SubscribeVegetarian Times, Weight Gain Pitfalls
A great assignment I finished recently was a piece for Vegetarian Times. This story was about weight gain pitfalls associated with vegetarianism. Some of which are:
- Focusing on what you’re cutting out of your diet instead of looking at the wonderful things you can put into it,
- Overly refined diets (think refined sugars and carbs — giant plate of pasta),
- Fake meat (um, gross) instead of mostly veggies and fruits,
- Eating on the fly (not ordering healthfully when out to eat), and
- Clueless about cooking (takeout, etc).
The article was just wonderful. (I recommend picking up a copy of the mag!)
I usually send the Art Director 2 or 3 sketches to choose from, complete with descriptions and my reasoning behind each one. But this time I sent 5. I guess this story just really inspired me. And I don’t normally do this, but I thought I’d show my sketches and thoughts here, too. (This was a spread, meaning the illustration spanned two pages. The illo mainly on the left and the article title and lead in copy on the right.)
1. Diet traps… this little guy is being trapped by processed food.
2. Healthy composition showing the balanced diet to good vegetarian eating.
3. Diving into vegetarianism… but not in a healthy way. This shows fast food (fries are vegetarian right?!) and a sea of junk (chips, cola, poptarts) which can cause weight gain.
4. Plate pitfalls… each of the plates depicts one of the pitfalls in the article.
5. The zen approach… showing a woman eating a healthy, well balanced meal. (mmm… eggplant, roasted veggies and brown rice!)
They chose the last one, and I went to final with that sketch. Here’s how it turned out:
Click the image to view larger.
And here is the spot that went later in the article, showing goodies every veggie cook should have on hand in their pantry.
I love them, and it’s really interesting to see the selection / process.
By the way I know we have babies very similar in age. Was wondering if you had any tips for keeping them out of mischief when they are crawling! Probably you don’t have a messy husband like mine, so not so much difficulty, but anyway if you have anything to say about it I’d love to hear it :)
I am so looking forward to seeing this piece in the magazine. LOVE Vegetarian Times and your artwork to boot. This series looks beautiful.
it’s fun to see your sketches. Love the final product!
oh these are soooooo beautiful hon!
Hi Lucia,
Oh yes. I hear you on the messy husband thing. hee. I have one too. :) As far as keeping crawlers out of mischief, I have no ideas, except for baby proofing the house. We took out all the breakable and books and little decorative things and Veda pretty much can crawl anywhere and not get into too much trouble. We also covered outlets of course. And have a toy basket for her in the middle of the room so she knows where her homebase is. Does that help? I’m sure other people probably have better ideas? :)
thanks for sharing the process I think I will pick up the mag, I have been thinking about being mostly veggie again but I struggle because I can’t eat much soy if any and I don’t like all the processed crap it seems to sort of defeat the idea of it all. Thanks for sharing :)