Reflective Blog Post

The starting point for my research and practice has been a collection of poems called Crow by Ted Hughes, illustrated by the artist Leonard Baskin. Hughes's gritty poems and Baskin's dramatic wood block prints seemed to drive to the core of something bleak in nature which appeals to my sensibilities. But more their combination also reflected a powerful symbiotic working and understanding that so enhanced the project and questioned the role of illustrator.

I began to try and create my own versions of the crow. I drew using ink as a mirror to Baskin's technique and sought ways of manipulating the crow's image into something obscene, trying to reflect the words of the poems. But on some level this didn't work for me and the illustrations I preferred were very much closer to the original image of the crow and relied more on an aggressive posture of the bird, in the chosen photograph. I looked at other Illustrators experiences such as Lord's A Journey of drawing an illustration of a Fable for insight.

 

But in what respect did this reflect the status of illustration today? Delving deeper into what Illustration is perceived to be (the book The Education of an Illustrator being of particular interest) and an area that is much discussed today, I recognized the concept of Illustrator as Author and that on some level Baskin was embracing. The boundaries between the ownership, or originality, of the visual imagery of the illustrated words was blurred. An illustrator could quite easily own the visual language of a text more convincingly, than the writer, despite the work being their original concept. 

I saw this could create a confused identity for the Illustrator, through my own drawing and reading texts like The End of Illustration by HELLER . When did their work move from being a work of art to an illustration? How much ownership of the visual concepts did they have when working on illustrating a text? For me the prints by Baskin exist separately from the words but so clearly illustrated the meaning of the poetry, which also reflected an unfathomable nature.

 

I felt like I had to grasp more of the narrative of the poem though text like The Author/Illustrator by Brodner informing my practice and decided that I would try and present a whole poem through one illustration. I produced a series of studies that I combined in one image depicting the poem Crow's Fall by Ted Hughes. I supported the content through walks in the country and a trip  to a zoological museum, my own photographs and range of secondary sources.

I stood before the black and white Illustration of the work and felt that something was missing potentially. We then had a workshop with Kerry Andrews where we looked at grounds on to which we might work and I began a series of studies of a range of mid tone papers. I also found the alabaster drawings of Tacita Dean inspiring. I worked up grounds, painting on mid tones and effecting the crow with white paint. For me at this point they engage with the question of what is an illustrator and when does a work become an illustration, but also they reflect something primal that the words of the poem embody.

Drawing Workshop and Conclusions

The drawing workshop run by Kerry Andrews on the 9th of December, at the University of Hertfordshire, which was titled "Drawing from the Ground Up" had a focus on working from a mid tone, a worked surface or prepared ground. Before the practical we looked at some ideas about drawing and especially the conception of the process.

Kerry talked about Alexander Cozens (1717–1786) and his "new method of assisting the invention in the composition of landscape". This was a starting point where Cozens talks about the use of prepared surfaces and translating something there within the marks. In a sense the start has already happened and that you then continue on top.

By having an image, texture or series of marks to work from something could be sought within the surface. Potentially the image would be unknown or there may be a gesture seen within the ground that gives direction. This could take the form of an 'atmosphere' something darker or lighter, intense of moving.

I used a series of brown vertical lines on a mid tone, washed with a diluted ink, as a back drop to the image of the crow. I had also scrunched up the paper and flattened it again to introduce a chaotic network of creases. Then I drew the crow's head in Indian ink and  highlighted it with white paint creating a greater range of contrasts and a 'lived in drama'. What I mean by this is the crow looks like it's in a three dimensional world, that something is going on behind it and that it potentially lives in a drama, which could be the poem I am illustrating.

The process it's self is contrasting to the style I have adopted so far where the images and icons I created are stark against the paper. Each aspect of the work has been driven by some part of the story. I took symbols from the poem and worked them up individually and then combined them. As can be seen here and aspects of the story are evident but does it give the feeling of the meaning behind the words or is it a literal translation of parts of the story to try and make a collective whole? Does the single image of the crow's head, drawn in the workshop with its distinctive background and use of paint, tell us more about the story of the poem? Which feels more like the poem? These are some of the things I need to consider as I move forward.

