Inside the business of illustration

241 Pages·2004·2.89 MB·English

by  Steven Heller

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Inside the
Business of
Illustration
Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman
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© 2004 Steven Heller
All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright
Convention, and Pan-American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
Published by Allworth Press
An imprint of Allworth Communications, Inc.
10 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
Cover illustration by R. O. Blechman
Cover design and page composition by James Victore
Typography by Sharp Des!gns, Lansing, MI
ISBN: 1-58115-386-4
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Heller, Steven.
Inside the business of illustration / Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman.
ISBN 1-58115-386-4
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Illustrators—Vocational guidance—United States. I. Arisman, Marshall. II. Title.
NC975.H425 2004
741.6'023'73—cd22
2004014745
Printed in Canada
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CONTENTS
vi. DEDICATION
vii. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ix. FOREWORD
1. INTRODUCTION Do Illustrators Really Want to Know about Business?
18. Sidebar:The Illustrator/Art Director Relationship
Part One
An Overview of Art versus Illustration in America
29. CHAPTER ONE Art and Illustration
51. Talking about Art and Illustration
57. Sidebar: Know Your Art and Artists
Part Two
Style, Business, and Ethics for the Contemporary Illustrator
63. CHAPTER TWO Style
67. Talking about Style
72. Sidebar:What Is Style? A Checklist
73. Sidebar:Trend Spotter
77. CHAPTER THREE Old and New
82. Talking about Old and New
86. Sidebar:Brief Timeline of Illustration
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89. CHAPTER FOUR Authorship
94. Talking about Authorship
98. Sidebar:What Is Authorship?
101. CHAPTER FIVE Promotion
105. Talking about Promotion
109. Sidebar:A Self-Promotion Guidelines
110. Sidebar:Representing Yourself or Being Represented
113. CHAPTER SIX Ethics
117. Talking about Ethics
122. Sidebar:Ethical Pitfalls and Praftfalls
Part Three
Talking with Illustrators and Art Directors
127. CHAPTER SEVEN Talking with Illustrators
129. Brodner
133. Field
135. Koen
139. MacDonald
143. Holland
147. Dillon
151. Payne
155. Parada
159. Kalman
161. Bedrosian
167. Kunz
171. Fox
175. Sutton
179. Neimann
183. Enos
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187. CHAPTER EIGHT Talking with Art Directors
189. Newman
190. Curry
192. Girardi
193. Sedelmair
194. Doyle
196. Anderson
198. Winkler
199. Rees
201. Guarnaccia
202. Mouly
205. AFTERWORD Milton Glaser on Illustration
211. RESOURCES
217. BIOS
219. INDEX
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DEDICATION
To David Rhodes on his twenty-fifth anniversary
as president of the School of Visual Arts.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are indebted to Kim Ablondi at the School of Visual Arts MFA
Illustration program for her hard work and good nature. Thanks to Tad
Crawford, our publisher, for his continual support on this and other projects.
Thanks also to Nicole Potter, editor, and Monica Rodriguez, assistant editor,
for their contributions to this book. And off go our proverbial hats to all the
illustrators, art directors, and others who have contributed mightily to this art
cum business. —SH & MA
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FOREWORD
More than twenty years
ago,Norman Rockwell said about illustrators: “Many who consider
themselves serious painters look down their noses at us. We paint for money,
against deadlines, our subject matter often prescribed by an editor or an
author.” Today, illustrators continue to paint for money but less of it is
coming their way. Computer-generated images, photography, the Internet,
stock illustration, and budget cuts have prompted some practitioners of
illustration to pronounce the art dead. Yet still others are finding new outlets
to energize and promote their work. The future of illustration continues to
provoke heated discussion. All illustrators agree that Rockwell’s golden age of
illustration is over. The period when illustrations were the visual engines for
magazines has long past, but storytelling in all its forms is undergoing a
resurgence. In our post-modern digital world, crossovers in the visual arts
were inevitable and are now frequent. The fine arts reference illustration
and comic books, film references the graphic novel and our major museums
are referencing motorcycles and current fashion design. In 2001, the
Guggenheim Museum mounted a major retrospective of Norman Rockwell’s
illustrations. Who would have thought this possible a decade ago?
Uncertainty can be productive if perceived as a part of a larger picture and
how the illustration business will function in the next decade will be the
result of the flux experienced today.
This book analyzes the illustration business from two different
perspectives: the illustrator’s (Arisman) and the art director’s (Heller). In
addition to our joint narratives, we have also included conversations between
ourselves and with others on all the major themes to offer broader points of
view and kindle debate. We also thank Milton Glaser for allowing us to
reprint his talk before the ICON 3 Illustration Conference, because it takes
illustration out of the business arena and injects it with the passion it
deserves.
—Marshall Arisman & Steven Heller
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