Illustration: New Opportunities

Lawrence Zeegen es un ilustrador, profesor de la universidad de Brighton en Gran Bretaña y escritor que ha publicado 3 libros sobre ilustración contemporánea, principios de ilustración en colaboración con algunas otras empresas del sector, además de haber escrito muchos artículos para revistas.
Los libros de Zeegen contienen un gran contenido, en este momento la biblioteca Dario Echandadía tiene su libro "Principios de Ilustración".




Illustration: new opportunities

Lawrence Zeegen investigates how illustration has been reborn for a new audience, with a new generation of illustrators who are taking it into new territories

Illustration is a force to be reckoned with. Not content to break back into a marketplace once dominated by the photographic image, illustration has fought hard, forced itself under the spotlight and stepped into the limelight. A rebirth, once attributed to the flexibility that digital kit offered, has now reached a vital second phase – a new stage of extended opportunities in the development of the discipline.

New markets for 21st century illustrators had not previously presented themselves, but today’s illustrators have not been shy in coming forward and searching out new directions. A discipline seeking to reinvent itself, it has been the tenacity of those prepared to venture into new markets that has helped turn the tide, and illustration has truly and finally come of age.

Where and when this new confidence emerged is not clearly identifiable – in London, brave usage of contemporary illustration in the late 1990s by the now-defunct seminal style mag The Face could have been the kick-start. The, then, new kids on the block Jasper Goodall, Miles Donovan et al could be held responsible under illustrator-turned-art director Graham Routhwaite’s guidance. It may have been art director-turned-illustrator Andy Martin commissioning cool cuts from the likes of Ian Wright at the New Musical Express almost a decade before. Wherever and whenever the starting point, it was clear that illustration had to step away from the confines of jobbing editorial work to redefine the parameters of the discipline.

With a few key art directors and commissioning designers tuned into illustration, the practice could now regroup and rejuvenate – the relationship between the commissioner and the commissioned evolved and a power struggle resolved. With art directors turning towards illustration – many making the move themselves and becoming illustrators – a renegade section of illustrators have started to turn their talents to art direction and design, with new opportunities having emerged for those on the edges of the discipline.

In New York, the art director for Urban Outfitters, Mike Perry, jumped ship in 2005 embarking on a career as a freelance illustrator/designer and setting sail for new horizons, charting a new course for his output. “I look at myself as someone who makes things happen,” Perry states, “and I just happen to make illustrations. I try to approach each project as a problem to be solved and I aim to take my work into areas that interest me, rather then concern myself with barriers to new directions.” This is a stance that has stood Perry rather well – he has built up a body of work that has spanned fashion graphics and fashion-wear, working on illustrated type treatments for magazines such as Dwell and the New York Times, and having won projects to create various T-shirt graphics for 2x4, as well as designing and illustrating a poster for New York City itself. Sold as a limited edition poster through nycvisit.com, Manifesto was commissioned by ad agency BBH NYC as a darker emotive take on the pulse of the city that never sleeps – here was an image that needed little input by BBH, other than a strategic brand/logo placement in the bottom-right corner of the poster. “My desire is to work directly for clients, rather than agencies,” admits Perry, “and that comes about from me having started out as a designer, rather than as an illustrator – and even now I really consider myself a maker…”

Commissioning Perry might have been considered a brave move by BBH – letting an illustrator loose on a project can bring a certain fear to creative teams and account handlers alike. However the printed poster, as a format, isn’t exactly new territory. Digital technology, of course, has offered up new markets and formats for illustrators to apply their expertise to. Back in the UK, Jody Barton, represented by Big Active, was pulled in from his Norfolk farmhouse to work on a captivating new project for Virgin Mobile. Commissioned to create a set of free mobile phone picture messages to promote the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, Barton’s brief was to educate and raise awareness through witty and provocative illustrations – his forte. The project, all fitting onto the screen of a mobile phone – a small canvas for a big project – had also to promote a related exhibition entitled Low CO2, as well as highlight Virgin Mobile’s sponsorship of last year’s Live Earth concert.



Live music has been a rich resource in recent years. It has also opened new doors of opportunity for illustrators – gig posters, specifically in the US and increasingly in the UK, have started to become an abundant source of commissions. Chris Watson has joined a legion of illustrators finding their own markets creating posters for concerts and events. His gig poster for The Legendary Shackshakers from Nashville captures, through his distinct use of hand-rendered type and gloriously simple yet punchy line-work, the flavour of this blues, punk and country band. “Illustration is truth and beauty,” Watson claims. “It’s flesh on the bones of words and music, it is about spreading ideas and it is disrespectful of boundaries.” The words of a true maverick.

