Artwork Commentary: The Face Of the Story

For this project, I was tasked with illustrating a magazine cover based off an article. The three articles I chose were:

• "Could These Jumping Mice Solve Change How Astronauts Exercise?"

• "Breaking Old Assumptions: Land Life Bounced Back Sooner Than Expected Post-Extinction"

• "RNA Editing Hits the Clinic, Fueling New Hope For Rare and Common Disease"

We ended up choosing the last one- as it sounded most like a cover story. And thus, thumbnailing began.

Thumbnailing was by far the roughest part of this piece- as I wanted to reference science and DNA in a more whimsical way without showing a literal RNA strand- but the messaging kept getting too mixed up with other elements. I had the idea for the flowers coming out of the RNA strand in the beginning- but wanted it to be last resort in case I came across something new for me to draw that weren't flowers. Alas, one of my first ideas was my strongest, and so I had to quickly render this one to meet the deadline.

I chose flowers that represented opportunity, hope, and perseverance. I also chose fruits to dedicate to the hard work that scientists put in to be able to make this discovery. I made the DNA coil around the text so it can be placed without confusion.

I wanted my color comps to feel hopeful and positive- so I tried a lighter background, but it started looking too much like a Homegoods-type magazine rather than something science-y. The second comp was closer, but the overlay made it look too dour. So, I chose the yellow and white flowers and removed the overlay on those to give a feeling of hope peeking through the darkness.

The Final Piece!