3.1 Research Task 

A reportage case study 


Veronica Lawler 



What strikes me first of all about Veronica Lawler's illustrations is the energy in each sketch. Rather that being drawing into the details, I am first overcome by the speed of the scenes. expressionistic realism of the real life chaos that plays out every day. Reflections of the energy and the ever evolving atmosphere of a place and a moment.  

When I look at the figures, they are created using black line. The lie appears continuous, perhaps this is due to the speed of the memory collecting, the pen doesn't appear to leave the page. Postures and mannerisms are collected within this continuous line. The figures are largely back and white, they stand out this way. In many of Lawler's reportage illustrations, figures are plentiful. In that snapshot of time, Lawler has been effectively able to collect an entire street of visual information. Not all figures have facial features, Lawler seems to save this detail for this figures at the forefront of the sketches. 

The backgrounds of the scenes are collected in different ways. For larger buildings, and in parts, Lawler uses black line to create blocks and then layers these blocks. These areas appear big and simplistic. In other areas, smaller details are collected, windows and guttering, symbols on buildings, doors. There are areas of vibrant colour that add energy to the scenes, this vivid colour adds to the busy atmosphere. I think only colouring in sections of the illustrations is a clever move as it almost makes the black and white more striking, unusual as I would have guessed it to be the other way. The black and white is where the viewer finds the figures. Sometimes it is just the sky in colour, what appears to be a watercolour wash, in other illustrations it is parts of building and sky. The illustrations look complete, even though only partly coloured. 

The 9/11 reportage illustrations have a different tone. There are speedy pencil drawings, ink drawings with brown watercolour washes. Billows of smoke has been captured using what appears to be the flat of a pencil pressed hard against the paper. I can imagine in such an intense situation, Lawler was working hard to capture what she could in the quickest way possible. Yet the chaos and anguish is there too, figures looking on, moving speedily with phones to ears. The atmosphere and energy is all of the scene, it consumes the viewer, I feel the intensity and see the smoke as it rises around the line drawings. 

The broken towers have been diarised with thick ink line and a spontaneous and continuous line of what appears to be brown watercolour. The structure is realistic and believable. The devastation has been caught on a sheet of paper. 

Lawler works as if her sketches were living diaries. expressionistic realism. 


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