Analogue Portfolios
Even in this digital age, real-world, real-time portfolios are still al the core of self-promotion. The first rule is to invest money in something that works well and looks the part. Using a battered plastic folio is fine if you are a student ferrying work back and forlh from your room to art school studio. If you wish to be taken seriously, however, and aim to compete with the bigger fish, then you need to give your work Ihe best possible presentation. All good graphic-art material suppliers...
Illustration as a Discipline
As for boundaries and borderlines, it is clear that illustration sits somewhere between art and design. Never truly considered to be an adjunct of art with a capital A', nor wholly allowed to exist as a solo design discipline, without the prop that is graphic design, illustration has been continually disowned by both artists and designers. It has been derided as whimsical by the artist and arty' by the designer. Outside of education there appears to be a blanket refusal by artists to...
Opportunities
Occasionally art directors cut against the tide of photographic imagery to offer illustrators the opportunity to create fresher, more personal interpretations of the season s trends and ranges. This type of fashion story commission usually comes from the fashion monthlies. It's mainly the more upmarket magazines as well as men's titles that tend to opt for this approach. The more avant-garde and independent the title, the more they are expected to be directional in their approach in fact it is...
I The New Wave of Illustrators
Interestingly, a revolution was taking place away from the confines of professional illustration and the often-stifling demands of commercial work. The uprising was subtle and not started on the battlegrounds familiar to the old guard of illustrators. A new wave was honing its skills away from regular illustration outlets, producing work that refused to pander to the art directors of glossy monthly magazines or the Sunday supplements. Away from the scrutiny of the design press, from...
V Small Freelance Budgets
For illustration the situation was somewhat different. For illustrators, to work in an independent freelance capacity simply meant that the purchase of digital hardware would be out of reach for sometime. The price of software was prohibitively expensive and so costs needed to fall dramatically before the tide would turn, As well as a reduction in hardware and software costs, it would also take the expertise of those designers and art directors commissioning illustration to have a knowledge of...
Info Nfa
Photographic composite 'Sore Leg' for NHS Andrew Rae, 2004 photographic composite 'Stairs' for NHS Andrew Rae, 2004 photographic composite 'Bike Crash' for NHS Andrew Rae, 2004 photographic composite Monkey Dust' for BBC Andrew Rae, 2004 Combining hand-rendered, digitally-drawn characters with real digitally-shot backgrounds gives an image a realistic yet edgy feel. Equally effective can be the dropping in of a photographic sky to a hand-drawn and coloured Illustration.
Louise Weir Illustrator
Traditional techniques such as painting have started to have more impact in recent years. With so many illustrators having gone over to digital working methods, older, more established ways of image-creation have become more sought after. Outside of education there appears to be a blanket refusal by artists to acknowledge the importance of the role that illustration plays. The crossover from art to illustration is occasionally deemed appropriate, but the reverse is rarely accepted.
Pay and Display Annuals
2. Contact 2004 Contact Publishing, 2004 To guarantee entry into an annual, opt for the pay-and-disptay option - normally published within the first quarter of a new calendar year and mailed directly to all top industry companies on your behalf. Expensive, if you pay the rate-card price, but your work is included along with everyone else that has paid - good work and bad. Three different annuals that at first glance - look alike. Judged annuals carry the most weight with agency-only coming in a...
Looseleaf presentation box portfolio Ian Wright
Choosing the best format for a portfolio is paramount. Ian Wright, an established illustrator for over 20 years, chooses to display his work in loose sleeves within a professionally made presentation box. This allows him to tailor each presentation of the portfolio individually depending on the client and area of specialisation. To say that illustrators live and die hy the strength of their portfolio is not an exaggeration. 'Show with your work that you can answer a brief and that you have a...
Mailshots
Making the first contact with a potential client is important and creating the right impression is vital the professional approach is to create a mail-shot that is simply posted to the recipient. Knowing what to send and how to package it is paramount to your mail-shot's success. Traditionally, illustrators produce postcards as samples of their work. They are relatively inexpensive to produce, cheap to send, and art directors and designers often have filing systems to accommodate them for...