Often, as with Watson’s work for the Shackshakers, the motivation for the illustrator isn’t financial reward, the main aim being to get new work out into the public arena, whilst breathing visual life into an aural passion – music. For many, music and illustration are inextricably linked. Brazilian-based illustration studio Mopa was commissioned by Orouni, an independent French musician, to create promotional material for a special one-off gig in Paris, where Orouni was to appear alongside two bands – Kawaii and Lewitt. The marriage of type, image, composition and colour all combine together to create an intriguing, yet upbeat poster for the gig. It may well be a small-scale event, but the team at Mopa put as much energy and passion into the project as they would do any other. “Illustration is about having fun while getting paid,’ they jibe. “But seriously, what we do is make everything more visually comprehensible.”

From one-off specialist gigs through to large-scale events such as music festivals, now very much part of the live music landscape for bands and fans alike, there is work to be had. Festivals have exploded onto the scene, from relatively few large-scale events such as Glastonbury and Reading, to a growth that couldn’t have been predicted a few short years ago. Barely a spring/summer weekend now goes by without a major festival kicking off in a field or two somewhere across the UK, and increasingly the rest of Europe. Hamish Makgill, ex-partner of Red Design in Brighton and a one-time senior designer at BB Saunders, is now creative director of Studio. Makgill tackled the design requirements for the launch of a new festival, Brighton’s Beachdown Festival. “I have a long history and association with Brighton,” he explains, “as do Beachdown’s organisers and many of the acts booked to play. There is a real Brighton vibe and spirit about the festival and I was looking to capture that with the design.”

And capture that spirit Studio Makgill did, through a unique collaboration with local boy-turned-successful illustrator Steve Wilson, no stranger to working for music-related clients. “A design agency always needs more voices,” continues Makgill, “and so commissions third parties, illustrators and photographers, to extend and expand their own visual range.

“I’d had Steve in mind for a while,” admits Makgill, “but had been waiting to work with him on the right project. His 1960/70s influenced psychedelic approach was just what this project needed. I wanted something that reflected the vibe – from the festival’s location you’ll be able to watch the sun setting over the sea. It’s a special place…”

What marks this project as a truly extended opportunity has been the extent of the range of applications covered – from printed flyers, posters and press ads, to the digital applications of emails, website and animated ‘virals’. No festival would be complete without a product range of merchandise too; T-shirts, badges and limited edition prints will all soon be available. Marketing a festival to a media-savvy audience is increasingly a full-on, full-time, full-service agency proposition, and illustration demonstrates it has a role to play in helping develop a unique brand identity. “Illustration was really the only option for ensuring Beachdown had a certain something about it from the start…” Makgill adds.

Studio Makgill and Steve Wilson’s collaboration for Beachdown Festival represents a fresh update to an old-school approach in the collaboration between design and illustration. Many others are following a new model however; Mike Perry and Mopa are increasingly choosing to work directly with their own clients. Richard Hogg, an ex-Airside designer, is another art director/designer turning his skills towards illustration. A recent poster for the Design Museum’s Family Day event used his skills as both designer and illustrator, able to design, illustrate and resolve production issues as a solo practitioner. Hogg’s expertise also recently extended to creating a large mural for the reception area of digital design agency Acknowledgement; once again Hogg single-handedly designed, artworked and oversaw the project.

For an increasing number of practitioners navigating their career path through illustration, there is now a sense that two’s company. Gluekit, based in the US, Maki in the Netherlands, and Kapitza in the UK all take a similar stance to business practice: the power of two. Each studio set-up or outfit consists of two members, bringing the solo illustrator out from a lone existence and creating the mini-illustration studio. This approach allows for greater opportunities; each duo can be more adaptable, take on larger and more lucrative projects, and begin to make in-roads into working directly with clients. Illustration can be a two-player game.

With an increasing number of illustration studios setting up shop, many designers and art directors are now shutting down their own shops to re-emerge as illustrators themselves. And with a healthy crop of projects spanning advertising, publishing and the flourishing live music scene all now demanding the attention of today’s elite, opportunities in illustration have never looked better. As illustration steps out of the wings and takes centre-stage, it’s clear that the final curtain won’t be pulled anytime soon…

Create Perfect Characters (Crear Caracteres perfectos)

Peskimo es una empresa inglesa dedicada a la ilustración y a la comercialización de sus propios productos.
Ya que estamos en el tema Peskimo publico un artículo en donde explica algunos temas que para ellos son fundamentales para la creación de Caracteres.

