Tim O’Brien is a multi-award-winning illustrator and portrait painter known for his visual commentary on life and pop culture, often infusing a surrealistic twist into artistic visions that simultaneously reveal familiarity and a clever idea. Working as a realistic oil painter during the rise of digital illustration, he has cemented his value as a fast problem-solver for hundreds of clients in his almost 40-year career thus far. Tim’s work has been widely published by nearly every major publisher, most notably for covers of TIME Magazine, as well as Rolling Stone, The Nation, Smithsonian Magazine, GQ, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic Monthly, Business Week, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, National Geographic, Playboy, New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Mother Jones, Texas Monthly, Der Spiegel (Germany), Stern (Germany), Telegraph (UK), Zeit magazine (Germany), Society (France).
Throughout his long career, Tim has created cover artwork for hundreds of books, including the iconic Hunger Games artwork for Scholastic. He has also created covers for publishers such as Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Farrar Strauss & Giroux, Penguin, Times Books, Dial, TOR, Viking, Macmillan, and Warner Books. Working in other areas of the illustration world, Tim has done work for The Peace Corps, the Earth Day poster in 1999, and has illustrated over a dozen stamps for the United States Postal Service. Perhaps one of his most singular achievements is that Tim O’Brien has illustrated more covers of TIME Magazine than any living illustrator.
Tim has received multiple awards and recognitions from the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, Graphis, Print, Communication Arts Magazine, the Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration, Spectrum, and the Art Directors Club, wherein, in 2019, he was honored with a rare feat, he won all top cube prizes; Bronze, Silver, and Gold for his Trump TIME Covers. Tim’s work is included in the National Portrait Gallery and is a winner of the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators. Tim O’Brien was the President of the Society of Illustrators from 2014-2022, the second-longest tenure after Charles Dana Gibson. He has been on the board of directors for over 30 years, serving as House Chair, Treasurer, Chair of the Scholarship Committee (10 years), and Chair of the Annual Exhibition. He founded the Distinguished Educator Award and served as Vice President and President.
Art credit: Tim O’Brien, Nothing to See Here, TIME Magazine, February 27, 2017. Oil on panel.