Dominique Strauss-Kahn for NY Observer

This weeks NY Observer cover.

My time frame was less than 24 hours, probably closer to 14 hours from start of sketch to the end of final painting . . . so, the drawing and painting was a bit rushed. The important thing to me was to capture the essence and character of this guy, so I did a few sketches of him to warm up and familiarize myself with his look and character. I started late Monday afternoon and painted until late that night, working mostly on DSK's face.




When doing a quick turnaround like this, the important thing for me is to be able to deliver a piece of art of high quality, no matter what the time frame is. So it's up to me to figure out what I can and cannot do in the amount of time given. Sometimes that can be tricky to figure out? The idea for these covers sometimes come from me, but over all, it's ultimately the editor who decides what prints and what doesn't.

Luckily, their current art director Ivy, is great to work with, and together I think we have fun coming up with a solid solution to the problem. And there's always problem solving involved in this kind of work which is not a bad thing, it's just part of the job.

Ivy and I actually had a few different ideas this week that were all cool. One of my favorites was a take on Pepe Le Pew which we thought was hilarious and also straight to the point . . . but in the end it came down to time and a final decision made by the editor.

There's a lot more I would have liked to have done. The drawing is the foundation of each piece I do, and I would have liked to have had more time developing in the drawing stage, but for this kind of a job, I've learned that I need to just lay it down and get painting . . . but over all, it was a lot of fun, and I truly am grateful to be able to draw and paint for a living!