Some Useful Illustration Links - Part 1

I wanted to put together a series of links that I have found over the last few weeks for reference or for anybody wanting to find out about what is going on in the Illustration world.

This is a link to The House of Illustration which is a new space in near Kings Cross in London. This will have a range of exhibitions to visit.

http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home

Illustration House in London

This link takes you to the World Illustration Award Catagory Winners and a good way of seeing some current and successful Illustrators. http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home and the link for 2016 competition entry form is here: http://www.theaoi.com/awards/enter-info.php

The directory of Illustration is a comprehensive database of Illustrators and artists with loads of information: http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home

The Association of Illustrators has many links and networks as well as the magazine Varoom which is one of the leading journals. http://www.theaoi.com/

The Journal of Illustration is one of the few Illustration focused publications and can be found here: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=233/

The Australian Association of Illustrators can be found here and is a country I am looking to forge connections with especially seeing I am interested in Aboriginal drawings: http://www.illustratorsaustralia.com/

Illustration web has a list of commercial illustrators and has a range of portfolios to browse: http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists

These are for my own reference and people interested in this area may find them handy.

Method and Reasoning so far in my MA Illustration

Now I am a couple of months into my MA Illustration I am having to carefully study my methodology and what is driving my thought process and ideas. I think the direction of my illustration has had a number of influencing factors so far:
 
Firstly the media I am using is currently and simply black Indian ink. This is influence by the black wood block prints of Leonard Baskin and their use in illustrating the work of Ted Hughes. They are brutal and primeval and I see these images tapping into something basic in nature, something gritty.

One of my latest drawings combined with a Ted Hughes Quote

I also enjoy the process of using the ink. I like the emphasis of the line and feel of the quill in the creation, this process an important part of the making. The organic nature of the ink  and it's sometimes unpredictable mark making gives the work a freedom. Yet, there is something exacting about the high contrast and permanent nature of the mark.
 
Secondly the subject matter has been inspired by nature and poetry written on this topic. Works by Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson and Lionel George Fogarty - conjure up a range of imagery that I intend on illustrating. Much of what I have drawn so far has featured a range of motifs from the 'Crow' by Ted Hughes, including the crow its self and settings such as fields.
 
Thirdly I'm driven to understand a process of iconization and simplification that these sometimes pagan symbols, an ancestral interruption of nature, go through. These forms of nature that are symbolic images from history.
 
Fourthly I intend on trying to represent the collected imagery of a whole poem in one picture, a form of tableau or two dimensional totem. Potentially with the ability to convey a range of ideas or even present some overview or sense of the poems meanings. Each of these tableaus would be large and a work of art in their own right but yet an illustration. This final work would make up a series and as a whole potentially represent the poet's overarching themes.
 
I am interested in how the motives of the artist illustrator overlap with the work of the poet. Where the boundaries of people's interpretation exist and how together the works sit beside one another and enrich the overall meaning. The story illustrated, the meaning interpreted, a sense communicated?

A Detailed Critical Analysis of The Author/Illustrator by Steve Brodner

The Author/Illustrator is a short text on the current state of the illustrator written in the year 2000 and a forecast of the identity of the Illustrator moving into the new Millennium. It is framed within the context of a series of essays which echo a call to examine the role and place of illustration within society.

Brodner highlights a period, the time of the essay, when computer based graphic design was very much consuming the Illustration industry with quick and cheap alternatives often based around 'Photoshopped collages'. Brodner talks in the first person, the subject matter his own, being an ex-teacher and now a journalistic illustration practitioner  (he emphasises the importance of his practice and his identity as an illustrator). He questions the adaptability of the illustrator and states that he must, and has evolved, to survive in a highly competitive environment.

