The purpose of this exercise was to identify a range of illustrators whose work or ideas you find interesting.
Key words from the brief:
- What do these illustrators tell you about current illustration practices?
- Where do they fit within the different areas of illustration practice?
Online reference
- Picture it – Observations, Inspiration and Lessons about Illustration Art
https://pictureitfredlynch.wordpress.com/category/journalistic-illustration/ - Urban Sketchers, http://www.urbansketchers.org/
- Urban Sketchers London, http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.com/
- The Printmakers Council, https://printmakerscouncil.com/artists/
- The Association of Illustrators, http://www.theaoi.com – Extensive catalogue of Illustrators searchable by subject, style or medium
- Adbusters, http://www.adbusters.org
- Brain Pickings, http://www.brainpickings.org
- The Design Council, http://www.designcouncil.org.uk
- Design Observer, http://designobserver.com
- The International Society of Typographic Designers, http://www.istd.org.uk
Illustrator index
The table below contains a growing index of artists and illustrators that I’ve researched and/or referenced at some point during the course.
The list is an extract from a spreadsheet that contains more information about the illustrator, their favoured media and methods and commentary.
I scored each artist out of ten based on how much I like the work, and the list is in order, with the highest scoring at the top.
The hyperlinks attached to the name of each artist goes to further information and/or examples of their work.
This list will grow over time and I intend to use the spreadsheet as a research tool going forwards.
No | Name | Key genre |
1 | Paula Rego | Painter |
2 | Lucinda Rogers | Editorial illustration |
3 | Adrian Tomine | Narrative illustration |
4 | Joe Saco | Narrative illustration |
5 | Olivier Kugler | Editorial illustration |
6 | Andrzet Klimowski | Editorial illustration |
7 | Max Beckmann | Editorial illustration |
8 | Otto Dix | Editorial illustration |
9 | Marcelle Hanselaar | Painter |
10 | Henry Moore | Sculptor |
11 | Lucy Austin | Painter |
12 | Veronica Lawlor | Editorial illustration |
13 | George Butler | Editorial illustration |
14 | Louis Netter | Editorial illustration |
15 | Evan Turk | Editorial illustration |
16 | Peter Kuper | Editorial illustration |
17 | Angie Lewin | Editorial illustration |
18 | Palle Schmidt | Narrative illustration |
19 | Sara Fanelli | Narrative illustration |
20 | Julia Rothman | Editorial illustration |
21 | Wendy MacNaughton | Editorial illustration |
22 | Sabien Clement | Narrative illustration |
23 | Edgar Degas | Painter |
24 | Lucy Jones | Editorial illustration |
25 | Soren Bjaelde | Narrative illustration |
26 | Albrecht Durer | Painter |
27 | Ronald Searle | Editorial illustration |
28 | Chris Gilvan Cartwright | Editorial illustration |
29 | Brian Grimwood | Persuasion & identity |
30 | Serge Bloch | Editorial illustration |
31 | John Singer Sargent | Painter |
32 | Laura Carlin | Editorial illustration |
33 | Marina Grechanik | Editorial illustration |
34 | Edward Bawden | Narrative illustration |
35 | Richard Bawden | Narrative illustration |
36 | Edward Purser | Editorial illustration |
37 | Eda Akaltun | Editorial illustration |
38 | Martin Haake | Editorial illustration |
39 | Lou Beach | Editorial illustration |
40 | David Roberts | Narrative illustration |
41 | Claire Curtis | Editorial illustration |
42 | David Hockney | Painter |
43 | Grayson Perry | Painter |
44 | Vincent Van Gogh | Painter |
45 | Paul Hogarth | Narrative illustration |
46 | David Gentleman | Editorial illustration |
47 | Chloe Regan | Editorial illustration |
48 | Mattias Adolfsson | Narrative illustration |
49 | Pam Smy | Narrative illustration |
50 | Adebanji Alade | Narrative illustration |
51 | Pep Carrio | Editorial illustration |
52 | Gary Barker | Editorial illustration |
53 | Patrick Blower | Editorial illustration |
54 | Laura Hallett | Editorial illustration |
55 | Mike Ritchie | Editorial illustration |
56 | Daniel Chang | Editorial illustration |
57 | Archer/Quinnell | Editorial illustration |
58 | Hisham Akira Bharoocha | Editorial illustration |
59 | Lizzie Finlay | Narrative illustration |
60 | Cecil Touchon | Painter |
61 | Jim Anderson | Editorial illustration |
62 | Christoph Niemann | Editorial illustration |
63 | Saul Steinberg | Editorial illustration |
64 | Agnes Dechourchelle | Editorial illustration |
65 | Lauren Tamaki | Editorial illustration |
66 | John Garcia | Editorial illustration |
67 | Rachel Levit | Narrative illustration |
68 | John Hendrix | Editorial illustration |
69 | Lizzy Stewart | Narrative illustration |
70 | Myfanwy Tristram | Narrative illustration |
71 | Burris Jenkins | Editorial illustration |
72 | Frans Masereel | Narrative illustration |
73 | Magnus Voll Mathiassen | Persuasion & identity |
74 | Marta Spendowska | Editorial illustration |
75 | Eduardo Paolozzi | Painter |
76 | Satoshi Hashimoto | Editorial illustration |
77 | Emily Bolam | Narrative illustration |
78 | Pablo Palazuelo | Painter |
79 | Louise Bourgeois | Painter |
80 | Ana Botezatu | Narrative illustration |
81 | Joohee Yoon | Editorial illustration |
82 | Peter Green | Painter |
83 | Alicia Caudle | Painter |
84 | Lynda Barry | Narrative illustration |
85 | Nicky Nargesian | Narrative illustration |
86 | Martin Schranks | Editorial illustration |
87 | Yelena Bryksenkova | Editorial illustration |
Questions
What do these illustrators tell you about current illustration practices?
My current interest is in reportage illustration and it’s of no surprise that many of artists in my top-20 work in this area.
This genre seems to be bursting with life with Urban Sketching events happening weekly around London (and around the world).
It’s interesting for me because there’s a large community aspect to this where self organising groups are supporting one another to develop and experiment. Reportage Illustration, Visual Journalism (Gary Embury and Mario Minichiello) published by Bloomsbury in 2018 focuses mainly on established British illustrators (with some notable exceptions), and demonstrates that this is an area with a marketplace and growing potential.
There’s something really exciting to me about the immediacy of this work and how it’s the result of an illustrator’s direct experience and response to a situation and subject. I like you have to put yourself on-the-line to make the work.
I’m attending and Urban Sketching bootcamp hosted by Veronica Lawlor and Melanie Reim in Prague in July and I’m keen to learn more about how these established artists work and make a living from their practice.
The other thing this exercise has made me think about is how to get myself/my work noticed in amongst so many other great illustrators. The extensive catalogue of illustrators on The Association of Illustrators is a fantastic resource on one hand, but is almost too crowded and overwhelming on the other. How do you stand out from the crowd?
That pointed me towards some of the books on the course recommended reading list that provide advice about how best to position yourself and your work to give the best chance of getting noticed.
Understanding Illustration, (Derek Brazell and Jo Davies) published by Bloomsbury is one of the books of the reading list that I’ve started to read and provides a great selection of contemporary illustrators and their work.