ILLUSTRATION NEWSLETTER
Semester 2 / Week 7
Semester 2 / Week 7
PLAY!
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Your job as an illustrator isn’t just about responding to briefs—that’s only half of it. The other half, and arguably the most important part, is play.
Now, we don’t mean mindless doodling or procrastination. When we say play, we mean serious work—the kind that helps you develop your voice, refine your skills, and uncover what truly excites you about making images. Want to build a personal approach to illustration? You have to experiment. Try things out. Make mistakes. Follow creative tangents just to see where they lead. If you love a particular artist’s work, don’t just admire it—pick it apart. Figure out the process, the tools, the thinking behind it. You should have side projects bubbling away constantly. A poster here, a book jacket there, an editorial illustration just for the hell of it. Maybe even an image with no purpose at all—just because you felt like making it. Every single piece teaches you something. So when you reach the end of a semester, your project work should be just one part of what you have to show. The rest? That’s where you start to emerge. |
Monday1st yr
ILLU4020 - AM UCIA4020 - 2 - 3 PM 2nd yr ILLU5050 PROJECTS - AM 3rd yr NO DELIVERY |
Tuesday1st yr
AN AUDIENCE WITH... JILL CALDER 2-3PM 2nd yr AN AUDIENCE WITH... JILL CALDER 2-3PM 3rd yr ILLU6050 - AM&PM AN AUDIENCE WITH... JILL CALDER 2-3PM |
Wednesday1st yr
UCIA4020 SEMINAR: 10 - 11 UCIA4020 TUTORIAL: 11 - 12 2nd yr ILLU5060 - AM 3rd yr NO DELIVERY |
Thursday1st yr
ILLU4020 - AM & PM 2nd yr ILLU5050 - AM 3rd yr ILLU6050 - PM |
Friday1st yr
NO DELIVERY 2nd yr ILLU5050 - PM 3rd yr NO DELIVERY |
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Jill Calder is an award winning illustrator and calligrapher who loves drawing, ideas, colour, ink, typography, stories, books, dogs and deadlines. Jill blends traditional and digital image-making methods as seamlessly as possible resulting in whimsical illustrations with broad appeal. As a result, her work is commissioned for children’s picture books, huge hospital murals, financial and scientific reports, branding Scottish beer and whisky and global advertising campaigns.
Jill's latest picturebook, 'Coorie Doon' is written by poet, activist and former Scottish 'Makar' Jackie Kay and published by Walker Books in January 2025. Teddy Jamieson in The Herald wrote: "a warm hug of a book about going to bed, sweet dreams, the moon, foxes, corbies “fizzing and jagged in the sky’s big bed,” mums and dads singing their children to sleep and grown-up children doing the same to their ageing parents. And frankly if that doesn’t tug on your heartstrings you haven’t got any. This also seems as personal as any of Kay’s poetry. And as full of love." ~The Herald, Book of the Month |
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Jill's client list is, quite frankly, ridiculous*
Walker Books, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, BBC, Chicken House Books, Scottish Book Trust, Macmillan Kids UK, Penguin Random House, Birlinn Books, Nosy Crow, Faber & Faber, Royal Brompton Hospital, National Museums of Scotland, CAHRU and Radio Flyer. Gardens Illustrated, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, ELLE, The Sunday Telegraph, The New Yorker, Historic England, Cricket Magazine, The Simple Things, The Independent, Condé Nast Traveller, Food & Wine, Reader’s Digest USA, Los Angeles Magazine, the Sunday Times, BBC Wildlife Magazine and Oprah Magazine. Eden Mill Distillery, Royal Mail, Innis & Gunn, Visa, Allstate, Pentagram, Colgate University, English Heritage, Mass Mutual, First Great Western, #ActuallySheCan, Actavis, Siemens, Kellogs, Benromach Distillery, Museum Next, Billabong USA, SKYY Vodka, World Health Organisation, HBSC, Target, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, National Care Standards, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Housing Finance Agency Ireland and B&Q
*and we bet that's not all of 'em!
Walker Books, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, BBC, Chicken House Books, Scottish Book Trust, Macmillan Kids UK, Penguin Random House, Birlinn Books, Nosy Crow, Faber & Faber, Royal Brompton Hospital, National Museums of Scotland, CAHRU and Radio Flyer. Gardens Illustrated, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, ELLE, The Sunday Telegraph, The New Yorker, Historic England, Cricket Magazine, The Simple Things, The Independent, Condé Nast Traveller, Food & Wine, Reader’s Digest USA, Los Angeles Magazine, the Sunday Times, BBC Wildlife Magazine and Oprah Magazine. Eden Mill Distillery, Royal Mail, Innis & Gunn, Visa, Allstate, Pentagram, Colgate University, English Heritage, Mass Mutual, First Great Western, #ActuallySheCan, Actavis, Siemens, Kellogs, Benromach Distillery, Museum Next, Billabong USA, SKYY Vodka, World Health Organisation, HBSC, Target, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, National Care Standards, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Housing Finance Agency Ireland and B&Q
*and we bet that's not all of 'em!
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PLAY!
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If you read the intro to this week's newsletter you probably thought that was it for 'play' but nope, here's some more...
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Illustrator Butcher Billy first gained recognition with his striking series of Stephen King-inspired book covers, each borrowing its title from a famous love song. The collection leans into the bold, pulpy aesthetic of 1980s horror, a look that was very much in the zeitgeist at the time—thanks in no small part to Stranger Things. Each book is presented as a well-worn, aged artifact, as if plucked straight from a dusty secondhand shop.
This is a perfect example of how a personal project—just a good bit of creative play—can end up shaping a career.
Here’s BB on the collection:
"This series imagines an alternate universe where some of the most hopeless, desperate, and tragic heartbreak songs of the '70s and '80s were actually novels written by Stephen King. It explores the dark side of love through the lens of pop culture, twisting elements of his classic stories to either subvert or emphasize the original meaning of the songs—all while paying tribute to the vintage design of old-school book covers."
This is a perfect example of how a personal project—just a good bit of creative play—can end up shaping a career.
Here’s BB on the collection:
"This series imagines an alternate universe where some of the most hopeless, desperate, and tragic heartbreak songs of the '70s and '80s were actually novels written by Stephen King. It explores the dark side of love through the lens of pop culture, twisting elements of his classic stories to either subvert or emphasize the original meaning of the songs—all while paying tribute to the vintage design of old-school book covers."
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Similarly, illustrator and graphic designer Matt Stevens has gained global recognition through his ongoing personal project, where he reimagines classic films as vintage books. What started as a passion project has now become a published collection--Good Movies as Old Books—which is available to buy.
Through this series, Matt not only explores a wide range of visual styles, but also showcases his versatility as a visual thinker and artist. It’s a creative playground that has helped develop his artistic voice while also building trust with clients, proving his ability to adapt and bring fresh perspectives to any brief. |
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Insta-gratification
Random eye candy from the 'gram, presented without context