What is Illustration- Part 2

Research into professional practice is extremely important to every illustrator in able to develop individual practice, knowledge and the ability to distinguish between drawing, image making and illustration itself.

This diagram shows a generalisation as to how we process research. 

Assimilation is a way to associate things with the problem, General Study is the breadth of possible solutions to the problem, Development refines the decisions made and focuses down again, and Communication is sharing the solution with others.

There are three main approaches to the generation and investigation of ideas:

Stimulated approach- A conscious or sub conscious search for inspiration from an external source.

Systematic approach- Acting according to a plan and experimentation

Intuitive approach- Based on prior knowledge and experience.

Where is Illustration?

In groups of five we discussed our five chosen images from each pinterest board, and how they related and represented each category, and had to reflect upon this task.

Five reasons why it was a useful task

• Distinguishing WHY we like or are interested in something
• The discovery of Pinterest- a whole hub of inspiring images from a wide scale and personal perspective as to what interests individuals 
• Categorising our own interests/areas
• Seeing the illustrators individual focus in each piece
• Informative process, allowing us to make future references and links

Five ways to extend research

• Discuss with peers
• Make more boards with different categories
• Look into the approaches and process the artists take within their work
• Research into external influences of the era that could have informed their work
• Look at other things relating to the original piece

We learned that the whereabouts of illustration exist under four categories: Products, Place, Publications and Online.

Task

Part One: Discuss a useful illustration website
I found the AOI (association of illustrators) website extremely informative at a first glance, although the homepage didn’t initially entice me with the dull grey colour scheme, but the easily accessible navigation allowed me to find a variety of interesting areas. The homepage states the mission statement of the AOI, of how it aims to ‘protect illustrators rights and encourage professional standards’, which immediately sets a bar of high standards and creates a sense of trust and security due to the website being legitimate. 

I was drawn to the websites blog and its informative content including in depth and analytical illustrated book reviews, exhibition reviews, illustrated magazine reviews etc. as it is useful to read a critique from a professionals perspective. Looking at this blog has and will continue to keep me on my toes and read about current and interesting aspects of illustration.

The artists portfolio section of the  AOI website was extremely helpful in finding out how illustrators choose and arrange the high standard of their work to present. The awards and events sections are also kept extremely current on opportunities for illustrators and exhibitions that we can attend to inform our practice and develop our own interests.

Part Two: List 10 'types' for each category

Product:

• Merchandise
• Clothing e.g. t-shirts
• Stationery
• Packaging
• Prints
• Greetings Cards
• 3-D Illustrations
• Jewellery
• Accessories
• Tarot Cards

Publication:

• Instruction manuals
• Textbooks
• Children's Books
• Zines
• Fashion Magazines
• Graphic Novels
• Editorial
• Comic Books
• Book Jackets
• Picture books
• Posters

Place:

• Billboards
• Galleries
• Exhibition Spaces
• Open space (3D illustration)
• Hospitals
• Schools
• Print shops
• Restaurant
• Peoples homes
• Workplace

Online:

• Mobile/tablet apps
• Pinterest
• Google homepage
• Video games
• Online advertisements
• Newspaper/magazine's web sites
• Web design
• Online Shops selling artwork e.g. Etsy
• Specific Illustration websites
• Practitioners websites

Part Three: Five types from each of the four categories

Product

Publication

Place

Online

Part Four: Choose 1 example from each category and explain why it is relevant to your creative interests

Product

I am really interested in the connection between illustration and packaging design. The customers reaction to become attracted to a product and be persuaded to make a purchase largely depends upon the quality of design of the packaging. The style of illustration, type and colour scheme can also have an affect on the target audience of the product.

Place

I believe it is really important to gain subjective accuracy within illustrations commissioned for hospital wards. The mission statement of hospitals 'to make patients feel comfortable' is often overseen due to the pain and suffering of patients. Therefore the illustrations painted or framed within wards are required to refresh the minds of patients and make them feel peaceful and less stressed.

Publication

Illustrated posters used for advertising purposes have a similar principle to products. Every element included within that poster will apply to a specific target audience, whom will make a pre-judgement of what they might think the event will be like by simply taking a glance at the poster.

Online

The novelty 'google doodles' really appeal to me in a light-hearted sense. I am interested in the way that the illustrators use image as type in creating a popular focal point for the worldwide most popular search engine, which is an extremely large audience. They are informative, for example illustrating anniversaries of particular events in history, or current events e.g. holidays such as Christmas, Easter etc.