Exercise: Editorial Illustration

Newspaper supplement illustrations

I left these pages whole to help me with the page layout for my editorial illustration.

El Pais 26-5-13

Javier Olivares

I really like the graphic quality and use of colour in these two decorative, representational illustrations, the use of text is minimal and very effective and the narrative really clear and strong, there are metaphorical elements here too which show the characters overcoming ‘Sentiments that harm the soul’.

Marta Cerda

As a fan of chalk and charcoal I find the smoky textures really appealing, they don’t dilute the impact of the image despite the reduction of contrast at the edges of the gun. This conceptual, metaphorical, representational illustration has a really nice hand drawn quality.

Javier Marías

I love this delicate and subtle little illustration made of lines and watercolour but I think it’s lost in the text. It could be that they designed it that way to make the reader look more closely but those big blocks of text look oppressive to me. The illustration is conceptual, metaphorical and representational and sums up exactly the author’s scathing response to an invitation to join the ‘made in Spain’ brand.

Alicia Malesani

Beautiful, elegant and well rendered watercolour style drawings with plenty of space around them although I find the irregularity of the top right text setting a bit distracting. These are decorative and informational, with representational and diagrammatic elements which pick out specific tips for making the ‘Eco Gestures’ listed in the text.

Also in this issue

Alfonso Casas

A decorative illustration, representing and incorporating the narrative of this sweet little tale.

An interview with Melvyn Bragg

I wasn’t expecting to choose this subject at all but having heard the radio interview (Broadcast 1 May 2013 on Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016p5mb/profiles/melvyn-bragg), which I found very interesting and entertaining, I wanted to make an illustration of Melvyn Bragg in the style of the 1658 Rembrandt self portrait he chose to talk about.

I listened to the interview a couple of times, transcribed it and used the photos of Melvyn Bragg and the Rembrandt portrait which appeared on the website to make some thumbnail sketches

before starting on a charcoal drawing and adding acrylic paint in washes

I adjusted the curves and colour balance in photoshop, using a soft light fusion for the duplicated layers.

Then I had the idea to make the image look like a slightly tatty postcard that was lying on the printed page

Using photoshop again I placed my image on a background of a scan of old, stained paper, 

cropped it, used the eraser to make the edges look worn, rotated it on a white background, curled it with the free transform function and then added a shadow with layer fx.

Finally I typed up the transcribed text, also in photoshop, following the format I had seen in other magazines. I used guides to divide the page into columns, even so it was a bit ‘trial and error’.

I think the image works well with the text, in terms of position and also I think it reflects the content well. There is the iconic Rembrandt pose and clothes and I think I have achieved a reasonable likeness of Melvyn Bragg; I’ve painted him with one ‘dead eye’ and one that’s lively to reflect his assessment of Rembrandt’s portrait and I’ve given him a pen to hold instead of a staff.

I think the portrait has a touch of humour without being a parody and in terms of the ‘time it took to make’ rule cited in the article, it should hold up to several viewings.