Art Imitates Life - Working with Artists Using the Photo-to-Illustration Process

Summary:

The Photo-to-Illustration (PTI) process can be used to create high-quality, adaptable, and transformable images for social and behavior change programs. This process involves taking a reference photograph, tracing a line drawing, and using graphic design software to add color, shading, and patterns. The resulting images depict realistic proportions suitable for displaying technical details and can be easily adapted for multiple uses. The PTI process takes advantage of graphic technology to create, manipulate, and manage illustrations and opens possibilities for SBC professionals to develop quality materials. The PTI process also helps provide a framework for working with artists and including them in the SBC process. To orient participants to the process, we will conduct a short presentation on materials development, including a discussion of time and budget constraints. We will also discuss resources for accessing, adapting, and developing high-quality images using the PTI process. These materials include a written guide and video tutorial for image development, as well as a web-based bank of editable images.

Discussion/Implications For The Field:

The PTI process centralizes the role of art within the SBC material development process, and fosters engagement between the SBC practitioner and the artist. This is a useful approach to SBC materials development, and has the potential to save time and money in SBC programs while producing quality materials. As more programs adopt current technologies for image development and share the resulting editable images, the SBC community will have more resources available for adaptation, raising the bar for quality in SBC images and materials as a whole.

Abstract submitted by: 

Andrew Cunningham - JSI

Peggy Koniz - Booher - JSI

Victor Nolasco