Iraq, Four Years Later

The first assignment I received from my portfolio over at illoz.com was a very powerful one.  It was also very big and complex.
An international affairs magazine was doing a cover story on the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.  They wanted to discuss the people and places that have come out ahead as a result of this war. 
I first started sketching ideas dealing with high risk games, turning Iraq into a strange gamble, etc.  Those did not pan out.  While talking with the A.D., she mentioned that she really liked my rougher sketchbook work and drawings from my travels.  Those words sent me in a whole other direction and I came up with the series of drawings that you see here.
The opener was a full spread image of an Iraqi battlefield.  You can see it above.  For a larger view, click HERE.  The negative space on the left was for some text, but I liked how it also opened up the space and lets one look at the horizon line.  The right side of the image was cropped and used as the cover as well.

More of the images are below.