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

What Makes a Good Website for an illustrator?

Okay as part of my PDP assessment for my BA Hons I'm going to review a selection of illustrator's websites, to analyse the weak points and strengths so that when I make one or others decide to make one then they will know how to go about it. I haven't seen any terrible ones in all honesty.

Sam Denmark:

Starts out bad since the home page is just a title, you have to click the title to access the gallery but there's no indication that's what you can do. I even recognise the font of the title, I don't know if it shows character or if it's unoriginal but its a strange choice. So right from the start I'm looking at a bad and mundane looking page. What's worse is that this page gives me a pop up of mini menus, such as gallery and contact. Although his gallery is eclectic it with a splash of thumbnails for his work it's bad that when I blow up the images they are all of various sizes, so I had to keep zooming in and out with the browser to get a better look of individual sizes that would be better if they were kept consistent. (Sam, if you're reading this I want you to know that I love you and I think your work deserves better, but it's not all bad!)

The good thing is that he has the essentials and more, such as a news/awards section (good for showing experience or your history of work as you would a CV). He's also got links to his other sites and a "contact" and "about" page with a photo of himself, as do all the people I will mention on this post.


Lois Van Baarle:

Unlike Sam's there's a good illustration used as a wallpaper with a menu on the side listing all the things I can look at, including links, which are shown as coloured icons that automatically creates a mood and accentuates the wallpaper illustration. I really like how she has listed her original, commissioned and rough doodles as separate galleries. Having mentioned that, something doesn't feel right. Intuitively I prefer to see a list of thumbnails or mini image previews of the art. The art is amazing but it's just not intuitive to browse through. On another note I love the simplicity of the name she uses ("Loish") and her URL name. It's easy to remember and that helps with good business.

Jennifer Healy:

She combines the best of Sam and Lois, an attractive home page with the essential pages listed on a menu at the top of the page, consistent at all times even with links listed at the bottom. The page doesn't evoke a mood like Lois' does but when I click any of the listed galleries it takes me to an Artist's statement with a selected image alongside a neat order of previews for the rest of the work.

Unlike Sam's when I click the cropped previews to see the full images the sizes remain consistent with only the width stretching for landscape paintings. Emma Reynolds  has a very similar style as well and is clever to include her homepage as the portfolio. I do think Healy bests it since it's intuitive to browse the art work up close with hers.

Woo Hoo, Got Business Cards from Moo!

My business cards have arrived, I'm not sure I will end up using them or not but the only way for me to understand these things is to just design one and get it printed. There is a site called Vista Print that specialises in print however I used Moo since the quality of their card appealed to me. http://uk.moo.com/  I went for the mini cards and emulated it after the way Kev Crossley has his, in retrospect that may have been a bad idea. However the humble and distinct size connected to me more, it felt fun to hold and I want those feelings to translate to my contacts.

Now it's time to review.

 

Pros:

1.) Good quality card

2.) Visually appealing

3.) Representative of myself

 

Cons:

1.) Too small (for reading and as a canvas)

2.) No space to write notes on

3.) No phone number as a contact

4.) Image is cropped for design compatibility

 

Draw North West

Recently I've been getting to know the Draw North West group. I've met illustrators such as Emma Reynolds, Alan Dalby and Matt Bray (who designed the poster below). That's just to name a few. It's a great meet up and chance to talk to like minded people and experienced professionals. From those who I spoke to in November they gave me advice such as, expanding my vocab (image making can be language in itself you see), be pragmatic, always start drawing with the shape first, the rest will follow (as I say, see the gestalt) and my favourite tip... draw everyday! With a pen! No matter what! Next time I go I'll get photos, it will have to be in the new year now.

Interview with Valia Kapadai

Valia Kapadai is a Greek comic book artist affiliated with Marcosia Enterprises and Unseen Shadows. Her Books are available through her Big Cartel website:  http://valiumcomics.bigcartel.com/ After recently contacting her she was kind enough to answer some questions for me.

