by Trịnh Lập*

During the course of Việt Nam's revolutionary journalism, dating back to the launch of Thanh Niên (The Youth) newspaper by Nguyễn Ái Quốc (one of the aliases of President Hồ Chí Minh) in 1925, several notable illustrators deserve mention: Văn Cao, Bùi Xuân Phái and Thành Chương.

Each was a great artist in his own right. Văn Cao also enjoyed a brilliant career as a musician, authoring numerous works, the most famous of which is the National Anthem. Xuân Phái became known beyond Việt Nam's borders for his paintings of Hà Nội's Old Quarter and traditional art forms. More contemporary artist Thành Chương has likewise built a distinguished career depicting Việt Nam in oil and lacquer.

Each possessed a distinctive style and artistic sensibility, yet all enhanced readers' experiences of the literary columns in their newspapers. They did not accept the role of illustrator as that of an explainer for creative writing. In their view, writers had their own responsibilities and their writing had to stand on its own merits, while the artist's task was to create images that appealed to the viewer's eye.

Let us look at a few examples. To tell the story of a brave young soldier who succeeded on the battlefield and was rewarded with a trip home, one might expect an artist to draw a bright young man riding a horse, descending from the mountains at sunset. Instead, defying readers' expectations, the artist might depict a grandmother caring for her grandchild, alongside a woman with a sorrowful gaze carrying harvested rice, with a piglet visible in the background.

If the story concerned a buffalo boy who grew up to become a mathematics academician, the artist might draw an elderly man, who happened to resemble the author, raising a glass. A bamboo water pipe rests on the table as he gazes into the distance, his loyal dog lying by his side.

Their drawings were accepted, I thought, because their stature in the arts was so great.

Alas, I must confess that, in art, self-expression must come first and foremost. You have your expertise, say, a bowl of clam congee, while I have my plate of rolled crêpes to bring to the table. It's cooperation. Illustration doesn't mean explanation. Sorry!

Today, with advances in technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), artists are free to explore whatever subjects they wish. Each week, after receiving the theme for Việt Nam News Sunday and now The Weekend's Talk around Town, I search online for inspiration and am presented with countless suggestions and ideas. After some consideration, I usually find myself drawn to a particular angle and quickly settle on my interpretation of the subject.

My decision is based on finding an optimal solution that fits the theme, depicts it visually and still leaves room for further development of the original idea.

I sometimes feel sorry for my colleagues of the past because of the limitations of printing technology. During the 1970s and 1980s, they relied on typo-litho techniques and worked within the constraints of the A5 format. Artists often had to limit facial expressions and visual variety, regardless of the subject matter, whether during wartime or the period of post-war economic sanctions.

Today, in the era of the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions, artists can include everything in a drawing: a dozen characters sharing roles and activities in pursuit of a common goal or ideal.

As a result, illustrating The Talk around Town today is no longer a matter of providing simple sketches. Instead, we can create a large and vibrant cast of characters and expressions, in motion or contemplation, to illuminate the themes suggested by the editors.

Free to create characters within a limited frame, I feel we now have greater scope to develop ideas, more space to allow the original subject to grow, rather than being constrained, restricted or occasionally led astray, as sometimes happened decades ago. VNS

* Trịnh Lập, illustrator of Talk around Town column for the past 25 years, shares his thoughts on Việt Nam News' 35th anniversary on June 17.