I illustrated 43 portraits for The Sit Room: In the Theater of War and Peace, written by David Scheffer, published by Oxford University Press. The Sit Room details 3 years of decision-making, policy, and deliberations involved in the US intervention in the war in the Balkans, 1992-1995. David Scheffer served on the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council during the conflict, and later as the first American Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues.
The portraits were all drawn with black ink and brush on paper. I drew them large, scanned them, and reduced them down to a thumbnail size in Photoshop. Because the Balkan War took place in the early 90s, online photo reference for many of the key players was limited. For some portraits, I used three tiny, grainy photos from the period and a few contemporary photos as reference material to create the portrait. This required some imagination. Below are a few process shots of the portraits.
Below are final thumbnails, finals drawings and how they translated to the book pages:
