Chris Whetzel was commissioned by MYBusiness magazine to create some eye-catching artwork for a recent cover. It had not been decided which would be the lead article, so Chris worked up ideas for two possibilities. One feature was about the Military Heroes of Small Business and the other concerned Unions/Big Labor. Here are the sketches:

The first sketch for the "small business soldier" was a very simple man-in-suit with stars on his lapels and a striped tie, looking heroic and patriotic. “Although I enjoy the sketch as a drawing, I feel this was too subtle.”

The art director requested a superhero-type image similar to a blue-collar football image Chris had done a few months back. “I feel that a patriotic superhero costume has been perfected, so I alluded to the amazing Captain America.”

The second article dealt with the effect of labor unions on small business owners. In today's tough economy, some already suffering businesses are on thin ice because of union-enforced regulations that may or may not relate to their business and employees. “For the first, sketch I went with a laborer's gloved hand squeezing a small businessman.”

The second sketch played off a "boxing in" phrase used in the article in reference to government and labor unions trying to make small businesses fit a generic mold of what all businesses should be and how they should perform, what they should provide, etc.

“The art director and I were both surprised when the higher-ups decided to run the Unions/Big Labor article as the cover.”  It was decided to go with the squeezing sketch, but dropping the suit and adding a female. During the revision, Chris added a third figure for a better balance and composition.