Exercise: Getting the gist

This is the editorial I chose to read, its a topic that I'm deeply saddened by and very interested in. Its all about the conflict in Yemen. I could not find the author of this piece of investigative journalism but it was published on the Guardian's website. I read it once on the website then brought into Blogger to highlight the keywords.

The suffering of civilians in Yemen is not only the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It is a crime. Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman says her country is being “systematically destroyed”. Half of the country’s 22 million inhabitants are on the brink of starvation; 1.8 million children are severely malnourished. For many it is already too late. The United Nations predicts this could become the worst famine for a century. There were warnings of famine before the war broke out almost four years ago; even then, Yemen imported almost all of its food. Conditions have since deteriorated unimaginably.

The official death toll has been stuck at 10,000 for years; some estimate the true tally at over five times that number. The World Health Organisation warned last month that reports of cholera were running at 10,000 cases a week. The country has become a “chaos state”: a nominal entity rather than a meaningful one. A conflict that began when the Saudi- and Emirati-led coalition took on Houthi rebels who had overthrown the internationally recognised president has splintered and spiralled, fuelling extremism and a southern separatist movement. These factors – and the spread of a lucrative war economy – mean peace prospects are more dire than ever. Violence has intensified since the unexpected US call for a ceasefire last month. With fighting flaring in the critical port of Hodeidah this week, the UN envoy delayed planned talks until the end of the year.

The Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have blocked and siphoned off aid, used civilians for cover, and this week stationed fighters at a hospital (since withdrawn) leaving only one functioning medical facility in Hodeidah. But it is the coalition that is blockading the port, through which 80% of imports once came, and that is carrying out the massive air strikes. And it is the coalition that enjoys western support. Even the strike that killed 40 children on a school bus – using a US bomb – had little impact. It took the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul to push Washington into issuing the ceasefire call. Yet the Trump administration, transfixed by its enmity with Iran, wants an end to conflict only when it suits its Saudi and Emirati allies. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi say they want a settlement, but their push into Hodeidah suggests they hope to come to the table as victors. They have a history of wildly overestimating their prospects in Yemen. Many think they could take Hodeidah in weeks, and then push on to Sana’a. But even the latter’s capture would probably push the war into a new, perhaps equally devastating, phase.

The Houthis have unrealistic demands, but it isn’t surprising they want a halt to attacks on the port before they sit down. This weekend’s news that the US will cease refuelling Saudi planes looks more like an attempt to head off growing pressure. While unclassified overt support might end, secret covert US support, like that unearthed on Saturday, could increase. The administration is reportedly considering designating the Houthis a terrorist organisation. That would hardly encourage them to join talks; worse, it risks increasing civilian suffering by making it harder for groups to work in Houthi-controlled areas. And starting talks, though tough in itself, will be infinitely easier than bringing them to a successful conclusion.

Britain is at least inching towards a stronger stance, having finally ended its opposition to the UN security council tabling a resolution designed to put pressure on Saudi Arabia and the Houthis to end the fighting and allow aid through. The shift is welcome, and long overdue. But until we stop selling arms and sharing intelligence, we remain complicit. This is our crime too.

The words I chose to highlight were
- Humanitarian crisis
- crime
- brink of starvation
- children
- too late
- cholera
- fueling extremism
- lucrative war economy
- siphoned off aid
- civilians for cover
- blockading the port
- Jamal Khashoggi

What I then did is take those words and select the most important to represent the editorial, these will be the basis for my illustration.

- Humanitarian crisis
- children
- brink of starvation
- lucrative war economy
- Jamal Khashoggi

The war in Yemen has caused so much civilian suffering, it's devastating. The official death toll is said to be 10,000 but experts say they think the death toll could be 56,000. One of the biggest victims of this conflict are children. Before the conflict, Yemen imported almost all of its food and supplies. This conflict has seen their only port bombed 9 times and blockaded by Saudi Arabia. It's a complicated conflict and there is no clear bad and good side. The shocking factor is the impact on children, it's unacceptable for children to be on the brink of starvation and the country to be almost in a famine. Aid is being syphoned off and civilians are being used as cover. They're pawns in this war and there is no justice for them especially when it comes to the government, that's why I have highlighted the name Jamal Khashoggi, it was his murder that prompted the cease-fire. This was a positive outcome however as the editorial said, 40 children were murdered on a school bus, that's just one of many of the atrocities committed on children. There was no cease-fire called after that, this one man's life sparked a cease-fire, because of his job and status he was more important than the thousands of civilians. 

