Krug’s three most recent books have each offered a new challenge. Belonging required unflinching personal honesty. On Tyranny, a work devoted to ideas, not narratives, was an opportunity to work in a more conceptual mode—“attempting to add a poetic layer to Snyder’s political texts,” she says. Freed from the obligation to maintain continuity, she tried to devise a new illustrative approach for each spread.

For Diaries of War, says Kimmy Tejasindhu, Krug’s editor at Ten Speed, Krug has chosen, for the first time in her career, to tell a still-unfolding story. “She’s taken on the responsibility of reporting heartbreaking events in real time,” she says, “serving as a kind of human filter through which these personal stories flow.”

Regardless of the project, Krug likens her process to that of a sculptor’s or editor’s—time consuming, exploratory and self-critical. “I never know what I’m going to draw when I start,” she says. “It’s like a negotiation with the blank page. I’ll add elements and then take them off and try something else. I erase a lot. The work isn’t always enjoyable. I’m very critical throughout.”

Sometimes, the composition incorporates historical artifacts and found objects to simultaneously zoom out while adding a tactile quality. “Found objects reflect both a personal and collective narrative,” she says. “They can communicate stories and emotions in a different way, and give the reader a different insight or access into a particuar period of time.”

Ultimately, every decision is made in service to Krug’s overarching artistic mission.

“I want to convey that we don’t exist in a vacuum,” she says. “It’s our responsibility to face our histories.”

A version of this article appears in the spring/summer 2023 issue of the Visual Arts Journal.

Features

The bestselling memoirist and illustrator publishes her latest book, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this summer.