I just learned of the death of Christopher Hitchens and felt I should do a quick tribute. He died on December 15th while I was in Japan and not paying any attention to the news.

I disagreed with him about a few things—mainly his stand on Iraq. But I always admired his wit, the beauty of his prose and his ability to cut through the bull.

After creating a faithful portrait of Hitchens in Illustrator I used the Envelope Distort feature to tweak his features. I like the way I can exaggerate certain areas of the face using the Distort tool. Often the distortion feels more true than a straight image. In Photoshop, I added the grunge background using the Multiply tool.You can click on the image for a larger version.

Peace.