Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meetings provided fertile creative ground for the art and design departments at the Omaha World-Herald. Because these special sections were valuable both to advertisers and as souvenirs for attendees, we were typically given additional time and resources.

Taking cues from Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder letters, we stretched our modest budget to create visuals rarely seen in print newspapers. These projects were true all-hands efforts, led by Creative Director Tim Parks, Dave Elsesser, financial reporters, editors, and the photo department.

I served as lead artist throughout the 2010s, working in both 2D illustration and 3D sculpture. The most memorable years were those in which we experimented with papercraft, fabric sculpture, and poseable maquettes—used for still photography as well as stop-motion animation.