The Obama years were times of change in the illustration industry. I found myself doing much less magazine, newspaper and editorial work, and more book publishing assignments, and ultimately, much fewer assignments featuring the president than the previous office holder. These are taken from various sources, including a few tongue-in-cheek paper doll books for Dover, a few magazine assignments and a few self-promotional images.
Continuing with my ‘President’s Day’ Illustration Tribute, showcasing most of the Presidential illustrations I’ve done in the past thirty years.
The period from 2000-2008 was the busiest time in my career, and just so happened to coincide with George W Bush’s presidency. As a consequence, I have more illustrations of Dubya than of any other president (although Trump is starting to ridiculously come close, after only a year in office, and only half as many assignments). Most of these illustrations come from either Newsday, Legal Times, Barrons or the Wall Street Journal (although there are a few from other sources). I struggled with his likeness for a very short while at the start (would have preferred Gore had won for many reasons, one of which being the ease at which he was to draw), but once I had several of them under my belt, it got to be where I could draw him with little or no reference material. Anyhow, here’s ‘most’ of the George Bush illustrations I have in my files (there are a few more, but aren’t worth the time to drag out into the light).
I’ll be moving on to Obama, and finally the current resident of Pennsylvania Ave, tomorrow, more than likely.
Continuing with my series of posts showing every presidential illustration I’ve done (in honor of President’s Day falling on Monday this past week). Above we have Presidents Taft through Coolidge. Mostly from the Uncle Goose Wooden Blocks set (the woodcut style) and the Presidential Sticker Book for Dover (the caricatures), plus a few misc illustrations from the Penguin book on the Panama Canal, and a Barrons illustration showing Coolidge on a pair of skis (with a future president in the background, to be revisited later).
Below, we have Presidents Hoover through Truman (with a leftover Warren G. Harding hiding down in the corner, and a few future presidents in the margins).
In honor of President’s Day (which fell on Monday of this week), I’ve collected every illustration that I could find in my archives in which I’ve portrayed George Washington. 3 of the most recent illustrations are from the ‘What Was the Constitution?’ book which I just completed a few months ago, and the others are from various sources, including the Uncle Goose President Blocks (upper left), Dover Presidential Sticker Book (2nd clockwise from the top), a few early Cobblestone illustrations (more or less center), an illustration from the Miami Herald (bottom left) and a cover illustration for Barnes and Noble (bottom right).
And then, since I found an extra ‘George Washington’ that I did for the Wall Street Journal (the dollar bill portrait with the black eye), I’ve collected all the 2nd and 3rd Presidential portraits that I have in my archives. Again, some from the Presidential Sticker Book from Dover, and from the Uncle Goose Presidential Blocks, plus some others from various sources. Below are the portraits I did of Madison (many from the same ‘Constitution book’ that I recently completed), and the only two times that I’ve drawn James Monroe. The remaining presidents I have on file are rather hit or miss, but I may continue with this series at a future date.
And I almost forgot the paper dolls that I had done just last year for a book on Alexander Hamilton, so here’s Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison one more time.
Just finished up a coloring book project (above is a single sample of the thirty one illustrations I did for this book last month), along the same lines as two previous scratchboard coloring book project I have done for Dover over the past year or so. This was a first for me, a project that that I personally initiated, as opposed to waiting around for a project to come my way. Over the past few years, while walking the dog down at our nearby Riverside Park, I was struck by how picturesque some of the trees were and how it might be interesting to bring a sketchbook down and draw several of my favorite trees. I’ve never gotten around to actually doing that, but this book includes several trees from the park, as well as one from my own backyard. I had a good time with this book, and look forward to seeing it in print. In similar news, I am told that the previous ‘scratchboard coloring book’ in this series (animals) will be hitting the shelves soon, and I can expect sample copies in the next couple weeks. When that book goes to press, I’ve have several samples to share here (the same goes for the tree book).
Meanwhile, here are a few other projects that I’ve been working on over the past week or so. The first one was for Barrons, and the courtroom scene is a cover for the American Bar Association. (eagle eyed observers will note that I used the same ‘man viewed from the back’ reference for the judge that I used in an assignment the previous week).
I’ve another couple book projects that I’m expecting to start any day now, but in the meantime I have a few other short deadline projects to keep me busy, that I may share later in the week.
