When looking at the many illustrations senior Annika Kim has created for publications, it is a common reaction to feel shocked at the sheer amount of what she has produced. She simply sees it as working on schedule.

Kim’s journey with art, specifically digital art, began before she can remember. She fondly recalls time spent doodling on her iPad. When Kim first started, she liked drawing characters and stylized objects.

“If you look at all my Rubicon illustrations, I try to use a lot of colors rather than trying to portray things realistically,” Kim said.

She characterizes her art style by its extreme colors, distinct shapes and focus on emotion. However, this was not always the case.

“When I first started out, I leaned into a more realistic [art style] even though my art is more stylized and cartoony,” Kim said.

Her journey to illustrating for publications began with the Writing for Publications class in ninth grade. This led to Kim’s first role in publications as a contributing illustrator. “My main job was just working with people from all sorts of different sections and producing graphics, and then full on illustrations,” she said.

However, what she remembers is not necessarily the drawing, but the opportunity to bring a unique idea to life. “It was one of the first times where someone was giving me their vision,” Kim said, “and then I had to kind of realize it more.” That first experience led her to create a set process for making editorial cartoons.

Kim begins with a sketch from the team working on the editorial, outlining their ideas for the cartoon. She likes to read the editorial piece to truly understand the writer’s angle and pick out specific passages that have meaningful visual imagery. Kim then develops her own sketch and layers colors to get an idea of the final product.

Once she has a draft of the editorial cartoon, she sends it to the opinions editors early on for feedback. “I like to upload different options for editors to choose, so if something doesn’t fit the page, they can easily pivot,” she said.

For Kim, the many awards she has received have not been the sole highlight of her illustrative publication journey. Instead, it was assembling a portfolio of her work in her sophomore year. “I had to compile all my illustrations, and I had made around 20 in one semester,” Kim said.

She also realized that she had made an illustration for every section in the print newspaper.

“I think being able to contribute to every single part of the paper throughout the years has been something really special,” she said. While Kim’s career illustrating for upper school publications comes to a close after April, her art will be preserved in The Rubicon, and the depth and beauty that her illustrations added to every story will remain.