For this research task, I have been asked to familiarise myself with what is going on in the industry at the moment and to pick out particular illustrators that I am drawn to in some way. It's a pretty big industry and trying to find out all that's going on is pretty daunting. I have been a student member of the AOI since my degree started, and I have been a fan of the World Illustration Awards (WIA) since before that point. They were one of the key things that inspired me to study again, in fact.
So I thought that the WIA would be a good place to gather references for this task. They have already taken a critical eye to what is relevant, and categorise the entries. Used the long lists for each year, focusing on the most recent awards and going back a little further if nothing appealed to me. After going through the WIA as a resource, I did some broader exploration and added anything I found to the same categories.
Advertising
Fredinko
I really liked the illustration on this bus. The colours are vibrant and joyful and I like the line work. The cubist influence is apparent, as well as a nod to mid-20th-century illustration and animation. I often think I try to make things too realistic in order for them to be 'good enough' or simply 'grown-up'. I think I could learn something from refining the more essential aspects.
Christina Baeriswyl
I like the graphic feel of this illustration and the texture created by the spray-like gradient. Creating something like this feels like it would be in my current practical skillset, but perhaps not in my current skillset of refining an idea.
The only thing that puts me off of this illustration is that it seems too close to the current zeitgeist in advertising and editorial illustrations of using grainy textures alongside more graphical elements.
I don't think that I'd be able to pick this illustration out as being Christina's versus other contemporary artists. Whilst I appreciate the need to appeal to the illustration market, that market is also fickle in its trends. I feel it's more important to have an authentic style and voice for longevity.
Tommy Parker
This work really appealed to me for its really bold colours and science-fiction imagery. Tommy also seems to use some of the trendy textured shadings, but the context of his shading and line work seems to be more influenced by 1960s illustration than simply a trendy affectation.
I enjoy the strong sense of composition in his work and the use of animation which adds another dimension and application. One of the clever parts of his work is using blurring to create a sense of depth, something I might be able to use in upcoming exercises and the Assignment.
Book Covers
Nick Moffat
I find this work very striking and very obviously has strong mid-20th-century influences, with a nod to Jazz illustration of that time which references the book's subject matter.
This work is obviously intended for a more mature audience, yet it still conveys a sense of energy. It feels mature and still determined to not feel boring or stagnant.
I love the line work and the use of print-like textures. When I looked at Nick's personal website, I can see the mid-century influence in his other book cover work. I can also see in his other work (which seems to be aimed at young adults) that he puts a lot of fun into his work. This aspect in particular is very appealing.
David Humphries
My favourite parts of this book cover are the wave lines and the distressed texture.
The lines, at first glance, seem to be a pseudo-printed application that you might see in pop art or comics. It was only when I noticed the 'beard' that I saw the pattern in different directions. I think this is a really clever way of creating the sense of hair.
The image is cleverly composed, with multiple layers of storytelling that takes a few views to see and appreciate everything, almost like an optical illusion. What will you see first: Ahab or the white whale?
When the texture is applied to the image, it gives the whole work a grungy feel that makes it feel contemporary and old at the same time.
Xinyi Liu
My favourite element of this illustration is the way it combines an almost painterly approach in rendering the image and is then combined with a distinctive chromatic aberration effect. I think it really adds to the storytelling.
The person sitting on the desk already has a tense, distant posture. When you add the displaced colours, it adds to the tension and creates a feeling that things are fragmented or distorted somehow.
I love the composition. Normally a lower camera angle would be used to give the subject a sense of size, dominance or importance. In this image, however, it makes the desks seem larger, which makes the person seem small and insignificant. However, they are placed in the perfect location of the illustration to make them the focus of the image. This draws our attention to the feelings of tension and melancholy.
Nathan Burton
This image stood out for me for its limited palette and strong graphic quality. The colours used are bold and contrast well with each other.
Nathan has latched onto a very retro style, and the image has a lithographic or screen print quality.
I really enjoy the way they have used paper texture and added noise to the black areas to represent common printing imperfections.
Typography also features heavily in this image, and the illustrator has taken a great deal of thought about the style and positioning of the text. I am not sure if they are chosen commercial fonts, or if the illustrator has created them after referencing period fonts in keeping with the retro style.
Christian Gralingen
This illustration really intrigued me in the way that the illustrator seems to have combined different stylistic elements.
There is a feeling of old and new fused together in this image. The border/backdrop of the image is a traditional nautical chart, and layered on top of it is the illustration proper.
It feels mathematical, almost like a technical or diagrammatic illustration. Then you see the layers built into the image, combining cartographical motifs alongside graphic lines, shapes and patterns that give everything a distinct abstract feel. The last thing I noticed was the upturned skull, which gives a final surreal twist to the image.
Children's Publishing
Jules Watson
What I really like about Jules Watson's work is the combination of ink and watercolour. There is a sense of mystery to her work, and I enjoy the way that she has used perspective and sharp colour to highlight the window in the image above. A really clever part is the way she has used a gradient to represent the moonlight falling on the building which draws the viewer's eye up to the focal point.
I always feel so self-conscious when creating work that appears 'messy' in this way, like it is not good enough to be a 'final' image. I suspect a lot of work and refinement went into this image to make it work whilst feeling organic.
Owen Davy
At this point, I think it's fair to say that Owen Davy is a prolific illustrator. He has a strong professional reputation for his natural history books aimed at children. I adore his geometric style and a strong sense of composition. Created in a vector style, his images look simple but having tried many times I can attest that the style is fiendishly hard to emulate! His style is detailed, yet easy to understand; it's no surprise to me why kids love his work.
Anna Desnitskaya
At first glance, I thought that this work was done in a ligne claire style. There is a precision to the line work that is wonderfully judged by the artist. I really like how it's coloured - almost emulating watercolours. One thing that stood out for me with her work was her careful choice of perspective and framing. This allows her work to focus on the setting or the people within the space. Some of her images feel almost like a "Where's Wally?" spread, with a keen eye for capturing little details.
Gabi Toma
Whilst not every piece from this artist was appealing to me, the image above really captured my interest. Again, there is a mid-20th-century vibe to it with its expressive use of line work. I particularly like the contrast between loose, energetic strokes for the sitter's hair and the controlled precise lines of the woodgrain. Some other lovely touches are the effective use of subtle cross-hatching for the background and the inverted 'line work' of the suit's contours.
Design Product & Packaging
Daniele Simonelli
Whilst this image does subscribe to the trendy speckle shading trope, I really like the limited palette that speaks to screen printing techniques. I get the sense that this might be a vector image, as it has strong geometric shapes.
I also really like the little humorous touches such as the bow tie and 'googley' eyes. Their 'pie-chart' style is reminiscent of animation from the 1920s and 1930s which is also in keeping with the idea of skyscrapers as subject matter.
Looking at the artist's personal website, she obviously has a strong geometric style and I think is influenced by art deco illustrations of the 20th century.
Tobatro
I thought it was really cool to have some video game illustrations as part of the World Illustration Awards. The game in question features the ability to create different types of improvised weapons. I really enjoy the diagrammatic style of the illustration that feels more at home in the Science and Technology category.
Of course, it's a parody and I love all of the humorous touches used. They have used a limited palette and artificial distressing of the paper to give the sense that this is a mass-produced leaflet. The red stains not only fit in with the palette but are an implicit reference to blood, giving context to the environment where this imitation guide is being used.
Andrew Bannister
I really enjoyed creating an album cover as part of my Graphic Fiction unit, so this illustration felt like a lot of fun. Interestingly, looking at the Artist's site this ligne claire style is not typical of the rest of his portfolio, which seems to deal more with digital photo collage.
Martin Reznik
I loved this image for its detail. I love the smoke which joins to the frame which is a lovely touch. The ink work is great and is really well observed. It reminds me of the Sin City comics by Frank Millar. It's a wonderful way to illustrate an object of furniture in a way that says a lot about the design as well as the overall brand.
Rob Flowers
I hadn't really considered that comic-style illustrations could be used in a packaging context. I think that was the most surprising aspect of this work and what drew me in.
The comic itself feels a little busy to me, but the illustrator uses spot colours in a clever way to create separation and a sense of visual hierarchy.
I have been interested in packaging as an area to work in as an illustrator, but I had been worried that my particular style might not be suitable. It's heartening to see work like this get recognition; it makes me feel like there might be a place for my work too.
