Start by closing your eyes. See that image in your head? Go from there. Perhaps it’s a wedding. Or a funeral. Or a zebra flying a hot-air balloon over the Danube. Or perhaps there isn’t a picture in your head at all, but there desperately needs to be. An illustrator can help there too.
An idea, or even just a feeling you’re trying to evoke, can be enough to go on. Ask yourself: Does it make sense to use a photo instead? Sometimes realism works best (when it’s even possible – the zebra shoot could be tricky), but a photo of a tea party is completely different from a line drawing – or a painting. Remember that images are never silent. Each one has a voice, and it’s up to you as the art director to choose the one that’s right. You’ll probably have an instinct here. Trust it.
So, let’s assume you’ve decided on illustration. Splendid. Stock illustration is a great resource, but if time and budget allows you should consider having an image made from scratch. There’s a term in the garment industry: “bespoke.” It means a piece of clothing made specifically for you, by a tailor. The difference when you’re wearing the finished piece is subtle but definite.
If you do elect to go this route and hire an illustrator, start by looking through your illustration resources – portfolio books, annuals, postcards… you do have illustration resources, don’t you? Keep your eyes peeled for any examples of the style you’re after (or interesting alternatives). Once you find a good-sized pool of illustrators, track down more examples of their work. Here the internet is your friend, as is the artist’s representative, who will happily send you samples.
Soon you’ll be dealing with the actual illustrator, who will invariably be charming and delightful. Explain what you have in mind one last time, going over the details with all necessary hand gestures, even if you’re talking on the phone. This step is crucial; stick with it until you’re sure you understand each other. And listen closely for suggestions you hadn’t thought of – a fresh perspective (from an artist – one of your own kind, no less) can really help define the idea.
The next phase is Sketches, where you get to find out just how well you two listened to each other. Many illustrators are wonderful at communicating with words. Others … not so much. Focus on the artwork. Is it on the right track? If so, and you have approval from your client/editor (if you need it), it’s on to Final Art, which rhymes with Best Part.
Here, for lack of a better phrase, is Where The Magic Happens. Don’t scoff: it warrants capitalization. Really, if you think about it, the whole doggone process is crazy: a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring image in your head turns into a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring image in your audience’s head, via this convoluted, logic-defying process of converting that image into some smears of pigment (or pixels) on a two-dimensional surface. It shouldn’t even work, but it’s does – it has for thousands of years, since the first prehistoric illustrator scrawled a buffalo on a cave wall. Something out of nothing. Colors and lines representing ideas. 1 + 1 = 3. It’s a miracle.
So, congratulations. You’ve got your perfect image. You look good; the illustrator looks good; your client looks good. And what’s even better – now you’ve got a success, and some experience, and a friend in the industry. So the next time a project comes along and something in your head tells you that a certain someone would be perfect for this assignment, you can say, “Hey, what if we used an illustrator? You know, I know a person we could call …”
How should clients view creatives? Better yet, how should we view clients? There is and always will be a tention between creativity and corporate. But It should be no surprise that Michael Bierut of Pentagram gave a very insightful presentation at the January 2010 CreativeMornings on the subject of “Clients”. Michael has proven the only way to succeed is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care about deeply about.
“Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.”—Gilbert K. Chesterton
Art is art, and even when it’s not art, art seems to still be art in its blatant, contrary non-artfulness. Still, when you take a step out of your deconstructive/postmodern/simplymodern/hipster shoes (c’mon man, just for a second), you’ve gotta have an opinion on something that just doesn’t cut it as ART. I mean graffitti, okay, but elevator music? And what about velvet paintings, I mean, isn’t that just like, um, a souvenir?
There was a photographer in the 30’s and 40’s who went by Brassai. He made his name doing night photography in Paris. I remember reading a piece about his still life setups once and he referred to his photos of smears of toothpaste or a stain on a wall as “unintentional sculptures”. It wasn’t designed to be art, it was toothpaste. But it was beautiful as a print.
- devdreamsmoonbeams
The term art is being used too lightly, almost anything can nowadays be consider art in some retrospect.It can be argued both ways.
- Arceey
I don’t believe that anything can be “mistaken” for art. Art is exists in everything from the most miniscule blade of grass to the well-worn spine of a book being reread. An unappreciative beholder may mistakenly identify absolutely anything as not being art but that does not make it so.
- writersblockgkp
The elephants that paint… yeah not art. That’s just paint and some trunk movement. The paintings are only cool because they were made by elephants, not because they are any good.
- sophmoph
People mistake for art anything that engages, interests or inspires them, regardless of how or why it was created. Randomness and anti-aestheticism are praised and very little of what is created in this way has anything to do with art, and only by accident. Cuteness and cleverness have certain aesthetic possibilities, of course–as do sex and violence–but they are very limited. And there most certainly is an intentionality to art that is required before something can truly be considered Art (big A). Masses of people can be cute, and clever as well, who have no ability or sense of art at all. But just because someone then pays millions of dollars for it does not make it Art. Unfortunately, Art is lost in pop “art” as Sport has been lost in professional “sport”–which is an oxymoron of the strongest kind. Absurdity now reigns, and confusion makes it look good. And the world is upside down.
