What is Illustration?

"As our visual language evolves, the playing field is levelling. Graphic designers, sculptors, painters, creative developers, and even musicians amorphously meander across different parts of our creative industries. As a consequence, I often wonder what the term 'Illustration' now means. Maybe as a medium it might need to do more than vocationalise aesthetics and cultivate a broader palate of profundity for its own survival" Michael Salu. Artistic director of Granta Magazine 2012 Varoom.

     When people ask me what course I'm doing at university I usually tell them " I do drawing", mostly because I am a man of few words, but also because most people asking the question are just making conversation and don't really care what it is I do. But the fact is I study illustration, and illustration is much more than that, so here are several words that until now have mainly resided in my head.

     To me, proper illustration is an insight into the creator's understanding and imagining of the world around them. Whether they are portrayals of literal or make-believe subjects is irrelevant, each image is a piece of visual diction, a snippet of the voice in an illustrators head.

     It may not always be entirely coherent or understandable to the viewer, but if an illustration is successful and more than just a pretty picture, this voice can be heard.

     It is this element of subtle human communication that appeals to me, and on which I pass judgment: a strong voice, in my opinion, makes for a strong image.

     I realise as I'm writing this that the reason I have an aversion to overly digitised work is that it seems to distort and dehumanise said voice to the point where, to me, it simply integrates itself into it's surroundings like a piece of Swedish flatpack furniture.

     In short, illustration is quite simply a means of conveying thoughts.