I love seeing others' political art, but my illustration is rarely political. I'm less worried about turning away clients and more worried that situations are more nuanced than I understand, if that makes sense? I think the existence of political art is great and has helped me make sense of concepts that I didn't quite grasp, or look into things I wasn't knowledgeable about.
Oh yes, I understand that. There are often times when I feel I would like to make some kind of commentary or statement and really fear that it's not my place and that I could make things worse and then, if I get to the point where I feel OK about it, I have then lost the need. There are some things that I feel unequivocable about and I think those I am usually comfortable sharing, but often I don't feel I can.
I love your illustration of the tears coming off the American flag! I personally love political illustration and I have tried it but I can't seem to get past the sketch phase. I've only just started to relaunch my illustration career, and in children's books, so it didn't even occur to me that it might turn off potential clients. After some thought, I decided I wouldn't want to work with people like that anyway!
Thank you. Oh yes, well, it doesn't seem to have harmed Oliver Jeffers! And if you are open enough about it, then hopefully you won't be put in the awkward position of someone asking you to do something you wouldn't want to.
That's a good point, it actually might not be bad to scare away potential clients! And I'll have to check out Oliver Jeffers’ political illustrations, I didn't know about them!
I really like these!! I have never drawn anything political, though I write a whole lot of political stuff now. The only time I wondered about the morality of client work was making labels for alcoholic drinks, seeing as my father had struggled for decades with alcohol abuse. But finally I had concluded that that’s a reductionist view of things. The reason my father struggled with substance abuse is because he was autistic with no diagnosis and no parental support, not because all alcohol should be banned. I wouldn’t do work for gun manufacturers, but I doubt they commission a lot of illustrations….
Oh, yes, that must have been a difficult one - especially with such a strong personal perspective, rather than more abstract principles. Oh, guns. I feel that would definitely be one of my lines. But I honestly don't know for sure how I would react in a real situation. What amount of money would push me to erase that line, if any? And, yeah, gun manufacturers probably aren't commissioning a tonne of illustration, so hopefully it won't come up. (That said, I could totally see some aspirational guns prettified with florals - like the Smeg Dolce & Gabbana range, but not quite so in your face. Hope I didn't just put an idea in someone's head there!)
Very early in my freelance career, I worked doing live illustration - my first posting was on a mural for a tobacco corporation and a few years later, for a global corporation having a meeting on how to market bottled water in developing nations. It was eye opening and somewhat shocking, but also very fascinating. I hope I’d have the courage of my convictions these days to refuse such jobs, but there are so many grey areas in everything, aren’t there!
Sorry, Caroline. I just spotted that I never replied to this, and I remember reading it, so maybe I wrote a comment and it didn't post.
That must have been hard, though also a real test of your skills. I frequently wonder how I would react if asked to work on something that doesn't really fit my principles - or something that was really strongly against them. I hope the latter would be a big NO, but the former might be a think it over situation, especially if there was no other work on at the time and no buffers in the bank!
I love seeing others' political art, but my illustration is rarely political. I'm less worried about turning away clients and more worried that situations are more nuanced than I understand, if that makes sense? I think the existence of political art is great and has helped me make sense of concepts that I didn't quite grasp, or look into things I wasn't knowledgeable about.
Oh yes, I understand that. There are often times when I feel I would like to make some kind of commentary or statement and really fear that it's not my place and that I could make things worse and then, if I get to the point where I feel OK about it, I have then lost the need. There are some things that I feel unequivocable about and I think those I am usually comfortable sharing, but often I don't feel I can.
I love your illustration of the tears coming off the American flag! I personally love political illustration and I have tried it but I can't seem to get past the sketch phase. I've only just started to relaunch my illustration career, and in children's books, so it didn't even occur to me that it might turn off potential clients. After some thought, I decided I wouldn't want to work with people like that anyway!
Thank you. Oh yes, well, it doesn't seem to have harmed Oliver Jeffers! And if you are open enough about it, then hopefully you won't be put in the awkward position of someone asking you to do something you wouldn't want to.
That's a good point, it actually might not be bad to scare away potential clients! And I'll have to check out Oliver Jeffers’ political illustrations, I didn't know about them!
I really like these!! I have never drawn anything political, though I write a whole lot of political stuff now. The only time I wondered about the morality of client work was making labels for alcoholic drinks, seeing as my father had struggled for decades with alcohol abuse. But finally I had concluded that that’s a reductionist view of things. The reason my father struggled with substance abuse is because he was autistic with no diagnosis and no parental support, not because all alcohol should be banned. I wouldn’t do work for gun manufacturers, but I doubt they commission a lot of illustrations….
Oh, yes, that must have been a difficult one - especially with such a strong personal perspective, rather than more abstract principles. Oh, guns. I feel that would definitely be one of my lines. But I honestly don't know for sure how I would react in a real situation. What amount of money would push me to erase that line, if any? And, yeah, gun manufacturers probably aren't commissioning a tonne of illustration, so hopefully it won't come up. (That said, I could totally see some aspirational guns prettified with florals - like the Smeg Dolce & Gabbana range, but not quite so in your face. Hope I didn't just put an idea in someone's head there!)
Lol let’s hope they’re not on SubStack 😅
Very early in my freelance career, I worked doing live illustration - my first posting was on a mural for a tobacco corporation and a few years later, for a global corporation having a meeting on how to market bottled water in developing nations. It was eye opening and somewhat shocking, but also very fascinating. I hope I’d have the courage of my convictions these days to refuse such jobs, but there are so many grey areas in everything, aren’t there!
Sorry, Caroline. I just spotted that I never replied to this, and I remember reading it, so maybe I wrote a comment and it didn't post.
That must have been hard, though also a real test of your skills. I frequently wonder how I would react if asked to work on something that doesn't really fit my principles - or something that was really strongly against them. I hope the latter would be a big NO, but the former might be a think it over situation, especially if there was no other work on at the time and no buffers in the bank!
Ha ha, easily done!
There was a lot of diplomacy in my drawing that day!
And yes, money alas is the clincher on a lot of jobs 😓 …but there’s always insight to be had being on ‘the inside’….