In this post, I will talk about my research on Varoom, Editorial Illustrations, and the subject matter of Style.

Article: Material Love, “Beauty School Gave Me Brain Damage”: The world of Seth Bogart , VaroomLab Journals (Issue 3: Interpretation and Issue 4: Visionaries)

What do you find inspiring?

Varoom magazine zooms into the world of illustrations and its place in the world. It is a very specific field, but it contextualizes many illustrations e.g. as prints on cloth, as accessories line, as tools of education, et cetera.

VaroomLab, on the other hand, seems to delve into deeper analysis and research into illustration and artists.

What type of information is in the magazine?

Interview with relevant illustrators, reviews or analysis of an artist’s work.

Who is the target audience?

Varoom magazine seems to focus on the broader illustration practice, often incorporating interviews with the artists to get an insight about their process and concepts. This could be useful for budding illustrators yearning for expert advice and a peek into the brains of the experts.

VaroomLab seems to be more academic, analyzing illustrators’ work to the very details and seems to be much more methodical and academic journal-like articles yet still published in a well-laid out format. Perhaps it was targeted towards academics who are interested in illustrations, or illustrators who are also interested in the academic side of things.

 

Research on Editorial Illustrations: Artist References

Koren Shadmi is an Israeli-American illustrator and cartoonist.

What do you find inspiring?

His use of composition and cohesive, pleasing color scheme. They also tend to be largely conceptual and not so much naturalistic (the Hush one, the unchaperoned concerts, and the one about technology).

What medium(s) do they use? (Traditional/digital/Mixed media)

It seems to be mixed media or digital media with naturalistic pen brushes and textures.

How do they creatively interpret the text for the article?

They play with scale and putting together of images (the smoke chimney and the ‘hush’/2 people representing different generation, scale of parent chaperoning the kid). Also, unusual composition (looking through the keyhole is a very effective framing device).  I think all these were done on purpose to better understand the subject matter and content.

 

Subject Matter: Style

Considering the audience of Varoom magazine, as of now I would assume that ‘style’ would be more about illustration style and medium. It could also be about the subjectivity of ‘good style’ and ‘bad style’. Some styles are naturally deemed beautiful (intricacy, technically difficult, high degree of naturalism), while some not so much (expressive strokes, abstract art, minimalism). However, I’m not sure yet about how to go about depicting this subject matter in a magazine cover.