Editorial Season

Dynamic storytelling and 'fact-checked' dreams

Exploring the use of motion illustration in the online editorial sphere, Derek Brazell talks to art directors and illustrators, discussing why motion is used, what commissioners are looking for, what brings illustrators to motion work and how they manage these types of commissions. 

Stars twinkle across a night sky, flames leap off burning money, mature yoga practitioners let off a parp, atmospheric lights glow on and off forever. Just as with static illustration, animations created for editorial publications and platforms cover a vast range of subjects attracting the reader?s eye ? and with motion that eye may be even more engaged, entertained or informed.  

There are endless ways to create a visual narrative, and while these are inventively captured in still illustration, the addition of moving elements can extend a narrative creating a desire to know where that visual moment is going. A vignette with a beginning, middle and end, even if the main elements of the image do not change substantially, engages our desire for a story that is only sated if we keep looking to see where that story is going.  

Much artwork requires an element of technical skill, and motion work can become more technically challenging the more sophisticated the visual is. Currently an increasing number of illustrators are exploring the potential of motion in their work and those who may have just started out, alongside those who have been animating for some time, are producing gripping motion images which more than fulfil the requirements of online editorial platforms nowadays. 

 

Why motion?

What are the benefits of animation for editorial clients? Clearly any image that moves is going to catch the eye of online readers, but animations can serve different purposes for different topics. 

Usually the decision to commission a motion piece is determined by a combination of factors ranging from subject matter and type of audience to budget and team expertise. ?As key/title art, moving images are very successful at capturing attention in a busy digital landscape,? says freelance art director, Una Jani?ijevi?, ?Within a long-form storytelling setting (such as Huff Post?s Highline) moving images tend to reward the reader, and often function to highlight key concepts or reveal additional layers of information.? 

Una?s use of images by Rebecca Yanovskaya moving in planes rather than being ?animated? demonstrates this very effectively for a story on white collar crime, with the images leading through sections of the article. 

For Lesley Palmer, Art Director at The Ethel ? a platform created to give older women an empowering, expressive voice ? movement brings more emotion and relatability to the characters being illustrated. ?With a flat illustration you can convey one facial expression, but with motion you can tell a broader story. For me, slight motion can be as effective as notable motion, but it?s always more successful when it has a purpose.? 

In the case of a practical ?how-to? story the use can be utilitarian; ?Think about how successful YouTube tutorials have become for the amateur, novice and sometimes professional individual searching to fix something themselves,? says Dian Holton, Senior Deputy Art Director at AARP Media, who oversees creative forTheGirlfriend.com, Sistersletter.com and The?Ethel, ?An animated step-by-step can show someone how to perform a certain exercise, change a bulb, filet a fish, etc. It can help one visualize a paint colour in a room, or what a certain dress silhouette may look on diverse body types.? 

Publications may utilise an image as both static and moving. ?It?s an ongoing project to make illustrations work both online and in print,? says Sarah Habershon of The Guardian. And as The New York Times Art Director Corinne Myller points out in our Editorial podcast, as so many of the newspaper?s subscribers pay for the digital edition and newsletters, motion ?is something people expect and want.?

This use across multiple platforms can in turn influence how illustrators work on their images. It is a trend illustrator Carl Burton has noticed affecting the process of composition. ?When making something,? he observes, ?it has to work in several different formats for web/mobile/social media. So, you need to compose images to be very centred in a ?safe area? that can then be cropped down into very different sized frames.? And, he points out, the number of these format destinations seems to keep increasing.

How Art Directors find illustrators 

Encouragingly, while Art directors will find motion illustrators by searching through all available avenues, even unexpected ones, it is not always essential to have motion work on display to catch their attention. 

?I?ve sourced artists in all the usual places,? Dian Holton details, ?artist rep agencies (website, e-blasts, social media), Behance, other media publications platforms (websites and social media), industry organizations (event or contest promotions), jurying and lastly just scrolling through content on Instagram and Twitter.?  

Lesley Palmer recognises that many illustrators are already experimenting with motion, ?some more developed and others in the early stages. There?s no specific way I look for motion illustrators any differently. We have encouraged illustrators to try motion who normally don?t, or don?t have it on their portfolio sites.? Dian will also encourage artists who traditionally work in analogue to try motion, ?But I but don?t judge them if they can?t or won?t. I think some of them are asking for permission or assume that I wouldn?t be open to it. ?Shoot your shot? as the kids say.?

Searching for unusual work, Antonio de Luca, Art Director at The New York Times will check out Instagram, ?but I also look to NFT marketplaces for animated artwork. NFT marketplaces feel like Tumblr, these artworks would never find themselves in our social feeds. They are so raw and random.? 

For Una?s digital storytelling commissions, more often than not, still images are animated through a collaboration between an illustrator, art director and developer/motion graphic designer, ?The selection of an illustrator is first and foremost based on the suitability of the visual and conceptual style.? 

What are ADs looking for in an artist?s portfolio? 

Many illustrators approach a wide range of subject matter within their images, although