Create perfect characters


Character-based designs are in greater demand than ever, from fashion illustration to designer toys. Nick Spence highlights one trend that’s here to stay, and discovers what it takes to create characters that will last a lifetime

Look around you; it’s not difficult to see why character-led design is increasingly popular. From High Street fashion houses to collectable vinyl toys, to the pages of Computer Arts, character-based design is in high demand. Why resort to a model, actor or stock image when you can create a vivid vibrant world full of beautiful people and inventive creatures.

There are also many fundamental reasons why characters stretching back to folklore fairytales and comic books have proven so enduring. As illustrator Gez Fry suggests, “We often see a bit of ourselves or people we know in well-designed characters, and we can then make an emotional connection with the work.”

“A well-designed character can appeal to all ages and all people in a way that a photo can’t,” add design duo Peskimo. “Good characters are so versatile and they also offer a nostalgia factor that takes people straight back to the picture books and kids’ cartoons that they once loved as children.”




A popular genre
It’s these characters that help entice and engage the individual, evoke memories, tell a story, sell products and services and allow them to buy, however fleetingly, into a lifestyle or other world. A recent ad campaign for the less than enthralling Vauxhall Corsa range used a set of five cute characters, the C.M.O.N.S, to help establish the New Corsa as a stylish and fun-to-drive car among urbanite 20-somethings. Conceived and developed by DLKW & Partners with Barcelona-based Boris Hoppek providing his distinctive characters, made from a variety of soft fabrics, the campaign has proved a hit, and not just with dedicated YouTube fans.

Similar campaigns will almost certainly follow – yet another sign that character design is growing in popularity. Tim Biskup, Jon Burgerman, Nicholas Deakin, Pete Fowler, Christopher Lee, James Jarvis, Jeremyville, Nathan Jurevicius, Peskimo and TADO are just a few of the leading talents often grouped together as contemporary character designers under the Pictoplasma banner. Many met up at the recent Pictoplasma conference, a four-day celebration of figurative design, held in Berlin in October.

“The Pictoplasma stuff is crazy at the moment,” says Nathan Jurevicius, the creator of ScaryGirl. “I’m writing this in Berlin at the Pictoplasma festival and the people I’m meeting are so interesting and diverse.” The just-published Pictoplasma – The Character Encyclopaedia offers a round-up of over 200 international designers, highlighting the latest trends in contemporary character design and art, spanning everything from drawing, design and painting to its use in installations and sculpture.

Alongside character designers, fashion illustration and design also play a major part in the appeal of character-based work. It’s hard to miss Jason Brooks’ omnipresent beautiful people, typified by the work he did on the Hed Kandi CDs. Patrick Morgan creates equally evocative images while juggling the demands of a busy client list with teaching fashion illustration in Milan. Both offer a way for clients to inject style, glamour and luxury without any of the financial commitment of an exotic photo shoot.

Jacquie O’Neill, another whose trade is in fashion-based illustration, offers a reason why many look towards illustrated characters. “If you hire a ‘face’ to promote your product and that ‘face’ misbehaves, it can wind up in a front-page scandal.” Illustrations behave themselves, show up on time and never cause a scene.”

Fundamental skills
When creating memorable characters among a potentially disparate group of creatives, covering everything from fashion illustration to designer toys, some common ground is clear. An understanding of anatomy and the way the face and body is put together along with traditional drawing and observation skills are solid foundations for producing your own winning characters.

Of those questioned for this feature, most designers agreed that these fundamentals played their part. “If it weren’t for a general understanding of traditional skills, such as anatomy, proportion, depth and everything else that makes drawings drawings, I can honestly say that I would not be where I am today,” says Matthew Woodson, whose own illustration work effectively showcases his masterly skills.

“Having traditional drawing skills and a knowledge of anatomy will always help you to make more sophisticated characters,” says illustrator Allan Sanders. “Even if you are reducing things to simple shapes, your experience in drawing and anatomy will inform what you do.”

“All skills are important, and everything is connected,” says fellow illustrator Dave Curd. “You can never have too much technical or academic skill. A good artistic background will reinforce your concepts.” However, according to Brazil-based illustrator Elisa Sassi: “The most important thing is not to let the school or the techniques dominate your creativity and your essence.”

