Portfolio Review: Illustrator Kelsey Dake Shares Her Favorite Drawings and Design Projects

We first saw Kelsey Dake's illustration work when she did the New York Times magazine's cover of Lindsay Lohan in early January. The combination of illustrated dresses and actual photographs of LiLo's head was too good. Little did we know that Dake executed the project in less than 24 hours.

That's not her only impressive feat, though. She's also done incredible projects for McSweeney's, GQ, and Businessweek, and was one of Print Magazine's Top 20 Under 30 in 2012. She's given talks at the Pratt Institute and at AIGA gatherings, and impressively made The New York Times Notable Op-Ed Art of 2012 review.

We know what you're thinking. How does she do it all? Read through the next few slides to find out.

Portfolio Review: Illustrator Kelsey Dake Shares Her Favorite Drawings and Projects

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"Ok so this one is representative of me because that's my dog Truman. I always have to draw from reference of some sort. Making things up out of thin air doesn't really appeal to me since I'm all about details and tedium. This was for a Steven Millhauser story about Paul Bunyan in McSweeney's 41. At one point in the story he writes that Paul Bunyan cut a dog in half and sewed him back together but then realized one half was upside down. I loved that little bit of story and looked down at Truman and went, 'sorry buddy.' I took a picture of him, flipped his back half upside down in Photoshop, and drew it."

"I honestly didn't think this one would run. Or at least I'd have to take some of the cuts and scratches out. This was the first NYT section cover I got to do, and it was the weekend before the election. The article was about how the candidates were tired and only had a little way to go. I instantly imagined them looking haggard and cut up, and somehow the idea got approved and they let me do it. This piece is also unique in that this was one of the first times where I layered watercolors to build up mass in my drawings. Usually my drawings are graphic and flat."

"I just like these. I like that I got to incorporate type in it, I rarely get to draw type. I also like that I finally got to do some work for a musician. When I was in school I dreamed of drawing album covers and tour posters and for some reason it just hasn't happened yet. But the one on the left was a first and for Beck Hansen's new Song Reader album. So it was sort of a realization of a dream."

"This drawing is a prime example of my love of expressions and ridiculous things. Anytime I get asked to draw something silly I'm in heaven. I feel like it's pretty safe to say I am the only person in the world who has ever drawn Romney and Obama and wives covered in sauerkraut, eating hot dogs, and laughing. I love this, it was so fun. OH and I also have this tendency to make the facial expressions I'm drawing on my own face as I'm drawing them. So all afternoon one day I was making these faces and I was so glad I don't share a studio with anyone."

"I love purse lady. I really really like fashion, like, a lot. It's funny because I am kind of known for drawing gross or gory things (a lot of people assume I'm a dude?), but in real life I get my nails done every other week, tote a Louis V, and had a Vogue subscription growing up. So I FINALLY got asked to draw something girly and fashion forward, it was really exciting. I got to draw this pretty naked girl covered in purses that I got to make up and design. It was a wonderful assignment. I drew her almost lifesize too, the drawing is 5 feet tall, and got to agonize over all of these purses. It was rad and shows a side of my interests that I don't normally get to show in my work."

"This piece is another example of an art director getting an article and contacting me because they think I'm a perfect fit for it. So yeah, I got sent the article and they let me loose on it. I got to have a lot of fun with the expression of the dog. Which I guess I could say is pretty representative of my work too, I friggin love facial expressions. I can put expressions on ANYTHING."

"I love this piece because I got asked to do it purely because the AD thought I'd do a killer job with the cord. When ADs can recognize that I am the perfect person for a job and call me to do it, that's always a huge win. It means I get fun assignments!"

"This one was just fun because it was something different. I rarely draw full bodies, and I've never done a photo collage for a commissioned drawing. What I like about working with the folks at NYT Magazine is that they're always open to trying different things and come up with ideas that help push me out of my comfort zone. So this is drawing is an example of how I'm super interested in trying something new and pushing my aesthetic forward. "

"For some reason, I get to draw a lot of gory things? It's okay but I wonder sometimes if people worry about my mental state... Anywho! I do enjoy drawing cutaways like this, I get to do anatomical research, and find pictures of skulls, and internal organs, and all of the sudden I have all of these pieces and I get to put them together to draw something that holds water. Tedious drawings also are a favorite, anything that is monotonous and repetitive, I'm into. And boy, was this one tedious."

"Ok so this puppy is a fair representation of me I'd say. I am super obsessed with TV and pop culture, one of the like three blogs I check religiously is The Superficial. I am a pop culture and celebrity gossip fiend. So getting asked to draw Stephen Colbert was a dream ("I hope he sees this" was my first thought). He wrote a review of his own book for GQ, instantly I thought about on his show how he has the self-portrait inception painting above his fireplace. It seemed like a very appropriate reference to make in the drawing. But if I hadn't been into TV or had never seen his show, I would've never come up with that idear."

"I've always wanted to be that chick who is all tatted up and has full sleeves, but I have ZERO tattoos. I'm too afraid that as a visual person, I'll hate something after a few years. But this drawing is of a tattoo I wish I had, but alas, don't. It'd be rad if someone got it done though, a secret dream is that someone will get one of my drawings tattooed."

"The short story this drawing is paired with, in McSweeney's 41, was explaining in detail a scene on a street in Africa. The only "story" within the story was about a hawk stealing a chick, and the mother hen fighting the hawk, so this is a drawing of that story. This drawing got split up across three pages. On the first spread (2 pages) you see the chicken and hawk fighting, and on the third page you see the part with the chick in the hawk's talons, so I really liked the surprise on that third page of like, "oh shit, the hawk has the baby chick." Assignments where I get to think outside of the box and solve unique problems are always fun, and the third page presented a very unique challenge. Oh and I love the hen in this."

"This drawing of Ben Bernanke, is easily one of my most favorite portraits of all time. I dig it when art directors are down to do things that step outside of the norm. This one was for New York Times Magazine, and they sent me the article and I read through it, and got to come up with all sort of goofy ideas, another sketch was Bernanke talking into a banana phone. So I think this one really ended up being a favorite because I got to do a weird and funny idea. How many times do you get to draw the chairman of the Federal Reserve as a space cadet?"