The Mario Blog

04.07.2014—1am    Post #1901
When an illustration is what the story calls for……

TAKEAWAY: Sometimes it is an illustration that best presents the subject visually. This week, the Gulf News previews the Indian elections with some first rate illustrations of the candidates.

Power of illustration

TAKEAWAY: Sometimes it is an illustration that best presents the subject visually. This week, the Gulf News previews the Indian elections with some first rate illustrations of the candidates.

Indeed, a picture often is the equivalent of a thousand words.

Sometimes, however, an illustration is what sets the mood, seduces us to read the text and gives the page its own distinct personality.

Perhaps it is because I can’t do it myself, but I have always been impressed and in awe of the illustrators that I have come in contact with. Their talent and creativity contribute to that special surprise element for stories and/or pages that would have never been the same without the presence of an illustration.

At the Gulf News of Dubai this week, a preview of the upcoming Indian elections called upon the talents of Ramachandra Babu,

Senior illustrator, to present us with the images of the candidates.

The Indian general election will be held in nine phases, the longest election in the country’s history, from 7 April to 12 May 2014.

Here’s how illustrator Babu saw the assignment:

As part of the Indian Election special, we decided to have caricatures of the Chief Ministers of states with the largest number of seats to make a significance in the election. Then to illustrate them according to their propaganda in this election, as an example the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha with the highly subsidized food chain.

The one who doesn’t have any we thought to go with their eminent gestures, as you see the person on the snail; known for his notorious slowness in decision making.

Gulf News Design Director Miguel Gomez has sent me the pages, where we see that the design remains consistent for each candidate. It is the illustration that surprises and creates a distinction.

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