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 don’t often have the time just to draw caricatures as I once did. I am blessed with many interesting projects on the boil including The Economist 2012 Wall calendar, animation and my work with students at UMBC.

Still caricature is a deep passion, so recently while taking a short break from my work on the Wall Calendar, I drew the sketch above of the American TV personality David Letterman. It was great fun to draw… I need to do this more often…

I recently attended the fabulous “World in 2011 Festival” sponsored by The Economist in New York City. I was sketching the speakers and was asked to give the final address to the attendees. You can see my chat in the video above. Below are some close ups of the sketches I discuss in the video.

The magic of the Internet reveals itself once again…

I received a rather unusual email the other day…

A delightful couple in Ireland wrote to say they met me 30 years ago at the Towers Hotel in Glenbeigh, County Kerry.

They know this to be a fact because they have proof. I drew their caricatures on the menu of the hotel pub that evening. They were camping nearby and ventured to the pub where I was visiting on a tour of southwest Ireland. They recall us meeting and chatting one evening at the pub bar.

They verified the event by producing the caricatures I drew that night (by email). The drawings are now framed and  hanging on their wall in their home in Dublin.

What an amazing surprise!

I wrote back to the couple and thanked them. I told them when they met me I was a hopeful aspiring artist. Each caricature I drew in those early days (including theirs) taught me lessons that still reside with me today and help inform my work. In some way I can say their faces helped launch my career!

Perhaps the Internet will send more early caricature subjects my way… if you know of any…

Earlier this year my good friends at DigitalSteamworks asked me to help them out with a job. I have collaborated with”Steamworks” on a variety of great digital and animation projects. For this job they wanted to build a 3D Meg Whitman model for a TV commercial and came to me for some sketches. You can see a few of the sketches here… the final animation as it aired is below.

I was commissione to draw the cover for this week’s edition of The Economist.  I sketched countless versions of the grim reaper in the preliminary stages in a variety of poses. I enclose a few samples of the pencil drawings as well as the finished artwork (above)…

Here are some sample rough sketches from this week’s Economist cartoon. The drawing starts out looking like Egyptian hieroglyphics. After hours of sketching and inking the rather amateurish renderings eventually resemble a cartoon!

Above is the initial sketch that was drawn on an Amtrak train from Baltimore to New York.

The cartoon was completed in my hotel room in Manhattan. Below is the final art.

I had the privilege to draw the cover for this week’s edition of The Economist. The cartoon involves caricatures of European leaders Angela Merkel of Germany, Nicholas Sarkozy of France, and Gordon Brown of Great Britain. The cartoon did develop quickly during the 24 hours that I had to create the piece… particularly the waiter on the left.  

My first attempt in the pencil sketch had a fellow that was not instantly recognisable as a waiter. My second attempt (on the color art below) created a better waiter but he was perhaps too large and had the potential to distract from the main characters.  

You can see at the top of the post the final artwork with a diminished waiter-like character inhabiting the scene.