Adel Cynolter

The Call of the Void

Spring 2025Photoshop
InDesign
Photography

This editorial illustration pairs with an article detailing how easy it is to believe conspiracy theories since they can seem like they’re helping us make sense of the world.

I highlighted this compassionate understanding of conspiracy theorists by depicting popular conspiracy theory characters like robot birds, lizard people, and things being unexpectedly cake helping a person put together a puzzle. Unfortunately, like conspiracy theories, these characters have led the person astray by assembling the puzzle incorrectly.

Mockup page with the article

The Process

I wanted to highlight the compassionate tone of the article towards conspiracy theorists. I explored ways to show misconceptions through glasses that muddle one’s worldview or maybe mistaking someone’s harmless shadow for a monster.

I moved forward with the idea of using a puzzle to represent making sense of the world with common conspiracy characters derailing its completion.

I refined the composition using a technique from Andrew Loomis called informal subdivision.

I did this by first creating an irregular grid, and then developing my image on top of this. By aligning elements this way, I created a visually balanced yet dynamic composition.

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