

Ball point on Newspaper text of speech

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