Could and should Illustrators do more to push the boundaries of the discipline?

“As our visual language evolves, the playing field is levelling. Graphic designers, sculptors, painters, creative developers, and even musicians amorphously meander across different parts of our creative industries. As a consequence, I often wonder what the term ‘illustration’ now means. Maybe as a medium it might need to do more than vocationalise aesthetics and cultivate a border palate of profundity for its own survival’. – Michael Salu Artistic Director of Granta Magazine 2012 Varoom. 

As a new practitioner of Illustration I have come to understand that there are benefits to crossing the boundaries of different disciplines. The briefs that I have encountered so far have asked the artist to produce something a little more unusual and innovative in terms of design. The client wants something  that visually reflects their brief, that will stand out and that portrays the content easily to their viewer. The medium is usually chosen to help impart this and application is used to reflect the content. I believe this is why illustrators are hired to produce this varied work across the spectrum of disciplines. The need and ability for Illustrators to cross boundaries is a necessity for all artists to evolve with the ever -changing technology and the vast amount of competition amongst artists. However many recognised illustrators have used this eclectic mix of practices to their  own advantage.

Artist/illustrators like Sara Fanelli and Oliver Jeffers both have a defined style that has made them stand out amongst other Illustrators. They have both produced a personal typography that helps the recognition of their work and both have authored and illustrated books both for themselves and other writers. Oliver has produced an animated version of his book Lost and Found and made moving images for T.V commercials just as Sara fanelli has produced posters, Ad campaigns and packaging in her  professional career.   

In recent years the harshness of Graphic Design has become soften by the handrawn line, the input of homemade imagery and a focus on mixed mediums.  These practices mixed together have established a broader area for all designers to experiment with. This new mix of discipline can now be introduced to different working opportunities. For myself personally, I incorporate Photography, craft and surface design in many areas of my design method. As an illustrator it is important that my job illuminates the information in a visual way that is relevant and compliments the narrative given. I find it is an exciting way of creating art and one I will never tire of. My education in Illustration has seen the encouragement of crossed pathways and  has become invaluable in terms of future work and opportunities. I feel confident using most mediums and the incorporation of digital software to help enhance and balance the production of my work is as important. My work experiences so far have requested that I have knowledge in many creative areas. I endeavour to full fill this.

Craft Club

I have been holding weekly sessions of a craft club at my children's primary school. I opted to teach the juniors this time as they are at an age where they can follow the briefs I have set and follow the instructions.

We have designed hand sewn stockings, christmas cards, giant swedish designs snowflakes using a paper cut technique and string and glue wrapped baubles. The sewing was by far the most satisfying as it is a lost skill in many children's craft and art experiences. I wanted over the five weeks of hourly sessions to help them produce something quickly, cheaply and accessible and for them to feel confident enough to go home and continue with the crafts themselves. Planning Spring sessions next!

Folio Designs

Just coming to the end of my first semester in Illustration and so far I have loved it. There has been many times over the weeks that I thought the briefs may be impossible for me to achieve any results but I seem to be catching up. I am not quite there yet in terms of how I would like my work to look but the progress  made technically, digitally and confidently has been fulfilling. Here are a couple of underdeveloped pieces i have been working on.

Portfolio Visit Three-Glorious Creative

For my third Portfolio visit I had a meeting with Tom Shaughnessy, Design Director for Glorious Creative LTD. The company is a Graphics company and has been established since 2002. This was an interesting meeting with Tom and I valued his opinion on my illustration- based portfolio.  He is a practicing Graphic designer an area I have only studied from afar and illustration is a new practice it was a good test of my work so far. When viewing my work he thought I had a lot of varied approaches and suggested that it may good practice to enlarge my images to an A3 format so they give more details. He also advised that laying out all my designs of the floor to see what is visually strong in order to detect my strengths. My recent designs for our Folio brief was an area of interest to him and I was surprised that the designs I hadn’t submitted were the ones he was most interested in. He made some suggestions to a couple of images he liked and said if they could be altered in a small way he would be interested in a large print of it himself.  This feedback was really pleasing to hear, as I believed my work to be directed towards surface and craft designers. We spoke about the industry as a whole and he explained that it was important that I have a narrative to my work. This I have come to realise this is a necessary equilibrium needed when planning my designs. We also discussed different approaches to design and he advised that all designers should balance a method of application, content and editing skills.  He commented that I had a good use of colour and that my images contained some good composition work. I have asked Tom to review my work again early next year as I feel his advice is something I will try to improve on.gloriouscreative.co.uk 