Us Them by Paul Davis Laurence King Paul Davis
Illustrators with a proven track record and a strong concept for a book project may find that their proposals reach full production. A simple idea of how UK and US citizens view each other culminated in this book, written and illustrated by UK illustrator and commentator Paul Davis. This title is proof that even in a relatively conservative sector of the industry, strong concepts married to a strong visual style can break new ground in hitting the high-street bookshops. 1-3. Children's Book...
Record Label SetUps
The music business is a global industry that employs tens of thousands of people and represents artists and acts that generate many millions ol dollars per annum. The huge scale of the operation means that finding in-roads into working as a freelance illustrator can be less lhan straightforward, Large record labels normally run their own art departments, creating sleeves and promos for their acts on an in-house basis, buying in photography and illustration on a project-by-project basis. Some of...
An Interview with Autumn Whitehurst
Editorial work for magazines and newspapers is the life-blood for many illustrators, allowing unique opportunities for showcasing new approaches and working methods. What is your take on this aspect of the industry and why is it important for you to participate in editorial illustration AW - Editorial work is generally an illustrator's playground. Though it doesn't pay anywhere nearly as much as advertising work does. I find it to be the place in which I evolve. The clients are less inclined to...
MiLtS
From that first life-drawing class in the studio to the induction session in the print-making workshop or the introductory class in the darkroom, it is clear that art school offers a wealth of new creative opportunities to the young artist or designer. Generally it is recognised in art and design education that students will study a one-year basic course in art and design before embarking upon a more specialised three-year program in their chosen field. In the UK and Europe this general...
Delights
I _ gt . Wi with a diary or a time-planner - they are different things, You should not have to schedule time to be creative, it should just occur, and when it does you need to be prepared. Use your sketchbook to contain all that you record, don't worry about keeping it specifically for either personal or professional work - put everything in and you'll find that the two areas mix and merge. Draw, doodle, write and note-take whenever and wherever. Clip out findings ram newspapers and magazines...
An Interview with Anthony Burrill
Working with design companies differs from working in other sectors of the market - there is more crossover and collaboration between designer and illustrator image-maker. How do you feel that this has advantaged your work AB - When working for an ad agency the traditional hierarchies are well understood by everybody involved. Normally I have the most contact with the art director during the job. The agency then deals with the client there isn't much direct communication. When working with...
CIA Quarterly CIA
Professional presentation and promotion should be guaranteed with representation by an established illustration agency. Time, effort and financial backing ensure marketing tools are created that reflect an agency's approach to business. Well-designed and well-considered, great marketing can attract work an individual illustrator would struggle to find on their own. wa il lCl l lt lwent kl Iiannitwvary iflhreii.- autelt jMUC nun Ihr KfluraUn aOBlIduntf Agentur central IlluUrallon Rgmcy liiirm...
An Interview with Henry Obasi
Working as an illustrator on advertising commissions in front of a massive audience do you find this a creative challenge or i. HO - This can be regarded as a challenge but not a major one. No matter how large the audience, advertising companies usually commission specific illustrators to engage with a target-specific audience. This is mainty because they are aware of the audience's social cultural characteristic and how thai audience will respond to the artist's visual style. Most of the...
An Interview with Han Hoogerbrugge
Personal work can be the driving influence for commercial projects how do you maintain the correct balance that best suits you HH - My personal work and commercial work are often close together. I get asked for commissions because of what I do with my free work and I can only do commercial jobs if they relate to my free work. Usually clients are after something kind of dark, funny and different when they commission me. This means I don't have to worry about a balance most of the time. The...
An Interview with Stina Persson
Illustration and fashion are inextricably linked and in recent years the relationship between the two has blossomed further. Why do you think this has happened and how does your work fit into this relationship SP - I think the balance between the use of photography and illustration in the fashion world was off for quite some time, Art directors and editors at magazines seemed to be scared of illustration and the element of unexpectedness that it brings. But now that everything is digital and...
Acceptance of commission form
Good practice in the relationship between the commissioner the art director and the commissioned the illustrator should involve, as standard procedure, an agreement in writing to protect both parties. A wise initiative on the part of the illustrator is to send an Acceptance of Commission Form stating information about the project - delivery dates for visuals and then for artwork, agreed fees, details regarding ownership of copyright etc. An accountant will advise you of exactly what details...