How did you meet writer Mo Ali and how did your collaboration (DreamCatcher) project start?

Three years ago (in October 2010), I wanted to draw a new short comic story, so I could take it with me to the Bristol Expo. So I tweeted that I was looking for a really short story, and Mo replied, almost immediately. Until then I didn't really know Mo, but he was a "fellow-survivor" of the Insomnia publications incident, so he was a contributor to the "Sleepless Phoenix" comic anthology, that I was also involved in, and he had collaborated with lots of other artists whom I knew. A few days later Mo sent me this "poem", divided into 24 pages, and he told me I could do anything I wanted with it. Unfortunately, life and other projects, didn't allow me to start drawing it until last November (2012), again for another convention, Thought Bubble. It was completed in less than two weeks, in the afternoons and really late nights since I also had a day-job, but it was printed on time for TB. The first self published edition is now sold-out, but we're hoping for a second printing in the future and hopefully we'll make more new issues in the future, since a big publisher expressed an interest in it. But that's just wishful thinking for now.

Do you have a particular “go to place” for wanting to meet and speak to writers, be it online or not?

My ideal "meet" place is always a great convention, mostly in the UK (because we only have one convention here in Athens, but most of my friends from abroad can't attend it.) I can only afford attending one or two conventions per year, though, so (although I hate to admit it) Facebook is a pretty decent online place to catch up with fellow artists and writers. I used to love DeviantArt so much for years, but unfortunately these last couple of years DA has changed for the worse, at least for me anyway, so I rarely spend any time there anymore.

Where did the idea of ‘Somewhat Damaged’ come from?

Last November I and my boyfriend, Pavlos Pavlidis, who is also an amazing comic artist, were invited to have a comic exhibition at the Athenian cafe/bar/gallery, Bartesera. Due to limited time, our initial idea was to show some of the older comic pages we had created, but since we wanted to make it more interesting for our friends, who had already seen most of our work anyway, we decided we should draw something new instead. I later suggested we should make two stories, one each, but with one joint ending, which we drew together (that was a bit tricky, but also fun), and so we did. The comic was also completed within a week or so. Since we both liked a lot, especially because it was somewhat based on our own relationship, and the "weird" format was also intriguing, we also decided to self publish a few mini comics of the story. This mini comic is also sold out.

In your short story ‘Gloomy Monday’, the panel boxes looked roughly lined and you had a textured background for the gutter, even for a coloured comics this seems unconventional. What was the reason behind this?

"Gloomy Monday" was part of my artistic "experiment" back in 2009-2010 of drawing one page per day, loosely based on my daily "adventures", but obviously much more exaggerated, funny and more "cartoony" than my usual comics. The colouring process of this story was an experiment as well, and I generally prefer my gutter backgrounds to be more complicated than just using a single colour. As for the roughly lined boxes, the reason is simple: I hate using rulers. Oh yes, I do.

With any sequential art the challenge to working professionally is all down to the speed that someone can work to, even great artist don’t do comics because of this reason. Do you have any advice to artist who really want to make comics but are sadly too slow?

Unfortunately, I honestly don't know what to suggest. I'm usually not that "slow", but that also depends on the comic I'm drawing (how interesting or difficult it is) and -most importantly- the mental state I'm in, while drawing. I guess the best way to draw faster, is the same old advice: practice, practice and practice. Make sure you feel as comfortable as possible too. I've finished most of my comics, including whole graphic novels, on my couch!! (although I don't really suggest that, I hear watercolour water residue on your pasta is not that healthy. Oh, but what do they know?!) If it's a project for a publisher you can also negotiate the deadline, usually the publishers are really nice about it, if you ask nicely.

What media do you use, including what you prefer to use as a canvas?

