HELEN NESBURG
Helen Nesburg is a freelance illustrator based in Portland, Oregon, who specializes in editorial illustration.
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CREATIVE STATEMENT
I started my creative career as a muralist, creating large works of art to help tell a story about a community or business. Now, as an illustrator, I still create art to connect viewers to a story, just a little bit smaller but with a much larger audience. I believe illustration can do more than decorate—it can make people feel something. A dry economics piece gets a splash of humor and color; a tough story on women’s health feels a little softer, more human. My work adds a dose of picture-book wonder to the adult world. I believe even grown-ups need a little magic to make it through the news cycle. I keep my work fresh and evolving through my (mostly) weekly Substack newsletter, where I pair original illustrations with personal essays, primarily for a neurodivergent audience. With that schedule I'm used to working on a tight deadline!
RECENT CLIENTS
- The Creative Collection Collective
- Experiment PDX
Q&A
Which publication does a great job at using illustrations?
Nautilus does a great job of pairing science with interesting art. Those two worlds are typically kept pretty separate, it’s great to see them going against the norm.
What topic do you most enjoy illustrating about?
Women’s issues—career, motherhood, mental health, you name it. It’s always fun when it’s a little personal. More generally I’m always interested in current events, social or political. I love the challenge of finding new ways to connect with the issues that we are all talking about over dinner.
What magazine cover do you want your illustration to be on?
The New Yorker, I pored over the cartoons as a child and ate up the Christoph Niemann episode of “Abstract: The Art of Design” as an adult—truly a lifelong dream.
Like what you see by HELEN NESBURG?
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