João Fazenda’s playful portfolio of New York Times and New Yorker illustrations

Portuguese illustrator João Fazenda’s works “aim to explore the endless relationship between drawing and narrative in its many ways,” he tells It’s Nice That. The creative’s practice spreads across “illustration, drawing, animation, comics and occasionally painting,” but it is his attention to detail that makes his editorial illustrations stand out in particular.

After studying both graphic design and fine art painting at the Lisbon Faculty of Arts, João’s drawings have an illustrative looseness to them, using digitally painted layers to add texture. Not coming from one design background in particular, João’s interpretation of a narrative or an article is inventive, filling a singular illustration with various creative counterparts open for interpretation.

As a result, the illustrator works with numerous publications, notably and regularly, The New York Times and The New Yorker. From upcoming cultural or sports events to politics and book reviews, the illustrator has an eye for plucking out the best bits of an article and drawing them into a digestible nugget by applying his playful style.

The illustrator’s talent for editorial illustration has been recognised numerous times, by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Society for News Design, 3×3, also winning the books category of the World Illustration Awards in 2015, and the Portuguese National Illustration Prize in 2016.