Every week I get requests from students to answer their various queries about life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the profession. This series of questions from a student in Leeds, England, was one of the most challenging so I am posting the exchange for the benefit of all:
1. It has been said that illustration occupies a space between art and design. If this is the case then it was perfectly placed to combine technology with more traditional crafts. Why do you think that illustration failed to embrace technology in comparison to graphic design and photography?
Illustration is mostly hand-work (or at least traditionally so). Most artists who practice are indeed artists with strong ties to classical methods. That said, I frankly don’t think that illustration was that late in embracing technologies. I know many illustrators who jumped aboard instantly, while others took longer. Mirko Ilic is a terrific example of one who work solely with laborious hand techniques and then pioneered laborious computer techniques. The intelligence of the work is the constant, the media have changed, but one is an extension of the other. Of course, there are still MANY who are painting, drawing, engraving, and collaging still. Art is about many things, and the artists voice embraces many media.
Graphic design has long been more a craft than art, and therefore had to embrace the current craft tools. And photography was always mechanical. Clearly with digital technology made available to photographers they would jump on the wagon.
2. After the introduction of technology, illustration appeared to fall into a state of decay and remained this way until recently. Do you think that the older generations of illustrators hampered the transition to digital image making due to a lack of understanding?
Not in the least. I think that new technology always has allure, and always brings a level of flux in its wake. I still see great illustrators working with traditional media. But I also see many of the traditionalists adapting their methods, seamless, to the new tools.
3. If illustration hadn’t fallen into decline do you think that stock houses would have become so widely used within the creative industry?
I don’t feel its fallen into decline. I feel its shifted from a basically editorial and advertising based industry or art, to a broader practice that involves typography, animation, etc. Stock houses—which have long existed in the flourishing photography field—were inevitable. More than technology BUDGETS are a big issue. And BUDGETS are connected to the health of the editorial field, which is also in flux. So as far as I’m concerned stock was meant to be, and it has simply put more pressure on illustrators and art directors to be more creative about how they practice.
4. As time progressed culture adapted to the digital way of life, whereas on the other hand illustration made little attempt to adjust (apart for a few exceptions) and declined. Do you think that the root of this problem lay in the lack of creative work being produced or the introduction of technology?
I disagree entirely. We’ve all adapted to the digital. Its our electricity. When artists worked under artificial light as opposed to natural light things changed in terms of form, but it was a natural evolutionary adaptation. I think the same has happened today. Its all a natural re-emphasis. Its not decline per se, but reallocation. Illustration still plays a vital role in visual communications and will continue to do so.
5. A new younger breed of illustrators has emerged recently and is redefining the term illustration, why do you think this is happening now?
Nature and nurture. If it didn’t happen the field would die. Every generation brings new ideas, and a new definition is part of those new ideas.
6. The education of illustrators and graphic designers has changed noticeably in recent years, focusing on the integration of students and the importance of technology. Is there a risk that, with the ever-increasing development of the digital medium, the traditional skills of illustration will be lost?
Possibly some archaic methods will become obsolete. But again, that’s natural. And then, like those who prefer vinyl to CDs to online digital, there will always be those who carry the flame. Same is true in design with letterpress. Its totally arcane, but still lovingly practiced. |