Kezia Gabriella
Speaking of packaging - one of my dream briefs would be to create illustrations for a series of alcoholic beverages. So these immediately jumped out at me. I love vibrant colours and strong contrast. Again I can see a mid-20th-century influence in the styling of the line work. The addition of textural elements and distorted figures in this work takes it further into a more fun and surreal direction.
Duairak Padungvichean
The downside: yet another illustrator jumping on the grainy-texture-gradient train. The upside? I really like the limited muted colour palette in the context of the ice cream packaging. It's unusual and distinctive. It makes it feel sophisticated. There is a consistent design language across all of the flavours, and I appreciate the attention to this kind of detail, there seems to have been a great deal of thought that has gone into this project.
Brett Parson
Rob Flowers's comic work above made me think about my favourite comic artist, and explore areas where he applies his style to genres outside of sequential illustration. I discovered that he has done comics in an editorial fashion, but more interestingly he has also done a number of commissions for packaging ranging from pizza box designs to the illustration above used as digital packaging for a website that sells digital brushes for image creation software. It's great for me to know that this style of work can find uses outside of comics.
Editorial
Van Saiyan
This illustration is also of a vintage comic style, very much in the vein of Golden and Silver Age comics. In this case, the illustrator has also used traditional colouring to emulate the limited printing capabilities of that age.
Despite the look of the image, it was created entirely digitally. I really enjoy the way that you can emulate vintage textures this way and it is something I have played with in the past with my own work.
I like the use of the red lines to link to callout images, giving the overall piece a diagrammatic view which links it to its article.
Harrison Edwards
Unsurprisingly this comic pop-art style illustration also caught my eye. Doing something completely black and white in an illustration situated in outer space is very ambitious! I think the illustrator has done really well with the composition as well as using halftone shading really effectively. I particularly like the background spacecraft cast in white; a reverse of the usual technique of using black silhouettes.
Cala Youbi
I really like the imagery in this illustration. The watercolour is used well giving it a limited palette. I also really enjoy the metaphor used by the illustrator. It evokes ideas of "The Wizard of Oz", as well as the Pixar motion picture, "Up".
I think the thing that actually drew me to this image the most was learning that it is not a published illustration from The New Yorker, but in fact, is an assignment piece from the illustrator's college coursework!
The fact that this got into the WIA longlist fills me with inspiration and motivation, and makes me a tiny bit more confident in feeling that with focus and effort, I can get more of my work out into the world before I am 'ready.'
Lea Berndorfer
I like the combined media approach that went into creating thing illustration. The illustrator moved from pencil drawings using reference, to acrylic painting and finally post-process editing using software.
I like the way they have used the underpainting almost as a light source for the hands in surgical gloves. It ties the painting together whilst adding to the overall painterly aesthetic.
The angle of the needles is used cleverly to guide the viewer's eye to the central point of focus.
Hubert Warter
The more times I look at this illustration the more little things I notice. At first, I thought the image was essentially hand-drawn somehow. Then I notice elements like the tree, cat, and plant and realise that these are photographic.
So when I looked closer, I started to see how this had actually been assembled more like a mixed media paper/photo collage. I think this is really clever. I like the way that some of the elements have been drawn over post-collage and others feel like they were drawn before and then placed. The use of colour, light and shadow is also really clever and well thought out. Likely done digitally this is an interesting way to tie all of the elements in the illustration together.
Haosong Chen
This was another example of an illustration that made the longlist that was a class assignment for the illustrator's studies.
Their style has a lot of East Asian influence to it. The shading feels at home in an anime-style animation, and the colour palette feels typical of work by Hayao Miyazaki. However the rendering itself (looking at the clouds in particular actually feels like it has a lot of influence from Manga comics.
There are some elements that look like they have been created using a heavy reference to photographs. This, alongside the accurate use of perspective, works well in giving the image a realistic feel, but I think it also makes the whole image feel a little wooden.
Dawn Yang
I really like this image's surreal qualities and the way the illustrator combines contour-led drawing with the more skeuomorphic rendering of the technology and physical items.
This is a fun and playful interpretation of the idea of a cyborg, and the way technology could be integrated with the human body.
