Drawing the Vice Presidential Debate

I just couldn’t ignore the fly on Pence’s head

I love political debates. Drawing them is invigorating in the challenge of capturing the physical countenance of each debater — what they’re wearing, how they look, stand, move, express emotions. It’s thrilling when I manage to capture a specific gesture or facial expression, particularly if it’s unique to the debate. I use quotes, so it forces me to really listen to what’s going on and grab verbal moments or sound bites that distill what the debater is saying. I love capturing any newsworthy moments! What’s challenging is all of the above, but also making the drawings look interesting — it’s often just talking heads. My live drawings are not overtly opinionated; I try to reflect what I see and hear — my opinion might be in what I choose to draw. Sometimes, I can’t help myself. Last night’s debate was visually not interesting, the candidates were sitting, so not a lot of movement going on. By the way, it’s hard to draw plexiglass barriers, something I never knew. Their clothes were simple to draw, black, red, brown, two skin tones. The variety of facial expressions from Senator Harris versus the stone face of VP Pence was notable; although at times both broadcasted opinion without saying anything (they both mouthed “not true” a few times).