DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION GALLERY
GETS THE WORM
Gets The Worm, Valerie Caesar, 2024.
I created this illustration in response to this year’s presidential election. The lack of real choice, both from a quality-of-candidate perspective, as well as due to the machinations of the American electoral system, was so obvious, disheartening, and truly offensive to any sense of justice, morality, or hope for the future. The “Vote Early” sticker is supposed to be a badge of pride for the conscientious citizen, but here, it’s quite literally for the birds. And either way, we were going to get a worm.
This is a 4 color risograph print. You’ll notice that I often include the registration marks as part of the final image. It’s both functional and stylistic for me. For this image, I used an approach that mimicks the flatly textural background imagery often found in children’s books of the 70s and 80s, as well as a font and text placement that brings to mind elementary school primers. The idea is that bipartisan politics are a simple lesson to learn, and a tough pill to swallow. It’s also interesting to me that although the colors used here are purple and orange, the brain helps the eyes adjust to make it seem blue and red, in the presence of the sticker’s flag detail.
A CLOSER LOOK
Watch this short video at the full screen setting to view Gets The Worm in closer detail.