2.10.2008


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In 1925, the first issue of "The New Yorker" ran with a character named Eustace Tilley on its cover. Sometime after Françoise Mouly became cover editor, "The New Yorker" began to commission various artists to do their renditions of Eustace Tilley. For almost two decades artists have been drawing Eustace Tilley in one form another, sometimes recognizable, sometimes vulgar, sometimes a commentary on New York socialites (as the first Tilley was), sometimes an ironic stab at Tilley himself.
Last month, "The New Yorker" held a contest for their anniversary issue. Artists (and anyone else who wanted to participate) were invited to submit their own versions of Tilley to the magazine. The winners would be displayed on the website during the week coinciding with the release of the anniversary issue. Above is my submission to the contest. I found out about it the night before the contest was due and stayed up most of the night to complete it (there's a lot of detail in that hair!). I did not win--however you can hear Françoise Mouly's succinct and fascinating conversation about Eustace Tilley and how the winners were chosen here, and you can see the winning submissions here.