THE HISTORY OF ILLUSTRATION

THE HISTORY OF ILLUSTRATION

It is important for illustrators to be aware of the historical context for their practice. Illustration in the 20th century was primarily a visual storytelling medium. In the middle of the 20th century, photography became increasingly available (but costly). In the 21st century, global communications opened up international markets so that illustrators didn’t have to work in cities. Now you can sell and promote your own artwork using the internet!

CULTURAL CONTEXT IN WHICH THEY CREATED THEIR MOST SIGNIFICANT WORK:

E. H. Shepard lived at Melina Place in St Johns Wood, London. In 1914 when Shepard was in his mid-thirties, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Throughout the war, Shepard had been contributing to Punch Magazine. He was hired as a cartoonist for the magazine in 1921 and became a lead cartoonist in 1945. Shepard was recommended to A. A. Mine in 1923 by another Punch staff member called E. V. Lucas. A. A. Milne insisted that Shepard illustrate ‘Winnie the Pooh’.

Q: Did the work of the illustrator that you chose from the list seem old fashioned, if so what was it that made it seem so?
A: Yes it did, ‘The Newcomer’ illustration is war related and the other illustration shows men wearing ballet outfits with tutus, in the time the illustration was created this would’ve been regarded as very humorous as this isn’t what ‘real mean’ would’ve done!

Q: What was it about the work of the contemporary artist that attracted you to their work?
A: It has to be Rebecca’s unique and individual style of drawing. The was she illustrates her characters makes them seem strangely lifelike. She also recreates the human form wonderfully.

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THE KEY IS COMMUNICATION

GETTING THE GIST

My chosen news article: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/23/coronavirus-dreams-what-could-they-mean

Words Chosen:

1. Worldwide coronavirus lockdown

2. Google searches for ‘weird dreams’

3. Pandemic dreaming

4.Tooth that keeps falling out.

My Statement:

“I’m going to create an image about a person google searching “weird dreams” during the coronavirus lockdown, he keeps having dreams about his teeth falling out”.

My Outcome:

Evaluation of my work:

“Overall I find my first computer illustration for this course to be good. I have covered most of the words (very little brief) that I set myself in the previous part.
I only worry about the fact that the character isn’t actually ‘dreaming’ as he is awake.
I wanted to show him awake after having ‘pandemic dreams’ and trying to research/figure out why he keeps dreaming about his ‘teeth falling out’.
I used only black and white in this illustration as I wanted to make it look like is was nighttime. I used a special blending tool on my Wacom which allowed me to create the ‘bright screen’ in the illustration and the shine on the characters arm from the brightness.
If I was to change anything I would have chosen for my character to be asleep or at least in bed considering he’s supposed to be dreaming!