NPR Illustration

Illustration by Dion MBD

NPR Illustration

Hi! I’m Alex Reynolds (@offthewalrus) and I like to draw what I see. Well, sort of. 

This is me.

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And these are also me.

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As an illustrator and cartoonist, I’m a huge advocate of drawing from life. It’s a crucial part of my practice and dominates my sketchbook pages. But only recently I’ve begun to figure out why this practice is so meaningful, and what “life drawing” really means anyway.

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For many illustrators, observational work is primarily this formal exercise meant to sharpen drawing chops, to capture volume and light with real conviction. This is hard. A lot of folks give up entirely, or compartmentalize “life drawing” into this disparate, academic thing; a chore. For a time, I felt much the same. But a few years back something clicked, and since then I’ve been drawing with more hunger and excitement than ever.

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Everyone’s vision is colored. We project upon the world as much as it impresses upon us. Drawing is, for me, a lens through which to understand my specific flavor of bias. It’s a way of exploring and expanding how I see the world, and consequently experiencing it that much more richly. In that light, the everyday can become fodder with which to play, and the line between the real and the imagined can sort of dissolve. These days, the two worlds live together on my pages pretty comfortably.

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That said, what I’m getting at isn’t just “style”, per se. Style is sort of a trick, a window dressing. More important than style is voice. I’m finding the better I understand myself and my world view, the more genuine my work becomes.

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My sketchbook habit isn’t about proving what I already know. It’s about learning, about making mistakes and trying stuff out and growing. When any progress is good progress, drawing can be really fun! Even life drawing. 

-AR

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Alex is a former intern @NPR. He is a freelance illustrator and background artist based in NYC. Check out more of his work or hire him for commissions here: https://www.alexreynoldsart.com/ 

-LA

Hello web, it’s LA Johnson. 

I’ve been receiving many questions from new art editors about the best ways to work with illustrators – the who, what, how and when of it all. 

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[First round of sketches by Grace HeeJung Kim on an assignment about teaching consent in the classroom.] 

Now, some in the industry believe that you can only properly work with an illustrator if you have a degree in design or art direction, but I think that degrees are mostly a waste of money, and I bet I can teach anyone to be a great (or at least good) art director. And I’m not worried about anyone taking my job because, well, I’m a badass.

SO … HERE WE GO!

WHEN - When should you choose illustration?

Illustration works best for stories that are abstract, thematic, opinion-driven, happened in the past, presenting a novel idea or a sensitive topic (aka un-photographable). Basically, any story. 

WHAT - Know what you want — and what you can spend — ahead of time

What is the story about? What’s the tone? What’s your deadline? What’s your budget? Answer these questions before contacting an illustrator. 

WHO - Find the right fit

Finding the right illustrator can be the hardest but most fun part of the process. These sites will help you find artists with various styles to fit any project:

Also, you can reach out to illustration programs at art colleges to scoop new talent! Ex. I work with MICA a lot:  https://www.mica.edu/undergraduate-majors-minors/illustration-major/ 

“When thinking of your concept and choosing your artist, remember that illustrators will adjust the scope of the final image relative to the rate paid. Meaning, an image with a budget of $300 will probably not be as grand or complex as a $4,000 image. The same concept goes for time. An illustrator will give you their best work relative to the time given to complete the work, so keep that in mind.” - Chris Kindred, illustrator and cartoonist

HOW - Know how to communicate what you want

In your opening email, lead with the specifics

  • Story brief
  • Budget
  • Deadline
  • Proportions (specify if you need different sizes for social media)

To have the most productive and efficient conversation with an illustrator, the opening email should have everything they need to get started immediately, without asking for more basic details. When everything is clear up front, the illustrator is free to decide for themselves how they can fit your commission into their busy work schedule.

Follow-up Email

Once the illustrator has agreed to work with you, you should send them a contract and W-9. (This might be through your finance department.) Then you can send them the following:

  • Draft (or full) story
  • Sketch requirements (how many? when do you need them by?) I usually look for a range of literal to abstract concepts, 3-5 ideas.
  • Color/mood requirements
  • Samples of their work that you like (to help them with understanding your style preferences)

Feedback on Sketches

When the illustrator sends along sketches, they are looking for you to make a decision. Perhaps you two both choose the same as your favorite, or perhaps not. Either way, you want to make sure the illustrator is as excited as you are!

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[Refined idea #4 and changed a bit.]

Take a moment now to clarify your direction before the illustrator proceeds any further. If there are any elements of the image that need to be exact (e.g. “there needs to be a boy wearing a red hat”), be sure to mention those now.

