Tim O'Brien (born November 16, 1964) is an American artist who works in a realistic style. His illustrations have appeared on the covers and interior pages of magazines such as ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'', ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', and others. His illustrations are also used by the

US Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

for

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

Early life and education

O'Brien's

paternal A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

grandparents came from Ireland, and his

maternal ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...

grandparents from

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long ...

, arriving in the United States from Quebec. His grandfather became a caretaker at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. O'Brien was the second of three sons in his family. O'Brien began training as a boxer in high school, going on to box as a

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

amateur in the

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rela ...

. At age 18, O'Brien gave up boxing. That same year he received a

Pell Grant A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled ...

which he used to enroll in the

Paier College of Art Paier College (formerly Paier College of Art) is a private for-profit art college in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Previously located in Hamden, Connecticut, Paier is the only independent art college in Connecticut. History In 1946, Paier was e ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. He graduated in 1987 with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree. His instructors at Paier included

Leonard Everett Fisher Leonard Everett Fisher (born June 24, 1924) is an American artist best known for illustrating children's books. Since 1955 he has illustrated about 250 books for younger readers including about 88 that he also wrote. Fisher was born in the Bronx ...

, Ken Davies and Robert Zappalorti. While attending Paier, O'Brien painted ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' images, which his instructors Davies and Zappalorti were also known to do, in which the viewer of the paintings are deceived into thinking they were seeing an actual object. In one such case, students attempted to use electrical outlets that O'Brien had painted on the wall.

Artistic influences

In grade school, O'Brien often visited the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

. O'Brien's favorite art works at the Yale Gallery were by

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

and

Paul Cadmus Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 – December 12, 1999) was an American artist widely known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures ...

. Other early influences for O'Brien were the 19th-century Russian painter

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement. Biography Shishkin was born to a Russian m ...

, and British painter

Lord Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

. Later influences for O'Brien include various contemporary artists such as

Gottfried Helnwein Gottfried Helnwein (born 8 October 1948) is an Austrian-Irish visual artist. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor, installation and performance artist, using a wide variety of techniques and media. His work is ...

George Tooker George Clair Tooker, Jr. (August 5, 1920 – March 27, 2011) was an American figurative painter. His works are associated with Magic realism, Social realism, Photorealism, and Surrealism. His subjects are depicted naturally as in a photograp ...

and

Mark Tansey Mark Tansey (born 1949) is an American painter. Life Tansey had an early introduction to art. These early childhood experiences had a profound effect on Tansey's painting style from the inception of his career as an artist. Many of Tansey's pa ...

, as well as illustrators such as Guy Billout and David Suter.

Career

Before graduating from Paier in 1987, O'Brien entered into what became a long relationship with his representative Peter Lott. Lott had seen O'Brien's work at the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

Student Show. O'Brien started his illustration career primarily as a

book cover A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...

artist and continues to work for book publishing houses. He has created covers for books by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers (born Walter Milton Myers; August 12, 1937 – July 1, 2014) was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem. A tough childho ...

and others. O'Brien credits his first big break as a ''

'' magazine cover done in 1989, painting a small teardrop overlaid on a

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

portrait of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

. O'Brien was called on again in 2008 to paint another teardrop on the cover of ''Time'', for the cover story "The Price Of Greed" following the onset of a global financial recession.

Notable works

Book covers

Between 2008 and 2010, O'Brien was commissioned by

Scholastic Publishing Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

to illustrate each cover of ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set ...

'' trilogy by

Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer. She is known as the author of the book series ''The Underland Chronicles'' and ''The Hunger Games''. Early life Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962, in ...

, including the ''Hunger Games'' "

mockingjay ''Mockingjay'' is a 2010 science fiction novel by American author Suzanne Collins. It is chronologically the last installment of ''The Hunger Games'' series, following 2008's ''The Hunger Games'' and 2009's ''Catching Fire''. The book continue ...

" logo. The images were then used again for promotional posters when the film distributor

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

turned the books into a film franchise. O'Brien closely collaborated on the designs with his wife, Elizabeth Parisi, creative director for Scholastic.

''Time'' covers

Tim O'Brien has illustrated more covers than any other artist for the last 30 years. O'Brien's ''Time'' magazine covers are in the National Portrait Gallery of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. Starting in 1989, O'Brien worked with

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Arthur Hochstein, and created over a dozen covers for ''Time'' with him. O'Brien's "The End of Bin Laden" cover, which the artist created in 2002 when editors at ''Time'' believed the al-Qaeda leader was trapped and was or would soon be dead in Afghanistan, was not published until nine years later in the May 20, 2011, issue. O'Brien used a similar approach for an earlier ''Time'' cover, "The Death of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi", for the June 19, 2006, issue of the magazine. , O'Brien has had over 30 ''Time'' covers published, including: *September 4, 1996 ''The Choice'' *December 28, 1998 ''Men of the Year, Kenneth Star and Bill Clinton'' *March 10, 2003 ''Life After Saddam'' *November 10, 2008 ''The Choice'' *June 7, 2010 ''Why Being Pope Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry'' *December 20, 2010 ''Palin in Progress'' *May 20, 2011 ''The End of Bin Laden'' *September 5, 2011 ''The World After Gaddafi'' *February 27, 2017 ‘’Nothing to see here”