He presents the premise that illustration is art but that there are some distinguishing features which

characterise, and differentiate, the identity of the illustrator. He goes further to compound that if an illustrator is to retain their identity that they must on some level 'share the mantel of the shaman'. He compares them to poets and composers and talks about embracing your own identity as an illustrator. The key element here being the stories that they tell and the illustrator identifying the narratives that truly drive a 'passion' within them. It's this passion that could realise a style, and polarise its importance, which would be there for all to see.

An illustration I'm currently evolving as nature leads the way.

It seems that Brodner is arguing that illustrators need to take responsibility for interpreting something of society and our age. That they must on some level be contemporary and a interpreter of the current trends and stories that exist in our time, or their own existence. He is saying that an illustrator has a voice and should not merely function as someone who is lead along a path. If this role leads to realisation and a style of interpretation, and therefore some enlightenment, then all the better as this results in a distinct identity.

His argument is based upon this embracing of the a newly realised stance that illustrators could take control of their work by finding a passion in their subject matter. In this way Art Directors will come to an illustrator to tap this 'passion' for the given assignments rather than the artist attempting to fit the required, and already heavily designed, brief. What he proposes is that in the future the illustrator will have greater control of the proposition and that the illustrator will be more exclusive.

Brodner mentions the inclusion of graphic design as a part of illustration but does not go into details. More simple encourages awareness of technique. The emphasis of the essay is no doubt on the role of narrative and story though.

Through his essay Brodner seems to be calling for independence of the illustrator. There is an underlying attempt at reassuring the illustrator by saying that if you can remain true to what inspires you, you will retain your identity in what would appear to be a coming storm. In fact much of this seems to be founded in truth. With the expansion of the online creative arena and growth of websites such as divantart.com and istock there is far more opportunity to disengage the identity of the artist illustrator from their work.

By returning to the beginning of the text we can reflect on some of his motives. He starts by saying that he quit teaching because he had lost sight of his identity as an illustrator and felt he could not explain to his students why or even how to be an illustrator. During the time that the essay was being written the field was changing rapidly and causing uncertainty with the field's practitioners.

The article is one-sided though, because it is a call from his own experiences and is not weighed against other illustrators situation who have succeeded in the new emerging divergent fields of illustration. Although he is talking from a place of eventual career success and experience.

At the time there was a great fear that the discipline of illustration was being outshone by new technology, as previously stated. It's this identity crisis that he chooses to explore through his own experiences and then tries to reiterate his own identity and a place where he himself has succeeded, but also feels rewarded.

Brodner argues that 'self-generated projects' will lead to independence and with the current environment of 2015 it seems like a prophecy well foretold. Within a contemporary market we see independent illustrators and artists emerging with their own brands and styles who are utilising self publishing and websites that allow for their work to be branded on to merchandise.  There is an increasing number of locations where illustrators are able to show their wares and gain independence.

Is this a bad thing? Potentially, yes as the choice of work is massive but how many of these illustrators follow Brodner's principles? How self generated are the presented works and how close are they to their passions? On what level do we see an emerging style within illustration that has been sculpted by the demands of the market and how much pressure does the market put upon these often young practitioners to produce work that mirrors other work? It is difficult to tell at this stage what effect this has had on the market but potentially Brodner's call for independence is well argued.

Ultimately Brodner is saying be true to yourself and identify the illustrator within, a stance he himself has taken, in what he perceives as an increasing competitive illustration sector. He quotes Ansel Adams in the last paragraph; "When truth is the goal your work can not but partake of truth." He sees this as the goal and reward, although this for some will be unachievable as the goal for many is unknown. But it seems that through this text Brodner has made his own journey and found his own truth. Potentially his argument here in this essay could lead many illustrators to success.

BRODNER, S. (2000) The Author/Illustrator. In: Heller, S & Arisman, M. (eds). The Education of an Illustrator. New York, USA: Allworth Press