If we allow ourselves a moment to be more introspective about this type of work, then we can talk about another aspect that comes with the difficult territory of reportage illustration. Of course, when we’re tasked with recording, drawing and focusing on what is going on in a room of about 30 people, hard editorial decisions have to be made. We are grateful for ongoing collaboration on the floor with NoFitState’s creative director who constantly reminded us of exactly what they needed a record of. However, this doesn’t completely delete the fact that it is the illustrator on the floor who has to make hundreds of decisions about what, how and when to draw, and keep it all in order. Sometimes a great scene is witnessed, but something equally amazing happens soon after.
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We must keep the first moment fresh in our mind, as we draw the more immediate thing happening in front of us, and then go back to the previous. Scribble a note in the corner. Add text to bring some more abstract dimensionality to an otherwise loose collection of lines in the vague shape of a human. Thought of this way, reportage illustration is not that different to juggling. To surmise, the illustrator on the ground is both editor and witness. And this awareness is what allows Cooked Illustrations to establish closer relationships with a client like NoFitState, ensuring that this is a process of co-creation that leads to result we are all happy with. 
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This collection of drawings are powerful on their own. They tell a story that can be understood without much explanation, and they have become the basis for a funding report and presentation to the funding bodies that support NoFitState Circus. For Cooked Illustrations and Ian Cooke-Tapia specifically, they are a seed for a new tree to grow. What shape that’ll take, we’re still imagining.