Doug Chayka based in New Jersey, USA, further to his illustration and graphic design studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was trained by his illustration legend and a big influence, Mark English. In his life journey he met many different kind of people and places that have helped him shape his artistic view.
Doug Chayka began freelancing in Kansas in the late ’90’s and landed his first editorial assignments at the Kansas City Star while also working on his first picture book projects. A few years later he found himself traveling extensively in Europe and eventually stayed in Berlin, where studied painting and printmaking as a Fulbright scholar at The Berlin University of the Arts from 2000-2002.
In addition to freelance work, Doug Chayka has also taught illustration full-time at Ringling College of Design (2009-10) and Savannah College of Art and Design (2010-12), and on an adjunct basis at Pratt Institute, City College of New York, Rochester Institute of Technology, and The Illustration Academy.
His clients include Boston Globe, Boyds Mills Press, Clarion Books, Cricket magazine, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Earth Island Journal, Harvard Business Review, Lee and Low Books, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Scientific American, The Progressive, and The Nation.
2014 Spring Books cover.
Art Direction: Robert Best
Busy Doctors, Wasteful Spending.
Busy Doctors, Wasteful Spending.
In context on the op/ed page.
Art Direction: Matt Dorfman
Client: NY Times Op/Ed
Primary care doctors are burnt out.
Client: Washington Post
Primary care doctors are burnt out. In context on the Washington Post’s Health & Science page. Art director: Heather Barber
Cover of The Boston Globe’s ideas section, containing proposals for the city’s first new mayor in 20 years.
Client: Boston Globe
Get Gadgets: Cover and interior spots about technology applications in the home and car.
Art director: Sarah Bell
Client: Remodeling Magazine
Slacker mentality. On preferring low effort, low wage jobs.
Art director: Annie Chin
Client: Harvard Business Review
Cover illustration for Earth Island Journal’s Anthropocene issue (Age of Man).
Editor: Jason Mark
Client: Earth Island Journal
Using statistics to control the gun debate.
Client: Scientific American
On the scandal of racist marijuana arrests.
Two illustrations for The Nation’s pot reform issue.
Page design by Robert Best.
Client: The Nation
On the anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis: How Castro held the world hostage.
Page design by A.D. Matt Dorfman.
Client: The New York Times, Op/Ed Page
Cover design for The Nation’s 2013 Spring Books issue.
Client: The Nation
The Generalist: How Charles de Gaulle’s story became a collective fairy tale that the French have agreed to believe in.
Client: The Nation
For a review of Harold Holzer’s “Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy From 1860 to Now.”
The book, over 1000 pages, represents Lincoln through many different lenses.
Client: The Nation
“The First Counter-revolutionary”, an article by Corey Robin about the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and his influence
on both right and left wing ideology.
Client: The Nation
The Left’s War on Science: No GMO’s
Client: Scientific American
Cover of EPP, a Danish literary magazine, for a feature on Roberto Bolano’s work
Client: EPP/The Nation
Book Illustrations
When I begin illustrating a picture book, whether it’s for children or a personal journal project, I love to experiment to capture the mood and atmosphere of the story. The texture of the paint, brushwork, and colors are like characters that inhabit the stories, and have changed with each book. It is a special challenge to tell a story through a series of images, beginning with a simple pencil sketch and ending with a complete, evocative image that tells a story beyond the words on the page. I hope you enjoy seeing these projects and some of my process behind them. Doug Chayka
Yasmin’s Hammer
Four Feet, Two Sandals
Yanni Rubbish
Beekeepers
The Pink House at the Seashore
The Secret Shofar of Barcelona
