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 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.

Election season is in full swing which means lots of material for political cartoonist. The cartoon above is from this week’s edition of The Economist.

I drew this one from a hotel in Abuja, Nigeria where I was participating in a conference sponsored by The Economist. As you can probably guess I had a great fun drawing this one.

Among the fearsome flock of Wannabees is Republican businessman Herman Cain. People outside of the US have been watching the American political circus with some interest and despair. An example, the French magazine Courrier International commissioned me to create a cartoon of Herman Cain for this week’s edition (see below).

Here’s some recent cartoons from The Economist. The cartoon below I drew while on holiday in Ireland.

Whenever I travel in the world, I carry a portable scanner so that I can never miss a chance to file my cartoons and covers for The Economist. I have drawn and sent my cartoons from such far flung nations as China, Russia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, New Zealand, Italy and France.

Sorry to be so lacklustre at posting this summer… been bogged down with the new 2012 Economist wall calendar ( which looks awesome!).

Here are some recent favorites from The Economist.

Over my 33 year career I have drawn many nasty oppressive rulers.

Rarely, however, have I had the dubious distinction of drawing two generations of sadistic murderers in one picture. For this week’s edition of The Economist I chose to cover the sad events unfolding in Syria. I have drawn the nation’s past ruler, Hafez Assad many times over the years (see sample below). He was the demon responsible for the quashing of a citizen revolt in 1982 where he killed an estimated 10-30,000 of his own countrymen. Unfortunately, it appears, his sons plan to follow in in boot-steps.

There is no doubt the best time to be an editorial cartoonist is during an election campaign. There is enough satire material to keep an army of cartoonists employed. The candidates are larger than life figures doing ridicuous things on a daily basis.

More than a year away from the US Presidential election in November 2012, republican pretenders are already getting into campaign shape. In this week’s edition of The Economist I drew my first election cartoon for the 2012 campaign (see above). I am looking forward to many many many many many more to come in the months ahead.

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.

If you are in the Bay area on April 28th Please come on by this event. The event is open to the public but be sure to rsvp as per the invitation above. I look forward to see you there!