How Abbey Lossing Uses Cubism to Build Depth Without Shading: A Look at Today’s NYT Skincare Quiz

Abbey Lossing’s lede illustration for today’s New York Times Well quiz, “Skin Care 101,” tucks a small cubist trick into the composition. The woman’s glasses show a full circular lens on one side and a thin profile on the other, a simple move that creates dimension in her face. It’s one of several decisions in the image that communicate structurally rather than through shading. She peers out from behind a wooden shelving grid, her hand reaching up through the lower shelf to lift a small jar from the row below. Bottles fill every compartment and even cross in front of her face, but the grid keeps everything organized, her gesture is calm and deliberate. The visual thesis is simple. A well-stocked shelf isn’t the problem. Knowing what to reach for is the whole point.

The same logic governs the rest of the execution. Lossing works in completely flat color and yet the image reads as deep and three-dimensional. Another trick is in the linework. Her lines are drawn in the same warm cream as the background, so they register as clean seams between color fields rather than as drawn contours. The only dark lines in the piece sit on the hands, which pulls your eye straight to the gesture of choosing a product. A palette of coral, royal blue, mint, chartreuse, lavender and soft pink is tightly coordinated so dozens of bottles read as one unified image.

“Skin Care 101: Quiz Yourself on the Basics” was published in The New York Times Well section on April 29, 2026. Illustration by Abbey Lossing.