Illustrator Kelsey Dake Talks Drawing New York Times Magazine's Lindsay Lohan Cover

The last-minute assignment had her playing illustrator, fashion designer, and collage artist all at once.

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Complex Original

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Yesterday's "Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie" story in the New York Times Magazine raised many questions about Lohan through her upcoming appearance in the Bret Easton Ellis film, The Canyons, including whether or not she can resurrect her acting career amidst several public personal issues and legal troubles.

The cover, illustrated by Kelsey Dake, has the text "How to Catch a Falling Star," with various Lohans falling from the sky. The design direction interested us, both in its meaning and its execution—a combination of photographed heads and illustrated dresses. There are also multiple Lindsays, which could be reflective of her many personalities, stories, failures, and alibis.

We asked Kelsey a few questions about the design process. In case you were wondering, she pulled it off in 24 hours.

"So I was approached to do the cover by Arem Duplessis of the New York Times Magazine. He asked if I'd be interested in doing a cover involving Lindsay Lohan, and if so, he would need it pretty quickly. By the time sketches were approved, I had less than 24 hours to pull the whole shabang off."

"It was [Arem's] idea to do falling Lindsays and have it be a photo collage, since it's a bit about her fall from glory. I suggested maybe I could do the portraits, too, but when I did the sketches and started popping the photographed heads on, I sent him an email essentially saying, 'Holy crap—you're right, the photo heads with illustrated bodies are HILARIOUS.' So post-sketches, I pulled it together for some fun 'falling' research, I got to play fashion designer (I had to make up all the clothes and accessories), and after an all night illustration jam fest, this cover was born!"

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