Through Stages One and Two, you will have experienced studying with OCA and developed study skills that work for you. This unit builds on these experiences and offers a step into greater autonomy as a learner.

Stage Three aims to synthesise your learning by extending a systematic and coherent body of knowledge, utilising specialist skills through self-directed study, critically evaluating ideas and evidence from a range of sources, and applying creative skills and judgements.

Overall, Stage Three will equip you with the knowledge, understanding and application of skills to continue your practice in whatever direction you choose, for example through continued personal development, professional practice, or postgraduate study.

Illustration as a Practice

Illustration can be understood as visual translation of a concept or text. It sits at the middle point among many disciplines such as fine art, design, animation, graphic novels, etc. Because of its inseparable relationship to printing, illustration has as many facets as there are subjects worth writing about in the world: botanical illustration, technical illustration, architectural illustration, children’s book illustration, travel illustration, satirical and political illustration, courtroom illustration, etc. The dual spectrum one can most easily situate illustration in is between fine arts and design.

The differences between fine art and illustration are subjective in many ways, but a generally accepted impression is that illustration veers into the commercial rather than purely artistic. It is not art for its own sake, but art oftentimes created with the purpose of being replicated and distributed. Illustration goes hand in hand with printing, and the practice itself owes its existence to the advancements in printing technology.

The illustrator, as opposed to the fine artist, creates with audience in mind. While many fine artists make artwork to communicate a message and both the fine artist and the illustrator filter the message through themselves in order to make an emotionally resonant image, the illustrator is obligated to deliver their message with as much clarity as possible. Art makes one ask questions while illustration delivers a possible answer. A fine artist focuses on self-expression and boundary-pushing, even if they do create something with an audience in mind. They are also not required to make their image readable or easy to understand and they are not constrained by the rules of what makes a picture palatable. In fine art, stopping to decipher a piece is a good thing, while in illustration it isn’t. An illustrator must make an image readable at the first glance. While a good illustration can also have layers of meaning to it, the first impression is extremely important. There is an element of mass-market appeal required in the work of an illustrator that isn’t required (and is sometimes actively avoided) in the fine arts.

On the other side of the spectrum is design, which is also a commercial venture like illustration is but with even more concern for readability and efficiency. Form follows function in design and while emotional impact and storytelling are guiding elements to good design, they are also less literal than in illustration. A designer works with text, shape and form to enhance something, whether they build an ergonomic chair or make a more effective logo, while the illustrator may create imagery that fits within that design. In many parts of the illustration industry, the designer and illustrator are far more closely related than the fine artist and illustrator. The two disciplines are often impossible to separate if one wishes to create a good final product.

Working conditions vary widely according to specific discipline. Depending on where in the industry one is situated, it is possible to work entirely on one’s own or to always need to work with a team. A traveling illustrator will obviously be less studio-bound than a product designer/illustrator.

Skillsets also vary depending on discipline an artist/illustrator who sells their work via their own shop will not need teamwork skills the same way someone who works in a film studio does, but they do need to know how to market themselves and put together appealing packaging for their products. A botanical illustrator obviously needs to be very well-versed in the natural world, while a storybook illustrator needs to know how to adjust their approach according to the age range of their audience.

Illustration is almost too big an umbrella for all these different disciplines, and there are many more not mentioned. The important thing is to have an idea of what is out there, what I am interested in and where on that bizarre sliding scale between art and design I find myself.

Historical Framing

Illustration history and fine art history are inseparable until the end of the 19th / beginning of the 20th century, when printing technology improved and made illustration indispensable to the publishing industry. The distinction between art and illustration isn’t clean cut, as explored above, but the ability to easily mass produce pictures and pictures-with-words created a separation in terms of approach.

Aside from some satirical illustrations, most printed images before the late 19th century strictly existed to illustrate/explain the text or as miniature versions of real-life artwork. Illustration was not necessarily integrated with the text and for a very long time it was never in color. There were printmakers all throughout history, Durer being the artist most widely attributed with the title of first artist to make a name for himself through the selling of prints, but intaglio work and woodcutting are different from what we would now call illustration, for all that is where illustration technically started. The invention of lithography was revolutionary in terms of versatility for printing texture and color. This, along with more efficient printing presses was perhaps what made printed publications so ubiquitous in households of any economic status where just a hundred years before one had to be at least of the middle class to be able to afford such things on a regular basis.

Until printing adapted to integrate photography during the middle of the twentieth century, an illustrator was necessary for any visual depiction in books, magazines, posters, advertisements or any other printed material. New possibilities in printing technology allowed the illustrator and editor to further integrate text and image and attract the eye with vibrant colors. This is where the fine art/ illustration divide can best be seen, in the collaboration between image and text to create a single, cohesive object.

