<![CDATA[Mark's Art]]>https://markulriksen.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rwXB!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b23cb3b-c776-4c0a-b622-b74c034e4acf_1280x1280.pngMark's Arthttps://markulriksen.substack.comSubstackWed, 04 Nov 2026 04:35:57 GMT<![CDATA[More Knicks Love]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/more-knicks-lovehttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/more-knicks-loveMon, 19 Oct 2026 16:02:40 GMT
Run it Back. Counter-clockwise from lower left: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jaylen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges

Typically New Yorker cover artists submit ideas for consideration. Every once in a while we get asked to tackle a particular subject. That’s what happened for me a few weeks back. Got any Knicks ideas?

Whenever I get such an ask I dr…

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]]><![CDATA[On Losing a Beloved Dog]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/on-losing-a-beloved-doghttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/on-losing-a-beloved-dogTue, 22 Sep 2026 16:01:18 GMT

Ivy {2015-2026}

I grew up with dogs.

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]]><![CDATA[This New Yorker Cover Took 1 Year, 3 Days and 2 Family Members to Create]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/this-new-yorker-cover-took-1-yearhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/this-new-yorker-cover-took-1-yearMon, 25 May 2026 11:27:36 GMT

One year ago around this time the NY Knicks were about to start the NBA semi-final round vs the Indiana Pacers. I know what a rabid fanbase the Knicks have so I submitted a cover featuring current star Jalen Brunson along with the nine other greatest Knicks of all time, IMHO.

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]]><![CDATA[Anatomy of a Family Portrait]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-family-portraithttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-family-portraitThu, 23 Apr 2026 16:00:58 GMTMy friend Barnaby Finch is a jazz pianist/composer and his wife Anne is a bass playing painter whose primary subject matter these days is dogs. They have two dogs now, have had two other dogs before as well as horses and a cat. They divide their time between two places in So. California and one in Manhattan. Not bad.

They also commissioned me to paint t…

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]]><![CDATA[Draw & Paint What You Love]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/draw-and-paint-what-you-lovehttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/draw-and-paint-what-you-loveThu, 26 Mar 2026 16:00:36 GMTWith the new baseball season starting up I’m sharing some of my artistic journey from the sandlots to the big leagues. “Follow your bliss” I learned from Joseph Campbell and baseball and art have led me to places I never could have imagined.

I’ve always loved to draw and I’ve always loved baseball. When I first tried being an artist/illustrator in my lat…

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]]><![CDATA[A Complex Family Portrait]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/a-complex-family-portraithttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/a-complex-family-portraitThu, 26 Feb 2026 17:02:33 GMT

Nina and Chris once commissioned me to paint their three dogs on Baker Beach in San Francisco. The couple could be portrayed as well but subtly. I should also paint a naked dude in the scene, not uncommon at Baker Beach.

When they later moved to Seattle they requested another family portrait with a longer list of items to incorporate.

Mark's Art is a read…

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]]><![CDATA[Revisiting the Making of a New Yorker Cover]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/revisiting-the-making-of-a-new-yorkerhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/revisiting-the-making-of-a-new-yorkerThu, 29 Jan 2026 17:02:31 GMTOccasionally I’ll document the making of certain paintings, especially NYer covers. Alas I haven’t had a cover in a while but with the Winter Olympics around the corner I thought I’d share a behind the scenes look at a past cover creation.

As a reminder the 2018 winter games took place in South Korea. I thought I’d riff on its next door neighbor North Ko…

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]]><![CDATA[Every Picture Has a Story]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/every-picture-has-a-storyhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/every-picture-has-a-storyThu, 08 Jan 2026 17:02:14 GMTAs some of you may know I LOVE movies. I’ve also got lots of experience with crazy deadlines. They both came in handy when working with The NYer on all things cinema related. Here’s some tales behind some of my favorite movie art for the magazine, currently celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Boys will be girls, sometimes

1994 was quite the year- new NYer …

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]]><![CDATA[Join me on Notes]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/join-me-on-noteshttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/join-me-on-notesSat, 03 Jan 2026 17:20:12 GMTSince I’ve joined Substack I’ve been posting Notes about 5-6 times a week, mostly sharing a visual from a sketchbook, a rejected NYer cover submission, a painting from my archive. I have a lot to share and Notes is where I’ve been doing that.

