This year I began creating illustrations again for The Wall Street Journal, thanks to assignments from Lisa DiLillo, art director of the Life & Arts section of the newspaper. (Years ago I was a frequent contributor to the WSJ creating so many illustrations for art director Dan Smith.)
^ above the complete final illustration that appeared in the printed newspaper –a boy gaming, and a girl engaged in social media
This recent assignment from The Wall Street Journal, was again for the Life & Arts section, this time appearing in the Family Tech column, accompanying an article entitled, Girls vs Boys: Brain Differences Might Explain Tech Behaviors. (in the 9/25/19 issue of the print newspaper)
^ above the modified horizontal format of the final illustration –accompanying the corresponding online version of the Tech Family article.
With all the past assignments for daily newspapers I have done over my long career, including for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other newspapers, I’m very well versed in the task of creating illustrations under the pressure of a very tight deadline! Sometimes you literally only have a matter of hours to complete the sketch as well as the final art, and sometimes you might have the luxury of a handful of days to complete the assignment for a daily newspaper.
^ above one of about 7 preliminary rough sketches I presented to the art director Lisa DiLillo (and editors) at the Wall Street Journal –as the potential concept for the final illustration… This one depicting a tech gadget engulfing the tweens and how they approach using tech differently.
^ above one of about 7 preliminary rough sketches I presented to the art director Lisa DiLillo (and editors) at the Wall Street Journal –as the potential concept for the final illustration… This one depicting a girl on a sofa engaged in social media, with the flip image below of a boy commanding a military tank (gaming).
^ above one of about 7 preliminary rough sketches I presented to the art director Lisa DiLillo (and editors) at the Wall Street Journal –as the potential concept for the final illustration… This one depicting a boy slaying a mythical dragon and a girl sitting atop a storybook toadstool and engaged in social media.
^ above one of about 7 preliminary rough sketches I presented to the art director Lisa DiLillo (and editors) at the Wall Street Journal –as the potential concept for the final illustration… This one depicting a girl self-reflectively engaged in social media –while a boy is fantasizing about courage and power by lifting a huge gaming device.
^ above one of about 7 preliminary rough sketches I presented to the art director Lisa DiLillo (and editors) at the Wall Street Journal –as the potential concept for the final illustration… This one depicting boy and girl tweens in opposing directions regarding tech engagement.
^ above This is the rough preliminary sketch that was approved by the WSJ art director and editors –the one for me to go ahead and proceed in creating the final illustration based on this sketch.
This concept is a very mild one… simply depicting the two tweens back to back (connected almost like conjoined twins) yet they are approaching tech is very different ways: The boy engaged with gaming, and the girl engaged with social media connections.
Above are two detail views of the final illustration… This illustration I essentially created all digitally, drawing the characters with a Photoshop paintbrush tool that simulated a rough pen ink line.
Visit the editorial portfolio section of my web site to view more of my illustrations for newspapers and magazines… as well as the political commentary portfolio section too.