I got a frantic email from the art director at the Globe & Mail one afternoon. Another illustrator dropped the ball on an illustration and needed an illustration concepted and painted over night. The story is for a section called Facts and Argument which is about personal stories told by Canadians. This story is about a women who loathed her name and her journey to change it.
My first sketch idea was of a women fading away. I really thought that the identity of a persons image and how it could be smudged out would be a great representation of what the author was going through. The art director and I talked and told me he liked all four idea's and I could choose any one to follow through on. This was a rare moment I have only come across two other times in my career. I thought about it and the second sketch seemed like a much smarter, clearer choice to move forward on.
Final illustration
Alternative Unpublished version
Sometimes when an illustration feels right, I like to take the illustration further to see how it would look like uncropped. Maybe it's because I really painted it out that I like this version as much as the final printed version.
Art Director: Matthew French
