Study Task 1- Image, Idea, Context

This post concerns two images I find to be highly effective pieces of illustration. They are both by Ralph Steadman, an extremely prolific and significant artist and illustrator whose work is wildly energetic and expressive and who happens to be one of my favourite illustrators. They both concern the same subject matter, homeless people on the streets of New York (created in 1970). The inspiration arose from real homeless people he encountered on a visit there, at a stage in his career when he was looking to add conviction to his work, a self-assuredness he felt he had lost through several years of political cartooning. Initially it was his intention to take a thousand photos of New York, so that he might have a huge catalogue from which to draw. He was fascinated by the notion that one could capture and retain such spontaneous moments from everyday life.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a good quality copy of the second image as I originally saw these in a documentary film about Steadman on Youtube-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfB7FcCpYm4 (the link starts at 14 minutes in for some reason so just take it back to the beginning).

 The way in which the first image is scrawled across the page, creates a terrific sense of motion which alludes to the spontaneity of the act, the homeless man trying to keep up with other pedestrians as they rush past, appearing only at the peripheries of their awareness and extending a feeble arm. It feels very much like you are there yourself, having just glanced to your right and finding him having skulked up to you without you noticing. 

The character in the second image seems at odds with the first, a bolder and more intrusive presence which is accentuated by the breach of the border by his outstretched hand, directly addressing the viewer. Both of these works, I feel, present raw and honest depictions, decidedly affecting and drenched in misery.