DOWNTIME |
Summer break, Christmas break, Easer break...
Just because your time at University is on a break, your time as an illustrator isn't. There's a real danger than you could spend those months entirely ignoring your on-going skills development. Not thinking about illustration. Not thinking as an illustrator. Not making illustrations. This would be bad. This would see you return, post-break, as a lesser practitioner. You would end up spending the valuable time just getting back to where you already were. Not good. What you want is to continue practicing those skills. Keep making illustrations. Keep thinking illustrations. Here's some tips n stuff |
PROCESS
Don't forget that illustration isn't just about making nice pictures. Illustration's are created to communicate and, more often than not, they are created in partnership with a client. Roughly speaking, the dynamic of that process is...
1. Research
2. Ideas
3. Development & Refinement
4. Outcome
1. Research
2. Ideas
3. Development & Refinement
4. Outcome
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None of these stages exists in isolation. For example, Whilst refining an idea, you may need to do a little research to inform your options. Whilst you're in your initial research phase, you might be noting some ideas down. It's an organic and fluid process.
The beauty of this process is that it becomes your safety net. It allows you to confront projects that focus on any subject, familiar or not; safe in the knowledge that working through the process will see you arrive at a successful outcome.
The beauty of this process is that it becomes your safety net. It allows you to confront projects that focus on any subject, familiar or not; safe in the knowledge that working through the process will see you arrive at a successful outcome.
PRACTICE
Be honest with yourself, which of these stages do you skip or pay lip service to? Do you just rush toward stage 4? Do you think stage 1 doesn't apply to you? Do you leap from stage 2, straight to 4?
Not only do you need to practice making technically sophisticated images, but you need to practice this process.
Not only do you need to practice making technically sophisticated images, but you need to practice this process.
1. SKETCHBOOK
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We might have mentioned this before, but good illustrators keep sketchbooks. A sketchbook isn't just a place to do amazing drawings that you show off on Insta, but it's a place where you can visually explore the world and where you can practice all of the key stages of the illustration process.
Sketchbooks task. Draw what you see. Observational drawing is like cross fit for illustrators. It's practices every key skill that you need. It doesn't matter if the subject is boring. You're observing, you're making choices, you're thinking about light, dark, scale, composition, mark making... All at once whilst carrying out the physical act of drawing. Hand and brain, together at last. It doesn't matter if your illustration practice isn't about hand drawn objects from around the home. This is simply an exercise that builds your skills. Look at: Chris Ware's 'Acme Novelty Date Books'. These are a collection of Ware's sketchbooks from 1986-2002 and show how he builds the skills that underpin his internationally renowned artwork and graphic novels. |
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Sketchbook task.
Thumbnailing. You can practice the generation and development of ideas simply by thumbnailing in your sketchbook. All you need to begin with is a prompt. I would suggest picking an short article from the BBC or Guardian's websites. You can thumbnail one or two basic ideas - doesn't really matter if the idea's any good - and then push them around in thumbnail form. Not only are you practicing the shorthand form of drawing but you're practicing the inner conversational dynamic that is ideas development. You don't even need to carry these 'ideas' through to completion. You're simply practicing stages 1, 2 & 3 |
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2. LOOK AND LISTEN
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Between the internet in general, youtube and podcasts, it's never been easier to immerse yourself in subject specific content. Not only can you find answers to questions you might already be asking, but you can find answers to questions you didn't know you needed to ask.
Illustration isn't a mainstream subject so it can be a little more difficult to find the right channels, but once you're on the right track, those pesky algorithms starts to help you out. If you're not tuning in to this information, you've got to ask yourself why? In this day and age, it's essential to be prioritising subject content and making this stuff your daily input. Here's a Padlet with a few of my favourites. As and when you find more, please share... |
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