Friday, May 21, 2010

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (and Killed Sketches)

The business of illustration demands flexibility and kind of mercenary approach to image-making. Illustrators pride themselves on believing that nothing is too sacred or too important to scrap at a moments notice. But every now and then, it really hurts when a beloved image gets killed at the last minute. I was on the hot seat for the The New York Times Op-Ed Sunday page for over the weekend (Sunday is a most desirable page to get).

For this article about accurately measuring the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, I sent the following ideas.





It is rare that an art director will let you take a crack at the page design as well as the illustration. So, I was pretty sure we'd end up with idea C, the freestanding measuring cup. BUT, the very best idea approved, sketch B, where the column of text forms the oil spill. The amazing Aviva had even worked out a rough layout of the text for me to work with.



BUT, as is common in the newspaper business, things change quickly and the column was moved around, leaving no room for art. So, this amazing idea is dead in the water. Still a bit hurt. Viva La Illustration.

4 comments:

josh said...

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

starkat said...

hello mr. hendrix,
i've been a fan since... ooh, i forgot. and i recently saw a work of yours in the office of IAM in nyc. i was so excited that i had to say hello.
i love your work and i've been greatly influenced by it. i'm an illustrator/designer/animator in l.a. and i've never written to any of the people who i admire.
thank you for inspiring and provoking!

John Hendrix said...

Thanks Josh, for your empathy.

Tayen- thanks for the nice note... IAM is a great place with even greater people. Best wishes in your work!

Si said...

Aw gutted for you John! Just met you, your blog and your work. I especially love your linear syle in illustrations on those book covers you submitted for AGIA. Thanks for the inspirtation.