What is Illusration?

Illustration as a word is derived from the Latin illustratio or illustro meaning to enlighten and illuminate. The Oxford dictionary defines this as evidence of an action that serves this purpose.

It's comparable to any art form however what makes an artwork an illustration is how effective it is to communicate specific ideas since the purpose of such work has to have a message or thought, it can be appreciated on an aesthetic level like any art but its intention is to do so in order to enlighten and inform. The reason why images are used for illustrative purposes is because they easily represent other images and are far less abstract then words and music. illustrations can be 3D designs but it still remains a 2D practice due to our current printing and visual communication technology along with our consideration for personal space and storage.

If a viewer walks away from an illustration with a new understanding of a subject it can be considered a successful illustration. Most of the time illustration is merely an image that serves as an adjunct towards something, enhancing the experience or understanding of another thing in a way that builds a brand or decorates it. If the illustration at first seems disparate towards its subject or what it brands or decorates it can still gain meaning due to its context. It is important for the illustrator to understand semiotics and metaphors, what makes a book cover look like a book cover? How can we tell what type of a genre a film is by its poster? An illustrator should possess this knowledge along with the ability and skills to represent a diversity of subjects.

“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.”  - Picasso

My 2014 Portfolio Review from Natalie Wood

I recently got in touch with the illustrator Natalie Wood, Who was kind enough to review my portfolio. Her response was late due to the busy holiday season so due to me hoping to get her opinion earlier I rushed to make a digital PDF version of my printed portfolio thanks to the help of this video  So here's Natalie's response!


Hi James,

Thanks for sending your work over. Apologies for the delay in response - December was a very busy month!

After looking through your portfolio the main pieces that stand out to me are the ones you've done for the Wellspring, there is a clear message and nice clean graphical style in these.

The more traditional style illustrations that you have produced are some nice starting points - perhaps you could try working them up in Adobe Illustrator to give them a more vectored and polished look, I think the Huddersfield FC design would really benefit from this as it would give it a much more professional appearance if presenting to a client.

I can see that there's a variety of different syles throughout the portfolio, which is good at this point as it's important to experiment with different techniques before settling on any one style. I found that towards the end of my final year at college I really started to refine the style that I was going for. Obviously this will always continue to develop throughout your career but it is good to have a nice strong style throughout your portfolio so that a potential client understands the way you would produce any work for them.

When you're choosing colours to work with, it might be helpful to look for inspiration in colour palettes either online or in books. Adobe Kuler is a great tool where you can easily find colours that compliment each other nicely (https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/)

One final thing I'd recommend as well, is if you're emailing samples of work over to a potential client - make sure you keep the file size to a minimum. Usually the combined file size of work samples shouldn't exceed 1mb as it can clog up their inbox, and sometimes won't even send.

I hope this has been of at least some use. Good look in the future!

Thanks,
Natalie


Natalie M Wood - Designer & Illustrator
www.nataliemwood.co.uk