Color, beauty and pathos combine in this image of a woman floating in a vast sea that accompanied The Times Opinion article about global warming, “Swimming Against the Rising Tide,” published August 9, 2014. The image is part of our collection of editorial illustrations being offered for the first time ever to the public as unframed or framed fine-art prints.

Illustrations have played an instrumental role in The Times’s journalistic legacy since December 11, 1861, when we published our first drawings – front page cartoons of James Gordon Bennett, rival publisher of The Herald. Today, The Times commissions thousands of original illustrations from freelance artists around the world. Artists, each with a distinct approach and personality, enhance stories with thought-provoking images that enrich the reading experience.

This illustration is by Jon Han, an artist originally from Los Angeles and now based in Brooklyn. Han makes use of abstract and familiar elements that help convey an image both understandable and new. His clients include Apple, Google, Vogue, The New York Times and The New Yorker. His work has been featured by Artsy, It’sNiceThat, Booooom and American Illustration, and he has received two gold medals by the Society of Illustrators.