The Power of Storytelling: How Art Helps Illustrate Complex Topics.
In this exclusive interview with Victim Support Europe, illustrator and artist Rex Costello walk us through his work, inspirations and upcoming projects. Costello recently illustrated the DISRUPT Project graphic novel “Shadow Behind the Screen: A Story of Child Trafficking”. In this article Costello tells us the biggest challenges and triumphs during this project, how to illustrate complex topics and the importance of art.
VSE: How did you start illustrating?
Rex Costello: I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember—as soon as I was capable of holding a crayon. Specifically, I remember when my dad gave me all of his old Marvel comics; I must’ve been 5 or 6, and it was like my imagination got struck by lightning. After that, I just kept drawing and writing short stories, eventually realizing that it was what I was meant to do. Professionally, I began my career in 2020 doing work for marketing agencies.
Rex Costello illustrating
VSE: You applied through an open call for illustrators. What a attracted you about the project?
Rex Costello: When I was in university, before I shifted my focus to illustration, I was actually studying to get my degree in criminal justice, as I wanted to work for the FBI to find missing children. Even though I pursue comics full-me now, I’m still interested in modern law enforcement—so creating this graphic novel was immediately an exciting prospect.
VSE: What was your first step when approaching the visual style for DISRUPT? And based on the material, how did you end up deciding on the final visual style of the novel?
Rex Costello: For the initial concept art, I referenced a lot of illustrations created for clothing advertisements and text books. My idea was to go for a style that would be eye-catching for the reader, while also maintaining a simple, clear, informative format, which represented the key points of the text. From there, the back and forth with Lieselotte and the DISRUPT team helped to fill in the blanks, and voilà!
First sketches for the character Blue.
VSE: What was the most challenging part about this project for you? And was there any “aha” moment were everything clicked during the process?
Rex Costello: Making sure that the visuals had the right tone was probably the most challenging aspect. Since this graphic novel deals with sensitive material, I never wanted the illustrations to come off as goofy or unserious, as is the connotation that comes with comics. At the same me, I wanted it to be interesting to look at. I suppose the “aha” came when we compiled all the comic pages with informational texts—everything really came together and I felt like, “Whoa, we really pulled this off”.
VSE: Is there one particular panel, page, or chapter you’re most proud of? Why?
Page 12 from “Shadow Behind the Screen: A Story of Child Trafficking”
Rex Costello: That’s tough…but I really like page 12. In this page, the story moves pretty fast, and the characters and environments change from panel to
panel, all while showing the law enforcement process clearly. Considering we had all of these aspects to juggle in a quick sequence, I’m quite happy with it. I also love how the pick-a-path pages turned out, the layouts are concise while giving the reader a lot of details from each scenario to look at.
VSE: Why do you think that a graphic novel is a good medium to address complex topics?
Rex Costello: Usually complex issues, such as human rights abuses, are limited to long reports that people just don’t have the patience to read through. Additionally, the issues within said reports are often sensationalized or delegitimized by news media, leaving people without a proper understanding of what happened to the victims. This is where graphic novels and comics journalism come in—a good comic artist will be required to fully grasp the topic at hand, and illustrate the key points for the viewers. Comics are just so much easier of the average person these days to grasp, and if done well, they can give the issues more justice than simply words on a page. Comics are also a great way to present more complex ideas to young readers who don’t have the capacity for novels or lengthy essays.
VSE: Human trafficking is a very serious and sad issue. From an artist’s perspective, why do you think that art is a good medium to honour the victims? And graphic novels?
Rex Costello working space.
Rex Costello: Kind of like I mentioned earlier, having a visual representation created by hand, by someone who has researched the situation, can have so much more impact than traditional text. I would hope that an illustrated narrative describing the story in a sensitive and meaningful way, would bring more levity and perhaps even closure to a victim of this terrible crime, as opposed to their abuse being simply used for statistics in a report, or as part of a lengthy court document made public. Additionally, if the medium is a graphic novel, then numerous important moments from the victims’ story can be highlighted.
VSE: What is your biggest takeaway and what did you learn from working on DISRUPT that you’ll take into your next projects?
Rex Costello: The fact that this story was told in a pick-a-path format, meant I had to create the illustrations in a non chronological order at times, which was something I’d never done before. So keeping all the designs consistent required more detailed organization than my usual projects. This kind of consistency will definitely feed into my next books.
VSE: Has working on DISRUPT influenced the kinds of stories you want to illustrate next?
Rex Costello: Definitely! There are several non-fiction books I would like to illustrate, such as biographies of historical figures, and ecologically pertinent books involving farming and biology. The grounded and serious nature of the DISRUPT graphic novel has made me excited to get started on these projects.
VSE: Can you share anything about upcoming projects you’re working on?
Rex Costello: Currently I’m finishing up a graphic novel called “Wildtype”, about two misfit kids who free a bunch of animals from an abusive zoo. Hopefully it will be available to read later this year! I also self-publish mini comics on Substack and Webtoon from time to time.
Learn More About Rex and His Work on the Upcoming Event from the Victims’ Rights Communicators Network (VRCN)
See more of Rex Costello’s art below and in his social media!
