OUIL603 Extended Practice - Editorial Weekly, Week 1

After doing the Guardian brief, I decided to try my hand at editorial illustration - with a one-a-week, editorial illustration brief based on different articles of current events. The aim is to hopefully build a bank of suitable editorial illustration that can be then put in a portfolio towards the end of the module to send out to editorial clients. 

My first true 'Editorial Weekly' response was created for this Guardian article, talking about the state of the welfare system after government sanctions and cuts had been enforced. The article specifically talks about how the cuts have effected vulnerable people - those with disabilities and terminal illnesses incapable of working, but get sanctioned and removed from benefits regardless due to the way the system works.

In the illustration, I wanted to place emphasis on the effect this has on the individuals receiving the benefits (more than the stock photo image of 'basics' supermarket food the Guardian have chosen to accompany the article) - the feeling of being helpless and pulled into a situation that has no end in sight.

I was particularly reminded of Laura Carlin's very subtle analogous editorial illustration - like this picture she did to accompany and article talking about the amount of sexual assault cases for women that go under prosecuted through court:

Theres a certain sensitivity in how the media she's used reflects how women in those situations often feel, and i wanted to incorporate a similar feel in how my own editorial illustrations worked for this brief. I realised that the bright and over-poppy digital colour i'd used for the live guardian brief wouldn't be suitable, so I went back to using analogous pencil and watercolours.

This is what the thumbs and the raw scans ended up looking like. Hands and darkly limbs tend to be a bit of a common 'trope' in what I draw, i've realised - but I wanted it to look as if the character in shot was being 'dragged' and pulled back as much as possible.

I actually prefer the patient outcome to the hand one. I think the composition and the expression works a lot better - but content wise I didn't think it was just applicable to a broader range of people effected by the sanctions and therefore not suited for the article.

This is what the finished outcomes look like. Again after cleaning, I think the bottom work definitely works better than the top one - the angles of the character are sharper and the overall composition is a lot more 'forceful'. In hindsight, I actually think its the more suitable one of the two. I was worried there wouldn't really be enough to communicate the themes of the article enough, but I think it does a good job. 

Dimension-wise, i used the same digital dimensions I used for the previous live brief (given that its destined for the same location) 

Heres what it looks like in context with the article. I think it's turned out quite nice in situ, I think it works for the overall context of the article and it would make people want to read the rest of it.