I also like the rendering that replicates a screen or maybe a lithographic printing approach. The way some of the colours overlap is very effective, and I like the way the printing process has given texture to the jacket. I can almost sense how the cloth of the suit feels to my touch.
Katherine Lam
I first discovered Katherine Lam's work a good few years ago as part of an earlier WIA. She keeps to an effective preferred palette which gives consistency to her portfolio (even if it is not to my personal taste). However, where I love her work is the way she composes her illustrations. There is obviously an influence from Edward Hopper, who has also inspired me since I was a teenager. I love the tension and use of stark shadows. In a lot of her work, the poses of people are very well-observed yet the faces themselves are often obscured or empty which only adds to the sense of disassociation and isolation in her work.
Nick Nazzaro
I discovered the work of Nick Nazarro while researching a different category below. As I looked through his portfolio website, I noticed his editorial work. I really liked the combinations of colour, line work and textured colour.
Exploration
funkeycho
My understanding of this category is work that the artist completed as a way of exploring different media, their own process or as a way of building portfolio work.
I liked this image as it seemed to combine elements of sequential illustration in a style that almost makes it diagrammatic.
It conveys a lot of information in a single page, and the illustrator's rendering style is well-observed, light and delicate. There is essentialism to the imagery; the placement of all the items feels well-considered and they use space well to draw the eye of the reader.
Sara Gironi
I like the chalkboard feel of this image. I think the way that the child is swinging on the rain itself is a really clever metaphor that covers a lot of ground. It is a more literal representation of a mood swing as well as of the desperation to escape depression (alongside a kind of resignation that you are going to fall back into it).
As someone who lives with cyclothymia, I found this imagery really powerful. The image of the person swinging is tight, colour and well-rendered which contrasts against the rough hand-drawn feel of the raindrops.
I would like to talk more about mental health and neurodiversity in my own work, and I struggle to know how to put certain things across. This illustration has taught me a lot.
NICO189
I would have thought that this project would have been classed under the 'site-specific' category. I love how colourful it is, with characters who are very expressive. I think the illustrator chose this category over Site Specific because of the brief, he intentionally set out to show a diverse group working together to create art. In this way, the brief serves a social purpose as well as an appealing illustration for a festival.
Kira Sokolovskaia
I like the images created by this illustrator as part of a drawing challenge. The overall effect is great, but what I like most is the sense of energy that seems to come from the artist embracing the personal challenge to mix up their creative practice. Combining paper collages, pencil drawings and digital work allows the illustrator to experiment with different proportions and combinations of the mixed media approach.
Science & Technology
Jennifer N. R. Smith
I find the imagery in this illustration really powerful. The use of metaphor is exceptional. The style of rendering gives the feeling of a 19th-century medical publication or perhaps a horticultural guide, which supports the metaphor wonderfully. What brings it up to date is the modern medical gloves alongside contemporary secateurs combined with punchy, almost garish colours. The striking colours are very effective and the pink-red for the body and background helps to elevate the sense of pain and danger.
Sachiko Purser
Whilst I don't think this image is a style that really fits with my own creative approach, I find the imagery captivating and haunting. The double exposure effect of the images is very powerful. My first impression was that this image was created with graphite or charcoal.
I was interested to find out that the process is a combination of ink drawing and photography that are then edited to be printed by the photopolymer printing method, which I found interesting to read more about.
Yannick de la Pêche
This was another example where I have been drawn to strong line work and graphical elements that give the work a comic or perhaps pop art feel. I do wonder why the illustrator entered this image into this category over, say, Editorial. Again, the illustration has used a reduced colour palette to great effect. The figures are very well observed and the line work has quite a realistic feel to it.
This appeals to me in one way, but on the other hand, I do fear that my own approach when rendering this way is not precise or neat enough. I wonder what my version of this would look like. The pixel are an interesting device for the image, they have relevance to the article in question whilst also giving the viewer the sense that something is 'glitching', like when a streaming video has connection problems - the image becomes fragmented.
Site Specific
Réka Király
Doing larger mural pieces has been an ambition for my illustration career. However, how does one ever get started with this kind of work without a portfolio to demonstrate? It feels like a catch-22. I really like the black-and-white constraints of this mural. The illustrator has been very clever in how they combine layers and different marks to create interest without the mural getting too noisy. It fits the natural Scandinavian aesthetic beautifully.