Starting from scratch
The next step is to find inspiration. “We will generally start with a blank piece of paper and an idea. We usually know what the character will do, but his own persona is very much undecided,” say Jodie and David, character creators at Peskimo. “The process is organic and can change on paper and again on screen. Many of our mistakes and experiments have resulted in better characters.”

Another duo, Mike and Katie at TADO, find inspiration everywhere. “We just keep our eyes open all the time. We don’t have any tried-and-tested ways of getting instant inspiration, but we’re always finding cool new things we enjoy looking at.”

“We just absorb stuff without really knowing about it,” they say. “Then later on it’ll just plop out somewhere. We always take plenty of inspiration from the friendships we have with other like-minded people.”

Initially many may find inspiration from the work of others, although there is a fine line between homage and copying. “I think copying can sometimes be a healthy stepping stone to developing your own voice, but only if you move on from that stage pretty quickly, and if you keep it to yourself in your own sketchbook,” says Jeremyville.

“If you’re really going to produce characters that are different, it’s key to develop your own style, which should be happening anyway if you’re working hard,” insists Nick Deakin, whose own distinctive style has seen him included in the latest Pictoplasma collection. Hard work and experimentation can combine to create originality, as Deakin suggests: “Only in the last few years have I worked harder on nurturing the characters, and I suppose that’s why they have developed faster during the last couple of years.”

Creating characters can set unique challenges that other projects do not. “Creating characters is different from ‘normal’ design work in that you are instantly creating something that is ‘living’,” say TADO. “Even the most simple characters have elements of personality, which is what makes them popular to people who can easily identify with them.”

A whole new world
This issue’s cover illustrator, James Jarvis, suggests breathing life into your creations by visualising their world: “Think about exactly who or what they are, where they live and how they exist,” he says. Equally, Jarvis warns against creating characters simply for the sake of it. “Toys as an expression of someone’s ideas can be interesting. But there are a lot of ‘designer’ toys being made purely for the sake of making a toy.”

Once you start creating your own style it’s really important that you avoid repetition, especially if you intend to create a whole army of characters. “We always try and produce a new set of characters for each piece we do,” say TADO. “We do have some that we use more frequently, but generally we try to push ourselves to do something new each time.”

Maintain a style
Equally, as TADO suggests, you need to include enough characteristics within each character for you to maintain a recognisable and saleable distinct style. It’s a fine balancing act that Jeremyville, with numerous creations to his credit, is aware of. “My characters might now have evolved a generally similar look about them – maybe the eyes, or the nose,” he admits. “So I try and imbue each with their own characteristics and traits, but of course they’re all members of the broader Jeremyville community, and will therefore have a certain similarity or vibe.”

“Sometimes I’ll intentionally repeat themes within my work if the characters are from the same narrative,” adds Jurevicius, “but like people, we all have unique traits and personalities that make it easy to give individual characteristics.”

With fashion-based character design, in particular, it’s also important you try and avoid standing still for too long. In an industry that relies on creating a contemporary look, it’s important you don’t get left behind or rest on a style that’s looking dated. “There probably is a danger of it falling out of fashion at some point. Everything is swings and roundabouts in the end,” says O’Neill. “But I hope I can keep coming up with new subjects, ideas and approaches to keep my work fresh and in demand.”

Being fashionable in any field also means you attract your fair share of imitators. If you start seeing work you don’t remember doing, it’s probably time you started moving on creatively and adjusting your style.

There are also practical concerns to consider when creating characters for commercial commissions. It might be difficult to convince clients of the need to replace something more traditional with a three-headed four-armed creature just because it looks good. “It’s inevitable that you have to compromise to suit a client’s brief sometimes,” says young illustrator Allan Sanders. “It’s important to fight for your own artistic ‘vision’, but it’s also increasingly important to listen to what a client is saying. I don’t think illustration or character design is the right business for an artistic prima donna.” Be realistic and save your more outrageous characters for your self-initiated projects.

“Despite the fashion, people will always identify themselves with the characters you create, either physically or psychologically,” says Sassi. Creating a character with a durable personality is important for illustrators, and Fry agrees: “The best things your characters can have are real life and personality. The absolute worst thing a character can be is boring and unoriginal. This may sound obvious, but something that looks fresh and has had some thought invested in it will always make more of a connection with the person looking at it.”