Nigel Buchanan
Biography ▼
Nigel Buchanan is a New Zealand-based illustrator, recently moving back after living and working in Sydney, Australia for over 30 years. He began his career as an airbrush artist, but transitioned to Photoshop “as soon as Macs were user-friendly.” Buchanan’s bold, colorful, graphic portraits have been a mainstay of 8by8, the quarterly soccer magazine edited and designed by Priest + Grace, but he also creates conceptual illustrations and is working on a children’s book.
Recent Projects
Nigel Buchanan
Olympic Golfers
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Golf Digest to illustrate the portraits of 6 Olympic Golf Potentials ahead of the 2024 Olympics. Nigel really aced those facial expressions!
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Nigel Buchanan
Euro 2024
Nigel Buchanan illustrated the latest cover for 8×8 Magazine about the Euro 2024 Football Championship, depicting portraits of well known players. The article talks about how the championship will be a welcome “escape from reality” for a currently fractured and divided Europe.
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Nigel Buchanan
Elon Musk’s AI Fight
Nigel Buchanan illustrated Time Magazine’s cover story: Inside Elon Musk’s Struggle for the Future of AI by Walter Isaacson, whose biography of Musk is publishing this month. The article describes Musk’s mission to minimize AI danger and assure that human consciousness survives.
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Nigel Buchanan
Golf Digest
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Golf Digest to illustrate several Olympic golfers for their summer issue. See more of Nigel’s work here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Vanity Fair
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Vanity Fair to illustrate the article “Rudy Country”. Nigel has also been selected as a featured contributor for the September 2021 issue. “The extreme expression I illustrated reflects what I would guess to be his constant stare of mind” Nigel states as he was depicting...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Mathalicious
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Mathalicious to illustrate the book cover to Dear Citizen Math written by Karim Ani and published by Damascus Rodeo. See more of Nigel Buchanan’s work here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Opera News
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Opera News to illustrate the cover of their special 2021 “Opera News Awards” issue. For the cover, Nigel illustrated portraits of Lawrence Brownlee, Cecilia Bartoli, and Janet Baker. See more of Nigel Buchanan’s work here. Check out this special issue of Opera News here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Meat & Livestock Australia
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) to create a series of digital murals showing Australian politicians settling their differences by sharing a lamb chop. Nigel drew inspiration from the “The Kiss,” the famous Berlin Wall mural. His MLA murals will be displayed around cities and border...
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Jonathan Carlson, Nigel Buchanan
Jonathan Carlson + Nigel Buchanan | University of Alberta
The University of Alberta commissioned two of our illustrators to create illustrations for the December 2020 issue of their alumni magazine New Trail. Jonathan Carlson created the cover illustration for the article “U of Amazing Alumni Stories: 100 Things We Learned Reading 100 Years of New Trail.” Nigel Buchanan created...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Smithsonian
Nigel Buchanan illustrated the cover of Smithsonian Magazine‘s March 2020 issue, “The Defiance of Florence Nightingale.” Nigel’s cover illustration is a portrait of the brilliant statistician and historic figure Florence Nightingale. See more of Nigel’s work here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | The New York Times
Nigel Buchanan illustrated the cover the Sunday Business section of the New York Times on November 3, 2019. His illustration was a portrait of businessman and ex-CEO of WeWork, Adam Neumann, and accompanied the article, “Adam Neumann and the Art of Failing Up.” See more of Nigel’s work here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | TIME
Nigel Buchanan created an iconic portrait of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, for the cover of this week’s international edition of TIME Magazine. See more of Nigel’s work here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Smithsonian Magazine
The talented Nigel Buchanan was created another brilliant magazine cover for March’s Smithsonian Magazine. The article discusses the story of a man named Wendell Phillips, who is called the “American Lawrence of Arabia” See more portraits by Nigel here.
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | TIME Magazine
Nigel Buchanan was selected by TIME Magazine’s Design Director, Chrissy Dunleavy, to create 3 full-page illustrations for the annual “Person of The Year” issue. Nigel was honored to be chosen for Time’s most important and prestigious issue and created portraits of Donald Trump. Robert Mueller, and Moon Jae-In in his distinctive style. All three were shortlisted...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Fortune Magazine
Illustrator, Nigel Buchanan was asked to create a portrait of the legendary investor, Nelson Peltz, CEO and a founding partner of Trian Partners for the December issue of Fortune Magazine. The portrait accompanied the article, “The Investor That Tripped On GE & P&G” where it discusses Peltz whether this is a...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Entertainment Weekly
Nigel Buchanan was commisioned to create a portrait of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga to promote their latest film, “A Star is Born”. The film was well received by critics and audiences alike. As usual, Nigel captured the essence of both actors in character. See more of Nigel’s work here....
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Rolling Stone
Nigel Buchanan was commissioned by Rolling Stone Magazine to illustrate a portrait of the pop sensational star, Sia. In the editorial spread, he uses a bright color to capture the personality of the singer and highlights the oversized blond wig she wears whenever she performs and presents herself to the...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Newsweek
Client: Newsweek | Description: Nigel Buchanan was originally hired to create a cover for the “Art of The Deal: Is Kim Jong Un Beating Trump at His Own Game?” Art Director, Michael Goesele loved both of Nigel’s sketches and the project expanded to include the interior spread. Check out the...
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Nigel Buchanan
Nigel Buchanan | Rolling Stone
Client: Rolling Stone | Description: Nigel created an illustration for Rolling Stone’s review of Arcade Fire’s album “Everything Now.” Check out Nigel’s portfolio here
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