The Highwayman - A graphic adaptation
In 2020, as part of my Master degree thesis work, I illustrated an adaptation of Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman. With it, I submitted a paper on developing an approach of visual narration through linguistic and literary perspectives. I presented both of them in September 2020 to an academic jury and a limited audience. This adaptation was crucial to my master thesis: I drew inspiration from literary theories regarding the role of blank space in storytelling and explored a concept I then named “narrative vagrancy”.
Two years later, I lost my job as a graphic designer but gained the confidence to embark on my own path as an independant artist and designer. My first project then was to revise The Highwayman and change many of its pages to fit my new standards. I managed to publish it through a crowdfunding campaign and the support of 155 backers.
The Highwayman is drawn entirely in shades of charcoal and punctuated by touches of red which disappear entirely in the epilogue.
While reworking my portfolio last week, I decided to take new photos of The Highwayman! It was an important work to me, and I felt the previous pictures just didn't do it justice. After graduating, colours have become an essential component of my style, but the personal and academic research I started then regarding narrative blanks and negative space in illustration remains fundamental to my work.
