In this exercise I am choosing an editorial from a magazine and finding the keywords I think is important to convey the meaning of the overall piece.  I am distilling and condensing the text to focus on the message that needs to be communicated, and then I am creating an image about this key message.

The editorial I am choosing is from Good Housekeeping, June 2021, “How to be a Better Listener” by Katie Colombus.  Barbara Tamilin has already illustrated this editorial, but I like the subject matter and will do a different illustration.

Rereading the editorial after highlighting the keywords has given me a deeper understanding of the content and the message that needs to be communicated.  To narrow down the highlighted text and organize the information, I have jotted down the most relevant keywords in a diagram in my sketchbook.  Once I have condensed the content, I have established the key idea.  The key idea is “Be a good listener and be still, so people can work things out for themselves while talking through their problems.”  I have narrowed that down to two words I will use to create an image; “Finding Solutions.”

I created four variations of the drawing by starting with a pencil sketch of the main idea.  I wanted to illustrate two women connecting in conversation; one woman is talking while the other is listening.  I like the illustration to be light and fresh to reflect the stress relief that comes when sharing your troubles with a trusted friend.  My first idea was to keep it simple and do a lino print in black and white.

Instead of using traditional etching ink that takes days to dry, I have tried Charbonnel Aqua Wash Etching Ink.  It is water washable, with an oil emulsion that works like traditional solvent-based inks. Still, unfortunately, when I added the watercolour for my second idea, it dissolved the ink if not careful, as can be seen in places in figure 5.  I feel the black and white Lino print needed some colour to create the ‘happy’ mood I want to achieve.

In figure 6 I tried alcohol pens on smooth, extra white paper as it has such a lovely bright and fresh look.  However, I feel that the background distracts from the key image and have decided to do a fourth variation (figure 7) by scanning a yellow ink background into Photoshop and mask the two figures against the background.  I then used a blending mode in Photoshop to blend the foreground against the background and worked with the Wacom pen to blend the image further with coloured brush strokes. I went for a medium brown outline instead of black to achieve a softer effect.

Overall, I have found it an interesting and effective exercise to find the key message of the editorial.  My understanding of the text changed as I worked through the process of distilling the text.  It was a process to arrive at the illustration that I have felt conveys the mood and feel that I want to communicate, but in the end I am happy with the finished piece.