Rees - How to be an Illustrator

How to be an Illustrator

Darrel Rees

Second Edition

Contents

Nicholas Blechman

Interview/Creative director Guy Marshall

Interview/Illustrator Aude Van Ryn

Interview/Art director Luke Hayman

Interview/Illustrator Bruce Ingman

Interview/Art director Simon Esterson

Interview/Illustrator Marc Boutavant

Interview/Illustrator Michael Gillette

Interview/Illustrator Yuko Shimizu

Interview/Art buyer Sarah Thomson

Interview/Illustrator Victo Ngai

Interview/Illustrator Marion Deuchars

Interview/Illustrator Brett Ryder

Interview/Illustrator David Lucas

Interview/Illustrator Romy Blmel

Interview/Art director Wladimir Marnich

Interview/Illustrator Brett Ryder

Central Park by Romy Blmel

Foreword

Nicholas Blechman

Illustration is a stealthy sport. To win you need more than just talent. You need a hunters instinct. You need to know the lay of the land. You need to know what publications exist, who publishes them, and how to get the publishers attention. You have to lure your prey with exquisite work. All this may sound daunting, but this book will help.

Being an illustrator is not just about creating good art. There is also an art to being a successful illustrator. There exists an (until now) unwritten methodology on how to get clients and keep them. This handbook has invaluable information on how to survive in the publishing jungle. It contains all the dos and donts that never get covered in art school. Here is everything I would like to have known before I showed my portfolio an envelope with loose photocopies and messy silkscreen prints to legendary art director and design critic Steven Heller 26 years ago. I still got a job, but only one. Years of humiliation, rejection and frustration could have been avoided.

Art directors are the most important people for you. They are at the top of the food chain. You only have one or two chances to impress them. Being one myself, I am always shocked when I meet illustrators to review their portfolio by how easy it is to tell the student from the seasoned professional (hint: the student has an oversize portfolio with original art and no website; the pro has a small custom-made book with clean printouts and a functional site).

The future of illustration may seem uncertain, with newspaper readership declining and magazines tightening their belts. The number of new illustrators entering the field each year easily outnumbers the number of new magazines launched. Nevertheless, there will always be opportunities for new illustrators. Editorial art directors like myself are always looking for fresh talent. We are always trying to find new ways to communicate because we are often working with recurring topics (healthcare, the Iraq war, Chinese growth). To find new solutions, we need new illustrators. Nor is the field limited to editorial illustration: todays illustrators can apply their skills to graphic novels, online animation or the art scene. Illustrators no longer work in one area but a multiplicity of fields, and this is what makes being an illustrator today so exciting.

If there is anybody who knows about becoming an illustrator, its Darrel Rees. Over the years he has brought together some of the finest illustrators under one umbrella. Heart not only represents a diverse range of some of the best new talent in the field, but also knows how to package illustration for art directors. Darrel is passionate about illustration, and this passion has been translated into this smart, useful and, not coincidentally, beautifully illustrated book.

Keep it by your drawing table.

Introduction

The broad and social church of illustration

Welcome to this second edition of How to be an Illustrator. This updated version is now in full colour and addresses some of the new developments in the six years since the first edition, notably the growth of social media and its role in promoting yourself and your work.

I still maintain that for most illustrators, a foundation of editorial work, followed by publishing, design and advertising work, remains a norm. Beyond that central field there are specialist areas that can be explored if your interest and your work is so inclined. I have interviewed practitioners active in those fields that are not my areas of expertise, such as gaming and interactive animation, childrens books, 3D illustration, animation and natural history. There should be plenty of useful guidance with regard to work in these areas. Contracts, where they exist, will also vary greatly, as they will concern themselves with rights that are unique to those specialisms.

What will change in more traditional areas is of course the impact of the range of digital platforms now available and in development, such as the interactive possibilities for narrative and online versions of magazines, viewed via such devices as the iPad and Kindle.

I suspect that not all the visual content of an interactive version of a magazine will necessarily be interactive or animated. The role an illustration plays for a feature article is primarily a supporting one. A moving image may prove distracting if one were trying to read a page of text. However, in the realms of advertorial or straightforward advertising content, the possibilities may well be explored and exploited more readily. Cost may be one factor where interactive visuals are used, but its also a matter of their function. A one-page ad might be in effect a one-page movie screen, telling a products story and brand through moving images.

Given these potential applications, the nature of illustration as we know it may well become less and less twodimensional, or rather the three dimensions plus movement may be what changes the nature of the visuals and the language they speak.

Self-initiated collage

The six years that have passed since this book was first published have seen much change in the modes of communication and, arguably, of self-promotion that one can apply. Possibly the greatest change is that the social media networks now play a greater role in the hunt for work for everyone, not just illustrators. However, what are the implications for the illustrator seeking to further a reputation and career?

Numerous artists successfully employ social media networks as part of their promotional strategy. Ill be looking at some of these individuals, to see how they make such networks work for them. They will share what they learned in the process to help you navigate a clearer path through social media networking.

As social media have gained ground, alongside what might be considered the traditional website, the need for a physical portfolio of work has arguably diminished. Ill be looking at its place in the promotional arsenal as well as revisiting the manner in which work is commissioned and handled, and shifts in the working landscape within which illustrators operate.

The selection of artists featured in the book has changed, to reflect a broader spectrum of activity, and their work is reproduced in beautiful full colour. Ill be looking at how these individuals established themselves in their differing arenas as well as hearing what they might have done differently, having learned a few lessons along the way.