Before the World Met Chris | Madison Magazine

I had the great honor of being commissioned to create a graphite pencil portrait of Chris Farley for the December 2022 issue of Madison Magazine, accompanying the cover story “Before the World Met Chris” by Kurt Stream. As always, my goal with pencil portraiture is to create a line of intimacy and emotional connection between the viewer and subject (and one additional goal specifically with this portrait: to make his family proud!). This was the best-selling issue of the magazine to that date, and this story won three Milwaukee Press Club 2022 Excellence in Journalism Awards (also Best Single Story or Feature Design (Gold) and Best Personal Profile (Silver)).

Client: Madison Magazine
Creative Director: Tim Burton | Writer: Kurt Stream | Editor: Andrea Behling
Award: 2022 Excellence in Journalism Award in Visual Journalism: Best Illustration (Bronze) from the Milwaukee Press Club

A Quiet Moment | Isthmus

When the Isthmus started publishing print issues again after the pandemic, it took on an approach similar to The New Yorker, commissioning topical artworks from local artists for each monthly cover. I enjoyed the challenge of capturing Madison in November. I wanted to move away from “obvious” themes, like Thanksgiving or football, and instead focused on a small moment between the chaos of Halloween and the one-two-Thanksgiving-Christmas punch, before the landscape is blanketed in snow, when the leaves are covered in warm colors. Read more here.

Client: Isthmus
Art Director: Tommy Washbush | Editor/President: Judith Davidoff | Publisher: Jason Joyce