Nika Mamedova
This mural, by contrast, is very colourful. I love how the illustrator has used their particular shape language across the whole image, which ties everything together. The palette is limited which I expect would simply applying it to the wall. It manages to balance itself between appealing and non-distracting.
Board Games
The WIA does not specifically have categories to cover illustrations connected to the entertainment industry or tabletop gaming. I am very interested in exploring how I might be able to work in these areas, particularly the tabletop space. So I did some research to find out more about illustrators in this area.
Brett Parson
My favourite comic artist was commissioned to create the box and all game art for a board game. I only discovered this because I follow his work closely.
I purchased the game in question and have to say that I love all the little details, where illustrations are included in rules sheets, playing cards and tokens.
I love the idea of being able to sector at least influence the design of a game like this. I love the way that the illustrations tie the whole thing together and are instrumental in setting the tone from the start.
Nick Nazzaro
Heather Vaughn
It was no surprise for me to discover that Heather also works for clients in the comics and entertainment industries. This image is the cover illustration for a tabletop roleplaying game called Kids on Bikes.
The illustrations have a comic, graphic feel to them and she uses texture and halftones judiciously to add shading or interest in the image. I love the bold colours.
I really like her use of perspective as well. The closer things are to the viewer the stronger the details, but she also cleverly adjusts the level of detail as things recede into the back. So whilst the whole effect is quite tight, the rendering is allowed to be rough and natural too.
Dustin Foust
I discovered the work of Dustin Foust during my research, and I really like what he produces. The work has very clean lines and a simple but effective shading process which makes all of the elements clean and legible. The style itself is fun and quirky, it uses exaggeration to good effect. Whilst he seems to have coloured things digitally, I could envisage this approach using watercolours or inks.
Paul Halkyon
I found an article [4] that featured a number of artists in the tabletop space and reviewed the illustrations to see what spoke to me. Paul Halkyon's work is interesting, I like his choice of colours; I very rarely see him use black which makes his work colourful but also a little low-contrast. I like his characterisation, there is a lot of humour in his work.
Kwanchai Moriya
Moriya's work seems a lot more varied. They seem to be able to adapt their style to the genre they are working in. They have a keen sense of colour - I particularly like the illustration for "Kabuto Sumo" which has a really nice composition and a great use of colour in what is a relatively limited colour scheme. "Dinosaur Island" seems to be more of a departure in style, and the neon colours give the illustration a distinct 1980s feel.
Kyle Ferrin
Ferrin's work is funny and textural. I really like how they use colour with textural rough edges to give the illustrations a feeling that would not be out of place in a children's book. There is a deliberate messiness to the work which I appreciate. I especially like the group of adventurers in the small middle illustration above - they all have distinct fantasy silhouettes which rely on distortion and exaggeration. Yet each of them comes across as believable. This is something I would like to emulate in my own work and let go of the need to be accurate with realism.
Summary
This first research task has actually been pretty arduous, and I feel I may have bitten off more than I needed to at this stage. However, I have found the exercise really useful, and think that I have given myself a strong start that will pay dividends as the section progresses.
All Images are © their respective artists, and used under educational fair-use policy.
References:
Association of Illustrators (2022) World Illustration Awards, The AOI. Available at: https://theaoi.com/wia/ (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
Connell, R. (2020) Top 10 best board game art of 2019, More Games Please. More Games Please. Available at: https://www.moregamesplease.com/best-board-game-art/2020/3/09/top-10-best-board-game-art-2019 (Accessed: May 5, 2023).
Lam, K. (2023) Katherine Lam Illustration, Katherine Lam. Available at: http://www.katherinelam.com/ (Accessed: May 5, 2023).
Murray, N. (2021) Top 15 board game artists - bitewing games, Bitewing Games. Available at: https://bitewinggames.com/top-15-board-game-artists/ (Accessed: May 5, 2023).
Nazzaro, N. (2023) Art + illustration + TV animation design by Nick Nazzaro, Nick Nazzaro. Available at: https://www.nicknazzaro.com/ (Accessed: May 5, 2023).
Vaughn, H. (2023) Freelance illustrator: Hvonillustration: United States, hvonillustration. Available at: https://www.hvonillustration.com/ (Accessed: May 5, 2023).
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