This Week's Cover of 'The New Yorker' Was Sketched on an iPad

This week's cover of The New Yorker has been sketched using an iPad and Apple Pencil, created by illustrator Jorge Colombo. The image depicts Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn Heights that Colombo frequents, with the artwork capturing a couple of basketball games and spectators at the park.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shared The New Yorker cover on Twitter this morning, with a quote from Colombo who mentioned his fear that one of the basketballs would fly near him and hit his iPad.

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It’s one of my favorite places to hang out,” Jorge Colombo says, about the park he sketched, on an iPad, for the cover of this week’s issue. “I live down the street, in Brooklyn Heights, so I go there all the time, either to take the East River Ferry or just to relax by the water.

It is a magnet—people come from all of Brooklyn’s many neighborhoods just to take a selfie by the waterfront or picnic by the water. This was a risky drawing to make, though: I kept worrying that the ball would hit me or the iPad.”

The New Yorker also shared a video of Colombo's illustration process on its website this week. Apple's iPad and Apple Pencil have been celebrated as tools for artists in the past, with Apple recently highlighting Rob Zilla's NBA illustrations. Apple's tablet was even used to create the poster for Stranger Things on Netflix.

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Top Rated Comments

pika2000 Avatar
101 months ago
Not pro. Real pros need access to the file system!

/s
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sinsin07 Avatar
101 months ago
snip... This is front page news how?
Apple > iPad > Apple Pencil > Artist > cover of well known magazine > Mac Rumors editors discretion = front page news
Of course you're welcomed to start your own news blog and post whatever news worthy item you deem on the front page.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adnbek Avatar
101 months ago
While the piece is nice enough, the credit goes to the artist, not the tool. This is a simple piece with nothing technically impressive about it for me to praise the device.
Um... That artwork isn't doing the iPad any favors.
Jeez... does every thread on MR need to have negative ninnies spoiling anything that may be positive?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zen Avatar
101 months ago
Wow, it's almost like the iPad has some art apps that let you draw stuff. This is front page news how?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kabeyun Avatar
101 months ago
Wow, it's almost like the iPad has some art apps that let you draw stuff. This is front page news how?
This blog has always posted when a major entity adopts Apple products. Pretty cool that an artist used an iPad instead of a camera or analog media to generate cover art for a major magazine, and a creativity-oriented magazine at that. Sorry if you don't think this qualifies as interesting to an Apple blog's "front page," i.e. next chronological entry. I hope this answers your question.

While the piece is nice enough, the credit goes to the artist, not the tool. This is a simple piece with nothing technically impressive about it for me to praise the device.
The iPad/Pencil pairing is a real achievement, letting real drawing happen and getting out of the way of visual artists expressing their ideas. It takes a lot of amazing tech to make digital creative tools transparent to the creator. Sorry you don't get it. Maybe these articles will help you:
http://boingboing.net/2015/11/25/apple-pencil-gets-rave-review.html
http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2015/12/an-illustrators-review-of-the-ipad-pro-and-apple-pencil/
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
trainwrecka Avatar
101 months ago
Um... That artwork isn't doing the iPad any favors.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)