Looking
Towards Interpretive Illustration Narratives
Roderick Mills is an illustrator, lecturer at the University of Brighton and also the
Deputy Chairman of the A.O.I. He also is
involved in Mokita founded in 2010 to debate on the growing culture
of critical discourse around illustration. He
began with a definition of the word ‘illustration’ or to ‘illuminate – through Spiritual or intellectual enlightenment’. He highlighted the words of
Steven Heller, that illustrators can’t afford to be parochial anymore. An
‘authorial instinct’ has become accepted as part of illustrative practice, with
illustrators generating and being much more in charge of their own content.
Roderick Mills, Heart Agency
Mokita
The definitions of illustration can somewhat
restrict it, how we view illustration has been very much changed by the iphone
and the proliferation and availability of images. In a conversation about the
Iphone between film-makers David Lynch and Alejandro
Jodorowsky, (see HERE) ,
they view the iphone as a multi- tasking tool which offers freedom and is
empowering.
The first type of book to explore how
illustration has responded to technology was ‘Pen and Mouse’ (2001). 15 years
ago the only way to view illustration was via the A.O.I Images annuals. Sites
like ‘It’s Nice That’, have massively raised its profile. So much that we are
almost paralysed by the amount of illustration, we are consuming. This must be
especially confusing for many undergraduates who are encouraged by tutors to
find ‘themselves’ in their work.
Pen and Mouse: Commercial Art and Digital Illustration by Angus Hyland (2001)
Images 27: The Association of Illustrators
In her essay ‘Designer as Producer’,
Ellen Lupton, says “The challenge for educators today is to
help designers become the masters, not the slaves, of technology”.
Thinking about the context of illustration is
vital, when Titian painted ‘The Assumption of The Virgin’ ( 1516-18) in the
Venice Church, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice , it was painted to be viewed by the public. An illustrator must
understand how their work is mediated into the world. As illustrators, we
should strive to be the ‘illustration thinkers’, not simply about following
fashion or style.
In an article in Frieze magazine, Ronald Jones joined a debate about a term for
designers called ‘super-hybridity’ – connected to ‘the dynamics of globalization, digital technology, the Internet
and capitalism’. He describes that the different platforms to work on now means
that the best designer would be T-shaped ‘very deep in one discipline but
promiscuous enough to have the grace and confidence to move across disciplines
in search of the hybrid or super-hybrid’.
The illustrators of today are the
laptop, TV generation. An illustrator
needs to be adaptable and evolve, it is suggested that the lifespan of an
illustrator is approx. 5 years until they are ‘out of fashion’. Illustration
agencies also need to change, new agencies like NY based, Hugo and Marie, who
represent a range of creative with different skills, involved in projects for
art direction, design, illustration,
interactive, and art production. Their clients include Stella McCartney, Sephora, Pepsi, Nike, Target, (Red),
Beyoncé, Rihanna, Coldplay, Wired magazine, W Magazine, and Penguin Books.
The fashion industry are often a step
ahead, with work like, London
based animator, director, illustrator, Quentin Jones, whose illustrations are
not still images but change. This is also shown in the short film by Mother London who introduces 'The Engraver' in an Animated Video
about a 76 year-old man who has
engraved Wimbledon cups by hand since 1979. Roderick advocates that ALL
illustrators should be involved in ‘moving image’, collaborate to learn form
each other and think about how their work would move. This was highlighted by
examples of the ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ by Nosy Crow’s app.
Quentin Jones for US Vogue: See film here
‘Re-imaging a re-imagined Europe:
Illustrating the Prisoner of Zelda’.
A presentation by Mirelle Fauchon and Four Corners Books about the process
that Illustrator Mirelle Fauchon had, working
with a publisher on their series ‘Four Corners Familiars’,
this features new responses to classic novels and short stories. They look to
reinvent the tradition of the illustrated novel, with each artist choosing a
text to be reprinted in full as part of a newly created work. Mirelle created new images for 'The Prisoner of Zelda' an adventure novel by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. It was clear
that the art director, very much trusted and encourage the illustrator to work
in a more ambiguous way – allowing the images to reflect a ‘sense of place’ in
a curious way, rather than merely duplicating the words. Mirellle created fake
yet plausible objects, crests and collages to allow the viewer to step into the
imagined place in the text. There is an article about the relationship between
the illustrator and client here .
Four Corners Familiars by Four Corners Books
Double page spread from: The Prisoner of Zelda
How does cross-disciplinary
exchange influence interpretation of the Natural History illustrator?
Dr Andrew Howells is a Lecturer in Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle in
Australia. He used drawing as enquiry to help in the conservation of elephants.
Through drawings studying the elephants skull, size of ribs and amount of
wrinkled skin he helped to develop a visual tool to assess the health of
elephants in captivity. 60 illustrations became a reference index for Body
Conditioning Scoring (BSC). Andrew studied the elephants at first hand at both
Fort Worth Zoo, Texas and Taronga Zoo, Sydney. As described in Australian Geographic.
“The index is six sets of nine illustrations, with each set representing the range of body conditions from a different angle. The physical changes in each of the stages indicate the health of the animal: the elephant graduates from emaciated to obese, and the ideal weight is somewhere in the middle. The accompanying skeletal reference, which Andrew sketched from observations of an articulated skeleton at the Australian Museum, Sydney, highlights the bones that become visible during weight loss.”
“The index is six sets of nine illustrations, with each set representing the range of body conditions from a different angle. The physical changes in each of the stages indicate the health of the animal: the elephant graduates from emaciated to obese, and the ideal weight is somewhere in the middle. The accompanying skeletal reference, which Andrew sketched from observations of an articulated skeleton at the Australian Museum, Sydney, highlights the bones that become visible during weight loss.”
The Toploski Residency
Programme 2013
Gary Embury is an illustrator and senior lecturer at UWE. He is actively involved in
reportage and documentary illustration and is the editor of Reportager.org, an online journal showcasing this area of work.
He talked about a project involving
the Topolski Studio in London. Between 1953-1982,
Topolski hand-printed over 2,300 of his drawings as his broadsheet Chronicles.
Many drawings were made in situ and document the life of that period such
as the Queen’s Coronation and London street scenes. These drawings make ‘comment’
and observe the issues surrounding the people of that time. Six young people
had a residency at the studio and are involved in using the archive /
chronicles of his drawings to inspire their own practice. They have masterclasses
from practitioners and draw what they see on location. drawing has taken place at the courts, Nottinghill Carnival and at the WW1 Centenary. See the article in
Varoom here. Drawings were brought together and printed in the form of a broadsheet newspaper in the spirit of Topolski. Gary Embury, advocates that drawing from life stops contrived, derivative styles as the illustrator
has to return to their natural state and draw from life. This is not simply
however about observational drawing and wants the experience of looking at the
Toploski Chronicles to encourage ‘visual journalism’.
Keynote Speaker- Cyriak
Cyriak is a freelance
animator based in Brighton. After a dull day job and trying to get work as an animator
film- maker, he started making humorous GIFS and uploading them . See GIFS here They gained interest and he worked on bigger projects for music videos. He made a one for 'Bonobo' Cirrus track, using copyright free images from a 1960's film about consumerism. His process is very painstaking and labour intensive. He uses After Effects to make a mask for every moving part. He has noticed a few copycats of his work but think that the secret of his success, is never really knowing what he is doing, being playful and that 'animating is so boring that no-one else wants to do it'. He has also worked with Bloc Party and created an entirely new video out of old videos of theirs. It was difficult to lip-sync the song to the moving images.
Bonobo Cirrus Music Video
Ratchet, Bloc Party Music Video
