Current Magazine

Editorial Illustrations

I have been working with Kelly Martin, once art director for Government Executive Magazine for a long time. Recently, he has been working with Current Magazine, a trade magazine for Public Media out of American University in Washington, DC. He and his colleague Chris Campbell are charged with designing the monthly magazine. Here are two assignments that I did during the pandemic and it’s after-math.

In the March 2021 issue of Current Magazine, the cover article focused in on ways to get new sponsorship and avenues for funding growth during and through the pandemic.

The cover illustration sketch that was approved by the editors focused on paving new media outlets for future growth during the pandemic. I illustrated an individual placing tiles on a path for future growth. Each tile represented various advertising and public media from podcasts to radio and television. The inside spot focused on the different sponsors and funding that public media uses and the ups and downs of receiving funding and getting funding sources.

The vibrant palette and diverse characters displaying the editorials’ points were well received by the magazine, art directors and editors.

In December of 2022, I was asked again to illustrate the cover editorial for Current Magazine. Chris Campbell was the art director and after reviewing the editorial piece we focused in on the hardship of maintaining a DEIB focused campaign within the public media industry. Burn out and blocks to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging since the George Floyd incident within head groups were evident. The road to inclusion is hard to build but there are signs of growth.

With the concept of a DEIB journey throughout the illustration sketches the editors picked the two that represented the hardships and work that DEIB takes within organizations in the public media industry. The willingness to tackle the complex issues within the organization is commendable but not without hardships and blocades. This resonated in my images.

Using vibrant colors and diverse characters working together in the illustrations, I received great compliments from the editors and art directors on the illustrations.