Illustrator Mark Ulriksen’s sport-themed covers for The New Yorker

San Francisco-based illustrator Mark Ulriksen has been creating editorial illustrations since the mid 90s and is most known for his work with the The New Yorker. His latest cover for the magazine is for this week’s issue, titled Streetball. “Basketball players are tall and lean, like the buildings in Manhattan, and New York is famous for basketball games in [playgrounds],” he tells the New Yorker. “But, also, I really like images of people suspended in air.”

This basketball cover comes after a long line of sports themed illustrations from Mark that have donned The New Yorker over the years. His canny ability to combine both humour and insight into his richly coloured images justifies his impressive client list. Managing to make baseball, ski jumping or golf so visually striking is just one of the reasons why we’re happy to gaze at his numerous covers for longer than we should.