Illustration meets Design

This is a design blog, the last few posts have been about illustration. Theres always a constant battle between art and design, What is art? What is design? Now after my endless blogging on illustration, i'm confused, is illustration art or design? I have come to the conclusion that it is both! or neither... or... I'm wrong.

British Airways Advertisement

There is so much to illustration, and it's almost hard to say what is good and what is bad. Personally, I think I can tell what is a bad illustration, something that doesn't look like it has much effort to it, or any unique quality to it. I don't like Microsoft clip art at all, it lacks.... beauty.

Microsoft Clip Art

Illustration is also applied to packaging to create a unique peice. The whole line detail, hand made type gives an organic, eco friendly feel.

Artea on The Dieline.com

Japanese Matches on The Dieline.com

Booths Cheese on The Dieline.com by Blue Tagg

Also used in advertising campaigns, great effect and beautiful styles.

Sony PSP 3000 Advert Campaign Illustration

Vodafone London Advertising Campaign

I think being a good illustrator is a key asset to any design business.

Abduzeedo
http://abduzeedo.com/when-illustration-meets-typograpy
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

The Die Line
http://www.thedieline.com/
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

PokeStudio
http://www.pokedstudio.com
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

McCord Web Design
http://www.mccordweb.com/e-newsletters/2005/may-05.html
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Rod Hunt Illustration
http://rodhunt.blogspot.com/
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Deanne Cheuk

Deanne Cheuk is one of the most talented creatives out there, she does a great combination of mixed media and combines them into beautiful illustrations.

Mushroom Girls 01 for Abahouse

I can see an influence of Art Nouvea in her work, with the femmenine curvaceous shapes and line work. She also uses layers and detail creating great depth and a beautiful aesthetic peice.

Deanne Cheuk

I love the background drip/watercolour wash effect. It has a dense purple/outer space look to it that kind of reminds me of the Mac OSX Leopard Aurora with a little bit more grunge.

Illustration by Deanne Cheuk

Deanne Cheuk is not only an amazing Illustrator she is also an art director/designer. She has worked for the most well known brands out there including Levis, MTV, Dell, and more.

Illustration by Deanne Cheuk

Deanne Cheuk is multi-talented. She works in print, illustration, art, even fashion. She has worked with David Carson, Doug Aitken, and others.

Short Backstory on Deanne Cheuk

Deanne Cheuk
http://deannecheuk.squarespace.com
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Tyler Stout

Tyler Stout is an illustrator from Washingon, USA. He creates such amazing detailed beautiful peices. His illustrations are commonly posters for movies/tv shows, but he also does advertising.

24x36 on sheet of metal /
Commissioned by The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
5 Color Screenprint: Printed by D&L Screenprinting

It's quite cool to see his work, because growing up I remember watching "Robocop", and Arnold Schwarzenegger being an Iconic movie star, not a governor. I love the limited colour palette he uses, which adds alot to the emotion/feel to his illustrations.

24x36 / 5 Color Screenprint with metallic inks on Cream Paper
Commissioned by The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

I love the detail, he makes the characters in his illustration recognisable, with fine detailed linework and contrast.

18x24 / 4 color screenprint / Signed and Numbered
Commissioned by Flight of the Conchords for their April 19tj show at Kent State

Tyler Sout has even created illustrations for New Zealands very own Flight of the Conchords. Just take a look at the beautiful texture and detail. Again with the limited colour pallete, here leaving a more clean, fresh feel of what truly represents New Zealand. He also uses the scaling of objects/characters very well, allowing for great composition and focal points throughout his illustrations.

tstout.com - welcome
tstout.com
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Hand Lettering

This post is dedicated to hand lettering because I think it plays a huge part in illustration, combining the two of them making it into a more understandable peice.

PLATS collaborations with Emily Robertson

Hand lettering is basically drawn/written words/type, produced to look hand-made. It gives it the illustrative x-factor.

