The following was written about two or three weeks ago.

Another cover for The Week with D. Trump. Ugh. What is his appeal? I hear people say he "speaks his mind". Or "He's exposing everyone to be the phonies we knew they were". He's weirdly prudish. He'll insight people towards violence at a rally and then act like he's shocked that there was violence when he appears on Good Morning America. And there is the problem. It's a profit motive... I forget which movie had that line in it. Anyway, the news is for profit. Smart intelligent conversation and debate isn't as exciting as two "men" running for public office prudishly talking about their dick sizes on national television. Cock talk gets better ratings ie., bigger profits. The press coverage of the village idiot for entertainment has given the idiot a big forum to vomit his idiot rhetoric to people who are sick of uninspired politicians.

Bernie Sanders is the scary person to the Democrats because he has inspired a lot of people. Just not enough. The press ignores him because he talks about issues, and he is a gentleman to the people he is running against, and he is the only one (similar to Trump) that isn't owned by large corporations. Although I suspect Trump has some people he owes. Sanders also speaks his mind. Sanders has also exposed the establishment in the Democratic party. And a big media bias as well.

I'm not going to post any more Trumps here unless it's about his failure to get elected. Feel the Bern!

Original color sketch. Everything was OK until...

They suggested a dark blue back ground. I feel that the red back ground was more emotional and was a little more raw. The Week isn't that kind of magazine. I think this goes with their character.

Usually silence means I'm busy meeting deadlines etc. I had a bunch this past month. My job for National Geographic for Kids became more demanding in Feb. I didn't do my News Letter that you can sign up for if you want to get things I don't post here. The covers for The Week Magazine have been more challenging since they don't want the exaggeration they originally hired me to do. It was a slow transformation over a number of years. I'm starting to treat them more like a comic book illustration. They still like something dynamic but more based in natural proportions etc.

Marco Rubio. I listen to political talk shows on the radio when I make coffee in my kitchen. Being in the back of the building, my reception is limited. I'll get the FAN sports radio. They get fixated on a few big stories and seem to have no ability to move on to another subject or analyze it very deeply. Next station usually has all the national right wing talk shows, Limbaugh, Hannity, and others. These guys really beat up Rubio while seeming to celebrate Trump. I find it amusing to see how they selectively criticize people they don't like for whatever reason. Rubio attempted to bully back at Trump in a debate and not being the sort of ass that Trump is, he bullied poorly. The guys on the radio skewered him not realizing that Rubio was still the nicer guy and ignoring completely how much worse Trump was and is, but somehow Rubio was the bad guy because he only bullied back a few times and they only seemed to quote Trump's rude assessment of Rubio as what to think.

Fortunately coffee only takes 5-10 minutes!  But I take a lot of coffee breaks when I'm painting. Boo. Here is the path of Rubio for the cover for The Week. I did this before the super Tuesday that knocked him out of the race so I guess my color sketch would have been more accurate. But they didn't want so much blood etc. On the other hand I think politics does.

Sketch

Finish. They did sort of want the "Black Knight" from the Monty Python film "Holy Grail" feel for how to portray Rubio. I got a little carried away with the absurd amount of blood in that scene.

So far so good with my projects for 2016. I did a rare caricature gig at a corporate event for The Week's PR department. I do them, but I'm not cheap! heh. I have several irons near the fire. I'd say they "in" it but it's way too early for that. So in the general vicinity of a theoretical fire is where I'd put them. More on that to come. Some maybe in my news letter! 

This was a cover I did for The Week Magazine last week as Bernie Sanders has been slowly and steadily improving and overtaking Hillary in the poles. I was never for Hillary in the first place. My general rules is one president per family. Even though she married into it, sorry Hillary. I must be devastating her right now. I'm sure of the millions and millions of people visiting my page for my superior expertise on all things political and "other" in the world... Oh yeah, I always forget to mention my rocket scientist credentials (RIP Yvonne Brill) I'm also well versed in every language ever created... and I can occasionally run a pool table while chewing gum.

Feel the Bern.

2016 is not starting out in any positive way. The first cover I do for The Week Magazine is Iran and Saudi Arabia squaring off. I joked in the meeting that it would be more accurate to have a Yemen guy vs a Syrian or something like that since Saudi doesn't do any of their own work. Syria is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, also America and Russia, and Turkey and Kurdistan, and leastly Syrian people against the Assad regime... OH! and the occasional bombing by France or Britain just for good measure. At least that's what I've been able to see so far. There are a few other groups in there as well I'm sure, but to sum it up it is a chaotic stupid mess. So here we go 2016! AND it's an election year. Oh boy. I have a feeling I'll be doing illustrations about a lot of stupid tings this year, enjoy the first of many.