This article is reprinted with permission from West Brunswick High School West Wind

Art has been a major interest of mine throughout my life, though I’ve never had the opportunity to use it academically until I joined Journalism. In class, I create a visual narrative that works hand-in-hand with the stories and reports created by my peers. While these titles and graphics help readers to visualize the information in a more digestible way, you may be asking yourself: what is the creative process and why are these illustrations important?

Before coming up with sketches and ideas for your artwork, one of the most important steps of my process is collaboration. To understand exactly what the story needs and what the writer expects of you, you need to communicate and ask questions. It’s vital to brainstorm with your peers and get feedback to refine your concepts and make changes, which ensures that your imagery will align with the text.

Once I have a specific idea, I move onto producing a digital mockup. Personally, I use an app called Procreate to sketch out my image before adding details, touching up lineart, adding color, and even creating textures. All of these elements work together to bring a piece of artwork to life, though it’s important to remember the tone of the article and match this to your design. Once my artwork is complete, and I have no other feedback, I export it and share it with my peers who work to finalize the articles you read here and in the print magazine.

So why do we need graphics when telling a story? One answer to this question would be audience engagement. Let’s face it, not many people today care to read a lengthy article unless they–or their friends–are in it. By adding a visual component in your article, you can attract attention and make a reader want to look deeper into a topic. Additionally, the graphics themselves can break up lengthy text to make stories easier to read, and they can show key concepts or points made within the article that readers can look back on.

Through my involvement in Journalism, I’ve experienced a lot of personal growth. While I stated that art had been a major influence in my life, I haven’t been able to create works consistently in years. Art had become a chore for me since I found it hard to create original ideas on my own. Through this class, I’ve learned to actively brainstorm and talk with others to come up with those ideas instead of relying solely on myself. These exercises have made the act of creation exciting and fun to me, and have fully renewed that interest I thought I lost.