PLATS collaborations with Emily Robertson

In general, illustrative type is just like typography, you have to apply the same rules.

by Bosque

Hand lettering goes very well with illustrations, as you can produce similar curves, shapes, style as your illustration, and put the same effects on it.

by Mark Cameron

Design Related - Portfolio - Sophia Augusta
http://designrelated.com/portfolio/SophiaAugusta
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Bosque | estudio.taller
http://holabosque.com.ar
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

ShareSomeCandy
http://www.sharesomecandy.com
Date Accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Creative Illustration

Camellie is an illustrator, based in the UK. Her work reminds me of how much I love illustration, and how artistic and creative it can be.

Yoink! | hand drawn with ink pens & digitally coloured.
by camellie

Her process includes hand drawing everything first, with ink and pen, then adding colour digitally. Alot of illustration requires the raw skill in being able to illustrate (by hand).

"All I want For Christmas Is..." | hand drawn with ink pens & digitally coloured.
by camellie

I love the curves, line work, shape, and colour she uses in her artwork. The busyness is also an element that makes for a more interesting illustration peice. You have to look closley to see everything and the more you look, the more you discover. Beautiful.

sunshine | Rotring Isograph pens on canvas | 40x50 cm
by camellie

The line detail work on black and white reminds me a little bit like the Natcoll campaign for 2007 — 2008? I love that style, perhaps that's what dragged me into Natcoll.

animaniancs | ink pens & digitally coloured

Oh look! Natcoll Colours! (sort of)! Anyway, her work is amazing so check out her website!

Camellie
http://www.camellie.com/
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

In a world of Pixels!

Pixel Art is another form of digital illustration. It is done in (raster) format, drawing pixel by pixel, anti-aliasing by hand and dithering, (See Wikipedia for more info). I love pixel art because it has a sense of techno, computer, geek like fashion to it. It was used alot back when computers first came out because it was efficient in the way of memory usage, and fast loading for games, computer icons etc. Some of the uses have died out due to 3D upgrade and enhancement of video games, and graphic programs, but to me, it's still a livley and great illustration style.

Wikipedia Says... "Pixel art is commonly divided in two subcategories: isometric and non-isometric.."

non isometric

isometric

Visit the Wikipedia page here.

(They know more about it than I do, I just think it's pretty.)

A picture from Supermaxibazar

Check out Supermaxibazar and eBoy for more eye candy.

Project: Advertising Campaign
Client: Coca Cola
Agency: McCann Erickson, Ireland

Pixel art still has its uses, and it is very effective. For example, this advertising campaign for Coca Cola. I think it's successfull because pixel art attracts the same or similar target market, it's fun, artistic, and bubbly. (I mean, who doesn't love that?)

Habbo Hotel
When I was a ten years old, I discovered Habbo Hotel, an amazing world of pixel art. It is a social network site where you create your "pixel" character and walk around, chat to others, or even buy furniture for your very own room. You can explore different cafés, go swimming, go to the theatre. It's practically another world.

Click on image to visit Habbo Hotel

Pixel art is beautiful, and it takes alot of time and effort into creating a detailed masterpeice just like any other illustration.

Pixel Art - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

eBoy Blog
http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Supermaxibazar
http://www.supermaxibazar.com
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

HabboHotel
http://www.habbohotel.com
date accessed: 28 Jul 2009

Graham Rounthwaite

Graham Rounthwaite is a well known fashion illustrator, and art director from London. This is the artist I chose for my Style & Technique assignment.

His drawings are emotive, and full of attitude. The way he incorporates the type is also full of attitude, with the whole "marker" graffiti look to it all.

I love the line work, almost like a nervous hand. Often the background of his pictures have alot of texture and grunge to it, while the hero of the illustration is detailed but clean, almost in a manga/japanese style.

Rounthwaite also uses shadows in his pictures, giving a dark/alleyway look to the scene.

The models are often wearing streetwear style fashion, with alot of attitude. He often draws the models with an accesory/accesories such as, cigarettes, bottle, jewellery etc. I love his work.

