Recently I've discovered Varoom magazine, the journal of illustration and made images.
Brad Holland made the cover of the current issue. Not only the illustration of Brad is eyecatching, the text he scribbled on the side is really accurate and stands for a major frustration every illustrator has to deal with. The fact that illustration is no art for some people.
Here's the text:
"That's not Art, that's illustration"
Everybody is an artist these days.
Rock and Roll singers are artists.
So are movie directors, performance artists, make-up artists, tattoo artists, con artists and rap artists.
Madonna is an artist because she explores her own sexuality.
Snoop Doggy Dogg is an artist because he explores other people's sexuality.
Victims who express their pain are artists.
So are guys in prison who express themselves on shirt cardboard.
Even consumers are artists when they express themselves in their selection of commodities.
The only people left who seem not to be artists are illustrators.
11 comments:
Frankly, I don't mind not being an artist. I like being an illustrator, very much so. Those other people being considered artists that's what I take offense at. It's in most cases nothing more than trying to make something seem more significant than it is. Hell, we could do that, instead of being illustrators, we could call ourselves illustration artists. Of course that would sound too silly, and anyway what does it matter as long as you enjoy what you do?
I also like being an illustrator very much and I love my job...
But in a way, I'm also an artist and I'm no longer ashamed to say it.
I think you are, besides being a good illustrator, also an artist. It's impossible to say that illustration isn't art. The times that illustrators were called craftmen are over. I see no difference between a good painter and a good illustrator, in a way, what they do is practically the same thing.
I think what makes this such a difficult subject is that art is such a nebulous concept. An illustrator can be a lot like a painter, but art is such a horrifically wide and vague field that I think you have to be really good to think you can make a contribution.
That's why I usually don't like being called an artist because I feel it places too many expectations on the work I make.
On the whole I think of illustration as being both art and craft. Yves Saint Laurent said that maybe fashion wasn't art, but you needed an artist to create it. That seems very suitable for illustration as well, though for illustration you also need to be able to override your own ego for the story. Which is something Maurice Sendak once said.
Who I would definitely think of first when it comes to illustrators being artists.
Also I think it's liberating to be an illustrator foremost. You can have a lot more fun. You're telling stories, something most 'serious' artists don't get to do.
Also perhaps the discussion is maybe a little different in Belgium than in Holland. Flemish illustrators seem in many ways much more artistic than their Dutch collegues. (Granted, we've got Harriet van Reek:)
Yes, I understand that it's a very difficult subject and the word "Art" has a very serious and heavy connotation, I follow that. But what Brad Holland is trying to say is that illustrators worldwide are being undervaleud. Maybe he's a little exaturating but the baseline of his text is that illustrators deserve more respect. And I follow him completely in this. It's still very hard to get payed properly as an illustrator. And it's time for a change in that matter.
I still present myself as an illustrator when people ask me what I do. But I can definitely follow Yves Saint Laurent, it takes an artist to make those pictures.
That illustrators are undervalued is something I can't possibly disagree with of course. And a little emancipation would definitely not go amiss. I do also think that illustration qualifies more as art than design. But I think what I originally meant was that to me the problem is more that everybody else gets to be called artist for doing far less than us illustrators.
Finally a good discussion on my blog, I love it! And can I say that your english is outstanding!
When you compare the rates of graphic designers with those of us, illustrators, the difference is exhuberant! It's just not right. When you work on a book (in my case children's book for example) the graphic designer earns more than me, even if I have to do twice his job.
Can you believe that the rates of illustrators are exactly the same as ten years ago? They haven't gone up at all. illustrators should stand up, as a group, and demand for better payments. But of course this is very difficult, to get all the illustrators behind the same cause... Mmmmhhh...
I know, we're as a rule not the most outgoing or outspoken bunch are we?
I had no idea illustrators were so financially disadvantaged.
I don't know how it is in Belgium, but part of the problem here in the Netherlands is that we're also rather underrepresented. There's the BNO, but that's mostly a graphic designers' club.
The problem is also that an illustrator's work is rarely taken seriously. It may or may not be art, but what we do is definitely more than just a 'plaatje bij een praatje'.
And thanks, the trick is watching lots of Blackadder when you're too young.:)
oh and can I link you on my blog?
Off course you can!
I will link yours to!
I totally agree with your last point.
Why do we always have to argue about our price?
It's not hopegiving that -even for you- it's not easy to ask a fair price...
Publishers sometimes don't understand that a good illustration takes some time and that we have to make a living of it (it's not just for fun).
So I'm in, I wan't to join the group for 'Fair Payment for Illustrators'!
p.s.: I love your work
This is entirely what I'm busy with at the moment.. I decided to do a thesis about illustration for my master in cultural studies because I think it is so so worth it! nice to encounter a discussion like this here...
Sebastiaan, ik contacteer jou nog als ik mag, ik denk dat ik je misschien wel kan gebruiken :) Als jij zin hebt om me te helpen natuurlijk.
ook alle lof over je werk! ik vind het errug mooi!
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