Barry Blitt is an illustrator and cartoonist whose clients include Vanity Fair, Time, Rolling Stone The Atlantic and The New York Times, where he contributes regularly to the op-ed page.

He is probably best known, however for his New Yorker covers, which are frequently political (in contrast to the majority of New Yorker covers) and often controversial —including the notorious Barack and Michelle Obama “terrorist fist-bump” cover, which some people apparently interpreted as a serious accusation (sigh).

His latest New Yorker cover, for the November 11, 2013 issue, pokes a bit of tech critique fun at the healthcare.gov rollout.

Blitt has a pen and watercolor technique that is wonderfully loose and yet precise at the same time. He keeps his washes light and his palette muted, allowing the relaxed and often delicate pen lines to have their say.

Blitt’s website is divided into helpfully named sections like “Stuff”, “Things” and “Other Things”. Be sure to check out the sections for “Thumbnails” and “Links”.

Illustrator and cartoonist David Parkins, originally from the UK and now based in Canada, has had a long career creating editorial illustrations, political cartoons and satirical comics for some of Britain and Canada’s top publications. In addition he has illustrated a number of children’s books.

In the introduction to his website, Parkins points out that he is about to break the advice often given to illustrators when presenting their work (online or otherwise) to focus on a particular style, lest art directors become confused by their inability to compartmentalize an artist with multiple styles.

Much to our delight, Parkins proceeds to display a wonderful variety of rendering styles — from cartoony to realistic to retro — and editorial approaches, from charmingly innocent to bitingly acid.

Choose from his portfolio sections and drill down through the categories into individual publications or types of illustration.

In all of them, Parkins displays an obvious enthusiasm for drawing and graphically communicating a strong point of view, whirling his pen and watercolor through layers of politics and society, on out into the unfettered whimsey of children’s books.

I was sorry to learn today that Drawn, one of the bright go-to points on the web for regular shots of cartooning and illustration inspiration, has ended its run after 8 years.

Started in early 2005 by cartoonist and illustrator John Martz, and eventually drawing on a collaborative rooster of artists, Drawn was always finding and showcasing bright talents and wonderful work by a large number of creators.

Along with Cartoon Brew, 100 Years of Illustration, Boing Boing and a few others, Drawn! (at the time with an exclamation point in the title) was one of the models on which I based the format of Lines and Colors when I launched it in August of 2005.

Though the scope and intention of the two blogs were different, I always thought of Martz and the Drawn crew as kindred spirits in the presentation of inspirational posts about art and artists.

Martz has written a farewell post, Drawn 2005-2013, on his personal blog explaining the decision.

I obviously disagree with his sentiment in regard to the continued relevancy of art blogs (grin), but I understand his decision.

The current archives are still available at the original address of http://blog.drawn.ca. Martz indicates that they will eventually be moved to an archive address.

I will be among many who will miss Drawn as an ongoing blog, but I want to emphasize that the archived pages are not to be overlooked as a source of continued exploration and inspiration.

Thanks to John and the other Drawn contributors for many years of enjoyment!

(Image above: Drawn! front page as it appeared on the one year anniversary of its launch.)