''Rolling Stone''

O'Brien illustrated portraits of

the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, and

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

in ''Rolling Stone''s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2012, O'Brien said the work he was most proud of was his 2008 cover illustration for ''Rolling Stone'' in which the magazine endorsed candidate

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

for president. The cover, which depicted the future president with a halo-like glow around him, created a mild controversy, with critics of the image saying it

deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term ha ...

the candidate. ;Covers *March 2008 cover, ''Barack Obama, A New Hope'' *January 2009 cover, ''Bush Apologizes'' *February 2012 cover, ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust'' ;Page illustrations *''Al Gore: The Revolution is Beginning'', June 28, 2007 *''Beck'', March 2014

''Mother Jones''

For the December 2012 release, ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'' printed double covers, in which one cover was sent to

subscribers The subscription business model is a business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners f ...

of the magazine and the alternate cover was shown on newsstands. O'Brien illustrated both covers in different styles. For the cover that went to newsstands, titled ''Sugar Kills'', O'Brien created a surreal vignette of a glass pitcher as a human skull. For the version delivered to subscribers, titled ''Solitary in Iran'', O'Brien painted a lonely jail cell with a single occupant. ;Covers *February 2008 ''The Last Empire'' *September 2010, ''The BP Coverup'' *March 2011, ''The Vampire Economy'' *July 2013, ''Gagged by Big Ag'' ;Page illustrations *''Harpy, Hero, Heretic: Hillary'', January 2007

Other magazines

O'Brien's magazine covers have received awards and citations, including Cover of the Day by the Society of Publication Designers. *''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', April 2001, ''The Next Ruling Class'' * ''Smithsonian'', March 2012, ''100th Anniversary of The Titantic'' *''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', March 2011, ''Roger Goodell Throne of Games'' *''Sports Illustrated'', May 16, 2016, ''Vin Scully'' *'' GQ'', July 2015, ''Who is Mitt Romney?'' *''GQ'', January 2016, ''What Would Cool Jesus Do?''

Postage stamps

O'Brien's work first appeared on

U.S. postage stamps Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a ...

in 2006. He was commissioned to portray

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African ...

as part of the U.S. Postal Services Black Heritage stamp series. O'Brien also designed postage stamps of

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

in 2006;

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...

in 2012;

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

in 2016; and Father

Theodore Hesburgh Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC (May 25, 1917 – February 26, 2015) was a native of Syracuse, New York, who became an ordained priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is best known for his service as the president of the University of Not ...

in 2017.

Honors and service

On April 26, 2016, O'Brien spoke at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in New York City at the invitation of the

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, 15 specialized agencies of the United Nation ...

, during which his artwork was shown. He discussed

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

and

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

in a digital world and how technology is having both advantageous and troubling consequences on both.

Honors

* Hamilton King Award,

(2009) *Honorary doctorate degree, 2013, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts *Commencement speech at Paier College of Art, 1996 and 2002 * O'Brien's ''Time'' magazine covers are in the collection of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington, DC *Chosen by ''Irish American Magazine'' as one of their 100 top Irish Americans, 1999 and 2000 *Awards from Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles: Graphis Inc.; ''Print Magazine''; '' Communication Arts Magazine''; the Society of Publication Designers; American Illustration; Art Director's Club *In 2019, Tim O'Brien was awarded all three top illustration awards; bronze, silver and gold, for covers of Donald Trump for ''

''.

Service

*Chairman of the Education Committee, Society of Illustrators, New York (1996–2006). *Member of the Executive Committee, Society of Illustrators, New York *Served on the Board of the Illustration Conference in 2003 *President of the Society of Illustrators, New York *Chairman of 'Illustrators 49' at the Society of Illustrators *Chairman of the Scholarship Committee at the Society of Illustrators

Exhibitions

*Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, ''Portraits and Illustrations: A Retrospective'', 2013 *

Norman Rockwell Museum The Norman Rockwell Museum is an art museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, dedicated to the art of Norman Rockwell. It is home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art. The museum also hosts traveling exhibitions pertaining to A ...

, ''Rockwell and Realism in an Abstract World'', 2016 *Corpo Gallery

Teaching

O'Brien lectures frequently across the country. His speaking engagements have included the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Society of Illustrators, Syracuse University, School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and California College of the Arts. He was a distinguished adjunct professor of illustration at the University of the Arts from 1990–2016. He also taught as an adjunct professor at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

(2009–present) and

(1994–1996).

Personal life

Up until 2004, O'Brien stayed active in the boxing world of his youth as a trainer. Since 2006, O'Brien has run the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

, raising money for the Children's IBD Center at Mount Sinai Hospital. O'Brien lives with his wife Elizabeth Parisi and son in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Tim 1964 births Living people American magazine illustrators Artists from New Haven, Connecticut 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists People from North Haven, Connecticut 20th-century American male artists Presidents of the Society of Illustrators