Graham Rounthwaite Studio
http://www.grahamrounthwaite.com/
Date Accessed: 26 Jul 2009

Graham Rounthwaite Illustration
http://www.art-dept.com/illustration/rounthwaite/index.html
Date Accessed: 26 Jul 2009

Outside the box

Let's start with an exciting fun video.

As designers, artists, creatives, we are always encouraged to constantly think, outside the box. This digital illustration/animation is great. It encourages us, as designers, to go beyond thinking outside the box.

outside the box from Joseph Pelling on Vimeo.

I love how they start as being posh professionals, to jumping around, screaming and going wild. He highlights the fact that there are so many ideas out there, you just have to chuck them out there no matter how wild it might be, so then you can pick the best one. The Illustration style, the line work and colour all have that hand rendered look to it, which is what gives them more of a character and life.

Robert Crumb is in the Woods from Joseph Pelling on Vimeo.

Joseph Pelling also created this video, working alongside two Illustrators. It's great to see illustrations put to life with animation. This looks like a successful collaborative peice in my opinion.

Marc Johns

Marc Johns is a funny character. I love his illustrations because they have such a heavanly simplicity to them and his writing has so much humour/personality which adds to the character of his illustrations. His illustrations are mostly hand drawn, with a short line of text, keeping in with his well known style. I get a real sense of "kiddishness" which makes me smile when looking through his illustrations.

cubic zironia with antlers by marc johns

His illustrations remind me of me, in a way. Above, is one in a photo of his "antlers" series. I often collect things, sometimes it's almost like I have an obsession with something, buttons, barcodes, packaging, floppy disks etc. Once I collect them, I always get random ideas on what they can be used for, or where can I find more. I can see Marc Johns obsession with antlers, lightning bolts, beards etc. I always wonder what's going to be next.

gumball machine with antlers by marc johns

His work often consists of line work and watercolour fill in, which creates great texture.

a beard shaped like france by marc johns

He explores his "obsessions" in such a humerous way that you just have to laugh.

aesthetics of long underwear by marc johns

A great artist, it reminds me that Illustration is design. It's all about the idea. He highlights what is in his mind, there is also a sense of absurdity, with him combining those random items/objects. Great work Marc Johns!

Marc Johns
http://marcjohns.com
date accessed: 27 Jul 09

Digital Illustration

Illustration is drawing something, creating a picture to send a message, or emotion.

There are so many different illustration styles out there, they can be sketches, simple, pencil marks, or even paintings, detailed pictures, mixed media, etc. There are endless possibilities, (Just like XtendoCord®). Illustration is often used in design to great effect.

There are many components in illustration, such as line work, colour, texture, shape etc. I'm sure you all know what they mean so lets not blabber aye!—

Raster Illustration: Raster illustrations are usually produced in a raster graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop®. Graphics tablet* used to produce detailed and hand rendered look.

*visit www.wacom.com to explore graphics tablets.

Vector Illustration: Vector Illustrations can be blown up to any size. Created using a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator®. This program is good as it gives you great precision and smoothness in creating an illustration. Singstars illustration are made in the vector style. It is great because you can create realistic appearance in your illustrations.

Vector illustrations I have done for style & technique brief.

Chris Miles Art Blog

http://www.chrismiles.net/blog/files/category-how-i-work.html

Date Accessed: Sun Jul 26

The Design Blog

The Brief: (in a nutshell)

Write a blog, clearly, coherantly, without spelling & grammatical errors, including references, and no copying, unless referenced. Blog must contain 10-15 posts related to design, APA referencing to be used. blog must relate back to design history or media design, be opinionated, collect observations and resources.

As apart of my Digital Media (Advanced) course that I am doing at Natcoll Design Technology, this is one of my briefs (above—duh!) We are suppose to upload it to our college intranet AKA Utopia, but I hate it, don't know how to post comments on others, poor layout/flow, so i'm trusting blogger to help me out on this one!

[also, i've deleted my non—design related posts out of this blog and now this is just another design blog, and i'm going to focus more on writing more coherently, grammatically correct blah blah, for all my future posts (pfft, let's see how long that lasts).]

Good Luck To You All