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[Fixed balance issue for final round of sketches.]

THE FINAL IMAGE!

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Illustration for a story about teaching consent in schools. (Grace HeeJung Kim for NPR)

Send payment

Most organized illustrators will send you an invoice with the final image. You should try and get payment to them within 30 days, as this is usually how illustrators make their living and keep the lights on. 

Ok! That about does it! Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to contact me at ljohnson@npr.org with thoughts or submissions! Happy art directing!

-LA

Hi all! I’m Deborah, one of two NPR illustration interns this summer, and a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon University School of Design. As I wrap up my internship, I think it would be helpful for everyone and myself, who needs a moment for self-reflection, to walk through what I’ve learned here and share a few pieces of work I’ve made.

1. Keep most of, if not all, components intentional.

Here’s the first illustration I made for the training team (they provide comprehensive resources for journalism, audio engineers, and podcasters within and outside of NPR). This piece is also my first-ever published work in the editorial world! It’s one of the more abstract drawings I’ve done, but most of the elements contribute to visually interpreting the text (which you can read here.)

If you parse through the article and guide that comes with it, you’ll realize the hands, the blocks, and the patterns all tie into the writer’s subject: utilizing hypotheses, collaboration, user-testing, and multiple solutions for large editorial projects.

And here’s an in-progress shot! This was drawn with Prismacolor pencils and edited digitally. Colored pencils allow me to step away from the screen and use my hands on something tangible – a characteristic of my work that’s missing in Photoshop or on my iPad. And the way I use the medium allows my work to be edited on-screen – good for last-minute changes!

2. Try your best, but don’t let your work kill you.

As illustrators, it’s reasonable to push for each assignment to be better than the previous one. But it’s unfair to blame ourselves if the medium we use does not make sense for the time, or the physical energy that we have. For this one, my hand was beginning to tire out from the pressure I would put into my colored pencils. It was time to go digital!

Disclaimer: my portfolio already displays work that has digital line work, and luckily, those who were working with me on this piece were liberal with whichever stylistic approach I chose.

3. It’s okay to be nonexclusive to a single medium.

With the schedule that I had, I gave myself only two days to execute this piece. You can read the story here.

My hand was feeling pretty good at this point, but I didn’t have the time to make this one hundred percent analog. I ended up finishing all the foreground pieces with colored pencil. Drawing flora comes naturally to me, so this part didn’t take too long.

The rest of it, I completed digitally. I scanned the image, selected all the white areas (in Photoshop: Select < Color Range) and filled those in with a light yellow-green hue. Then I selected a chalky brush to digitally paint over the pixelated edges that the fill tool left behind. The end result looked bright and natural as intended!

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That’s all, folks! I’m extremely thankful to have spent my summer here. NPR has opened up so many opportunities; not only was I able to draw for the fabulous Training Team, but also I found places to draw for NPR Music, Education, National, and the Tiny Desk Concerts!

Questions? Comments? I’m not super active on my Tumblr anymore, but come talk to me on Instagram or Twitter. Art directors, here’s my portfolio – I’m open!

Oakland-based illustrator Ryan Johnson continues to impress me (and it’s not just because we have the same last name.) He is a digital painter with a traditional process. I asked him to explain his process. Here’s how he breaks it down:

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Ryan Johnson: What is my process? I think my process is a little different for every illustration. I suppose I have patterns depending on client or personal work. When I’m working on an editorial assignment for a client, I like to start with the text if possible. I’ll give it a quick read and then go back through picking out words or phrases that I think best tell the story and that I find interesting. Words that show mood or action can be really helpful. I’ll then take these words and go to a thesaurus to branch the words and phrases out further. At the time of word research, I’ve started generating mental images, symbols, and metaphors. 

Then I sketch these fledgling ideas out. This process helps me fight off artist’s block – it’s a concrete place to start for brainstorming. If the art director doesn’t have the text then I’ll need to probe them for some ideas in order to start.

Here is an example of some word play for an article about school arrests in South Carolina. As you can see, this is an informal, free-flow process.

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The next stage is thumbnail sketches. Thumbnail sketching goes one of two ways: great fun or great frustration. I enjoy the uninhibited, free play of illustration but if the ideas are lame or uninspired it’s just frustrating.

At this point in my process I’m trying to incorporate ideas and symbols that had come up during my brainstorm. I might have several completely different concepts or just one concept with many variations. I use different design elements to tell the story in different ways. I try to keep thumbnails simple, but sometimes I add more information than is needed. Something I need to work on.

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Here are some thumbnails from the first illustration I completed for NPR. It was an article covering the Summer SAT and how it will likely further the gap between the poor and middle/upper class. 