Along with the new ability to easily print in color, lithography also brought the significant ability to work with shapes rather than just lines. Intaglio print and woodcutting are defined by scratching into a surface to create a divot for the ink. Etching is more delicate than woodcutting and with techniques like mezzotint one is able to create a kind of gradient, but the ability to make painterly and almost photographic images gave way for stylistic exploration in illustration. Precise linework could give way to feathery pencil marks, delicate watercolors and painterly strokes.

Integrating images with text was even easier when digital technology became easily accessible. Now more than ever, anyone with access to a computer can put together a decent presentation or flyer with both images and text as long as they have access to the internet. The tools are free and the learning curb almost nonexistent if one uses the more intuitive websites/applications.

The modern illustrator generally uses digital technology for their image-making, even if just for post-production. Everything is integrated and distributed digitally nowadays, so being tech-savvy is part of the job as much as learning color theory.

The ubiquitousness of these tools along with photography and the recent invention of AI has greatly narrowed the illustrator’s field since the Golden Age at the beginning of the 20th century, but the technical and artistic skill of an illustrator makes the difference between serviceable work and expert work.

Illustration, for me, is both self-expression and communication. I find a lot of joy in good design, but I also like to discover new things when I look at an image the second and third time. On the arbitrary fine art/design spectrum I probably lean to the fine art side, at least in the way I think of my pictures at the moment. My initial training was in a traditional fine art style, so thinking of my images as single compositions within themselves instead of something of a larger whole is still a difficult habit to shake. I do have an active interest in sequential storytelling, though, and am working towards an approach which incorporates both my traditional training and the concept of the graphic novel. I have worked with text and image in combination before, mostly for poems and some comic book style work and I would like to continue to grow in this as well.

How do you describe and locate your practice?

I would describe most of my work as traditionally illustrative, a.i. making images from text, mostly for children’s stories, with some experimentation in sequential storytelling. I gravitate towards the early twentieth century in terms of illustrative style, but prefer using digital tools to achieve a modern, polished result.

What are the characteristics of your personal creative voice?

Most of the images I make reach into the fantastical in terms of subject matter, which affects the atmosphere of the images themselves. I like to think that the illustrations remind the viewer of their childlike sense of wander. I like to play with texture and vibrant color, but still maintain a lot of naturalism in terms of the characters and settings.

What kinds of projects are you interested in?

I am interested in working on projects like middle grade children’s books, comics, and other projects involving similar storytelling. I also experiment with adjacent disciplines like character design and concept art.

Describe your creative strategies or working process?

For an individual illustration: Strategy-wise, I like to start with words and build on those initial concepts with thumbnails and silly sketches until I have a satisfactory initial drawing. Especially when working with text, it is very important to me to break down what the objective of the source material is and how I can best portray the spirit of it in my own work. Enhancing the storytelling with imagery is vital for any project which includes illustrations. After the concepts are sorted out and the text is analyzed, I set down my initial concepts in sketch form, which will later evolve into a full illustration. I occasionally work with photography if I have a subject I am able to capture myself, but usually scour the internet for reference material. This reference-led drawing stage is important for injecting the fantastical images with some believability/realism. Then I usually like to break the image down to its essentials once again, usually using filters and other digital tools, in order to create better focus and balance in the image.

In a bigger project: In a project with multiple illustrations, or sequential illustrations, the cohesiveness and pacing of the images can be even more important than the quality of the images themselves. This is usually why I veer to a simpler style when working with multiple images, because a simplified approach is best when working with so many images. The process of making such a project is more focused on flow of action and clarity of storytelling rather than the details of the images. There is more time spent on moving panels about to create better flow than rendering a pretty picture.

When is a piece of work successful?

A piece of work is successful when it communicates what I intend it to communicate to my audience. While visually pleasing work is a big part of the goal, the decorative or technical elements of an image are less important than telling the story I intend to tell with as much clarity as possible.

What kinds of learning or creative challenges do you respond to?

I enjoy trying out different styles and have recently liked to explore how one can create cinematic sequential illustration.

How do audiences or feedback shape your approach?

I greatly appreciate critique and feedback from people around me. Some of the best solutions to my creative problems have come from people who are not artists but have a good eye. I have previously posted on social media, but have had very little constructive feedback on there. I prefer to stick to asking the opinion of people I actually know.

What are your motivations and ambitions?

I would like to first build a better portfolio both for illustrative work and comic book style work, and then be able use my abilities to illustrate stories written by others and myself. More on ambitions in the Project Plan.

Reflection models: Which work best?

Having a template for self-evaluation is vital to growth as an artist. It is one of the things I struggled with when I first started out and it’s a thing I continue to struggle with. Having a blog and being forced to reflect upon my work in writing has helped me tremendously, and now I naturally apply a variation of Gibbs’ Cycle of Reflection every time I outline a project.

Gibb’s Cycle of Reflection:

Description: What happened?

Feelings: What were you thinking or feeling?

Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?

Analysis: What sense can you make of the experience?

Conclusion: What do you need to improve on?

Action plan: How will you improve?

The way I implement the last point isn’t always perfect, but I like to think that I have been learning and improving with each project.

