Editorial Illustration

Words Kill. Photo Illustration.

Hanover, Pennsylvania freshman Alexis Belker poses in the Wightman Journalism Studio on Sunday, December 5, 2016. Bullying is one of the most common reasons people commit suicide. Everything we say has a meaning and a purpose, and those meanings could be misinterpreted by others.

I had the white backdrop behind Alexis, a soft box to her front left, and a back light behind her and to the right for this photo as well. This topic is something I am insanely passionate about so I was more than excited to come up with an idea to represent it. I ended up taking a photo of a gun and then tracing that out in indesign. I then filled it with insults to represent the fact that words make up a majority of the reason that people are hurt mentally and physically. I added a drop shadow and then created a folder of it so I could have the pdf version. Once I got Alexis’s picture taken and toned I put that in photoshop along with the word gun. I made copies of her fingers so it would look as if she is holding the words and then filled in her hands with shadows.