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I usually start the ideas on pen and paper and then digitally recreate for the art director’s convenience. That also allows me to edit out any sketches that I would rather not show anyone. I don’t have a hard rule about whether to shade or color my thumbnail sketches. At this stage I just want to get my idea across. I am not afraid to put color in the sketch if will better tell that story. But I am careful not to spend too much time on this. Only one sketch will be chosen and the rest will likely never see the light of day again.

Once a sketch is approved, I move to final. My “painting process” is straight-forward digital painting in Photoshop. I like to use Kyle Webster’s brush tools to get a painterly texture. I try to be somewhat experimental with my color choices but typically they are unified, saturated, and bright. I really want my illustrations to POP off the page or screen. 

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Johnson illustrates the pros and cons of the new summer SAT.

After I’ve finished painting the whole surface, I might print out a black and white copy and do additional sketching or tracing on top of the illustration for more texture. I’ll also scan in different papers, paints, brushes or water marks to help liven the illustration. The marriage of physical and digital elements is fascinating. There is always more than one way to reach a goal and that is what makes illustration fantastic. I continue to experiment with techniques and process to tell stories.

Here’s my process from a personal illustration after a trip to Chicago.

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This next personal illustration was inspired by these two lovely modern chairs by Milo Baughman. Early in the sketch I thought it might become a love story. Eventually it turned into a commentary on smart phones and privacy. With personal illustration I am not tied to the original idea, I am always free to change the story at any point.

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– LA Johnson

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Ogawa illustrates for a story about helicopter parents at summer camp.

Toronto-based illustrator Suharu Ogawa’s work continually makes me smile. Her brain is just… out there. It’s the kind of brain that is a treat to work with as an art director. So, I wanted to know, how does one cultivate such a wild brain? Here’s what she said…

Suharu Ogawa: I wish I had something very compelling to share, but I have the simplest answer found on my studio wall. I’m genuinely in love with picture making.

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For most editorial assignments, I start writing notes right away, often rephrasing the main idea. Then I begin drawing even if I don’t have any good concepts. I believe in the power of drawing– that the ideas can be shaped through the act of drawing. I work in acrylics at my home studio, so when I do my idea sketches, I try to work at coffee shop. I also walk a lot to make drawings in my head, which can be later poured onto paper. One thing that distracts me while working on sketch is music with lyrics. It sounds silly, but I feel like I’m directly being talked to (or yelled at).

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Ogawa illustrates for a story about urban learning interventions.

What are your biggest challenges?

SO: Not to spend too much time on working and reworking when you have longer deadlines.

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Ogawa illustrates for a story about training the ear in radio journalism.

How do you get over artists’ block?

SO: When I am working on a tight deadline, I just plow through and not doubt my ability because that’s somewhat counter-productive. I use a lot of loose sheets of paper to draw so that I can see my thought process all before my eyes. Often times, my desk (or floor) gets filled with paper, but I can trace how an idea is being shaped. I basically keep drawing until I see something that works. It’s little messy, and I’m pretty sure people whom I share the table with at a coffee shop hate me for making the mess! I also walk a lot when I have terrible creative block, and I’m talking about power-walking - like Olympic race walking. There’s something about feeling the momentum in the body and feeding my eyes with different objects that bring new images or ideas. It’s a magical feeling I enjoy, but I occasionally walk into trees and mail boxes! Aside from that, I always find time to do personal project/experiment (small and big) to stay curious and playful.

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– LA Johnson

In a posthumous new video for Leonard Cohen’s “Leaving The Table,” an animated paper cutout of the late singer dances and flies over a cityscape of Montreal, free as a bird, untethered from the mortal world.

“I’m leaving the table,” he sings as the animated Cohen spins, dips and flits by scenes from his past life. “I’m out of the game / I don’t know the people / In your picture frame.” It’s a tribute that’s both heartbreaking and beautiful, revealing an artist who left the world content that he’d lived every moment to his fullest.

The video, conceived and directed by Christopher Mills, premiered at last night’s Polaris Music Prize ceremony. “Leaving The Table” is from Cohen’s You Want It Darker, released in October 2016, just days before the singer’s death.

–Robin Hilton, NPR Music

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The Küchwaldrauschen festival takes place in the forest it shares a name with, Küchwald, near the city Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt, or Karl Marx City). It’s organized by a handful of young locals. A charming little festival. Super cheap, too. A day pass was under €10.

