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Best Portraits of 2018


2018 was a year for the books. The Rapp artists were commissioned to create compelling portraits from the worlds of entertainment, politics, academics and history. The artists capture the essence of the subjects that go far beyond a good likeness. We’ve selected some of our favorites to share. Great work from top to bottom. Enjoy! 

Nigel Buchanan | Rolling Stone

Drake and rap were big winners when it came to streaming singles in 2018, according to the January Issue of Rolling Stone Magazine.

Michael Cho | The New Yorker

Illustration for this year’s Oscar nominated film, “Roma”, which received 10 nominations!

Mark Fredrickson‘s “Nikola Tesla”


Mark captured the essence of the iconic genius Nikola Tesla, surrounding him in a halo of electricity as well as his formulas to highlight his contribution to today’s modern electronic necessities. 
Yuta Onoda | Rolling Stone Magazine

Yuta illustrated this vivid portrait of Florence Welch for the review of Florence and The Machine’s album, “HIgh as Hope”, which appeared in the July issue of Rolling Stone. 
Bruce Morser | University Portrait


Daniel Baxter | Jamal Khashoggi


Time magazine named a group of journalists, including the murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, as its person of the year for 2018. In honor of this, Daniel Baxter has illustrated the heroic journalist who sacrificed his life to deliver the truth.
Raul Arias | Portrait of Mark Zuckerburg

Jeffrey Smith | Aretha Franklin “Queen of Soul”


On August 16th, 2018, we were heartbroken by the sudden passing of a woman who was the definition of a “national treasure” in the music industry. Our artist Jeffrey Smith illustrated this beautiful portrait of Aretha, and her character truly shines through.
John Jay Cabuay | Advertising Age Magazine

Does Katie Couric ever age? “America’s Sweetheart” sat down with Ad Age to discuss her career, her new goals, and how she stays on top at a time when management of media companies is still very much dominated by men.
Daniel Hertzberg | Texas Highway Magazine

Portrait of American guitarist, Barbara Lynn

Arunas Kacinskas | The Contract Killer Story


Arunas illustrated the life of a contract killer who is depressed, and can’t seem to continue his job properly. 

Sean McCabe | The New Republic

Sean used his photo-illustration style to highlight the most violent time of year for The New Republic Magazine. 

Studio Warburton | The Metropolitan

Illustrated Low-poly portraits used for a project for Metropolitan


Elizabeth Traynor | Wake Forest University Magazine

Combining scratchboard and digital, Elizabeth created these portraits for Wake Forest Magazine. Grand Houses, Grand Memories”, is a 3-part story about their European Honors programs, each written by an alumnus who attended that “House”.

Egle Plytnikaite | Bjork

Loving the complementary color palette for this portrait of Björk for So Young magazine. 
Chiara Vercesi | Worchester Polytechnic Institute

Chiara worked on a series of nine portraits of all the WPI researchers who won the Career Award. Shown here is Lyubov Titova, who explored the extraordinary physical properties of group IV monochalcogenides, a family of two-dimensional puckered materials.


PJ Loughan | The New York Times



PJ Loughan created this portrait of the unforgettable Tony Soprano, along with two ambitious illustrations for the New York Times “20 Best Television Dramas” since the Sopranos.

Aleksey Rico | Portrait of Darth Vader

Here we have a haunting portrait of one of the most iconic antagonists in a sci-fi series, Darth Vader, created in a two tone color scheme by Aleksey Rico. 

Andy Ward | International Women’s Day

In honor of International Women’s Day last year, Andy created a portrait series of incredible women throughout history. Portraits show are Helen Keller, Rachel Carson, and Amelia Earhart. 


Martin Ansin | Rolling Stone Magazine

Feature illustration for Rolling Stone’s review of “Black Panther: The Album”, with Kendrick, SZA and Future as characters in the style of the Marvel film.