Journalistic Illustration?

[Brutillus]

I see a lot of illustrations of various styles in magazines and newspaper editorials but they're all very opinion oriented and usually deal with a broad area or event, or caricature some prominent figure. Commentary on something from the artist in his or her studio.

Now, of course the camera has long since replaced the illustrator as the swift and accurate conveyor of information, I'm not questioning that. But recently I read an old article by Hunter S. Thompson ("The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved"). An illustrator, Ralph Steadman, accompanied Thompson rather than a photographer and made all kinds of bizarre sketches during the event, alongside Thompson taking notes.

This kind of thing is probably very rare, but it struck me as really cool for an artist to be there, where the shit is happening, and to try to capture and record the event in drawings (or whatever). As I said, drawings will never compare with photographs for accurate information, but I think a skilled artist could grab some of the raw character of the moment at least as well as a photograph.

So, aside from Steadman's derby drawings, is this kind of journalistic illustration (or whatever) actually used?

[Elwell]

Thompson and Steadman were pals, Steadman did most of Thompson's covers and they did a book together (the Curse of Lono, I think).

The kind of visual reporting your talking about was most popular in the sixties (Sports Illustrated did a lot of it) but is sadly uncommon today. One of the few people who still does quite a bit of it is Steve Brodner (http://www.stevebrodner.com/). from his site:
In visual essays Steve Brodner has covered seven national political conventions for Esquire, The Progressive, the Village Voice and others. His article, "Plowed Under", a series of portraits and interviews with beleaguered farm families in the Midwest ran in The Progressive. "Shot From Guns", an art documentary about the Colt Firearms strike in Hartford, Connecticut appeared in Northeast magazine in 1989. For The New Yorker he covered Oliver North and the 1994 Virginia Senate race, the Patrick Buchanan presidential campaign, the Million Man March and an advance story on the Democratic Convention in Chicago. The Washington Post asked him to profile the Bob Dole presidential campaign in 1996. In spring 1997, he drew the South by Southwest Music Festival for Texas Monthly. That summer he climbed Mt. Fuji for Outside Magazine. That fall he did a piece on the New York City mayoral campaign for New York Magazine. His eight-page profile of George W. Bush appeared in Esquire in October, 1998.

[tensai]

well its not really for spontaneous events but the New Yorker magazine still works like that. they have more illustrations than photographs with their articles. e.g. youd see portrait drawings of henry rollins playing instead of a photo. they use different illustrators with different styles and roulate these guys.

works pretty well i think.


tensai

[Elwell]

That's standard editorial illustration, and it's not what he's talking about. Henry Rollins is going to be playing an upcoming show, they send the illustrator a bunch of pics of him (and maybe a CD) for ref, illustrator does the illustration, illo runs with the listing of the event. Very different from: Rollins is playing an upcoming show, mag sends illustrator (with or without a reporter) to cover it the way they normally would a photographer, illos run after the event.

works pretty well i think.
No argument on that count. :)

[Brutillus]

Thanks for the Steve Brodner link, Elwell, great stuff! I think maybe his stuff shows up in Rolling Stone from time to time (though I may be mistaken). I'll have to look more into whatver stuff like this was done in the sixties.
BTW, I think the book Thompson and Steadman did together was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but maybe they worked together on the Curse of Lono as well.
Although visual (drawn) reporting is apparently absent from the media these days, political and editorial art is still great stuff.

[figure2]

This kind of thing is probably very rare, but it struck me as really cool for an artist to be there, where the shit is happening, and to try to capture and record the event in drawings (or whatever).Combat artists have been in the thick of the action during just about every war that has been fought. Check out the links below to see examples of battlefield art that captures everything from intense fighting to the mundane daily lives of the soldiers.
http://www.lighthorse-scavenger.org/sketches.htm
http://members.aol.com/jimm844224/vietart1.html
http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/

[tensai]

damn thats is some crazy shit man:

check that theydrewfire link. imagine being on the battle field not with your camera but with your color palette and paint tubes trying to get some nice wash down with bullets flying over your head and people screaming and shit? wtf.

tensai


Combat artists have been in the thick of the action during just about every war that has been fought. Check out the links below to see examples of battlefield art that captures everything from intense fighting to the mundane daily lives of the soldiers.
http://www.lighthorse-scavenger.org/sketches.htm
http://members.aol.com/jimm844224/vietart1.html
http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/

[Eric Lofgren]

In a similar vein, it's worth noting courthouse illustrators and their illustrations for their technique's. Mind you this is something I've never really done beyond looking closely at what gets showed on the evening news. But it definitely requires a deft handling of material and medium.

[Brutillus]

Holy Crap! that combat art is something else. thanks figure2, this is exactly the kind of stuff I'm interested in.
Eric Lofgren- I've seen some courtroom art, interesting stuff, although most examples that I've seen are in pastel and colored pencil, in a somewhat subdued style. it would be interesting to see some more wacky, raw, energetic art from the courtroom, although I guess the courtroom isn't normally like that.

Edit: Is there any kind of Combat Art program in the military today?

[Bojee]

Brutillus- You might also be interested in talking to your police department about going on ride with them as an observer. I got to do that one time up in seattle as a part of a Law Enforcement documentation program. I was at a graphic design guild meeting and this guy approached me about it but I'm sure it could work in reverse, maybe the fire department too.

[Brutillus]

Thanks Bojee, that's a cool idea.
I've always thought that it's only logical for the artist to be out there in the real world, where the shit's happening, instead of shut up in a studio for years on end.

[Stefan]

I do editorial illustration. Mainly in Scandinavia, but I have done for International herald tribune also. My experiance (sorry spelling, english not native language) is
that sometimes you can make a comment in the drawing, to put an extra dimension to the artical, but it many times is up to who your client is. In this being useally the art director or in sometimes the editor as well. Mostly they are a bit uncertain and against putting an extra dimension to the illustration of some obscure reason, but thats useally the fact. I guess its mainly becouse they are so "word" oriented. Thinking about the word and the text and not letting the power of the drawing lift the subject matter to an extra dimension. They many times like to get something that portrays exactly what the text is about. They think ;-). At times some see illustration as the better solution than a photo becouse its easier to draw surrealistic/concept illustration "editorial".

Stefan Lindblad