Kendra: I love writing, but illustration will always be my favorite part of the Brown Daily Herald. I think the illustrators are so talented, and I love seeing what they produce, and I’m just so passionate about it. I really think it is one of the most under-appreciated sections of the Herald.
Narrator: Welcome back to the Bruno Brief. My name is Diya Khetan and I’m a podcast host at The Herald. This week, we’ll be speaking with Kendra Eastep, illustration chief and senior staff writer for Arts & Culture to hear about the illustration process and her experience as both an artist and writer for The Herald.
Kendra began illustrating for The Herald the spring of her first year and became illustration chief her Sophomore fall. Here’s Kendra.
Kendra: For me, art is a hobby, and I knew that if I didn’t do The Herald, I would think to myself, I’m too busy to do art, so The Herald was a nice way to keep myself accountable and to keep drawing.
Narrator: Every story published in The Herald is accompanied by at least one piece of media — usually an illustration or a photo. Illustrators sign up to draw for pieces and are given prompts from the writer to guide their drawing.
Kendra: Usually there’s a specific blurb of what the author wants. I think the section editor and writer talk about what kind of illustration they want, and they usually give some vague idea about either the thesis of the paper or what they’re looking for. So I’ll look up reference pictures, and then I’ll put them all on my desktop, compile them and then just try to mesh it all together. Usually I do a quick sketch, and then I kind of treat it like a painting where I just block color on top of it … even though it is like a digital medium, I approach it with a very painting technique.
Narrator: Kendra mostly does digital illustrations because they are most convenient.
Kendra: I’m on a time crunch, usually, because it’s a bit time consuming doing both illustration and writing.
Narrator: Last semester, Kendra began writing for The Herald, while maintaining her position as illustration chief.
Kendra: I decided to start writing because I’m obviously in the office a lot. I go to the weekly meetings, and I was just curious. So I decided to do the new writer training, and then I got a text saying, ’Do you want to write an article for Arts & Culture?’ And I at the time, wanted to review the Pink Pantheress album, which was the first article that I did.
Narrator: This article was the start to Kendra’s work as a simultaneous writer and illustrator for The Herald.
Kendra: I remember thinking to myself, ’Why would I use a courtesy photo, when I could just make an illustration?’
Narrator: Since then, Kendra has written various articles within Arts & Culture as a senior staff writer. She also contributes at least one illustration every week and manages illustration assignments as illustration chief. Balancing the two roles and maintaining an even workload can be challenging.
Kendra: Sometimes I feel like I’m doing a lot and I’m in the office, but it’s for one part of my job and not the second part. If anything, this whole process has just been a lesson in time management, because it is hard having a week to create a full length illustration and then a full length article.
Narrator: Despite being a time-consuming combination, Kendra enjoys both roles and how they compliment each other.
Kendra: It’s nice because usually when you’re doing illustrations, you’re doing a commission for the writers. So being the writer, I’m understanding both sides.
Narrator: To Kendra, illustration can often provide more opportunities for creative freedom than writing.
Kendra: I feel like illustration, which is partly why it’s my favorite part of The Herald, is one of the most creative facets of The Herald.
Narrator: But she added that writing articles is also fulfilling.
Kendra: I actually collect my articles, so when they get printed every week, I go to the rock and I pick it up, and then I cut it out and I put it on my wall because also it is a very time consuming process, so seeing all my articles on the wall of my room is motivating to me, and it also incentivizes me, because sometimes I’ll look at the blank space and I’ll think, I could do another one. I feel like if I had just done illustration, I wouldn’t be as invested in the Brown Daily Herald, and I wouldn’t be as into the community as I am now, which is really exciting.
Narrator: Kendra still sometimes illustrates other writers’ pieces, in addition to her own. While she enjoys illustrating for other sections, like science and research, it can be less stressful to illustrate for her own articles.
Kendra: I do feel some sort of pressure when I illustrate for other people, because I want to make sure that I’m doing their article justice, and I want to make sure that I’m also capturing their thesis and their vision of what they’re trying to say, especially for opinion pieces. So I would say almost when I illustrate for myself, it’s like a treat to myself, and it’s like a treat to my article.
Narrator: One of Kendra’s priorities as illustration chief is ensuring that illustrations don’t go to waste when an article is delayed or dropped due to sourcing issues. If any articles are scrapped, the Illustration team has an archive of illustrations they try to repurpose for other articles.
Kendra: Let’s say someone drew a globe for an article, maybe an opinion piece about global politics. Maybe the next week, maybe that article got cut, and then the next week there’s an article, an article about study abroad programs. Then maybe we could reuse that globe the next week.
Narrator: Visual art can provide an important layer and context to articles.
Kendra: I think oftentimes illustration is really great for setting the mood for an article or setting a tone, especially when there’s not a clear courtesy photo that could be used.
Narrator: Illustrations tend to be used for articles with a more off-campus or general scope, rather than a specific event on campus or in Providence.
Kendra: I’ve written six articles now, for the two articles that have courtesy pictures, those two were events that happened in Providence. So, for example, I did an article on the pottery at Brown exhibit, and so, of course, there were a lot of pictures of the actual art in the exhibit. I also covered Suffs with the Broadway musical that came to PPAC downtown. And there was a photo from the actual production. So I only do illustrations when I do a review of media. So for example, yesterday, I illustrated "One Battle After Another." So I drew Leonardo DiCaprio. So usually I like to do it when it’s either an artist or an album or a movie, versus something that is happening and could be taken a photo of in the local area.
Narrator: Most of the illustration team are RISD students, including Kendra’s co-chief Isabela Guillen.
Kendra: It’s so fun seeing the diverse array of illustrations, because a lot of people do lean into more realism, but a lot of people are a lot more abstract. They’re more creative. They’ll really play around with different compositions, and it’s really fun to see. That’s why I get so excited every time I get an email of a new illustration in, because when I click it, I genuinely don’t know what I’m going to see.
Narrator: Kendra, thank you so much for joining us today and telling us about your roles as a writer and artist at The Herald.
Next week, join us to hear how The Herald and our creative non-fiction magazine, post-, develop our daily crossword puzzles.
Thanks again for tuning in to the Bruno Brief. Today’s episode was produced, edited and scripted by Rachel Wicker, Diya Khetan and Talia LeVine. If you like what you hear, subscribe to the Bruno Brief wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week.
