The power of original illustrations

We’ve been mocking stock photos since at least 2011, when Edith Zimmerman published the now-Internet classic “Women Laughing Alone with Salad” on The Hairpin.
Four years later, stock images are still easy to spot, even if they’re not outright cheesy. They’re not the only option, of course — there are always Creative Commons photos, product shots, screenshots, or, of course, photos taken by reporters — but once in awhile you think how nice it would be to have some original art illustrating a story.
I talked to five publishers — Hazlitt, Pando, Slate, Fusion, and The Guardian — about how they’re using original illustrations on their sites.
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