- plemlit
No doubt, Steve Jobs showed off a compelling tablet computer today, one that should excite people who make videogames, TV shows — even books. But today’s Apple iPad debut was a big letdown for magazine and newspaper people.
Look, expectations were fairly insane. Publishers have seen their revenues plummet over the past year and are desperate for the sort of explosively successful digital products that Apple CEO Jobs makes look so effortlessly magical. Condé Nast, Time Inc., Hearst and the New York Times company were among the companies believed to be making content for the device before the iPad’s existence was even officially confirmed.
So it was going to be near-impossible for Apple to dodge critiques like this one, from the Times‘ associate managing editor Jim Roberts: “Waiting to be surprised. That hasn’t happened yet.”
And yet there’s really something to that appraisal, if you score by the criteria we laid out earlier today. Led by Jobs, Apple executives spent gobs of time on videogames and TV shows — at least 15 minutes by our tally — to say nothing of social networking, productivity applications and other non-traditional content and applications.
But there was not one demo of an i-magazine, just a quick visit to Time.com, complete with a Flash media error (reportedly). No wired version of Wired, no singing verion of Rolling Stone, not even a video-enabled Sports Illustrated. That’s astonishing for such a sexy, high-resolution device that’s repeatedly been billed as a boon to magazine publishers.
Getting someone to switch because you offer more of what they were looking for when they choose the one they have now is essentially impossible. For starters, they’re probably not looking for more. And beyond that, they’d need to admit that they were wrong for not choosing you in the first place.
So, you don’t get someone to switch because you’re cheaper than Walmart. You don’t get someone to switch because you serve bigger portions than the big-portion steakhouse down the street. You don’t get someone to switch because your hospital is more famous than the Mayo Clinic.
The chances that you can top a trusted provider on the very thing the provider is trusted for are slim indeed.
Instead, you gain converts by winning at something the existing provider didn’t think was so important.
Scott Hull is the founder of Scott Hull Associates, and for the last 28 years, Scott, designer-turned-creative entrepreneur, has developed a knack for assembling the right team of talented individuals, which enable global advertising agencies, design firms, and Fortune 500 companies to reach a desired response within a target audience through the use of original visual communication. Scott remains actively involved with AIGA and American Association of Museums, frequently acts as an advisor to colleges and universities nationwide, and is a contributor to such books as Fresh Ideas in Promotion, Artist’s and Graphic Design Market, and The Power. His greatest professional satisfaction comes from working with you to develop equity-building solutions while bridging the gap between art and commerce. After all, original art works.
Mig Reyes is a diplomat because he aims to be a thought leader for the young creative generation of today. He wants to create awareness of what's real and what's expected, and to re-establish a higher value in creative education. He values greatly the power of art and design for its impact on communication. He has worked for numerous social media groups (he ran his school’s AIGA Student Group) and his resume, for being so young, is impressive. Mig Reyes hails from the Windy City and has a deep and sometime frightening affection for chocolate chip cookies.
Melissa Jackson just recently joined the Scott Hull Associates team as the Editor and PR Manager. She published her own magazine which had global subscribers at the age of 14, at 16 she co-founded a dance academy. She is also a published poet. She immerses herself in the arts and is a passionate follower of artistic trends and culture. Melissa has always found her niche in the art world, and her constant thirst for knowledge lends her an especially keen eye for what will work and what won’t in the business. Writing is her supreme hearts desire and being "Editress-in-Chief" for SHA is just icing on the cake.
Saundra Marcel is a graphic designer who lives and works in New York City. The creative insights she shares with Visual Ambassador are inspired by her professional experience and personal observations. Saundra’s goal as a diplomat is to share stories that are interesting, accessible, and inspirational to any kind of creative individual.
In addition to receiving numerous design awards, Saundra has also served on the AIGA board for many years, helped lead a successful mentoring program that pairs college students with professionals, and taught a college-level class that examines aesthetic, ethical, and pragmatic issues related to design. Her obsessions with books and podcasts border on the unnatural. She’s excited to add her voice to the creative dialogue.
With over 20 years of talent development experience, Jerry Duff, Ph.D., has coached thousands of executives, managers and employees in twelve countries.
With nearly five academic degrees under his belt and a plethora of commercial management skills, Jerry feels that, “The only real antidote to outsourcing is up-skilling. The old "show up and shut up" business mantra can no longer compete with the wage rates of a world market. Employees must be fully engaged and possess up-to-date skills, the creativity to generate new products and services, and the emotional intelligence to deal with customers, both internal and external. Only knowledge-based enterprises that can tap into latent creativity will survive. Employees are the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
He is a key element in bridging the gap between art and commerce. And thankfully, we’ve got him on our side.
OK, maybe it’s a bit too aggressive a title for someone who’s spent his career more so in the background of the business. Being an artist rep, it’s not surprising that I’m not much on personal fame or glory.
To be truly effective in today’s
media-saturated environment it takes many people working together, with a shared set of objectives, to create the visuals that will trigger a response.
