A life in the Arts.

VA 724 Context & Culture 3

A life in the Arts.

As an artist, I feel it is critical to view your Art as a way of life rather than a career option. One of the major advantages of being involved the arts is the freedom it gives to have a creative outlet, a luxury that can not be afforded in most industries. All though sometimes I worry about the unpredictable nature of the arts, mainly in a financial aspect, I often look at people sitting behind desks and wonder what keeps them there. There seems to be no stimulation or opportunity to make any kind of statement in life, whether that be in a political or a global sense. The arts offers all these things, and also a chance to make your own destiny. It is also important however to put your own needs first financially. So if art is your career, you should put commercial projects ahead of your personal ones.

Therefore, my analogy of my illustration is this: first and foremost it is a lifestyle, and naturally it is a career too. But I will not put my personal projects, statements and messages ahead of the opportunity to make good money. That is just too important in modern day life.

It is important to focus on either working towards a style, or letting your style develop further. One’s style is their trademark imagery and flow of their artwork that helps distinguish their work from other artists work, and helps link a piece of an artists work with the next piece that they produce. If you don’t have a style or are not working towards one it’s hard to call yourself an artist, because there is no originality there.

I feel that I have a distinct style, but it needs to be refined somewhat. My style has been referred to as ‘ratty’, ‘loose’ and ‘scratchy’. Which I’m fine with, but I would like to refine my rendering skills, my design skills and my understanding of proportion, and composition. I think it would nice to be known as a ratty, scratchy Illustrator with a good design sense and a tasteful use of color and composition. However without a strong nucleus of these fundamentals, I think these descriptions of ones style could be seen as an insult.

I believe my style reflects a range modern/current artistic values and characteristics. I think it has the ability to adapt to modern trends in the future. I’d hardly call myself a purist, which is one of the reasons why my style is developing a modern edge. I am not tied down to traditional values and techniques of illustration. It is however important to research traditional techniques, history of illustration and of art, and to try to mimic other peoples styles. This helps your style and understanding of illustration grow stronger.

I think inevitably my style is driven by a desire to move towards the digital realm of illustration. I think this is where I feel most comfortable working, and I feel that there is no reason to feel ashamed of producing digital artwork. Computers are a tool being utilized more and more in the modern age. And there are certain aspects of digital art work that appeal to me, one of which is the modern feel it gives to a piece of art. Also it gives you the opportunity to have maximum precision, with an ability to undo any step without great duress. You don’t always have to be paranoid about smudging or using the wrong colors, because these are things you can change later.

One of the biggest problems I feel I am facing with my art is the creative process which I undertake to produce a piece of art. I am yet to find a suitable routine that makes my creative process click. I am only beginning to fully discover the beauty of having great reference. As I heard our Illustration teacher Warren Crossett say to me…. A piece of art can only be as good as the reference you find. This is advice that has stuck with me now, and I’m sure that I will remember it forever. In my current digital work, I think my routine is progressing to a point where I can work quickly and efficiently, and show my distinct style in the finished art. My free hand work is lagging behind in that regard, but it is my aim to get it to a point where I can work as quickly and efficiently as my digital work.

I would still say the statement that lies within my artwork is still evolving, but it will evolve just as quickly as my style and skills evolve. I believe it is a natural process that occurs when you gain more life experience and life skills. I also think that when I start doing more editorial pieces my concepts and the statement that accompanies that concept will broaden and strengthen.

You can successfully make statements while making money in illustration if you focus on doing more editorial illustrations than commercial ones. Editorial work gives to a topic, a message, and the freedom to express that message, hence giving you a bold statement. Say for example you were commissioned to do a commercial illustration for a company promoting a product or procedure, you have less freedom and the more likely it is for a client to intervene on the creative process. Also there is rarely a strong statement to be expressed in these instances.

I think my strengths lie in my concepts and my willingness to learn, and to be part of something creative. I try and listen to advice of my contemporaries and tutors in order to improve my artwork. My art is more conceptually based than technically sound, but I believe I need to strengthen my skills to make my conceptual ideas work more successfully as strong images. I think you need a strong sense of what a concept is to be able to target a niche market, because a concept expresses a message. I pride myself in my ability to express a message through a piece of art. Otherwise, the artwork is pointless I feel.

At the present time, I do not feel my skill base is appropriate. I need to get my skills to a level where they can be admired as much as my conceptual ideas. I think I have established myself so far through my ideas and my ability to translate other people’s suggestions into my own ideas. Now is the time for me to hone in on my technical skills and to discover how far I can take them. Then the question really will be, ‘Can this bloke draw’?

I think I am an illustrator with a tendency towards graphic design. Rather than an illustrator with a sensibility towards painting and fine art. I plainly do not come from a fine art background. I never studied visual arts in high school, but I studied graphic design right the way through, and I think that is where my strong conceptual base stems from. I was always meticulous about my concepts and my creative process when studying graphic design, and I was always experimenting with trying to get my finished art looking different to everyone else’s.

My secondary creative endeavor is my music. I am a keen guitarist and song writer. I like to write and play alternative rock and progressive rock music. I would like to think that my music influences the way I draw and my artwork translates back into my music. There is a distinct similarity in style between the two, even if one is visual and the other one musical. I would also like to think that I could combine these skills with my illustrative and design skills in the future. Or perhaps I’d like to do job’s designing posters and album covers for bands. Also, for my own musical ventures.

I believe that I still have a way to go till I have a complete understanding of the illustration and design industries. I see this as a challenge, rather than a hassle, to learn as much about these industries as possible, so I can enhance my knowledge, my skills, and to give me the best possible opportunity to succeed in the industry. I also think I need to make as many contacts and acquaintances as possible in the design, illustration, print industries, so I have a good network of support in my field. It will help keep me ahead, because as we know, it’s not only what you know, but who you know as well.

Of course one of the key items to success in this industry is good communication skills, which I believe I have. I’m supremely confident that my ability to sell myself and promote myself will be adequate when dealing with a client. I have an ability to build a strong rapport with a customer/client, which is evidenced in the way I have dealt with customers in my part time retail job, and also in the few design jobs I have taken on so far.

I think it may take some time until I am completely confident in my abilities as an Illustrator and designer. But I think my confidence will naturally grow as my skill foundation progresses. I think once I get this to a fine art, I will be able to sell my artwork to a client a lot easier, and coupled with my confidence in dealing with clients, I am sure that I will be able to successfully sell my work.

In summary, my journey as an illustrator is well and truly still in its embryonic stages, and like everything else, will progress right in front of my eyes over the coming weeks, months. I am really looking forward to what this industry has to offer, and what I can offer the industry.

Jack Crawford, NMIT Visual Arts, Illustration II.