The State of Illustration Today

After recently hearing hearing one of Adrian Shaughnessy's podcasts on the current state of illustration it's really had me thinking about where illustrators stand in this world and my future work. You can listen to Adrian's podcast here: http://www.shaughnessyworks.com/ Currently the man runs Shaugnessy works, a consultancy combining design and editorial direction, he's a co-founder of the london based design company Intro, aswell as being a co-founder for Unit Editions, a publishing company producing books on design and visual culture.

The State of Illumination:

Taking part in a small forum in response to the above podcast, I learned that illustration's effectiveness in this world is based on the commentary the image has, it can illuminate text, decorate articles but then again so can a lot of art do that. Social and political commentary, that's where I think illustration is strongest. A progenetive and early example would be Francisco Goya, a historical painter who infuses this responsiveness and story telling to his era within his work. And we can see an evolution of this responsive, satirical style within the works of Gerald Scarfe and many modern illustrators, especially of the political cartoonist variety. These are people who are not only highlghting something in an image but they do so in their own prefered colour, like a movie director, they adapted an existing text in their own way. And like a newspaper story, they can easily paint who we should feel apathy for.

The State of Commisions:

Personally for me, establishing your own presence, visual world and language would be the best way to form a portfolio; where as a weak portfolio is too full of commissions, it has no flavour. I believe illustrators thrive on self promotion more than photography as it’s easy to imagine what an end product of a photo will look like. Illustration is purposefully made to "illustrate" and "decorate" an existing state of text or media however an illustrator should never have to wait around for the next commision. They need to find their own voice and establish their presence, thanks to the internet this has become far more eaier for us. Also thanks to the internet, opinions are easily exchangeable, and I welcome any one who wishes to comment or argue with the points alluded to here.