"Then during the 2000 election, there was this whole Bush-versus-Gore thing. I ended up doing a bunch of artwork for magazines like George (see figure 6), Newsweek (see figure 7), and a few others. It really took on a life of its own because it's an updated form of political cartooning." One might wonder how Elins found photos of the presidential candidates looking so profusely sweaty (see figure 8). "Oh no, I did all that. I looked for places where sweat gathers--on the tops of surfaces like the lips, in the folds and the wrinkles--and painted it in. When working for Newsweek I can't go around changing the features. Even in the case of an obvious edit piece, they're not looking for caricatures. But I did a lot of work on the skin and in the hair."

Figure 6

Figure 7 (left), Figure 8 (right)

But here again, Elins is working from someone else's photographs. Elins shot the bodies, but the heads were licensed by the various magazines. (We are running the completed artwork in this book, without which we could not otherwise demonstrate the body of Elins's work, under the terms of Fair Use.) "I had to make a decision: What kind of images was I going to do? Was I going to collaborate with subjects to do things that they want me to do, or was I going to be this sort of outlaw using other people's pictures? And again, if I was to pursue that route, I would never own that original image. It's like baking an apple pie where every time you sell a slice of that pie, you have to give a royalty to the people who grew the apples and ground the flour and so on."

Which is why Elins's more recent work hinges on his own photographs. "I did this portrait of the director of the movie Moulin Rouge, a guy named Baz Luhrmann, for Movieline magazine (see figure 9). But this time, I got him in the studio, I got him in a costume, I shot him doing what he's doing, I pressed the button. I own that image. Instead of saying, 'Give me a picture of Leo DiCaprio and I'll make a funny picture,' I'm doing the whole thing."

Figure 9

Elins based the piece on a portrait of the Comte de Pastoret by the 19th-century French Neoclassicist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (see figure 10). "I've always loved Ingres--he combined great concepts with this amazing, impeccable execution. When I shot Baz, I lighted him like in a classical portrait. During the composition phase, I treated it like a metaphorical piece. For example, the sunscreen lotion (see figure 11) refers to this popular song he had called 'Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen).' " If you examine the piece closely, you'll see that Elins repainted details in the face and the hands (see figure 12). "As an illustrator, I find that everything that's touched is more interesting than anything that isn't touched; it's almost like doodling over a picture or reinterpreting a song--it gives you a sense of the artist."

Figure 10

Figure 11 (left), Figure 12 (right)

Deke McClelland is the author of the award-winning titles Photoshop 6 for Windows Bible and Macworld Photoshop 6 Bible (Hungry Minds), with more copies in print than any other guides on computer graphics. Other best-selling titles include Real World Illustrator 10, Real World Digital Photography, and Adobe Master Class: Designer's Invitational (all Peachpit Press). He also serves as host to several entertaining and educational video training series, including Total Photoshop, Total Illustrator, and Total GoLive (Total Training).