Editorial illustration: an exploration of audience interaction through time and space

Editorial illustration is seeing a major shift in focus in terms of the presentation of content and the consumption of information. A rise in news sources, coupled with the plethora of platforms that present content for consumption, has increased exponentially over the last decade. This has created new opportunities for illustrators but must be seen against a complex context of disagreements about the provenance of factually accurate news and the voracity of literal and visual language employed to present ‘truth’. Crucially, editorial illustration can be a convenor of authenticity in a melting pot of viewpoints encompassing race, religion and gender. This makes the relationship between publisher, commissioner, illustrator and audience an ever-more important chain linking the consumption of news and portrayal of truth. This paper presents examples of how changing contextual environments such as augmented and virtual reality offer opportunities for editorial illustration to be seen and consumed differently. Challenges exist for illustrators to make work using AR and VR, posing questions about what we now understand as environment. The printed page, and the resulting distance between image and reception of audience, has been augmented by digital platforms. No longer can illustrators expect the closure of an image in published printed form, but rather a continued dialogue between creators and readers or audiences in emerging digital environments. Continued dialogues use sensory engagement with content that can be aural and haptic to envelop audiences, both through the image and the contextualizing environment, which creates an ongoing conversation. The paper draws examples from the most progressive creators and publishers of editorial content that push current boundaries of the form. The author explains changes in engagement with content, offers insights into the professional development of illustrators and suggests academic positions for critics to engage with these new editorial illustration outputs in interactive environments.