Michael Novak was born in Los Angeles, and lived in New York City for ten years before moving to Portland in 2007—officially placing him in the category of “person most despised by native-born Portlanders.” Over a 20-year career, he’s been an editorial Art Director at Time Warner and Portland Monthly, as well as an illustrator, designer, animator, and storyboard artist.

The highlight of Mike’s brief animation career was a year-long stint as a character layout animator on the Fox show King of The Hill, before he decided that drawing Hank Hill all day long was pretty damn boring. After the act of sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring put the kibosh on his freelance illustration career, he discovered design, which he loves.

His duties at Portland Monthly consist of making the magazine look and read awesomely, by designing covers, features, and pretty much anything else. In his free time he likes to sleep.

Article

Forbidden Fruit

McMenamins runs low on one of its signature brews—and it’s all Serbia’s fault.

05/19/2009 By Kasey Cordell

Read Up

Sign of the Times

In 2003, the Federal Highway Administration approved the new font Clearview for use on signs

05/19/2009 By Anne Brice

We Liked It

The Book of Nonsense

With his first foray into young-adult fiction, Beaverton middle-school teacher David Michael Slater demonstrates genuine flair for the genre, and manages to avoid enough familiar YA fantasy tropes in *THE BOOK OF NONSENSE*.

05/19/2009 By Ben Hogan

WE LIKED IT

You Don't Know Me: A Citizen's Guide to Republican Family Values

The hurly-burly of election season is upon us, so it’s a smart idea to stock up on ammunition for your next incendiary political debate.

05/19/2009 By Ben Hogan

Politics

Electoral Collage

An extremely long Presidential campaign ended in a historic vote last night, and it feels too soon to give it all up-- our buttons, T-shirts and sloganeering yard signs. We've spent two years stumping for our candidates, are we just supposed to throw that

05/19/2009 By Nino Padova

Blacklist

Dangerous Minds

05/19/2009 By John Chandler

Article

Feliz Cumpleaños, Rudy!

The all-rookie dunker turns twenty-four this month and it can't be easy for the six-foot-six Spanish wonder to be more than five thousand miles away from home on his birthday. So to help make the transition we've assembled this basket of our favorite Spai

05/19/2009 By Benjamin Golliver

Get Out

Choose Your Own Adventure

It's short. It's sweet. It's summer. And there's nothing worse than wasting these sun-filled days by logging hours behind the wheel just to reach some far-flung peak. (Plus with today's gas prices, who can afford it?) So we give you this: 18 ultimate outd

05/19/2009 By Martha Calhoon, Stacey Wilson, Camas Davis, and Christopher Van Tilburg Edited by Kasey Cordell With Brian Barker

Good Reads

Book Smarts

So you call yourself a Portlander? Not unless you own a dog-eared copy of every one of these classic titles.

05/19/2009 By Christian DeBenedetti

Editor's Note

Vine Dedication

Winery owners sweated as rains unleashed a viticultural version of the Ten Plagues on local vineyards

05/19/2009 By Jill Davis

Editor's Note

Mission (Barely) Possible

05/19/2009 By Jill Davis