Barry Blitt.

Bio: I was born in Canada [you didn’t ask, but I’m telling everyone]. I moved to the States in the early 1990’s, and have been contributing drawings to various publications since then: The New Yorker, The New York Observer, The New York Times. Also Atlantic Monthly, Entertainment Weekly, Women’s Wear Daily. Others too.



Find this print here.

Find this print here.

Tools of choice:​ I’ve been drawing with #102 Crow Quill nibs for close to thirty years, and I still can’t seem to get the hang of them. They give me more trouble every day. Maybe they don’t make them like they used to. Or maybe it’s the ink that’s getting worse. [Osmiroid Brown used to be quite nice] Perhaps it’s the paper [I used to really love Hi-Art No 62 illustration board, but something happened to it]. Now I use Canson cold press watercolor blocs. I’m not crazy about them. I probably ought to try new things.



Tool I wish I could use better: I wish I could figure Photoshop out. Just to drop out white backgrounds, or move stuff around. I’ve had several tutorials - spent hours in a room with someone patiently explaining every move while I took copious notes. But I still can’t find the lasso tool.

Tool I wish existed: The truth is, the drawing tool of my dreams would be the stuff I used years ago that they don’t make any more. And that’s almost too sad to mention.

Tricks: ​Well - I used to [again with this “I used to”] like to take black waterproof ink, mix a little brown non-waterproof ink with it, and then draw my line work. When that dried, I’d brush over it with water, and the brown non-waterproof ink would bleed and run, but the integrity of the line would still be visible because the waterproof black would hold fast. It was a nice effect, but it was hard to control, and I’ve been giving up ever since.

Misc: I have a peculiar compulsion to redraw something over and over until I feel I’ve got it right. But really, the first attempt - sometimes the second one - is generally the best. A drawing loses life after that. I wish someone had told me that a long time ago. I probably wouldn’t have listened. And it’s still a hard thing for me to obey. But a drawing with life is really the best result you can get. I’ll take a mediocre likeness over a perfect one if it’s got more life in the line. [actually, maybe that’s not even true]

Website, etc. ​I have a website that I haven’t been attending to. Forget I mentioned it.



Find this print here!