New York Times Book Review Cover

Several Sundays ago I did this cover for the N.Y. Times Book Review.  It's the first time I've done a cover for them.  The art director is Nicholas Bleckman, one of the best A.D.'s working right now and a great illustrator as well.  Nicholas used to be at the Op-Ed page, where I worked with him on several assignments throughout the years.  Getting a call from him is great.  However, I always feel I have to put on two thinking caps because Nicholas is such a smart illustrator himself. 

The cover was a review of a crime novel set in Havana in the 1950's, titled "Dancing to Almendra".  I illustrated an interior image as well.  In the sketches I juxtaposed the laid back island lifestyle that everyone associates with Cuba with some of the seediness that was present in the novel.  Cuba looks very happy on the surface, but there has always been a lot going on underneath it all that many people are not aware of.

One of the nice things about doing this cover is how many people wrote or called me to say that they liked it.  I even got several requests to purchase prints of the artwork.  It felt great to know people are checking out the paper and are being touched in some way by the visuals.  I've always felt like a bit of an outsider in New York, but that Sunday I felt like a real New Yorker at last!  It's prett funny the things illustrations can do.