I am always delighted to be invited to draw the cover for The Economist.  Over the years I have lost count of how many covers I have actually published for the magazine… but the number is over 100. Above is this week’s magazine equipped with my artwork!

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)…

I was searching through an old thumb drive and found this digital version of a cover I drew for The Economist 11 years ago.  It was during the early discussions of a stock market “Bubble”.  Fed chairman Alan Greenspan was talking about “Irrational exhuberance” in the stock market (and no one was listening).

I had completely forgotten about this cover… it is always interested to see old work… like re-discovering an old friend.

Today April 1, The Economist reports about a new theme park being built in Europe. You can read the entire article here.

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.

When a new President hits the scene, it is fun to watch the evolution of the Commander-in-Chief’s caricature. Artists and impressionists struggle to define and refine the essence of the President’s personality in a neat little package.  This process for me never stops during the reign of a prominent politician. I endeavor to continually develop my caricatures.

This week while visiting London, I had the good fortune to draw the cover for this week’s edition of The Economist which featured President Obama.

The artwork was quite large as you can see in the first image above but my rendition of Obama was quite small within the artwork. This required a very simple rendering of the President.  I am pleased with the final result.  I feel that I am getting better at capturing his face… though I don’t think I have it mastered by any stretch.

In the Christmas edition of The Economist you can find a new board game called “Credit Crunch”. I conceived of this game while in the UK in September and have been developing it since.

I created and designed the board and rules. Editors and journalists in London then took turns playing the game. Their suggestions were incorporated then I went on to design the currency and palying cards.

The main figure on the currency is Walter Bagehot an early prominent editor of The Economist (1861-1877).

Anyone interested in playing can download all the componants of the game (Rules, currency, risk cards, board, and player pieces) online by going here. I would be very interested in any feedback from players with useful tips on how to improve play.

I drew this cartoon for The Economist. This prompted a call from the BBC to discuss the symbol of the Russian bear. Symbols like the Bear, Eagle, dragon (see post below), Uncle Sam, Lady liberty etc. have long been used by cartoonists as a kind of visual shorthand. 

The bear had been a staple of for cartoonists during the Cold War. I explained to the BBC I hadn’t used the bear symbol for a time.  It was interesting for me to return to the familiar old friend. More interesting was how using only the smallest of hints (a shadow with round ears and a black hairy claw) it is not difficult to conclude that the old bear symbol is back.

I found some earlier bear cartoons which I include here.

When the Soviet Union broke apart, it was first called the Commonwealth of Independant States.  The cartoon below reflects the news of that time.

This week I produced a caricature of Obama and Hillary that captures the current news quite well.  I am particularly happy with the Obama caricature.  It always takes a while to get a fix on a new politician’s face and I am becoming more attuned to Obama’s features.  I enclose below some the preliminary sketches for this week’s cartoon as well as my first caricature of Obama from 2007.