In comparison to previous courses, Advanced Practice is much more self-directed. Now that I have some experience and a decent toolset under my belt, I can take on bigger projects and write my own briefs. Instead of five sections, this course will be comprised of ten projects. In the interest of staying organized, I have decided to think of the ten projects as a single large portfolio. Making a new portfolio is also one of my goals for this year, and this feels like a good way to get started on it. While I do already have a portfolio, I would like to have a more cohesive version, both in terms of style and subject. In the previous course, I focused on sequential storytelling and that is something I would like to continue doing whether in the form of children’s books, comics, or more illustrative subject matter.

When making a portfolio, one has to consider its purpose, its contents, its viewers and its presentation.

The purpose of the portfolio is both to serve as a structure for this course and to be a starting point for a more mature illustrator’s portfolio. Since I’m not making it for a particular job application or contest, I do not have a list of requirements beyond my own expectations, nor do I have a target for a viewer. A portfolio one presents to a creative director would look different from one for an author/client. I’m tentatively going the client route for now. An author would presumably want to see what styles I am able to work in, what the covers would look like, how I approach interiors / the actual sequential part, character designs, backgrounds, color vs black and white, and if I am able to complete a project in the first place.

In terms of subject, I would like to focus on fantasy and folklore as opposed to more realistic or sci-fi related genres. In an ideal scenario, a portfolio would be a presentation of previous projects, or one previous project. Since I will not be illustrating an entire book or graphic novel for this, I will use a story to create mock up illustrations/covers/character designs. I will be using stories by Hans Christian Andersen for inspiration.

A tentative list of the projects, with possibility for revision as I go:

• Character Designs (Lineup of 5)
• Black and white (3) illustrations
• Set of five (5) vignettes 
• One (1) two page spread
• Two (2) full page spreads
• Book cover (Front and back)
• Poster Style illustrations (3)
• Five (5) pages in a graphic novel style
• Illustrations (3) with text as part of the image (for merchandise)
• Presentation

This list somehow feels like too much and too little at the same time, but I am excited about getting started on the project itself. The thing I’m most nervous about is keeping the style relatively consistent. This isn’t something I have had to grapple with until now and I’m not anticipating it going well at first. One can make allowances for differences in level of detail depending on the piece since a panel from a comic is not as detailed as a full page illustration, but the problem of style still stands.

The project will happen in the order of the points above, and I will allocate about seven to ten working days to each. Starting with character designs is important for consistency across illustrations, from then on I may take some freedom with the order if I feel it would be more expedient.

In terms of style, I think I will keep things as familiar and intuitive as possible because the point is to present the way I like to work. Below are some examples of my previous work, though I would like to create something a little more polished for the next project.

A list of artist pages and portfolios I will keep as reference:

• Celia Lowenthal | Illustrator
• Tony DiTerlizzi – Never Abandon Imagination
• Holly Warburton (hollywarbs.com)
• https://www.beccastadtlander.com/
• Victo Ngai (victo-ngai.com)
• Jaime Jones (artpad.org)
• ArtStation – Card art #3 Tainted Grail, Piotr Foksowicz
• Illustration (alalockhart.com)

Most of my practice so far has been traditional illustration work in the sense that I prefer to illustrate text, a.i. children’s stories, poetry, books and so on. I have branched out into other types of sequential storytelling, like comic books and a little bit of animation and my time with OCA has helped me explore various other approaches as well. I am currently especially interested in sequential storytelling in the graphic novel/comic book style and wish to further explore this approach along with the more traditional approaches I am used to.

To define my direction in terms of my previous work, this page of my website is a fairly decent beginning which I want to expand on. Here are some other examples of my work:

Short comics

Covers

Illustrations

Illustrations with text

Storybook Illustrations, black and white

It is easy for terms one uses every day to become meaningless, so it can be useful to list and reflect on well used words in order to keep them fresh or gain new understanding of them. Here are some the words I use often, along with their meanings as I understand them now:

1. Illustration: The practice of making images which often accompany and enhance text or other media.

2. Aesthetic: A visual shorthand for certain cultural and artistic movements and/or media.

3. Traditional Media: Pen and paper, paint and canvas, clay and glass. Would include any non-digital tools, even film cameras.

4. Digital Media: Digital camera, computer, digital tablet, etc.

5. Croquis: An image which took less than two minutes to draw, usually of a person.

6. Sketch: An image which took less than an hour to draw, usually unfinished.

7. Drawing: A finalized and refined image.

8. Work: An artistic endeavor, usually created for the purposes of communication with a wider audience.

9. Brainstorming: The process of throwing ideas at a wall, mixing them up, and discarding the excess until a halfway coherent concept is formed.

10. Reference: An image, object, or text one uses for inspiration to create a new work.

11. Sequential Illustration: A set of images, which when viewed in order tell a story.

As I work on the next few projects, I may come back to this list and add words or change definitions as I reconsider the meaning of these terms.