Hey guys!
The Constitution Day panel, to begin with, was extremely interesting. I enjoyed how the three panelists had their own individual opinions about the prison system, but I tended to listen more to Ms. Susan Burton. Her story about how her addiction has put her back and forth behind bars, and yet managed to change her life around completely, and is helping women in a similar position she once was in. Not to mention, she experienced life in prison, which I felt was really good to listen to for this panel discussion.
This leads into the meaning of my final sketch. When Ms. Burton was talking about how she wasn't really given a fair trial, and no judge or DA saw that she had an addiction (which could have put her in a recovery house of some sort), I based my illustration for this project on that. I really wanted the struggle to be apparent, which is why the small figure about to be smashed with a gavel is looking away form the audience. Not to mention, I wanted to convey how a fair trial can make one feel minuscule in contrast to a law enforcer. In all retrospect, the law system in the United States is flawed in many ways, for I know many individuals that have been in Ms Burton's position, and I feel that this topic should be addressed.
The concept here is clever, really great job. Cropping the judges head out was good choice too, as it keeps the focus on the small figure. There are two things that are not working for me here. One is the platform that the small figure is standing on. I understand that it's the area where a gavel is struck, but it makes the figure read more as a trophy statue. The great thing about illustration is that you can communicate an idea while editing out otherwise realistic details that distract from the point; the gavel platform is a good example of this, and you should get rid of it entirely (even if that's really what a judges bench looks like, the gavel and robe are enough to make it clear). The other thing that needs to be dealt with is the blank upper left quadrant of this panel. Instead of adding anything, though, perhaps zoom in or re-crop the image as needed to evenly distribute the blank space.
ReplyDeleteOkay, cool, thank you for your input!
Delete