COP Lecture 4 : Illustration

It's very difficult to cover illustration in a two hour lecture, so this is more of an insight into illustration.

What is Illustration?
‘…a shining, a spiritual illumination, vivid representation, an enlightening, light up, illuminate, make clear, disclose, explain, adorn, shine light, act of making clear in the mind…’

It is often an addition to something else to add meaning and give light to a message.

Strategic image making, used within the context of visual communication to convey meaning or concept.

The history of illustration is as old as the human race from when language evolved. We rely on cave paintings to tell us about the past. They come together to form the first language and first visual literacy and we as people are 'hard wired' to respond to this imagery.




Illustration is very much the development of signs and symbols into a more picturesque form. The very nature of the aesthetics of an illustration are what make it substantially different to signs and symbols, be it through different choices of media or different ways of line making, that's what makes it different to graphic design.




The important thing about good illustration is that there is a communication of a message through an original tone of voice, with individuality. Not only can illustrations convey a message but through the medium and mark making they have a chance to convey subtle or abstract sensibilities.




Illustration exists as a sub genre of the broader art form of visual communication. Examples of how an ilustrator may get comissioned work are through:

Art director commissions illustration for a newspaper
Graphic Designer employs illustrator to work on branding project
Museum curator briefs Illustrator on mural piece for exhibition
Photographer gets illustrator to design props for set
Creative Agency buys artwork from Illustrator to use in new branding campaign
Flagship store employs illustrator to collaborate on visual merchandising for shop window display.

Even though there is a recession there is a demand for illustrators as there key skills can overlap into so many other departments.

'With the inclusion of moving image and the web, there is a massive demand for visual content within contemporary media. Brands, publishers, businesses and products are all desperate to develop deep and genuine relationships with consumers.'

How Do we define good Illustration?
Good illustration is more than illumination.

It can be more than vapid, trend driven cool (cool doesn't exist).

It can be more than twee, pretty embellishment.  It can be functional, have a message and have emotional impact.

The most important thing when looking at design work is the willingness to form your own opinion.

During the Lecture Matt shared with us some examples of his favourite types of illustration and how he has fallen in love with them. Although I appreciated almost all of them, my select favourites were;

Although these are just the ones from this lecture, some of my favourite ilustrators are, Gemma Correl, Jonathan Edwards, Marc Johns, Ronald Searle(arguably caricature), Ralph Steadman (especially the Extinct Boids) and Shaun Tan and his exquisite line marking abilities.

Jonathan Edwards

Ronald searle

Shaun Tan.