Rescue is this week's topic for Illustration Friday.One already in the pot - please rescue the other two.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Illustration Friday
I thought I might try entering Illustration Friday as it will give me a mini brief to work to each week. The topic this week is Brave and I thought a beach hut leaving the ranks to go snorkelling is very brave.
Nick Dewar
I was shocked to read that Nick Dewar had passed away in February. I loved his illustrations and the humour he used influenced my way of working. When I corresponded with him at college he was very generous in the time he spent replying to my questions.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Illustrator Nick Dewar
I have been corresponding with Nick Dewar he was quite happy to answer questions so long as they were not ones on his website. Most of what I wanted to ask is there, they are worth reading http://www.nickdewar.com/
I like his sense of humour as well as his illustrations.
This is an interesting question and answer, it makes you realise how quick you need to turn your ideas into illustrations.
This is an interesting question and answer, it makes you realise how quick you need to turn your ideas into illustrations.
Q: "What is your creative process, how do you create an illustration?"
And
Q: "How close are your final sketches to the final artwork?"
A: I thought the best way to answer these two questions is by showing you how I work. I took a random week and followed two jobs that I had on at that time from first contact to final artwork. One job is an editorial piece the second is an advertising job.
The first Job was done for the New York Times book review. Just to confuse matters the art director who commissioned me is the venerable Nicholas Blechmen. I have labeled our discourse as between Nick One and Nick Two. I should add that not only is Nick One a real gent and a talented artist in his own right, this is a textbook example of good art direction.
Nick One contacted me on Monday afternoon to ask if I would have time to do a small illustration. It would accompany the review of a book written about "the economy of sushi". I replied straight away and told him that I could do it. He sent through the article, the size, the fee, the due date and told me to have fun!
First thing Tuesday morning I read through the article once to get a feel for the piece and the tone of the writing. Then I sat down and reread the article more closely identifying the parts that already suggest imagery and identifying the articles most important point: that eating sushi is a "key indicator of modernization, a signifier of participation in the globalised economy".
Sometimes if I am stuck with a particularly dense or complicated piece of text I will try and boil the article down to a single word or phrase and illustrate that. Here are the ideas that I came up with...Roll over the images on the right to see larger versions of the sketches supplied to the client.
Nick One wrote back a very encouraging email:
"These all look great.
My favorites are:
Segments of globe as sashimi
Slice of sea on sushi block
World as tuna roll
(And I also kind of like fish skeleton as yen)
Which do you prefer?"
I sat down and looked over the ideas again and tried to evaluate them a little more objectively. Here is my reply:
"I like the globe sashimi, because it succinctly sums up the main idea behind the book. The world as a tuna roll I like for the same reason, but it is either a little more direct and or a bit too obvious (depending on your point of view). The trawler would be fun to draw but is a bit surreal and perhaps not readily apparent what the link to the story will be to a casual viewer (I don't know if this is an important point or not). The yen might be a stretch to make it look good as you have to squeeze a yen sign into a skeleton shape, also as I write this it occurs to me that it may be misinterpreted that the book is about the demise of the Japanese economy. I think the globe sashimi wins out? Let me know your thoughts."
His reply:
"Agreed, the sashimi is perfect.Look forward to the finish.Thanks."
I sent the sketch over to Nick One first thing Wednesday morning, asking if he had any colour preferences. He wrote back that he had no preferences on the colour but to bear in mind that their presses cannot hold more than a 250% combination of inks (in other words, no area should be so dark that the combination of cyan, magenta, yellow an black is above 250%). He also said that the sketch was looking good.
Now all I had to do is sit down and produce a more final sketch. I wanted to make the sushi resemble a Homolosine globe because it made more sense to me that if a globe were spread it out as sushi, it would look more like a Homolosine globe than an orange segment shaped globe. So I had to go away and find a good reference for that. Also I needed to get sushi references to make sure I got the Toro right.
The one artistic license is the band of seaweed wrapped around the sushi. You don’t usually do this with Tuna, but it worked so well as an equator line and it really helped identify the objects as sushi that I included it.
Now that I had his approval on the final rough I was free to go to final.I managed to get the art over to Nick One by Wednesday evening.
And
Q: "How close are your final sketches to the final artwork?"
A: I thought the best way to answer these two questions is by showing you how I work. I took a random week and followed two jobs that I had on at that time from first contact to final artwork. One job is an editorial piece the second is an advertising job.
The first Job was done for the New York Times book review. Just to confuse matters the art director who commissioned me is the venerable Nicholas Blechmen. I have labeled our discourse as between Nick One and Nick Two. I should add that not only is Nick One a real gent and a talented artist in his own right, this is a textbook example of good art direction.
Nick One contacted me on Monday afternoon to ask if I would have time to do a small illustration. It would accompany the review of a book written about "the economy of sushi". I replied straight away and told him that I could do it. He sent through the article, the size, the fee, the due date and told me to have fun!
First thing Tuesday morning I read through the article once to get a feel for the piece and the tone of the writing. Then I sat down and reread the article more closely identifying the parts that already suggest imagery and identifying the articles most important point: that eating sushi is a "key indicator of modernization, a signifier of participation in the globalised economy".
