Liu Shi Khun for The Wall St Journal

For today's paper, the brilliant pianist, Liu Shi Khun, who was imprisoned and tortured for years during China's Cultural Revolution. His moving and inspiring interview is here on the Wall St Journal site. I feel honored to have done his portrait.

And The Mountains Echoed...Book Review

For The Christian Science Monitor's review of  And the Mountains Echoed, by  Khaled Hosseini, author of the #1 NY Times bestseller The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. 

The illustration was sparked by this passage in Yvonne Zipp's review, "The story is being told by Saboor, a poor day laborer in a northern Afghan village, to the inseparable children of his first wife, 10-year-old Abdullah and three-year-old Pari.

"The next day, Saboor leaves for Kabul, carting Pari in a wagon. Abdullah, who refuses to be left behind, thinks his dad is going out on a job. But the purpose of Saboor's trip, revealed in a devastating set-piece, is to hand Pari over to a wealthy couple."

National Denier Service Cartoon

Here's my latest cartoon with The Final Edition, written by John Marshall and voiced by Jenn Dodd

"Here at the National Denier Service we’ve been getting a lot of calls asking if the Oklahoma tornadoes are the result of global warming. The best answer is that scientists disagree, both real scientists and the ones paid for by right-wing front groups with bland patriotic names funded by the Koch brothers..."

McCain and the Syrian Rebels

"A little lung, Senator?"

McCain's been beating the Syrian war drum lately, even sneaking over the border to photo-op around with some rebels. I wonder if he actually has a clear idea of what he's trying to get us into over there? I don't have any faith that our government, not to mention the Republican wing of it, knows how to identify who the "good guys" are. Is calling yourself a "rebel" sufficient to provide arms to them? How about rebel fighter Khalid al-Hamid, who sank his teeth into the lung of a dead Syrian soldier for the benefit of a cell phone video?  Good guy?

Did this painting this morning, for The Final Edition.

Yang Jisheng Portrait for The Wall Street Journal

On Thursday afternoon, I was in the middle of doing a portrait for the Saturday edition of The Wall St Journal, when they called to say they were changing the subject to Yang Jisheng, the author of Tombstone,  the definitive book about China's Great Famine. After reading up a bit about his book, I downloaded a sample to my Kindle. His own step father died of starvation in the famine. 

I did several roughs , and they chose the one above. Here's another one I liked, with ghostly Mao in the background. They always want the subject with a slight smile, to avoid a grumpy old man look; it wasn't easy to put a smile on the face of the man who wrote such a wrenching, heartbreaking book.

Preview: The Brilliant Bug of Carnegie Hall

Preview of The Brilliant Bug of Carnegie Hall, written and acted by Tony Hendra, with The Final Edition. Listen:

Robert Edsel for the Wall Street Journal

In today's Wall St Journal, my portrait of Robert Edsel, the retired oil-man who wrote The Monuments Men, "an account of a special Allied force—museum directors, curators and conservators—who risked their lives to keep the world's masterpieces from falling into enemy hands." His book has been made into a movie starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett, coming out later this year. He's written a companion book to Monuments Men that's coming out this week, Saving Italy. 

This was another very fast turn-around: got the assignment at about 11 am yesterday, final art due at 4 pm. I was happy to use the "tapestry" device that I've used before for the Journal, in my portraits of Gino Francesconi and Tim Fain, where I section off panels to illustrate various aspects of the subject's life.

Read the profile of Mr. Edsel here on the WSJ site.

Donald Kagan for The Wall St Journal

Yale professor of history, Donald Kagan, whose area of expertise is ancient Greece.

Animation: Thatcher Chucked from Hell

Thatcher Dies, Goes to Hell, Hell Spits Her Right Back Out 

New animation, written and produced by The Final Edition, illustrated and animated by me.

Video for My Friend Dahmer

My new video for Abrams Books, My Friend Dahmer, a terrific graphic novel by Derf Backderf. When Abrams sent me the book, I read it in one sitting. It was heartfelt and sensitive and funny and a great insight into teenage life. The video uses the art from the graphic novel, of course.