My good friends at the French weekly magazine Courrier International contacted me last week to express their interest in reproducing artwork I created for The Economist (see below) on their cover.

The only catch was… they needed to translate my text from the original English version to French. This is not a major problem except there were some English idioms in the Economist version that I am not sure translated well to French (Thatcher’s Iron Fist, for example). For any of you French speakers out there, I would be interested in hearing how well you think the artwork translated!

I had a busy week with The Economist. I completed the cover for the New Year edition as well as adding an editorial cartoon (see below) and an illustration about Ron Paul. Now it’s time to catch up on my sleep!

I drew the cover for this week’s edition of The Economist. I worked closely with the cover designer in London on this one. We decided to pursue a more “graphic” version than the normally painterly style from the past. You can see the original concept drawing I submitted below. I like the simplicity an starkness of this one. I hope you do, too.

I was asked to create the cover for The Economist this week. It was a fun topic to illustrate (taxing the rich). I also had fun creating an autumnal scene… makes me want to paint more landscapes! Also this week… I drew the cartoon (below) on the current crisis in Israeli/Palestinian relations. The next day I flew to Taipei, Taiwan to address the World Congress of the International Press Institute. More on that event to come!

Here’s a recent piece of art I created for a non-profit Publish What You Pay based out of Norway. This is a cover for a report advocating transparency in international business transactions specifically in the extractive industries (oil/mineral companies). A worthy subject.

I recently discovered this old photo which conjured a fun memory.

Flash back to July 1986, The Economist commissioned me to do a cover for the magazine featuring the new and, by Soviet standards, modern new leader of the USSR Michael Gorbachev.

At the time a new television show was also the rage: Miami Vice.

I opted to create Gorby in the likeness of the hip star of the show Sonny Crockett.  But in 1986 there was no Internet and photos of Miami Vice were not readily available in Brighton, England where I lived.

So to create a good reference photo for the cover my wife and I went shopping. I picked up the outfit in the picture and posed while my wife took a Polaroid (remember those?) snapshot.

You can see the final results below of the cover I created for that week’s edition of The Economist.

No, I didn’t also buy the car.

I had a rather busy Wednesday last week. On that day I created two covers for The Economist.

Both are on the newsstand now. One is about guns and politics in America appearing as the cover for the US edition of the magazine, the second is on the Euro Crisis appearing on the front of the magazine in the rest of the world.

Having one artist create 2 covers in the same week may be a first for The Economist,. Just to complicate the matter, I was in Rome at the time attending an Economist related event for the international sales staff of the magazine. Members of The Economist team graciously found me a room at the hotel with some natural light for me to work (see below). You can see the finished products above.

Here’s a recent cover I create for The Economist. We intended to capture the spirit of the great English artist John Tenniel who was the genius behind the 19th century Alice in Wonderland drawings. This was a take-off of his Mad Hatters Tea party illustration (see below)

Here are 2 fun pieces to share. Both with boxing themes! The first above is a book cover for an upcoming publication about the controversial 2008 Senate race in Minnesota between Al Franken and Norman Coleman. The book is due out this year titled “Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Senate”.

This is a drawing I did for the annual Washington Press Club Foundation annual banquet and fundraiser.

Here’s this week’s cover for The Economist on the issue of Obama’s first year in office.