While visiting the NY Society of Illustrators I came across one work in particular that stood out and really spoke to me on a personal level. ‘Girlhood’ by Siobhan Gallagher is an illustration that I think a lot of people can relate to and not just women. The way that the illustration is drawn out is very unique in a kind of a newspaper comic style and it is very simplistic and straight forward and easy to understand. I related to this on a personal level because I have experienced the scenarios drawn out in the illustration; no matter what I do or how I look sometimes, somebody or everyone will outright say that I’m doing something wrong or criticize me.

The illustrator Siobhan Gallagher, graduated with a BDes from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in 2012. She has previously worked at Penguin Random House and has been featured on Bust, Us Weekly, The Huffington Post, and Refinery29. She has also won the Society of Illustrator’s Silver Medal of Excellence in the single image category for her other illustration pictured below.

From what I have gathered about Gallagher’s overall illustration style, is based a lot around her personality, inner thoughts, or even her poking fun at herself or others with relateable moments that some people may go through (i.e. the silver metal winning illustration). The illustration that I chose was a scenario that was relateable and something that a lot of people experience and think about. I think that Gallagher definitely experienced the feeling of ‘not being good enough” or as she describes in the illustration “doing something wrong”. I also think her technique is very unique since it reminds me of those little newspaper comic strips that I mentioned earlier. I also think her drawing style stands out to me because the overall drawings of the human characters are very simple but when she wants them to stand out she makes them stand out when looking through her work.

Illustration that Gallagher won a Silver Metal of Excellence for at NY Society of Illustrators: