He's got it covered

Bob Staake designed the New Yorker cover (above) that ran after Barack Obama's election. (Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)

Newshounds everywhere ran out to buy newspapers to commemorate this year's historic presidential election. Fans of The New Yorker, meanwhile, looked to the magazine's cover to see what commentary it would offer on the national state of mind post-election. The design - with the "o" in "Yorker" shining down as a full moon on a glowing Lincoln Memorial, was the brainchild of prolific Chatham-based illustrator Bob Staake, 51, whose work has appeared in corporate ad campaigns, local publications, national newspapers, and a bunch of children's books.

Q. What is the allure of The New Yorker cover?

A. In a world where there are very few traditions left in publishing, The New Yorker cover is the last bastion for those who want to go beyond illustration and make commentary.

Q. How did your relationship with The New Yorker begin?

A. I submitted a piece three years ago on a whim. I was inspired by [Adolphe Mouron] Cassandre posters of the Normandie and turned one into a McMansion on a Cape Cod shore. I had no idea they'd buy the first piece. I know illustrators who have been trying to get in for more than 20 years without any luck.

Q. How did you come up with your post-election concept?

A. I assumed they must have had a cover all lined up if [Obama] won, but when I learned that they didn't, I started goofing around with ideas on a pad of paper I have with the New Yorker logo across the top. I thought about what Lincoln would say, and it just came to me.

Q. Have you gotten any feedback?

A. I have never received so much fanfare for my work than I have with this one image.

Q. Has your illustration evolved over the years?

A. I was trained not in art, but in journalism. I was an editorial cartoonist for the Daily Trojan at the University of Southern California. I had to learn good design by trial and error.

Q. You have posted videos detailing how you produced some of your illustrations, including a recent New Yorker cover featuring a donkey and an elephant face-to-face, on YouTube. Why?

A. I put it together because people don't believe that I work with the programs that I do. I work in Photoshop 3, not Illustrator. And artists love to watch a process unfold.

Q. What larger projects are you working on now?

A. A second pop-up book for Little, Brown called "Pets Go Pop," and another book project that is entirely visual. But to be honest, I really don't want a runaway book, even though my agent hates to hear that. If I did, people would expect follow-ups, and I wouldn't be able to keep creating. SCOTT LAJOIE