For this research, we’ll be looking at Veronica Lawlor, an American illustrator who draws both on location and in studio. Her work is mostly done in pen and ink mixed with watercolour.
She does different categories of illustrations like people and portraits, food and beverage, illustrations for children, fashion and storyboards, among other various genres, but for this task, I’ll be focusing on reportage/travel which is what is relevant to this part of the course.
Upon looking on her website at the related sections, I was inspired by the amount of cities she’s been in and her ability to capture a sense of place in her illustrations. Her fast drawings on location are quite expressive in a manner that you can sense the energy of the setting in the way her marks are made.
The “scribbly” line really helps to build a sense of identity of what she’s portraying, enhancing the essence of the place or event, this can be seen on her “Tour-de-France” sketches or in her crowded place sketches. Furthermore, her minimal use of colour enhances the sense of narrative In the drawings, her choice of colour isn’t necessarily what the actual subject looks like, she limits the palette to no more than 5 colours, could be as minimal as one colour. I think the point of choosing those colours is to emphasise the landmarks or buildings, as a way to say that that is the focal point of the picture and the choice of warm/cold colours serves to suggest the mood she intends to portray.
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| © 2015, Veronica Lawlor. Image used under educational fair use policy. |
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© , Veronica Lawlor>. Image used under educational fair use policy.
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© Veronica Lawlor>. Image used under educational fair use policy.
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© Veronica Lawlor. Image used under educational fair use policy.
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© Veronica Lawlor. Image used under educational fair use policy.
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By looking at her work, I can conclude that to sketch people and places in a reportage style, overly detailed drawing doesn’t necessarily mean that it will make an effective picture, being loose and sketchy can give more humanity to the drawing and what it actually feels like to actually experience that setting in person, rather than trying to depict every minute detail of a building, almost feeling like is an architectural drawing. Not that the latter is the wrong way of doing, it’s just that doing overly detailed , elaborate and precise illustrations will convey a different outcome to the viewer. One style feels as an expression of the artist and the other a display of technical skills, two different fields.
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