I got a quick commission from some friends that needed a cover image for some book about arthritis. You know, the kind of commission that you’re talking about with the client and he says “the only problem is that we’d need it pretty soon, is that OK?” So you answer “sure, when is it for?” and the go “well… Saturday”.

And it’s Friday evening. Sometimes even Saturday.

Nevertheless, they’re good friends and really good clients, the kind that you know are gonna come back with more business – unless, that is, you mess things up. Then you know they’re just gonna take their stuff elsewhere. So, I looked up some images concerning arthritis and all I get is some really freaky imagery of crooked hands and stuff. But I just can’t do that, I mean, that’d just be gross.

So I took a picture of my own hands in some weird position and drew that… and here it is:

And so the client calls me and says “yeah, really great image – but did you know 90% of people with arthritis are women?” And I really didn’t know that… and anyway, the more I looked at the image the more it looked like it was a photo of a couple of guy’s holding hands in bed, while having sex.

So I redid it:

But now that I the sexual interpretation to it was in my head, I just couldn’t get it out of there. Still, that’s clearly a female hand, and I guess an image of a couple (be it gay or straight) going at it in bed is a lot more heartwarming than some crooked hand on the cover of your book anyday.

And the client liked it, too.