BY RUBY THOMPSON
For the past two years, I have been illustrating articles for the Cooper Point Journal. I love the challenge of creating art based off someone else’s vision. About half of the artwork I create is illustration. In the past I have worked for two other student publications, and have done some freelance work. Newspaper illustration gives me the freedom to apply my own style and ideas, while still working within a set of guidelines.
Besides working for the CPJ, I create my own art. When I took a botany class last year I became interested in scientific illustration, and started integrating that into my work. This quarter I have been spending time at Evergreen’s Natural History Museum, and drawing their bird specimens. I am also fascinated by subcultures, cabinets of curiosity, atlases, and folk tales. These are all subjects that I implement into my art regularly outside of my work as an illustrator.
These two parts of me—the illustrator and the artist—coexist, but they do not usually meet. When I create an illustration my first priority is to find the best way to portray the ideas given in the story in an eye-catching way. My art outside of the newspaper serves as a way for me to explore ideas on my own, and try new techniques. In the future I would like to begin to blur the lines between my commercial work and other art. I look forward to continuing to learn about both areas of my art.
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