Sometimes if I am stuck with a particularly dense or complicated piece of text I will try and boil the article down to a single word or phrase and illustrate that. Here are the ideas that I came up with...Roll over the images on the right to see larger versions of the sketches supplied to the client.
Nick One wrote back a very encouraging email:
"These all look great.
My favorites are:
Segments of globe as sashimi
Slice of sea on sushi block
World as tuna roll
(And I also kind of like fish skeleton as yen)
Which do you prefer?"
I sat down and looked over the ideas again and tried to evaluate them a little more objectively. Here is my reply:
"I like the globe sashimi, because it succinctly sums up the main idea behind the book. The world as a tuna roll I like for the same reason, but it is either a little more direct and or a bit too obvious (depending on your point of view). The trawler would be fun to draw but is a bit surreal and perhaps not readily apparent what the link to the story will be to a casual viewer (I don't know if this is an important point or not). The yen might be a stretch to make it look good as you have to squeeze a yen sign into a skeleton shape, also as I write this it occurs to me that it may be misinterpreted that the book is about the demise of the Japanese economy. I think the globe sashimi wins out? Let me know your thoughts."
His reply:
"Agreed, the sashimi is perfect.Look forward to the finish.Thanks."
I sent the sketch over to Nick One first thing Wednesday morning, asking if he had any colour preferences. He wrote back that he had no preferences on the colour but to bear in mind that their presses cannot hold more than a 250% combination of inks (in other words, no area should be so dark that the combination of cyan, magenta, yellow an black is above 250%). He also said that the sketch was looking good.
Now all I had to do is sit down and produce a more final sketch. I wanted to make the sushi resemble a Homolosine globe because it made more sense to me that if a globe were spread it out as sushi, it would look more like a Homolosine globe than an orange segment shaped globe. So I had to go away and find a good reference for that. Also I needed to get sushi references to make sure I got the Toro right.
The one artistic license is the band of seaweed wrapped around the sushi. You don’t usually do this with Tuna, but it worked so well as an equator line and it really helped identify the objects as sushi that I included it.
Now that I had his approval on the final rough I was free to go to final.I managed to get the art over to Nick One by Wednesday evening.
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Adrian Johnson's Stress Management
I like this illustration because of the simple forms and the limited use of colour,yet it sums up the title and makes you smile.
Gillian Blease suggested we look at Adrian Johnson his website is
Gillian Blease's Talk
Gillian was a very interesting and engaging speaker who seemed very relaxed and willing to share the techniques she used to get her work accepted by art directors.
She explained that the position she is now in did not just happen over night it has taken 10 to 15 years to get to this point.
Gillian did her foundation year at MMU and then went to Newcastle for 4years studying Fine Art. So the first half of her career was spent as a fine artist until she tried her hand at illustration.
Gillian was lucky to get a residency with ACME in London. Artist Martin Creed had a neighbouring studio and seeing the style and method of thinking behind Creed’s work made Gillian question her desire to become a fine artist.
She added to her life’s experiences by spending six weeks in Japan teaching English.
This experience has influenced her illustration work, as she likes the Japanese way of putting in elements that work together and keeping the images precise. Leaving space creates its own drama. Gillian has always liked simplicity.
She explained that the position she is now in did not just happen over night it has taken 10 to 15 years to get to this point.
Gillian did her foundation year at MMU and then went to Newcastle for 4years studying Fine Art. So the first half of her career was spent as a fine artist until she tried her hand at illustration.
Gillian was lucky to get a residency with ACME in London. Artist Martin Creed had a neighbouring studio and seeing the style and method of thinking behind Creed’s work made Gillian question her desire to become a fine artist.
She added to her life’s experiences by spending six weeks in Japan teaching English.
This experience has influenced her illustration work, as she likes the Japanese way of putting in elements that work together and keeping the images precise. Leaving space creates its own drama. Gillian has always liked simplicity.
The way Gillian entered illustration was by winning a competition and having her artwork published in a magazine. She also did a mini crash course in illustration.
A great idea she had was to recreate illustrations to go with existing editorials
and she sent this with her portfolio to the Guardian. She now regularly sends out mail cards. Also she thinks it is worth getting images into Illustration annuals such as the AIO for good self-promotion. Gillian has been accepted for 2009 and thought it will cost about £500. This may seem expensive but publicity is very expensive and if it is a source Art Directors look at then it is worth it.
The work Gillian produces is usually for magazines, editorial and surface pattern. She also likes graphic design and logos fascinate her but they need to be accurate. She produced about 150 images for recipes in the Guardian and these were then used in a book.
Gillian has worked for
Restaurant Magazine
Daily Express
Letters page in the Guardian
Relations Column
Letters page
Book designs
Waitrose
Blueprint Magazine
Articles for Stephen Fry
South Bank poster
Important facts Gillian said to be aware of
Do not let your ego get in the way
Sometimes you have to be the servant
Sometimes the clients are very certain about what they want
You are not changing the world
Deadlines can be very short
Art directors may say the readers will not get your illustrations.
If you have not had a rough passed you may have to redo the image
I thoroughly enjoyed Gillian’s talk and thought she came across very informative and quite happy to share her ideas.
I found Gillian's images on place mats on this website http://www.jennyduff.co.uk/
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