Exploring Illustration - Delmar Learning

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PROFILES
Led Pants
Illustrator Led Pants asserts that he must work
his unique sensibilities into a drawing or that illustration
always comes out too dry for his
taste. Much of the Led Pants style, he says, is
driven by personal ideology—it’s what motivates
the illustrator to keep drawing.
“People talk about style all the time,” he says.
“I’m not really interested in ‘style.’ What interests
me about the visual arts is what people bring to it
in terms of their politics—how they see society
and all that. The stuff that enrages me is what
gets me drawing. I really have to react to things.”
Led works on a Mac—which he equates to the
ultimate collage tool—and his technique has
evolved with his digital prowess. He says that
working in Adobe Illustrator means you will favor
geometric shapes, precise curves, and
sharp angles; it’s a style really optimized for the
computer, and exactly right for this artist.
Recently Led has been doing increasingly complex
illustration. But he starts these elaborate
visuals with a profoundly low-tech tool—Postit
notes.
The illustrator writes down a list of objects or
scenes he wants to take place within the draw-
VALUE
| CHAPTER 1 |
Illustrator Led Pants works on a Macintosh, and
uses Adobe Illustrator almost exclusively. Led gets
a number of high-tech clients and does a lot of stuff
for kids. This obviously has much to do with his
process—what he calls “that modern look”—as
well as a sense of humor decidedly left-of-center.
(© Led Pants)
ing. From here, Led doesn’t sketch anything—
he just draws the situations out one by one.
When satisfied with the result, he fits it into the
larger picture.
“I draw things pretty finalized and then move
things around. In illustrations where there’s a
problem fitting elements together on one image,
I draw pieces individually as separate
files. I then group them, cut them out, and paste
them into my original picture. I do the drawings
and ultimately patch it all directly in the computer,
right into the program.”
| CHAPTER 2 |
Life Along the Edge, or There Are No Meaningless Gestures
Gesture and contour drawing help you deal with mass and form. These types of marks quickly establish and
strengthen spatial and shape relationships (part to part, part to whole), especially when figure drawing. Not
everybody has the same understanding
or definition of what
makes for a gestural line or contour
drawing.
You might be tempted to define a
contour line as a glorified outline.
But an outline is only the
shell of the form—the outside. In
contour drawing, we seek to establish
the whole form—inside
and out—by perceiving the
edges of that subject matter.
Yes, gesture drawings also encompass
the edge, but that’s not
where your process starts. In
gesture drawing, you target the
whole (3-D) form. A gesture
study is not flat. Gesture drawing
is not about vertical or diagonal
lines. And like contour
drawing, it is not about the shell.
One way to look at gesture is to
imagine your pencil actually laying
down a length of yarn or
wire, and you are wrapping
these strands around the form John Rutherford’s portrait of John Madden is a fine example of a strong gestural line
you are drawing.
approach. (© John Rutherford)
Value is a relative degree of the darkness and lightness in color. Often called tone or shade, value
is an extraordinarily powerful and expressive tool, particularly if you are working in black and
white.
Every color beyond black and white has its own value as well. And in fact, there are different
degrees of value within any one color. Take those beautifully rendered red apples in your
| the subject matters |
in review
1. Define, then relate these terms: non-objective/representational;
conceptual/narrative; advertising/editorial; collage/montage/assemblage;
comics/cartoons/caricature.
2. In your estimation, what is the most relevant subject matter concern? The most
prevalent? What venue or genre appeals to you least?
3. What classifies “alternative,” “new wave,” “cutting edge,” “fringe,” and “grunge”
for you?
4. Name some examples of illustration you find extreme. What is “modern” art?
5. Discuss and debate the labels “fine art” and “illustration.” What do these tags mean
for you professionally and to you personally?
exercises
1. Choose a topic and develop a specific theme. Work from a live model. Find
appropriate props. Pose your subject and set the scene. Create a conceptual
illustration from this staged scene.
2. Pick an old cliché and do a fresh, dynamic, conceptual interpretation of that old
saying. In the same vein: work up a fast moving montage about something
considered excruciatingly slow and mundane (paint drying, a snail in motion, etc.)
Another variation on this theme: create an exciting book cover illustration for a
rather boring book.
3. Do a series of portraits of family and friends or do a series of self-portraits over a
specific period of time (one hour, one day, one week, one month, one semester, one
year). Variation: use one media only. Variation: vary the media with every piece.
4. Do a collage self-portrait that involves no personal, private imagery or artifacts. Use
only outside, found elements.
5. Create something mechanical by nature, but organic at heart (or vice versa).
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Profiles
These career profiles are located at the end of each chapter. Each features
a successful illustrator in the field.
Sidebars
Sidebars appear throughout the text, offering additional valuable information
on specific topics.
Review Questions and Exercises
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| PREFACE |
Review Questions and Exercises are located at the end of each chapter
and allow the reader to assess their understanding of the chapter.
Exercises are intended to reinforce chapter material through practical
application.
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