Aude van Ryn, Eric Fraser and Editorial Illustration

http://www.heartagency.com/artist/AudeVanRyn/gallery/1
What is Editorial illustration?

Task for this fortnight/this Friday

Complete 4 visual experiments based on the editorial work of Eric Fraser OR a mix of him and:
Aude van Ryn
http://www.heartagency.com/artist/AudeVanRyn/gallery/1
https://vimeo.com/50470763
Boris Artzybasheff
 https://www.fulltable.com/VTS/aoi/a/artzy/mn.htm

Task for this fortnight :

Next Friday's (4 Nov)  practice-as-research exercises will be looking at the following techniques associated with Fraser's and van Ryn's approaches, using the provided materials and

 "holes in magazines":

Conceptualising the abstract and sensitive, EG:

Business, - Abstract, often-used

Health, - Difficult to visualize, especially specific problems

Domestic violence, - could be hinted at but not generally shown

Euthanasia -  same, very difficult subjects

Using the tracing paper, trace some of the elements and position them (even randomly) on the tracing sheet.

Try to reach a juxtaposition of elements that conjures meaning from the symbols.

Using lightness and humour: "Mind" column in the Guardian Weekend magazine – Read the article quickly and produce a cartoon-like humourous illustration that sums up the magazine article.

Consider the similarities between “cartoon” and “conceptual” illustration.

Other methodologies commonly used by Fraser, van Ryn and Artzybasheff :

Using human elements: figures, profiles, hands, eyes

Using black and white and using tonal effects for grey tones and texture

Using silhouette and abstract, simplified styles

Using surrealist elements such as perspective lines

Constructing humanoid figures from objects

Replacing a human head with an object

Or you could try an animated GIF!
http://www.wired.com/2013/09/the-rise-of-subtle-tasteful-and-commissioned-animated-gif-illustrations/

Eric Fraser, illustration for Lilliput magazine, 1930s

"The essence of editorial Illustration is visual commentary. Its principal function is to be symbiotic with journalism contained within the pages of newspapers and magazines. "

- MALE, A. (2007). Illustration: a theoretical and contextual perspective. Lausanne, AVA Academia.

Qualities and Functions of Editiorial Illustration:

To translate

…the ability to bring the essence of the story, its concept, but also values and intent, all beyond the text, into pictures that the reader can understand.

To reflect

…the ability for the audience to see their values, their codes reflected in the image in their magazine, and at the same the illustration as a reflection of the ideas of the illustrator and publisher.

To materialise

…the ability to use material and style to give meaning and presence, not just within the picture, but by using and exploiting the technologies that are dictated by the carrier, be it newsprint or pixels. 

To engage

Engagement, the ability to grab the audience and deliver something 

thought provoking, whether through a personal socio-politically statement or through formal impact is understood as a core quality of the editorial illustration.

From: Hoogslag, Jeanne, 2015, Thesis, On the Persistence of a Modest Medium The Role of Editorial Illustration in Print and Online Media PhD thesis, Royal College of Art