I consider myself a mixed media artist. I love experimenting. My usual artistic process involves watercolours, ballpoint pens, coloured pencils, brush pens and lots of digital editing and adjusting. Whatever I draw though, it'll start on a paper, with a pencil or even a pen. As of lately I really like to use lightly coloured papers, preferably thick enough to handle the watercolours. I always draw on a -relatively- small paper, A4 size. That may not be very professional, but huge papers intimidate me and, practically speaking, I'm unable to print any page layouts or scan the final page because I only have A4 sized printer/scanner.

Your work is sometimes done with a greyscale image first but coloured later correct? How do you do this and what is the benefit of such a method?

Actually that's the exception, although I've used this method - mostly when the original story was supposed to be printed in black& white - and then I added some colours for fun, or for another publication. The technical details are a bit too complicated to be explained here, but basically after I scan the b&w page, I use various great photoshop tools (such as the brush tool set in colour or in multiply; or the gradient maps, mostly for a limited palette). Again, I like to experiment with anything I can use, so filters, textures, various brushes etc, all become my digital "art tools" (and playground). This technique definitely has its benefits (better balance, interesting results), but I usually don't enjoy it as much as colouring traditionally.

 

Without naming anyone can you tell me about any unpleasant experiences with clients or projects that made you unhappy?

Back in 2001, as soon as I finished college, I got my first job as a comic artist. Being naive and clueless (and without internet) the deal I made was neither profitable for me nor very pleasant, but it was a valuable lesson. The worst experience I've had so far though, was the second comic I was hired to do. The contractor was neither a book/comic publisher, nor had any idea or love for comics. He just thought making a comic would be an easy, cheap way to make money. He was unbearable to work with and he had ridiculous expectations. This experience was so hectic, that I decided to quit making comics for others and took a hiatus for 5 years. Since I got back in 2008 I guess I've been really lucky, collaborating with some great writers and publishers. Unfortunately, mostly due to misunderstandings, I've also "lost" two friends during this time, which saddened me deeply, but life goes on.

Out of your work what are you most proud of and why?

That's a really difficult question. I invest so much on each story I draw (mentally, emotionally and physically), so every time I send in the final pages to the publisher I feel proud for finishing it, even though after a while I always wish I could have done it a bit different, a bit better... Some of the stories may also mean a little more to me, because they were made under "special" circumstances. But they're all my "babies" and it's really hard to choose one over another.

Can you talk about the work you have done with Unseen Shadows and explain how that company works?

Two years ago Barry Nugent contacted me asking me whether I'd like to draw a cover for the story "Fragments of Fate". A few months later he sent me another email asking me to collaborate with Cy Dethan and Nic Wilkinson (my partners in crime for "White Knuckle" a horror graphic novel published by Markosia) to drawing a short comic story which would be published in the "Tales of the Forgotten" anthology. I loved the story and I already had a great collaboration with Cy and Nic so I gladly jumped on board. I was recently asked to be involved in the next anthology, but due to personal reasons I had to drop out. Hopefully I'll be able to collaborate again with Barry and his talented crew of amazing writers and artists in the future. The Unseen Shadows project is a whole universe on its own, beyond comics, and I'm not the ideal person to talk about it, but you can check the Unseen Shadows website: http://unseenshadows.com

Buying Books (How to Draw Manga series)

Forgot to mention that I have bought some books so to help me with making comics and what not, the How To Draw Manga series got my attention since it delves very much into the craft and techniques that artists use.

The volume known as "compiling application and practice" fascinated me since it is easy to forget that drawings even, when done with accurate precision, can still look off when seen from the human eye. Manga artists have tricks such as adding a tree to hide corners and emphasise certain camera angles over others. I didn't buy these books to copy what was in them but to understand how I work, since I'm sure every artist who observes others tackle their subject has asked "what makes their work look so better than mine".

One book is a guide to drawing suits and school uniforms, some would find this dull and boring but for someone like myself who can't afford models and just wants to practice I think it was worth my money. Not everything book of the series is the same since they each have different authors, I was wise to read book reviews before purchasing mine.