The next part of the exercise had me sketch out an illustration to go along with the text. The biggest focus on the text is to do with the civilians and how much suffering and pain they're going through at the hands of these evil people.

I like to sketch out small size thumbnails as I can get the idea down without requiring too much detail. I did 6 until on the last one I found my favourite. With ideas, I never just like to jump to the first one, even if I think that in the moment, that's the best i'm going to think of, I always surprise myself and find a new idea that I then think is the best thing since sliced bread and so on.

My first thumbnail sketch is of a Yemeni child with a price tag on his head that said "worthless" and then Jamal Khashoggi with a price tag that said "cease-fire". The idea was that it reflected the reaction of the death of these two people to the US government. Civilians are dying every day but with little to no response and then one Saudi journalist is killed and there are calls for a cease-fire. I feel the thought process here is so problematic and is literally putting values on peoples heads, hence the price tags. I also wanted them to loosely represent the lucrative war economy that is fueling this conflict and how through arms trade, money is being made on the back of civilian deaths. 

These two thumbnail sketches follow the idea that civilians are being pushed into starvation by war and that it was never there choice. In the illustration, they're on the edge of a cliff which is there struggle and the bottom of the cliff is starvation and death. In the top thumbnail I have written the word "Starvation" but in the bottom on I used a pile of bones and then had the civilians turn into skeletons as they fall. I also used a tank to represent war instead of the fighting soilders in the top one.

I wanted to also try and illustrate something that didn't feature Yemen in physically. I chose to focus on Donald Trump who is a huge player in the war and funds the Saudi and Emirati led coalition. He wants to let the war end on the coalition's terms because that would lead to more conflict with the rebels who are backed by Iran. The US and Iran have a long feud with each other and Donald Trump refuses to put that behind him for the sake of the immense loss of human life and the damage it's doing to the country of Yemen. This is pettiness that has no place in politics, I chose to illustrate Trump as if he was a child saying "But I don't like Iran" 

This is the final thumbnail sketch and the one that I sketched out bigger on the first image I included. This is my favourite out of all of them because I feel it loses a lot of metaphorical meaning and takes a real look into the life in Yemen. It portrays a malnourished child desperately reaching to a worktop for an apple core, at this point he would happily just have the core. However, he is overlooking a physically barricaded port with two ships that say "Food" and "Aid" attempting to get into the country. This illustrates the harrowing reality for people in Yemen especially children.

This was the final illustration that I produced. I tried to focus on adding as much as extra detail as possible, most of this was with the wood but also in the water. I wanted to add layers of colour to avoid looking flat. I think I achieved the impact I wanted to with my illustration. As much as its a very literal look into the life of a child in Yemen I have used a simpler representation of the blockade, I know the blockade is physical but I used fences and landmines to convey a blockade. I think this method is more impactful to a large audience. The idea of the illustration is that whilst there are children with nothing and desperate for food, there is food that could reach them that physically can't in an effort to score points in a pointless war.

In conclusion, I feel this exercise made me think deeper into illustration and how to convey emotion using this tool. This final piece had a different purpose to the other illustrations I had produced. Instead of its merit being in its physical appearance it needed to have a message woven inside of it. I think this is a really important branch of illustration and one I've temporarily enjoyed delving into. I like the idea of designing for a bigger purpose, something that can attempt to raise awareness and make a difference. I think the way it does that is through emotion, it can be really eye-opening for people as to what's going on around them.

If I was to do this again I would probably make the appearance darker, I think it has all the main components but because it is set on the white paper it feels too bright and that can sometimes come across as friendly and safe. The opposite can be said for a piece that is dark and gloomy that can convey the very real danger in Yemen right now. It can also further the effectiveness of the illustration as no one wants to see a child suffering and in danger.