U2 Bono’s drawing of President Zelensky graces cover of The Atlantic

The Irish musician Bono is not just a rock god—he’s also a dab hand with a pencil and paintbrush. The U2 frontman was invited to illustrate the June cover of The Atlantic featuring the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, highlighting a piece about whether “the future of the democratic world will be determined by whether the Ukrainian military can break a stalemate with Russia”. But it was not all plain sailing for the singer, revealed The Washington Post. Bono went back and forth with art director Oliver Munday on 15 to 20 different iterations of the image, which started as a simple line drawing of Zelensky. Bono also highlighted where his arty side comes from, saying: “I learned to draw and paint on photographs from my father, who put colour to black and white polaroids of my mother.” Bono added that he has “drawn and painted over The Atlantic covers before. … defaced is another word for this, but it’s with great affection. I’m a fan of their long-form journalism.”