A tender new drawing

I just designed this cover for the New York Review of Books Summer issue:

And I now have signed prints available for purchase on my site!

I’m really glad the art editor, Leanne Shapton, went with this sketch, because it was my fave by far!

It’s a horizontally flipped version of this doodle I made in my sketchbook a year ago:

They wanted to see how all the article and author names might fit in there, so I whipped up this mock version with fake authors and articles… totally unnecessary, but I feel like I captured the tone:

I would read about donkeys, doorknobs, and Dubrovnik for reals

After everything was approved, I worked on the final. I kept adding more animals in the bushes and then taking them back out, because it felt too noisy and I wanted it to feel quiet. It’s so tempting to add too much to everything, all the time! I want to show restraint, the way a more elegant artist would.

Here’s video of me fussing over a small detail:

I opted for the original:

instead of the “fixed” version:

Because some wonkiness must remain. This shit is important!! To me.

I did a fun interview with Leanne Shapton about this cover and some other stuff, including this list of comedy I’ve been enjoying lately:

What comedy have you been watching or reading? For example, I’m curious if you’ve read Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection.

I loved Rejection so much, I drew some fan art and mailed it to Tony (I never do stuff like that). He’s the king. He also wrote the funniest “Grub Street Diet” entry ever.

Sam Irby recently wrote a blog post called “How to Stay Married” that I can’t stop thinking about.

I saw the comedian Steph Tolev open for Stavros Halkias at the Wiltern, in LA, and my face hurt from laughing, she’s so wildly lewd. Both of them were incredible.

Sandy Honig made a short film, The Weird Guy, last year that is sofunny and also gorgeously shot. I also really enjoyed her episode of Caleb Hearon’s podcast So True.

I love watching the improv show Make Some Noise, on the Dropout network.

Brittani Nichols wrote a short substack post about how she doesn’t have writer’s block that made me laugh a lot. (Same here, I don’t have that.)

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More news:

• Horsey hats are restocked!! I have a few green and black ones left! I’m still wearing mine every dang day.

• I’m on Dropout’s Gamechanger! A game show where I truly had no idea what was happening until I walked out onstage…

  I actually think this episode is a great introduction to Dropout’s general ouvre if you’re not familiar. You can watch it with a free trial if you aren’t a member yet.

• My new book is available for pre-order! It’s officially out in October. Don’t worry, I’ll keep mentioning it.

  We had a few advance copies at San Diego Comic-Con and passed out horse fans (really smart of D&Q to bring these, it was hot in there)!

• Lastly, I forgot to include this panel in the comic I posted earlier this month!

Oops!! I like how she’s beaking his snoot.

<3 L