Chemnitz isn’t exactly a city young people move to, but the creatives that live there always make a lot of things happen. If you don’t look closely at the posters and flyers people make for their events you might not recognize what actually happens in Chemnitz. Politically and culturally active people there tend to stay away from social media and flashy advertisements. This is kind of common for cities in eastern Germany, and I kind of like the attitude. Nobody makes a big fuzz about their important project — they just make something happen and see where it will take them from there.

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Half of Küchwaldrauschen happened during the day. The main spot, with the stage, is at an old theater and arena-type place, which provided plenty of room for families and hungover people (like me). It wasn’t very crowded — not because there weren’t many people, but more because there was much space.

With my drawings, I concentrated on the surroundings because I considered those places as especially nice, since I was weak from my own art show the night before. I was more than happy to find a spot to lay down and listen to the music from afar (Trenger Penger was a particularly good band). There was a remarkable little theatre play in the late afternoon, with a main character named Odradek. Odradek was two people in a weird little jumpsuit. It’s hard to describe. Kinda strange, but very lovely.

The decorations of Küchwaldrauschen were handmade, and therefore were very nice and good. The organizers obviously cared a lot about those little details. The light in the evening threw big shadows from the deco objects on one side of a building (I tried to draw this).

Anna Haifisch is an artist based in Leipzig, Germany.

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thelajohnson:

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What is more nostalgic — for those of us with a past mall-punk phase — than a trip to Warped Tour, the 23-year-old, youth-oriented, aggressively branded touring music festival that visits around 40 U.S. cities each year? Twice I’ve attended and twice I’ve gotten sun poisoning in the name of ­­pop-punk (and ska, and hardcore, and rap).

This year, I returned to the fray as a visual reporter. It’s been a year fraught with controversy; it’s no secret that the music industry has been, and remains, male-dominated, leading to some devastating growing pains as the Tour tries to open its doors to a more diverse cast of fans and musicians.

(I highly encourage further reading on the topic, as many people have done a better job writing about this than I ever could; Jessica Hopper’s piece “Where The Girls Aren’t”; and Shawna Potter on The Dickies and a misogynistic rant during one Warped Tour stop this year that cast a dark cloud over the rest of the summer. )

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A man stood outside the gates, greeting everyone and trying to hand them his band’s CDs. I ignored him (sorry), moving towards the big inflatable schedule to jot down set times.

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I started my day watching a set from hardcore band Blessthefall – during which a strange request came from the band’s singer.

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Thankfully, it didn’t really stick and only a few girls were elevated; maybe attendees this year are more conscious of the feelings of the girl next to them? Maybe it’s because there were only six girls in the crowd?

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I’ve only been to two Warped Tours before this most recent one. The general feeling from the “lifers” I interviewed was that the crowd seemed older, sparser, and more “hardcore” this year. This seemingly unexpected change hit no one quite as hard as it hit…

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I asked Gibssn, a merchant whose stand proudly advertised the toy, how business was going — it was going poorly.

The excessive consumerism of festivals like Warped results in situations such as having no fewer than four stands selling identical merchandise, like marijuana-leaf-adorned socks, alongside whatever trends are moving the fastest, like the spinners.


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The afternoon was a blurry montage: Skanking to the ska stylings of Save Ferris, eating those free malted milk balls (my only nourishment for the day), artfully dodging PETA literature. I watched Jule Vera’s audience hold up her drums while she played in the crowd, and gawked at two teens scaling a tree for a better look at the rapper Futuristic’s set.

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Matt, a friend of mine from a band performing that day called Neck Deep, met me at his merch tent, a conversation frequently punctuated with nervous teens asking for a photo with him, which he accepted gracefully. (Shockingly, no one wanted a picture with me.)

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After agreeing to let me on stage during their set, we parted ways. All I had to do was text and he’d come rescue me from the barricade just before the show – and if my phone hadn’t died, it might have been that easy.

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I stood directly behind the drummer, Dani, and scrawled a page of orange doodles, trying not to do anything too obtrusive (not that anyone was looking at me).

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The set was over and, after a few sweaty hugs, it was time to go. Tents came down as I did my best to maneuver around innumerable Vans stickers, at least one shoe, and the occasional malted milk ball wrapper strewn about the grounds. Tomorrow, Merriweather Post Pavilion will be sparkling clean and a new crowd of music fans will fill the amphitheater.

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I left to the sounds of distant screaming for the last act of the night, GWAR. A thought about the shirtless man from earlier who had only come for their set flashed through my mind. I made my way to the parking lot amidst a sea of tweens calling their parents and considered the time since I was one of them. Maybe in a few years they’ll be back at Warped Tour, notebook in hand, drawing their own story…

…Or maybe they’ll just come back to see GWAR.

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