I wrote this for a college assignment, where I needed to identify future trends in the design industry, specifically for the area of illustration.
I would like to acknowledge and thank the following illustrators for taking time to read this article, and then review and give constructive feedback for my college assignment:
Daniel Reeve (New Zealand)
Tanya Hempson (Australia)
Daniel Lieske (Germany).
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Trend Forecasting: Illustration
by Nathanael Moore
Graphic design is like a tree.
The rich history of art movements are like the roots, the field of design is like the trunk. And like a real tree trunk splitting into multiple, sometimes hundreds of branches, so graphic design divides and subdivides into many specialist areas, which can then be further sub-subdivided into more specific fields of specialisation.
The demand for new, creative and effective ways to present information requires the development of new areas to specialise in. This has led to a myriad of newer fields of expertise in the design industry. For example, the rapid rise of social networking and people connecting via the Web has led to a high demand for designers specialising in HTML and CSS to develop those websites used to connect with others.
The ever-evolving creative industries are constantly seeking out the next clever way to grab our attention or push the boundaries, which has led to a shorter life-span for advertising campaigns, meaning artwork for those campaigns or projects needs to be produced fast. The speed with which we move in the modern world means that often the more traditional or ‘old-school’ ways of doing things gets overlooked or forgotten. Although it would be fair to say that depending how good an illustrator is at using their chosen methods, speed may not be the issue. Sometimes that older style might make a reappearance as the latest new retro trend, which can make people see that way of doing things in a whole new light. Often it reminds us of the magic of something that’s handcrafted, a feel-good memory, of having the luxury of taking the time to produce something that’s quality and worth putting effort into.
Illustration is a field that falls right in the middle of this dilemma. It is a craft that is ancient - the art of using a pencil, a piece of chalk or charcoal, or even a stone to mark a surface and tell a story with lines and dots. It is ever evolving, having many applications and styles, the most recent of these developments being the use of digital media to illustrate. For the purpose of clarity, when we refer to traditional illustration, we generally mean pencil and paper, and opposed to digital illustration meaning pen and graphics tablet. Digital illustration requires the use of a pen and graphics tablet to draw fast, high quality digital illustrations on a computer. It produces an instant visual result that is very forgiving as you can easily erase or undo any error made, or copy any content created. Digital illustration also crosses over into digital paint territory, being able to not only draw lines, but create full colour images on the screen. This technology is becoming more and more prominent, particularly in industries where these type of high resolution images are required e.g. film, comic books, industrial design, etc. As the technology develops, the hardware gets increasingly more affordable, opening this style up to more and more designers, and any Average Joe wanting to expand their skills in illustration. This has led to a quite saturated market of digital illustrators, often making it difficult to distinguish between practitioners, pushing illustrators further to find their unique style that stands out from the crowd. The emphasis on quick results could also lead to less time and care being taken by some at the concept stage. Although it may be seen as the future of illustration, digital illustration could be seen as one of the newer branches on the graphic design tree, growing alongside the traditional branch, totally legitimate and connected to the root.
This saturation means that a few interesting trends have emerged as a result. This over-emphasis on digital illustration has made the traditional user more of a niche market, often meaning these traditional illustrators head towards industries where their skills are more appreciated or useful, e.g. children’s book illustration or the arts and crafts/boutique/hipster market. This also means that when traditional illustration is used in a project, it stands out as being something that is different from the current digital trend.
Trend number two is due to the rise of using stock photography instead of contracting an illustrator. Stock and royalty free photography is easily accessible from multiple source websites, some free and some for a fee. The ease and low cost has meant often ruling out the use of an illustrator for any visual graphics in a design project.
Another resulting trend of high quality, fast paced digital illustration is the use of simplification in illustrative pieces. The emphasis on simple lines, minimalistic content, and even child-like forms tend to dominate these projects. Once again, in contrast to the photo-realistic digital images, these minimalist illustrations stand out as being playful, fun, or quirky. These also lend their appeal to the boutique/arts and crafts culture as being hand made and homely (you’ll often find this style used in coffee shops or at craft markets), and could be seen as innocent and naive.
A designer who is conscious of their design future, and wanting to stay on top of his game, would be wise to invest the time and resources into furthering their skills in digital illustration. One who has already the fine motor skills developed for traditional illustration would have to endure a period of time while he or she learns to use the new technology and understand the hand coordination required. The benefits of this would be being able to multiply their illustrative skills into this new field, and keep up to date with current design trends. There are many courses available to learn pen/tablet skills, and they can be easily accessed through online tutorials at websites like lynda.com; or by completing a short course at an art college or night school. Often these courses are tailored to the beginner, introducing them to the digital illustration world by starting at the very beginning and teaching how the hardware/software works, and how to create images. This can be very helpful to an experienced illustrator who may have spent his or her entire life solely illustrating using traditional methods, and is in need of help easing into the new digital era. One could be to utilise both styles to create a sort of hybrid method of illustration, taking the benefits of both digital and traditional to produce the fastest, best quality work possible.
All this being said, traditional illustration is not something that will ever fade away. Because of the basic nature of traditional illustration it could be seen as the foundation or starting point for the rest of the graphic design arts. One could even say that it is an essential skill to have in the creative industry (although some may argue this point). The creative process requires that in order to have a finished artwork, concepts and themes need to be figured out. Often this conceptual development is done with pencil on paper, even with the most basic of lines and scribble. The point is this: in order to progress creativity there will need to be a singularity, a moment where an idea goes from being an abstract thought inside someones mind, to being a tangible manifestation in the physical world. Otherwise creative thoughts will remain just creative thoughts. Illustration helps turn those thoughts into actual ideas. And as long as people keep on having creative thoughts, they will need creative ways to represent those thoughts, and one of the most basic way of transferring that thought is by illustrating it with a pencil onto a piece of paper or with a Wacom pen on a tablet.
We could then summarise by saying that if graphic design is like a tree, then it is definitely alive and growing, creating new branches and ways to express ideas creatively. ~ NM
