Editorial Illustrations for Earthjustice
The Portrait Sketches
Before the Inland Empire was razed for warehouses, it was covered by groves of orange trees. This sketch recalls that history, placing a diorama of orange trees inside a cardboard box. The box, which represents the packages shipped by these warehouses, is like an open mouth devouring the past and the environment. It’s held by Anthony Victoria-Midence, who shows the viewer what’s happening to the lands where he lives.
The Spot Illustration Sketches
To highlight Anthony Victoria-Midence’s role as a local leader, this sketch places him front and center with a determined look on his face. Behind Anthony are rows of protesters in homage to the real-life protests against the construction of warehouses. The protestors are depicted in cardboard brown to draw extra attention to the full-color subject and to evoke the boxes flowing into and out of these warehouses.
With the branches of an orange tree coming out of a megaphone, this illustration evokes what protestors are fighting for—a healthy, natural environment.
Working with Earthjustice filled me with more joy than a kid in a candy shop. The organization asked me to illustrate one of ten stories they were writing about “climate and intersectional justice.” The story I was assigned examined the impacts of giant warehouses, for stores like Amazon, being built in California’s Inland Empire. I was asked to do a portrait of local activist Anthony Victoria-Midence as well as a spot illustration.
I chose to do this project in watercolor. Hand-done work centers humanity in the face of faceless businesses. By using this medium, I hoped to call to mind the people big companies chose to overlook as they build behemoth warehouses.
This concept features Anthony Victoria-Midence in a gold frame at center. The frame calls to mind historical portraiture and indicates that Anthony is someone of note. He’s in front of a pack of protesters and is holding a protest sign that highlights one of the main concerns about building big warehouses: air quality. Anthony breaks the frame, indicating how he is challenging boundaries. Behind the frame are the mountains of the Inland Empire.
The power of the people. That’s what this illustration evokes. It shows a worker stepping on top of an Amazon truck and bringing it to a halt. in the background are the mountains of the Inland Empire.
By showing an inhaler on the back of a semi, this illustration speaks to the poor air quality and resulting asthma that another semi-thronged warehouse would bring to the Inland Empire.
The final illustrations
The final illustrations
Earthjustice was thrilled with the work. The only change they requested was to multiply the trucks in the spot illustration to call to mind a cargo fleet. I placed the trucks on a Warholian grid and used digital tools to recolor them. Earthjustice liked my work so much, they decided to use it in a billboard that went up around California.
