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Lecture Five - Illustration: An Index of Possibilities

MELODIE NEESOM

Illustration - is the 'peoples art', it reflects the lives we lead. Illustration plays a role in our personal histories and a major role in determining how we comprehend our worlds. Illustration communicates, educates, entertains, informs, inspires and persuades.

Illustration goes back to our childhood, to picture books and text books that informed our visual world. We remain connected to illustration as we go through adolescence e.g. album covers, magazines, posters, digital screens of TV and mobile phones.

Illustration roots goes back to the beginning of mankind. In the 21st Century, illustration remains one of the most direct forms of visual communication. 

The most memorable and talented Illustrators use their own unique vision and personal visual language to articulate a message, to enunciate a meaning and to evoke a feeling.

1960's

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  • A decade characterised by the feeling of hope and change

  • The birth of a Cultural Revolution and socio-political change

  • Developments in the civil rights movement, feminism, the sexual revolution and the birth of environmentalism

Klaus Voormann, Revolver, The Beatles (1965)

Milton Glaser, Bob Dylan (1967)

Seymour Chwast (1968)

1970's

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  • An economic recession in the USA and UK

  • The counterculture of the previous decade gave way to the opposition to the Vietnam war, nuclear weapons and the authority of government

  • Conflicts, coups and international terrorism were rife

  • Civil Rights Movement and Gay Rights Movement became more accepted

Jamie Reid (1975)

Gerald Scarfe (1979)

Roger Hane (1973)

1980's

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  • The designer decade

  • The glamorisation of money and the importance of conspicuous consumption

  • The significance of advertising to create 'Aspirational Life Styles'

  • Greed promoted as a virtue and 'image' is everything

  • Illustration was used commercially across a much wider range of platforms

The Brothers Quay

Sue Coe (1982)

Syd Brak (1982)

Long Distance Kiss

1990's

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  • The early 90's became the dawn of the digital revolution

  • In 1991 the World Wide Web was launched by Tim Berners-Lee

  • The digital desktop of the Mac allowed illustrators and graphic designers to work quickly and effectively

  • Animation was revolutionised 

Jamie Hewlett (1998)

Toy Story (1995)

David Lynch

2000's

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  • The digital and the traditional handcrafted artwork began to merge

  • The techniques that both illustrators and animators employed were incredibly diverse, including the canvas on which to show the images including the use of the digital 'screen'

  • The use of the screen for games design - an ever growing and developing field, animation, TV stings and motion graphics

Sara Fanelli (2003)

Guillermo Del Toro (2007)

Jon Burgerman (2007)

2010 and Beyond

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​Trends in the illustration world and cyclical whether it is the clean simplicity of a vector image or a handcrafted image, both do happily co-exist with most Illustrators combining both digital and traditional methods. What matters are ideas and originality.

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‘It is important that we as an Industry realise that it is our positive efforts that make our craft sexy. That is, striving to create intelligent, original work is our responsibility, and then the market responds accordingly. We create the renaissance of Illustration’

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-    Gary Taxali (Illustrator)

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