I think that America has some kind of schizophrenia where we want to feel good about ourselves, have no reason to feel that way, so we transfer our feelings to characters we see on TV. Susan Boyle of Britain is our latest synthetic love affair.
Susan Boyle is a very good singer, middle-aged and not particularly glamorous. She made a big splash in England thank's to the Simon Cowell show, Britain's Got Talent. And then YouTube. Simon Cowell would have us believe that she came out of nowhere and he was shocked at her beautiful voice. However, the evidence suggests otherwise. Oh, her voice is authentic but they knew what they were doing. It wasn't the big surprise Cowell claimed.

The term we have for that is astroturf. That is, grass roots that are really fake, plastic, and planned. That doesn't take away from her voice but it should remind us that overnight sensations are seldom either...

The sketch was based on the video. I kept it to the basic sketch because it fits her two dimensional character, just as Simon Cowell created her.... Thumbs up, Susan! It's funny, any pictures I've seen of Ms Boyle other than the TV grabs, she doesn't look anywhere this dumpy. Plain, yes...

I've read that the TV camera puts 10 pounds on a person, so that may be part of the problem. Since I was unable to determine exactly HOW MANY cameras are on Ms Boyle right now, I drew her as she appeared on television.

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Marker sketch on recycled paper.