Reportage Research

For this project I will be looking at reportage and some artists who use it. Reportage is taken from the old french word for report. In the art world a large amount of art can be called reportage but it will be all drawn from life. Some artists use reportage as a type of visual journalism, sketching events is a good example. It's a great way of learning new drawing techniques as the artist may be faced with something they find difficult to draw.

Sketchbook work by James Jean

Sketchbook work by James Jean

One of the artist I have looked at is James Jean. I find his work to be really intresting and I love his use of colour. I noticed that there was a large amount of reportage in his sketchbook work, it is quite impressive to look at and is very well drawn. There seems to be a lot of figure drawing which is always interesting. I also like some of his more experimental work which he does using a lot of different media. The sketchbook page to the bottom right shows this really well, there is clearly a lot of different media in the piece. The top piece however is a lot more loose in its construction. The drawings look very rough but still have a lot of movement in the line work. I like the way the figures overlap, it makes the piece look more exciting.

Although I find his work really interesting I don't think that I will be able to achieve this level of quality in my own reportage work. I have to produce a lot of work in a very short space of time which means I wont be able to elaborate on my details. I still find the idea of working in different media very achievable and James Jeans work has given me some ideas.
 

Reportage by Veronica Lawlor

        

Another artist I want to look at is Veronica Lawlor. Her work is a lot more focused on reportage. It's her main study and shows through her work. Her illustrations tend to be black and white sketches with some elements of colour added in. I think this is a really interesting effect and has a fun jazzy look to it. She is well known for her drawings of the 9/11 disaster documenting the disaster by using reportage, creating quick sketches as the event unfolded.

Veronica Lawlor's work has given me some ideas of how I want to approach my own work. her looser style appeals to me and her use of bright colours could be applied to my own work.
                                                                      




For this project I need to produce ten sketchbooks showing examples of reportage. I have been given two weeks to complete this task which means that the drawings have been quick sketches. I have tried some different media such as charcoal, ink and pencil. The two artists I have talked about gave me a lot of ideas when it came to my own work.


useful links

http://www.jamesjean.com/blog/C236F0/sketchbooks

http://www.veronicalawlor.com/