An illustrator’s job, on a board
For going back to school, drawings and texts are on the board!
The job of a graphic artist is fast moving, like most of the other jobs, companies, schools and universities : when September comes, the summer holidays are over ! The ukulele is put back in its case, nap time is reduced and optimised, cartoons, books and magazines are put back on the shelves, only to be used in a more moderate way in the evenings.
Summertime is favourable for new ideas and for developing new talents such as : charcoal drawing, Indian ink, watercolours, aqua gym or even cocktails.
In September, we go back to work : outcomes the computer, the pencils and the specialized software. You’re focusing on the creation of a drawing for a press article or a graphic universe for a poster or a review. You start searching, trying to be imaginative, curious, as to catch and characterize the characters and the scenery whilst using your tools ( Photoshop or illustrator) and various techniques that you have acquired either as part of training or throughout your long professional career). Yes, the holidays are truly over!
Drawings of women: Birds of a Feather flock together
Beautiful illustrations are not always created for an eye catching cover on a novel, a piercing image for an advertisement, or to answer a client’s needs, news or advertisement agencies publishing house. The illustrations are often born when we wake up, in the morning or after a nap: you open your eyes and you can see the picture, the colours and the atmosphere. In this case you must you must quickly sketch the image on a small piece of paper so you don’t forget it, hoping that the idea does not disappear and fly away and get lost among the thousands of ideas you have floating in your head. You must catch it whilst it’s floating around.
Unfortunately no one teaches you this when you’re training to get your diploma in drawing, arts, cartoon drawings or visual communication! I would recommend sleeping workshops and lessons with the option of graphic design to become a pagemaker in decorative arts! In order to get your your national superior diploma of expression of plastic arts, the teachers should train students to sleep well at night, especially during the first preparatorory years. The red mark on your cheek left by a pillow, should be an authorized garantee of good quality work of an independant or freelance illustrator. That’s a good way to stand out, compared to a large number of illustrators on the market: the claw mark left by a pillow, that you proudly show off on Instagram and on Pinterest, will allow you to bring in orders and widen your scope!
However the devotion to sleep is lost on me : let me get back to the whole point of this paragraph, which is a picture of three women, 3 friends, 3 sisters, 3 mums or 3 unknown women, who are all alike and who are arranged in a uniform, graphic composition. And yes, they are the fruit of a simple nap, a sketch, a pencilled drawing, coloured and vectorized.There you have it, a little illustration for the going back to school/work season… when you have a nap, make sure to keep a small piece of paper and a pencil beside your bed!
Have a fun time going back!
You may like the illustrations portfolio:
