I was in a dingy, but slightly welcoming Irish bar near Penn Station in Manhattan, between 6th and 7th Avenue a few nights ago to practice my drawing skills. The place is perfect for sketching or writing.(Drawing after jump.) It’s long and narrow, with a few tables and a modestly-sized TV in the back. (The bathroom is a bit scary, but as long as you treat it with respect – meaning that you avoid surface contact – you should be fine.)

I brought everything that I thought I would need: a healthy supply of graphic pens, a sketch pad, an ipod with proper headphones, a portable reading light and a few magazines for reference. It was in last week’s Economist that I found my first subject: a cartoon image of president-elect Barack Obama, drawn by a staff cartoonist. Damn, this person is good, I thought to myself as I shamelessly used another’s work to further my own. (This is my second cartoon sketch of Obama, so I have to state that I am not obsessed with him, I just want to get his image down now because he’ll be in the White House for at least four years.)

I did add a lot of my own elements, but my version relies heavily on the Economist cartoon. (I am trying to track down their cartoonist because I want to send him/her a note of thanks.) I haven’t been creating much in the way of new material lately, but I have a bunch of decent ideas that need to be converted into tangible images. I’m heading back to this delightful little dungeon again this evening – hopefully it, along with some good reference material, will push my pens in the right direction.

(Click here to see the the first sketch.)

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My first Obama portrait

This is my first portrait of president-elect Barack Obama. (Drawing after jump.) I created this about two weeks ago, as the post-election hysteria faded and the reality of the daunting tasks that lie ahead of our new president occupied the pundit class.

Obama is a talented and capable man. But, he confronts enormous challenges that are the result of a decades’ long national effort to place selfishness and greed above service and sacrifice. He is going to need to rein in his own party’s worst instincts, deal with a ravaged, yet seething Republican opposition, and an electorate that is reluctantly dealing with the sad consequences of an extended stretch of reckless behavior.

I wanted to show him as a guy that is willingly heading toward the roughest four years of his life. I was motivated, in part, by the nausea induced by constantly seeing his mug on t-shirts, pins and now, poorly made china and cheesy collectible coins. I hope you enjoy the drawing. I plan to make many more over the course of his stay at the White House.

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Henry M. Paulson Jr. announced today, from the headquarters of his newly formed “Dirty Boys’ Club” $800 billion in new loans and debt purchases to steer America away from another Great Depression. (Drawing after jump.) Hank hopes that this latest infusion of federal funds and guarantees will help thaw out credit markets, which in turn, it is hoped and prayed, will add vim and vigor to the housing market, consumer spending and business investment.

I drew this sketch today, it’s based on a photo of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as he fields questions about the ever-expanding financial bailout. I have the feeling that he is no longer even pretending to act as if any of this will work. Instead, he and his pal Ben Bernanke at the Fed seem to be bent only on saving the failing institutions, both private and public, that got us all into this mess. The financial bailout is resembling a rescue of the “Dirty Boys’ Club”, and nothing more. Hundreds of billions are being poured into a giant, bottomless pit, in the form of equity infusions and guarantees on toxic assets. The massive amount of debt being accumulated to save the fools who created this mess will sap future economic growth and cripple the value of the dollar. But the members of Paulson’s club will never feel any of the pain – what a shame.

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This sketch is based very loosely on Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. (Image after jump.) He was a Brit, and was one of the leading military and political figures during the nineteenth century. Wellington is most famous for kicking Napoleon’s ass at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

I saw many portraits of Wellington one afternoon a while back, and decided to draw him as a younger man with a pompous, far away stare. I added some machine-like elements to his facial features and a wild mop of hair. Maybe this is the way he looked many years before his confrontation with Napoleon – then again, maybe not.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the drawing.

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This sketch is based very loosely on a photo of an elderly McCain supporter from a recent issue of the Economist. I was fascinated by the size of his nose and ears. I think if this bugger lives another 10 years, there will only be nose, ears and feet left (I couldn’t see his feet, but supposedly they enlarge with age as well). This is not a slap against vets or McCain supporters, but merely a vivid display of my own immaturity and simplicity.

A portrait of gaming billionaire Sheldon Adelson. I used a photo from a recent New Yorker article as my source.

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