Illustrations for Oxford American Magazine
August 28, 2011 § 1 Comment
A few weeks ago, I received an email from one of the editors of Oxford American Magazine. He wondered if I would be interested in creating about a dozen black and white illustrations for the upcoming Education Issue. My fingers couldn’t type fast enough to reply “Are you kidding? OF COURSE I’M INTERESTED!”
The dozen illustrations ended up being 19. This was one of the funnest assignments I’ve had. The editor was a joy to work with and direction was simple. Read the stories and draw as you’re inspired. I read the first few stories and asked for further direction. Did they envision a straight forward illustration that represented a specific scene within each story or could I take a step to the left and create visuals that were a little more interpretive? The editor said “We love abstract”. And away I went.
The illustrations are used in an article called “Classroom Confidential”. Writers were asked to submit stories about their experiences as either students or teachers. The stories are wonderful and each is unique. It was fun to create a visual to correlate to such clever wordsmiths.
Oxford American Magazine features writers and artists of the South. It’s available at most large bookstores (Barnes & Nobel) or you can order from their website. A handful of stories – and my art – are posted online, but you’ll need to purchase the issue to see all the work within the context of the wonderful stories.
AWESOME!! I’m sure the country is going a little crazy looking for St. Bernard/Aussie Shepherd pups.