People and Place part 3: Research - A reportage case study 3.1

Reportage Illustration is a type of visual journalism. These illustrator often draw on location where they recreate a narrative of an environment or situation such as everyday life or war ect..

 

 I researched an example of a reportage illustrator. Veronica Lawlor is an "American Illustrator who creates artwork both directly on location, and also developed from sketches, collecting
visual information, to capture fleeting moments in busy public events such as parades and
festivals."

 

Her portfolio has a huge collection of themes and sketches using many mediums in different locations.

 

She has a section of reportage travel and documentary reportage. Each of her sketches are like a glimpse or snapshot of an exact moment and place and it’s really immersive even though they’re just scribbles. Her linework seems a lot cleaner for things like building probably for the fact they don’t move where as people do. But the even the general shapers and contours of the people are still clear enough, its just enough important details.

Her technique paired with splashes of colour or the use of a black ground with chalk to create a negative image its quite unpredictable. I like that you can kind of sense what parts of the environment she was focusing with these extra details and colours. This could also be a way of making a message more vibrant, so you have to pay attention to a certain part of the image.

 

Another feature of her work is the layers in each picture, although a flat image it has depth, and it complements the perspectives too. Even without a clear horizon the composition of people all different sizes and building varying in size creates distance.

This series of the 9/11 attack is really interesting, it’s like she was a reporter on the scene as everything was happening, but she was narrating the attack through sketches. The messiness of the peoples features sort of represent the chaos and possibly the speed of the people themselves. It reminds me of a foggy memory.

 

There’s a seriousness to these drawings which is perfectly appropriate and they're raw and powerful, You can imagine the atmosphere. Being that close and witnessing such events and the hustle and bustle of emergency services and panicking civilians, it’s so minimalistic but dramatic.

references:

https://www.veronicalawlor.com/

Anon, (n.d.). Veronica Lawlor – a member of Studio 1482. [online] Available at: https://www.veronicalawlor.com/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2022].