Over Portfolio Reviews, Art Directors and Illustrators Connect

New York Times

28-05-2025

The illustrations that readers see in the pages of The New York Times and on its website are a result of collaborations between Times art directors and artists from around the world.
At its best, an illustration is inviting, providing a visual metaphor or narrative that helps readers better understand the topics that will be explored in an article.
During my 13 years of art directing, first at The New Yorker and now at The Times, I've been lucky to meet illustrators at portfolio reviews, panel discussions and industry parties around New York City. Those in-person opportunities disappeared during the coronavirus pandemic, and around 2022, when we all began to peek our heads out from wherever we had been milling away since 2020, I was keen to cultivate relationships with artists once again.
In speaking with my Times colleagues Tala Safie, Antonio de Luca and Alicia DeSantis, we wondered out loud if we might be able to put together a Times illustration portfolio review. We wanted to carve out space to speak with artists generally about their work, outside of the often transactional back-and-forth of commissioning an illustrator for an official assignment for The Times.
A portfolio review is a meeting between an artist and another creative professional — in this case, a Times art director — in which the artist can receive feedback on his or her work. An artist may submit published, personal or student work, or sketches and other materials, for review. The reviewer considers the artist's full body of work and provides guidance. We may offer an artist ways to employ stronger concepts, for example, or advise on how to use color more effectively. This kind of holistic feedback is abundant in art school, but it is hard to come by once artists enter the professional world.
We organized the first Times portfolio review in 2022. We wanted it to be accessible; artists at any career stage, and who worked in any medium, were encouraged to apply. To spread the word, we contacted our former design and illustration professors, and those at other art schools, across the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany and Latin America, to name a few.
A silver lining of the pandemic years was that meeting virtually became the norm, so there weren't any geographical limitations on who could apply. Applicants were asked to fill out a short form with their contact information, explain a bit about themselves and share a link that directed us to their work.
As we watched the applications pour in, we grew excited about all the new artists we would meet. We received nearly 3,000 applications.
Many of the applicants were recent art school graduates, but there were also illustration veterans and those outside of the editorial illustration world who worked in advertising, children's books, animation and fine art. It's worthwhile to speak with artists whose work we appreciate, even if it may be different from what we would normally commission for the newspaper.
Now we're in our fourth cycle. The application period, which opened in April, will close June 5. About 50 Times art directors, myself included, have volunteered to take part in the reviews.
We will divide up the applicants and select those with whom we feel we can have meaningful conversations. We also want to select applicants who would benefit from concrete feedback. Maybe someone has a really confident, cohesive style, but their concepts could be stronger; maybe someone has the ability to create a narrative, but needs help editing.
We're able to select about 80 illustrators to review in the fall over a two-week period. Each selected artist will receive three 30-minute, one-on-one reviews.
In that time, artists can receive feedback, ask how to tailor their portfolios for editorial work, get tips on how to self-promote and learn how to make their websites easy for art directors to find and navigate. We also give insight into how we work at The Times: how we find new talent and what makes someone right for a particular job.
Every art director has their tried-and-true roster of artists, but it has always been important to me, as someone in a position to hire freelance illustrators, to cultivate meaningful relationships with new artists. The portfolio review is a small way we're able to use The Times's resources to make that happen, and I hope it will continue to grow for years to come.