Posting fan art is one of our favorite features on RMNB.  It’s eminently rewarding to share the contributions of the fan community, particularly on those rare occasions when said art does not contain an illustrated Sidney Crosby getting disemboweled by Vancouver Island Marmot.  Happy we are that Rachel Cohen shared these gorgeous images of Nicklas Backstrom, Semyon Varlamov, and — the Russian Machine himself– Alexander Ovechkin.

Follow us past the jump, where we get to know Rachel and her lovely artwork.

Rachel Cohen poses with her Unleash The Fury sign. Too cool.

Rachel Cohen is a 19-year old student at the University of Hartford.  Lamenting that she is the seemingly only Caps fan on campus, Rachel has focused her efforts as an illustration major into beautifully stylized and somewhat demented graphics of the team’s young guns.  Emblazoned on posters and carried to her seat in section 104 (please voice your jealousy in the comments below), Rachel and her artwork have been shown on the Verizon Center jumbotron, Señor Steinberg’s Bog Del Deporte, and Comcast SportsNet.

Rachel’s battle standard is dear to our heart: a picture of Alex Ovechkin as the Russian Machine.  Everything quintessential to Alex is there: shaggy hair, missing tooth, hidden robotic skeleton; and Rachel’s  keen lines and composition communicate that classic Ovechkinian panache.  But we pity Rachel, as she must redraw this poster to update Ovie’s A to a C before September.

Bonus art!  Check out Rachel’s dynamic posters of Ovie and Nicklas Backstrom.  I love the flair in incorporating each player’s native flag into the design and the pastiche use of screentone patterns behind each figure.  The colors are vivid, and the image seems to move as quickly as the players do in real life.  Fantastic stuff, but now we have to convince Rachel to make us a Russian Machine desktop wallpaper for next year!

Here’s one of my favorites.  Youngling goalie Semyon Varlamov, shown in silhouette, looking debonair as hell in a tuxedo and hockey accoutrements.  If Varly can cut a figure this nice, he’s going to outshine even Brooks Laich at CapsCare Casino Night next year.

We leave you with some of Rachel’s doodlings, scrawled out in idle moments when she should probably be studying for a biology exam or somesuch.  You can expect Rachel’s 90-volume manga serial starring the Capitals to hit bookshelves sometime in 2015.  In the meantime, let’s do everything we can to help Ted Leonsis look this good.

Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your terrific art with us.  Contributions like this are what the fan community is all about, and we’re so grateful to be in a position to spread this kind of stuff.  Please, everyone, leave a comment for Rachel below and check out her other work on deviantART.   We hope you’re inspired to transmute your Caps fever into art just like she has.  When you finish your opus, hit us up and we’ll post it right here on RMNB.