Website Research

In the New Year we will be asked to design and produce our own website. Researching this area for ideas of layout and functionality has been an important factor in terms of what works both aesthetically and professionally.  It is clear to see that some designer’s websites don’t accurately represents their work and the sites can be difficult to search through. After scrolling through many professional practitioners of illustrators, surface designers and photographers it became apparent that a website says a lot about the artists work and productivity. This forms an immediate impact on the viewer and it is important to capture their attention instantly. Some layouts were complex and as a viewer I became bored navigating my way around their sites even when their work was impressive.  Some had gimmicky features but after a the talk we had by[ art director Charles Hively in N.Y] who stated that art directors don’t have time to play and mess around with sites. ‘They want to be instantly interested and only have time to view a selection of good images’. I have taken his advice on board while viewing websites of interest. Here are two examples that I believe work for and against a well designed website.

My first example is Sara Fanelli [illustrator and surface designer].  Her website opened with some of her recognisable hand drawn illustrations and you knew instantly that this was her work represented by her distinctive style.  I thought this had a professional style and I would like to incorporate a personal element into my own design.  The page also incorporated found paper imagery that was used as backdrops to her work and gallery selection menu. I viewed her online portfolio and found a collection of work to click through but when opting to enlarge the image, I found this looked a little underdeveloped compared to the effort put into the rest of the layout. All it produced was a slightly bigger image in the corner of the screen.  A small amount of details was given for each thumbnail and it was easy enough to direct my way around her site.  There was information about commissions and prints for sale but there was no up to date information on any present workings.  My real problem with her site was the handwritten information used in place of typography text, I found this section hard to read.

 The website of Emiliano Ponzi [ illustrator] was one that excited me the most. The site opened with a flashing neon sign that lead to his current project. He had a limited amount of menu options but  each category displayed a thumbnail format that when you hovered over the images the details of size, medium and client appeared. The website shared many similarities as the photography sites I investigated. His website was easy to direct myself around I could easy click back to the beginning at any point [some lead me back around their site]  and there was also a link to his blog and up to date info about his work ,clients and exhibitions.

This exercise has helped me to establish a better understanding of how a website should work and the layout I would like to present my own designs. I can see what works visually as well as practically and designing something simple that can be built upon will be first approach.Website research

http://www.sarafanelli.com

http://www.emilianoponzi.com/

Hopes Fears and opportunities

Hopes

 Part of our brief for this semester was to collate our thought and feelings about our hopes, fears and opportunities. This is to respond to how we feel now, for the coming year and the period after we graduate.  My first response is that I hope to be a confident and competent practitioner of illustration by the end of the third year.  At the very least I hope to work completely independently and to know how to approach work in a professional manner. I hope to have put in place a business strategy that will help promote myself and work through a well designed website and promotional material and portfolio. Professionally I am hoping that my work will have become more sophisticated with a defined approach to my working method. I am trying to strengthen my knowledge of illustrative application and design methods that I have previously missed out on and marry them with my surface design knowledge and technique. I hope to gain a strong understanding of the requirements needed to be a successful illustrator/designer and I wish to push boundaries with my work and make the most of this experience of my further education. When visiting Charles Hively of 3x3 magazine in Brooklyn N.Y, his words of wisdom on becoming a practitioner of illustration have stayed with me. He advised us to have a good website with only a few carefully selected images.  He believes a [.com] address is more professional and a need to be more prolific in the promotion of my work and myself. He believes a good way to do this is by entering competitions and contacting industry regularly.

Fears

This leads me to my fears. I know the ingredients of what needs to be done but I am feeling overwhelmed by the workload at present. I understand that it’s important to get these factors put in place but I am finding it hard to know where to start and to produce a level of decent work.  An impressive portfolio also keeps me awake at night as I fear that my work wont be professional enough in six months time. The competition of other designers and illustrators is so vast I feel I will be swallowed up. I have a desire to work in production design for film and media but would also like to establish myself as a freelance designer. I am still finding an anchorage in the practice of illustration and would really like another year to discover my abilities and find myself as a designer. I know I have the support of a great teaching team but still feel a little lost with the whole process.

Opportunities

So far since returning in September I have made progress regarding opportunities in T.V and Media. I have been to three portfolio visits including one with a production designer and two with art directors. These visits with industry have lead to more contacts and I have established a strong contact list so far. I have been maintaining a contact with them through Email, text and just letting them know what I am up to and offering my free services for any work experience they can offer. I have also made myself known to a Manchester based graphic designer company and offered to help out at their offices [even making tea] and they said they would like to meet and look over my portfolio [catch22 re: fears]. My current project of re-designing a book cover has given me a chance to be more experimental with mixed mediums and I hope this opportunity will help to elevate some of my fears and give me a better understanding of my own personal practice and the designer that I strive to become.