The Ephemeral Permanence of Editorial Illustration

Posted by on Mar 6, 2007 in Archives

DrawmarkEpemeralPermanence.jpgBy Mark Kaufman
I love editorial illustration. I love making images that tell stories or serve to bolster ideas. As much work and effort goes into a publishing venture, writing, editing, design, illustration and photography, production and distribution, it seems to be a fleeting undertaking. Because whether it is a daily newspaper or blog, a weekly newspaper or a monthly magazine as soon as all of the hard work hits the streets, you (hopefully) get a chance to start the process all over again. There’s nothing as stale as yesterday’s news. However, once in a while the transitory nature of publishing has more legs than you think. Here’s an example. This is a photo of a newspaper box with a fresh stack of papers ready for plucking, look closely at the bottom of the pile and you will see the cover of a weeks old newspaper that yours truly illustrated. Proving that despite the here today, gone tomorrow aspect of the press, sometimes it has lasting impact. Of course the optimum waay to make a lasting impression would be an award winning piece, something that generates further conversation, controversy and news. But I’ll take what I can.

2 Comments

  1. Alex
    March 8, 2007

    The joy of editorial illustration is that as your work evolves you aren’t constantly assaulted by old work which you are no longer proud of!

    Reply
  2. Mark
    March 8, 2007

    Alex,

    Here, here. In one of my posts at the end of February I had to revisit some of my work from 20 years ago for a book that’s coming out. Most of it was embarrasing!

    Thanks!

    MArk Kaufman

    Reply

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