Illustration

Ronald Searle

Another illustrator I really like the work of is Ronald Searle, who was as well a British Illustrator. Well known for his St Trinians illustrations. His work caught my eye straight away because of his use of what looks like pen/fine liner or some sort of ink nib drawings. They appear quite sketchy, he uses as well strong washes of ink. Which is a material I really like the look of, especially the combination of washes and pen. 

The image below is a great example of this. He's used a strong ink wash behind which emphasises nicely the pillar and the characters. He's also used the wash to pick out areas of shadow - not all areas just some, that I think really bring the drawing to life. I really like his variation of thick and thin lines too which makes his illustrations more lively. He has a very strong style which I also really like. You can see his almost all his characters follow this, such as the lady on the one below, his style is quite comical the emphasised nose with the small eyes and extremely exaggerated hat. His characterisation is great. 

  

When researching more about Robert Searle himself I really got quite engrossed. To find out he was a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in world war II and documented his experience through drawings that he hid under mattresses of prisoners dying from cholera. Not only are these drawings that he would have quite probably been executed for if found but drawings that he no doubt was believing he wouldn't survive whilst drawing. He did survive luckily and so did astonishingly over 300 of his drawings. He used these drawings to depict what it was like living in the prison, to record history really. A quote on wikipedia by Searle said  "I desperately wanted to put down what was happening, because I thought if by any chance there was a record, even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on." 

The one above is a great example of the drawings he did. Even has the caption "These are the type of men who were responsible for the deaths of 13000 of our prisoners on the Thai-Burma Railway. Especially chosen for their brutality and worthlessness."
These drawings are great depiction's of character. When it comes to visual communication and observational drawing skills it's clear Ronald Searle excelled. These drawings are quite hard hitting really but really are great documentations of history. 

                                                                                                                                             The below drawing (left) I really like the use of the wash again, how he's picking out certain tones subltly. I really think it brings a simple line drawing to life.
Interestingly the one the the right below isn't ink washed. Now I don't know if this was Searles intention behind not adding a wash but really you could be interpreted on an allegorical level as the man depicted is struggling to live, lifeless, as if his life is being drained from him. So the lack of the colour wash could be because of his lack of life.