Tara McPherson

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Tara McPherson (b. 1976) is an American painter, poster artist, freelance illustrator, comic book artist, and teacher based out of New York City. A recurring motif in her work is a person with a stylized heart-shaped hole through his chest in the place of an actual heart.

McPherson's array of art includes painted covers for Vertigo comic books, advertising and editorial illustrations for companies such as Fanta and Spin Magazine, and numerous gig posters for rock bands such as Green Day, Beck, Modest Mouse, Isis, High on Fire, and Death Cab for Cutie. She also has exhibited her paintings and prints in fine art galleries all over the world. Currently she is working on a painted graphic novel for Vertigo, painting for private commissions and gallery exhibitions, designing a new line of toys for Kidrobot based on her characters, and teaches a Concept Illustration class at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.

The first printed collection of her work is Lonely Heart: The Art of Tara McPherson, which was released in 2006 by Dark Horse Press. McPherson's art has also been included in books such as The Art of Modern Rock, SWAG and SWAG 2, Project Superior, The Art of Electric Frankenstein, Sci Fi Western, Panda Meat, and Illustration Now!. Her recent merchandising projects have been a Lonely Heart Stationery Set, a line of stickers produced by Poster Pop and her own self published items.

McPherson was born in San Francisco in 1976 and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in August 2001 with honors in Illustration and a minor in Fine Art. She interned at Rough Draft Studios, working on Matt Groening's Futurama during college. McPherson has been featured in Juxtapoz, Esquire, Bust, Magnet, Elle, Marie Claire, Magnet, Spin, Current TV, CBC Radio, Super7, Paste, Communication Arts, International Tattoo Art, AIGA, Atomica, LA Weekly, Punk Planet, Savage Tattoo and many more. Her art has been featured in the Oscar Award winning film Juno, Veronica Mars, Point Pleasant, and Guitar Hero. She also won the Communication Arts 2005 Award of Excellence for her painted covers for Vertigo.