Experimenting with style / Afghanistan

Reading through the complete Graphic Works of William Blake, I was impressed with the combination of words with imagery. Especially when it comes to his illustrations relating to biblical stories. The black and white contrasts are intriguing and the composition of where he placed text as it relates to imagery reminds me of the format many graphic novels use. Reading and investigating Blake's work got me thinking about how it can enhance  where I'm at on illustrating the scrolls.

  I very seldom have used sequential art on them but have been over the last several months utilized Victor Moscoso's surrealist style. It really worked in my comparison of Woodward and Bernstein and the Watergate scandal comparing it to the Wikileaks controversy. I looked at surrealism as a way to show that our reality  when it comes to information is becoming increasingly controlled and hidden for the cause of National Security. What happens to our dreams when they are corporate controlled ? Can we ever really know what "the truth" is ?
I'm gradually experimenting more with drawing figures full bodied and not just portraits. I prefer portraits in many cases because for me it's like creating the editorial illustrations in newspapers that I've wanted to do since I was a kid. And I get to add my own articles and  written editorials.

Thinking about Blake's work when it comes to using word and text I began illustrating my thoughts on a situation in Afghanistan last year involving a "Kill Team" of U.S. troops that were murdering innocent Afghan civilians for sport. The Pentagon had tried to block many of the images from public view yet the images and videos have surfaced. Since it was a clear cut case of black and white murder I rendered the illustrations using black ink except in parts where red ink was needed.   Of course as I was working on this part, the song, Let's See How Far We've Come" by Matchbox 20 kept playing in my head.

   


As I've worked on it and researched what happened, I keep in mind that this kind of thing leads to immediate challenges to me to consider what "they" do to our troops, and how it could be interpreted as being unpatriotic by going there. Yet at this point I want to continue only looking at what the war has cost people and our culture and explore what it can do to individuals directly impacted by corporations and the military.