Blown Covers

This week, the sun beats down on New York at a relentless 90 degrees, making it difficult to imagine that the seasons will ever change. And, for a child, the distance between July 1st and September 1st does seem like an eternity. But for a New Yorker cover artist, the time has already come to start sketching back-to-school ideas. So turn your fans on full blast, throw on your back packs, break out your number 2 pencils and start sketching. We can’t wait to see your ideas!

(please note: starting this week, we are only accepting sketches through the submissions page of our tumblr (no longer through email). We just can’t keep track of everything otherwise. Please submit your images here. Full submission guidelines at the bottom of this post)

Here are a few published back to school images for inspiration: 

- By Art Spiegelman

-By Bob Staake

- By Owen Smith

-By William Joyce

To enter each week’s contest, please send sketches on this week’s theme. Use the submissions page and please include your name and email address. I prefer sketches to finished work and good ideas to good drawings. Please send files in as jpegs under 1mb. The deadline is Thursday at noon (NYC time). The themes on the Blown Covers website closely mirror what I suggest to the New Yorker artists I already work with. This blog and contest are informal and not affiliated with the magazine but I’m always on the lookout for ideas. Please keep submissions confidential in case they are selected for later publication. The winning sketch (according to my own subjective whims) will be posted here on Friday.