Reportage by Bill Russell

02/13/2025

Alan E. Cober filled countless sketchbooks with delicate drawings created intuitively and compulsively, masterfully capturing his subjects through a remarkable blend of grit and beauty. His aim as a visual journalist was to be a force for change by graphically exposing the realities of our times.

The emotive power of a crow quill pen in the hand of an empathetic artist

01/23/2025

Artist and world traveler Earl Thollander was best known for his ‘Back Roads’ series of books of travel sketches and trip notes, who took archetypal journeys of both expanse and detail. He just wanted to slow down, travel, observe, appreciate and draw the world in all its diversity.

Sketching the world’s back roads and sharing the stories

01/16/2025

Amelia B. Edwards (1831-1893) journeyed up the Nile River with six other remarkable Victorian-era women, and from her journal writings and on-the-spot sketches, she published the transformative book A Thousand Miles up the Nile in 1877.

Edwards wrote with the sensitivity of an artist rather than the detachment of a scientist, especially as she bore witness to the theft and destruction of numerous ancient sites.

Remarkable journeys by an artist in the service of science and history

01/09/2025

In this 'Another Look See and Read Through', I revisit courtroom drawings made by artist Franklin McMahon, including his coverage of the Emmett Till Murder Trial and the Chicago 7 Trial.

Drawing and Making History at the Emmett Till Murder Trial

01/04/2025

Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Then he played one last song, his acoustic version of ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’. It's in the new movie. With that song, and by his example he’s telling us that we can and should break with the past and create a future. And did you know Dylan could paint?

A single line from Bob Dylan's “It's All over Now, Baby Blue" portends where we are at, and what we must do.

11/10/2024

Drawing Japan - Part 2

11/10/2024

Met up with some Kimono Gals in Kyoto Botanical Gardens

11/02/2024

I reorganized my bookshelves last summer. I love books but I have too many that don’t spark joy for me. So I'm donating them or selling them or giving them away. I also realized I have lots of books on reportage and visual journalism. Here's the first of three posts of short book reviews of those precious ones that aren’t going anywhere.... illustratedjournalism.substack.com/p/reportage-books-on-my-shelf-part

10/24/2024

Have a look at Leon Kosoff’s drawings of post-War London for their physicality, exhilaration and angst.

Painting the city with physicality, exhilaration and angst

10/17/2024

Every October illustrator Mark Ulriksen sketches performers and spectators at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass event in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. I interviewed Mark about his process.

Drawing from the crowd at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

10/10/2024

Picture Australian artist Frank Hodgkinson propped up in his dugout canoe feverishly sketching away, dipping his brush into the muddy Sepik River in New Guinea, and producing not only a sketchbook but a confessional diary and scientific journal.

A journey up New Guinea’s Sepik River made more vivid through word and image

10/03/2024

After a successful illustration career, Japanese-Canadian artist Tomio Nitto is now happy to just stroll through Toronto observing and sketching.

The artist strolls through the city like a Zen monk, observing and capturing the essence of places and things in his art.

09/26/2024

I don't use the the term 'visionary' lightly. But in 1962 Fortune magazine sent artist Robert Weaver on assignment to Woolworth's to create some new and inventive reportage. His preparatory work and finishes suggest he understood the value of retaining the immediacy of the moment through to final illustration.

Transposing on-site drawing to published illustration

09/19/2024

It's been seven years since six destructive fires in Northern California scorched thousands of acres and destroyed more than 5,300 homes. 43 lives were lost. We sat, listened and drew some of those affected by it. I wrote about it.

Drawing people as they tell their stories at a Remembrance event on the anniversary of the North Bay Fires

09/12/2024

Robert Michel made drawings of the hell that was Devil’s Island. René Belbenoît was able to use them in his book ‘Dry Guillotine’ because he escaped.

Depictions of life in France's harsh penal colony

08/29/2024

I write about Robert Ripley and his 'Believe It or Not!' newspaper panel, that may very well have been the precursor to today's National Enquirers, TMZs and other (dramatized) fake news.

A passion for travel, adventure, wonder and weirdness

08/22/2024

Writer Wallace Stegner called the National Parks "the best idea we ever had." For me, it's also been a great act of creativity. Celebrate the 108th birthday of the founding of the National Park Service this Sunday, August 25th. 🏞️

Why national parks are a big (and creative) idea.

08/15/2024

My collaboration with musician Brian Gore got me out of the comfort of my studio. We performed as a duo in live shows in towns around California. I projected my images and animations from my laptop to the large screen behind us. I also used my iPad as a digital sketchbook, to draw in the moment. It was improvisational and quite challenging. Here's my interview with Brian.

Musician Brian Gore and artist Bill Russell collaborate to tell California stories