My Illustrations are Actors
On why you will see some of my illustrations in more than one context
Oftentimes I reuse and repurpose my illustrations. Sometimes I will draw something that is initially used for a Medium post, and then use it again for a different topic within my magazine. Sometimes I use two older illustrations together for a larger piece of art.
When I started out, I tried to avoid this, because I felt like I was being lazy or that I was somehow cheating the small following who pay attention to the stuff I create. It seemed unfair to me to double up on an illustration, especially if it was being used for two very separate ideas.
But a revelation occurred to me some months ago that helped me understand why I even feel the urge to double up on illustrations. And to explain it, I need to go into a little detail about how I come to create my designs in the first place.
Typically, my drawings are paired with writing. I view the two as tandem and intertwined. However, despite this connectivity, I tend to create my drawings and my writing separately from each other. I have a notebook with a collection of probably a few hundred illustrations in it, and I often make them without a written piece in mind (although there are some really significant, albeit niche, exceptions to this).
When I have something worthwhile to write, if I don’t have a very specific idea of an illustration that I want to make for it, I simply open my notebook and I find one that I believe will fit it aesthetically and emotively.
I say “simply”, but it isn’t really a simple process. I don’t randomly choose something. I look for something that will meld well with it. I’ve started to think of it as like being a casting director, trying to find something (or somebody) who has the right looks and expressions for the piece I have written. If I change up the colours, and the positioning, and perhaps pair an illustration with another, then I can evoke the perfect experience that I’m looking for.
In this sense, the things I draw are like actors, and the things I write are like sets and scripts.
This is why you might see something turn up more than once, and in a very different context. Because in the same way as some actors are versatile enough to cover a plethora of genres and characters, so, too, do I believe my art can do this as well.
I won’t lie, however, this does save some time. It also prevents me from facing burnout from drawing. I find writing much easier to do for long periods than I do visual work. But even with that in mind, I am very careful with how I make my choices.
