I’m in a weird spot right now: one big project is with someone else to be edited, another big project is going to start up at any moment. I haven’t been taking too many editorial jobs these days, and I miss the quick turnarounds and (relatively) instant gratification. So when the NYT called for this piece on political sex scandals and I could actually slot it in, I was pretty thrilled. Plus, it’s for a piece by Gail Collins, one of my fave columnists.

Below are the sketches for this piece. I was pretty chuffed with the bondage mask one, but they didn’t go for it. Can’t imagine why?

Thanks to AD Aviva Michaelov.

Sonoko, from Confessions of a Mask. I didn’t really “enjoy” this book (“joyless” is probably the best adjective to use), but it was interesting enough and filled with very lovely imagery and hence I would like someone to pay me to make some illustrations of it, please.

Was messing around with drawing on the Cintiq today because I’m thinking of doing a short comic digitally. Got sidetracked and made this Sonoko drawing. This was done completely digitally, which is not my normal Modus operandi, but enjoyable. For those of you who were asking on twitter: yes, this was done in Photoshop, on the big-sized Cintiq.

Here’s an illustration to accompany a book review of “The Astral” by Kate Christensen. It was a fun job to do because the book is set in my own neighbourhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Astral is an apartment building by my husband’s studio by the waterfront. In fact, I have friends that have lived in The Astral.

Below, an alternate version.

Here’s an Op-Ed about the Shakespearean overtones to the Murdoch affair. Initially I was a little hesitant to do something so obvious, but the more I fiddled the more it looked like a crappy political cartoon. In the end I think this was probably the right choice. AD Rodrigo Honeywell.

Don’t do collaborations very often, but they’re fun! Here’s a poster I made with Jon Han that will eventually be silkscreened at about 36″ tall. It’s for a music show at Ballroom Marfa, an arts/culture space in Marfa, TX.

Seriously though, drawing Andy Warhol for New York Magazine? Awesome.

Whenever I draw a portrait of someone, I form a tiny connection to them. For me, celebrities are kind of divided into two camps: I’ve drawn them or I haven’t. I did weekly portraits for the CBC’s Arts page for about 5 years, so that’s a lot of people. The process of researching and studying someone’s face really allows you to reflect on a person and what they have achieved.

The loose idea for this multi-portrait was to portray the different ways he projected himself and was seen by others. I had read a long time ago that Warhol suffered from very low self-esteem as a young person, so I wanted the full-body Andy to be very dashing.

AD Raul Aguila.

I illustrated today’s Op-Ed. I think this is probably the highest profile author I’ve ever been paired with — Mahmoud Abbas. Normally I get a little twitchy when I’m asked to do political images… I think there are people out there that do it much better. I try to go for a more emotional solution than an iconic, powerful one.

AD Aviva Michaelov.

A piece in this weekend’s New York Times Book Review It accompanies a review of “The Great Night”, by Chris Adrian: a retelling (of sorts) of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer’s Night Dream”. AD Nicholas Blechman.

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about consistency of “style”. Which, of course, I interpret to mean, “your work is inconsistent. I thought that was bad?” Har. Anyway, my personal thoughts on the matter:

- a consistent style is definitely beneficial when you’re just starting out as an illustrator. I would recommend a tight portfolio of about 12 quality images.

- there are other things that define and link your work than surface appearance.

- you’re not a machine and you’re allowed to evolve and change. Illustration is such a fad/trend driven industry; that what is popular today will likely be dated sometime down the road. I actually try to see experimentation and change as an investment in my own longevity. Maybe I’m naive, but that’s what I tell myself.