My portrait illustration series continues with appreciation for the comedians on Saturday Night Live. The present political and social situations in the United States, and globally, can be both horrifying and absurd. The writers and comedians at SNL have this amazing ability of pointing out the horrors and absurdity without attacking; instead, using irony and humor.

My illustrations are intended to capture, without being divisive or angry, the way comedians like Maya Rudolph intelligently imitate Beyoncé, and point out how some pop stars are pure entertainment spectacle. The poses I chose of Beyoncé are directly from YouTube stills of a live concert. They look more like a strip show or pole dancing, than a music concert.

The humor of “Black Jeopardy” is simply genius. Without making “the other side” look stupid, or showing an angry confrontation between black and white, the writers, and the actors—Kenan Thompson, Tom Hanks, Leslie Jones and Sasheer Zamata, have an upbeat non-judgemental nature about their behavior while shining a spotlight on some really uncomfortable issues behind class, race, and the 2016 election. Slate has a great article about this skit.

My Illustration was created by capturing YouTube frames of Kenan Thompson and Tom Hanks on “Black Jeopardy”. My portrait illustration skills are focusing on getting Kenan’s likeness, while Tom Hanks was so deep in character, I didn’t see it necessary to try to capture his likeness. Tom is simply, Doug, the only white guy on the show.

The final portrait illustration in this series is Alec Baldwin playing Donald Trump. Stylistically, this illustration is a little lighter with thin lines and watercolor washes bring focus on the two faces and the small hands. This completes my trio of some of my favorite newish SNL cast. I started watching SNL when Gilda Radner was on the show, so even Maya and Kenan seem new to me.