Who is Veronica Lawlor?

I am researching the extraordinary work of illustrator and artist Veronica Lawlor.  Veronica Lawlor creates artwork both on location and also from sketches captured from fleeting moments at events such as parades and festivals.  She loves getting out and sketching on location.

Lawlor is well known for being the only illustrator who drew what she witnessed on 9/11 when the Twin Towers were being destroyed.  At the time she was living in uptown in Manhattan and happened to get onto the train to go downtown.  She hadn’t paid attention to the news that morning and got off the subway at Union Square, and there was a scene of chaos all around her.  By the time she got downtown, there was only one tower of the World Trade Centre, and it was burning. (Lynch, 2021)

She had been drawing on location and studying drawing on location for several years already, and her first instinct was to pull out her pad and start to draw.  She continued to walk downtown and make drawings mostly of the reaction on the streets and the people around her.  Today, people ask her.  How could you draw that day?  How could you do that?  But to Veronica, it was a very instinctive thing to do and also a way of processing what was happening around her. (Lynch, 2021)

An interview with Veronica Lawlor

I stumbled across an Instagram live video where Fred Lynch, a professor of Illustration at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the United States, conducts an interview with Veronica Lawlor who is based in New York. (Lynch, 2021)

It was a compulsion for Veronica Lawlor to draw that day of 9/11, and it is important to understand reportage illustration and the value it brings to us as a society by making an emotional connection with people by documenting history and also using these drawings as a tool for education.  New York City and the whole country were turned upside down after that day, so Veronica continued to draw for the next few weeks.  The memorials all over the city, the press conferences, help arriving from around the country and the world, the volunteering and the spirit of unity. (Lynch, 2021)

Fred: What are the chances that you had art supplies with you that day?

Veronica: The chances that I had art supplies with her that day were almost 100%.  I had a few pencils and some paper with me.  I rarely leave the house without at least paper and a few pencils, just because you don’t know what is going to happen.  Fortunately, most of the things that happen are good things and not the tragedy of 9/11. (Lynch, 2021)

Fred: Is there a different result or approach when you encounter the unexpected compared to a planned drawing outing?

Veronica: The approach is always based on what I am drawing.  What is the graphic approach?  What is the feeling and what do I want to cover?  What has to be said?  I try to think like a journalist.  If you practice this often, the moment you need it, it kicks in and becomes instinctive. (Lynch, 2021)

Fred: Here you are drawing outside in public; everything is moving, things are unfolding, you deal with the unpredictable, you can’t control the situation, things are unplanned.  How do you find you begin to capture something and be flexible in other skills, frames of mind or approaches?

Veronica:  All of that what you just described is what I love about drawing.  I love the spontaneity of it, I love the reactiveness of it.  You bring yourself to any kind of situation or place but then, the things that happen you can’t control.  Then, it goes back to instinct and training.  I will make some thumbnails when I first sketch a location.  9/11 is a very extreme example.  I definitely did not stop and make a row of thumbnails.  As I was walking and as things quieted down I would think about my drawings and what do I want to talk about.  So, I do think of it as a totality.

I usually arrive at a demonstration or live event with a plan, even though many times things don’t go according to plan.  In the first 10 or 15 minutes, you have some time to thumbnail out what’s there, and I will often do it beforehand as well.  I have a point of departure, a thought in my mind.  I have done some reading about the place and don’t tend to walk in blind and see what happens.

As soon as I arrive at the event I want to capture the main action and the big picture.  It is very much like making a movie.  Once you have that opening establishing shot, you can play off of that and start thinking about the secondary things such as bystanders, viewers, background, and little moments that happen that add to the story.  Together, they make the full picture and the essence of what you are looking at. (Lynch, 2021)

Fred: Should a reporter be someone who does not share their own personal opinions?  Many people will argue that it’s impossible.  When you are making a drawing, I wonder how much you battle with objectivity vs. subjectivity?

Veronica: On 9/11, it was impossible not to have emotion, but the emotion, to me, was part of the story.  Subjectivity and objectivity are on a case-by-case basis.  There is a difference between an editorial and an essay.  Most of what I am doing on location I would describe as an essay.  It is my opinion, it is my feeling, and it is my point of view.  Sometimes, I will try to be neutral.  I agree that it is impossible to be 100% neutral, and I don’t even know if that is part of journalism anymore.  

Often, to me, it is very clear what the point of view is, but there is this ideal.  In pure journalism, you are purely giving the facts.  I think it is possible to get pretty far along on that if that is your goal.  That is not typically my goal.  I don’t make things up.  I won’t draw something falling out of the sky or a firework that’s not there unless I am doing a fantasy.  If I am going out documenting something that is happening, I am drawing what is happening; however, I am choosing the point of view.  I am choosing the emphasis, the hierarchy, the graphics, and the design.  So, what is important to me is going to be what is presented even if I am completely trying not to put my emotions in.

If it is an editorial, then you are working with an editor and writer, and you have an obligation if you’ve been hired to do those illustrations to stay within the story that you all agreed on. (Lynch, 2021)

What have l learned?

This interview with Veronica Lawlor has given me a better understanding of reportage illustration, from how to be ready for the unexpected to being adaptable and finding a way to respond to your environment.  Being prepared is a big part of reportage illustration, so I will always leave home with some art supplies.  Emotions, drops of rain, ink spilling while drawing in chaos…this can all be part of the illustration to convey the day’s atmosphere.  I see time and again that the unexpected should be embraced, and it is more about the process of making the drawing than the final artwork.  This seems to be especially true when it comes to reportage illustration.

Works Cited

Studio 1482. (2024, January 17). Veronica Lawlor. Retrieved from Studio 1482: https://www.studio1482.com/artist/veronica/

Lynch, F. (2021, September 2021). Belas-Artes Ulisboa. Retrieved from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CT7OXVyM-Ih/?igsh=MTg3dHFhNjg3NHFmdQ==