Go to Notes

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]]><![CDATA[For the Love of Films]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/for-the-love-of-filmshttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/for-the-love-of-filmsThu, 18 Dec 2025 17:02:39 GMTI watch a lot of movies, especially at this time of year when the days get shorter and the better movies get released. Alas, that doesn’t send me to the theaters. I burned out on all the commercials I’d have to sit thru and I’m no fan of movies with numbers after the title or made from comic books. I guess I’m a movie snob. So it goes.

As a gift to mysel…

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]]><![CDATA[Music is My Muse II]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/music-is-my-muse-iihttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/music-is-my-muse-iiThu, 04 Dec 2025 17:02:59 GMTWriters are advised to write what they know. Similarly artists should draw and paint what they love. That’s always been my path.

On vacations as a kid I’d carefully unwrap the wax paper my mom packed our sandwiches in. Then I’d use the translucent paper to trace my heroes in 16 or Tiger Beat magazines- The Beatles, Stones, Kinks or Dave Clark 5.

Mark's …

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]]><![CDATA[Music is My Muse]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/music-is-my-musehttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/music-is-my-museThu, 20 Nov 2025 17:02:42 GMTI love music as much as I love anything in life. I think about what I’m going to play in my car as I back out of the driveway. In college my mom would get mad when I’d spend money on records instead of food or clothes as intended. My main hobby in life is collecting music and making playlists from my music collection (and forcing people to listen to my …

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]]><![CDATA[Watch Your Back Mountain]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/watch-your-back-mountainhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/watch-your-back-mountainThu, 06 Nov 2025 17:02:50 GMT

In 2006 the critically acclaimed movie Brokeback Mountain was nominated for 8 Academy Awards including all the big ones; best picture, director, actors, etc. Because of its controversial subject matter (a gay relationship) it seemed newsworthy and potential cover material for the NYer. Also newsworthy at the time was the revelation of warrantless wireta…

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]]><![CDATA[Baseball's Climax]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/baseballs-climaxhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/baseballs-climaxThu, 23 Oct 2025 16:02:17 GMT

Working for the New Yorker means I get to be both an artist and an illustrator.

Submitting cover sketches on ones own and hoping for a sale is what artists do. Getting an assignment for inside the magazine with a set fee and some art direction is what illustrators do. The cover art above were all notions I submitted dealing with among other things the a…

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]]><![CDATA[Killed!]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/killedhttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/killedThu, 16 Oct 2025 16:02:46 GMTHere’s how it should work in publishing: get an assignment, sketch a lot, get a sketch approved, make a painting from your sketch and wait for it to come out in print- in a day, a week, a month or more.

It doesn’t always work like that. Especially that last part about getting published. Unpublished finished artwork is considered “killed”, never to be see…

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]]><![CDATA[[COPY] Portrait Painting on a Deadline]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/copy-portrait-painting-on-a-deadlinehttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/copy-portrait-painting-on-a-deadlineThu, 09 Oct 2025 20:01:48 GMTI’ve painted a lot of faces over the years. My goal every time is to try and capture both the look and personality of my subjects. I also aim to convey a sense of my own self too- my natural tendency towards whimsy, my fussy way of organizing either a composition or my studio, my love of story telling which is why I’ve been an illustrator.

A great thing …

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]]><![CDATA[Portrait Painting on a Deadline]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/portrait-paintings-on-a-deadlinehttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/portrait-paintings-on-a-deadlineThu, 09 Oct 2025 16:01:23 GMTI’ve painted a lot of faces over the years. My goal every time is to try and capture both the look and personality of my subjects. I also aim to convey a sense of my own self too- my natural tendency towards whimsy, my fussy way of organizing either a composition or my studio, my love of story telling which is why I’ve been an illustrator.

A great thing …

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]]><![CDATA[When Everything Changed]]>https://markulriksen.substack.com/p/following-my-blisshttps://markulriksen.substack.com/p/following-my-blissThu, 02 Oct 2025 16:00:54 GMTGood timing and luck play big roles in a creative career. In 1993 I was thinking about switching occupations from art director of San Francisco Focus magazine (after 8 years) to give freelance illustrating a try. As luck would have it The New Yorker was making massive changes that year too- a new Editor-in-Chief in Tina Brown and a new Art Editor, Franc…

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