Illustration: a dance of words and images
Illustration is an enthusiastic partner dance between words and images, each supporting and inspiring each other’s movements and meaning. One does not translate the other but instead illuminates new layers and possibilities. Whether illustrating spoken words (from a live interview) or written text (from a story, poem, or article), I delight in conveying the mystery, energy, and musicality of the words through my drawn and painted images.
Expanding the definition of illustration
Interviews
Interviews: recorded conversation, unrehearsed stories, and spontaneous reactions - are ripe for visual interpretation. Imagine illustrations for podcasts, oral history projects, qualitative research reports, and intergenerational family conversations. Images pique the interest of any audience, drawing them into and through the audio material.
Conferences & Workshops
The rich content of conferences and workshops is often recorded in written notes, spreadsheets, and long webinars. What if this info was distilled into clear, expressive drawings paired with key text that participants could interpret quickly? Handmade drawings convey the original enthusiasm of the gathering, jogging the participants’ own memory of the learning exchange.
The Performance Arts
Songs, dances, poems, plays can be illustrated. Envision the illustrations for performance programs, album releases, creative writing anthologies, play or film scripts, and arts reviews! The creative arts enrich each other; adding striking visuals to all forms of artistic expression heightens the overall message and impact of the work.