Lines and Colors art blog

Peter de Sève (update 2026)

Peter de Seve illustrations & New Yorker covers
Peter de Seve illustrations & New Yorker covers

It’s August! Headed for the shore, you lemmings? Looks like fun!

I’ve written about illustrator and concept artist Peter de Sève three times in the past, but that’s not often enough to feature his delightful, whimsical and insightful illustrations. They are, in effect, beautifully rendered cartoons, and I never tire of them.

Rather than going into his extensive experience in publishing and film, I’ll refer you to my previous articles, below, in which I’ve gone into more detail.

For now, I’ll point you to his website, on which you can see examples of his cover illustrations for the New Yorker, minus the text, and order them as prints.

You can also find links to his books. I enjoy and recommend Local Fauna (affiliate links: Bookshop.org, or Amazon.com, video flip through here).

You can also find nice examples of his illustrations, still in their context as New Yorker covers, on the Condé Nast store.

There is a selection of larger images Character Design Reference.

You can find original art , including preliminary drawings and sketches on the Philippe LaBaunne Gallery.

Link:

https://peterdeseve.com

Condé Nast store

Philippe LaBaunne Gallery

Character Design Reference.

Illustration History

My previous posts:

Peter de Sève

Peter de Sève (update)

Peter de Sève: new website


Comments

2 responses to “Peter de Sève (update 2026)”

  1. The link to the preliminary drawings is especially useful beside the finished covers. Your description of these as beautifully rendered cartoons points to two separate things to study: whether the pose reads immediately, and what the rendering adds afterward. For a small exercise between looking at the sketches and the finished work, we maintain a simple penguin character construction tutorial. The reference images are AI-assisted; the written steps are for drawing by hand. Its round head and flared coat offer a few shapes to redraw with different head tilts before adding shading. That could make it easier to notice how much personality is already present in a silhouette, without trying to reproduce de Sève’s finish immediately.

    1. Gugugaga Penguin, Your Penguin tutorial (which appears to exist) is blocked by an ad for an ad blocker.