Departing from the traditional Valentine’s Day-themed cover art of February issues everywhere, the folks at O magazine called illustrator Dana Tanamachi to collaborate on something different. The brief was simple: Express yourself. So Tanamachi doodled whatever her heart desired. The cover was so successful that she was called back to create another large-scale piece (with several smaller pieces scattered throughout) for a feature story in the issue titled “You In Six Words,” that instructed readers how to create six-word mantras for their lives. Tanamachi was present at the photoshoot in case any minor adjustments needed to be made and was later interviewed by the magazine for the “Behind the Scenes” column.

[photo credits: Ruven Afanador/Chris Pino]