After five happy years Scamp’ing we’re moving blogging duties to a new home at Illustratorsireland.com. A big thanks to all those that contributed stories and work down the years. We’ll keep the archive up for a few months.

IGI Member David McClelland show us today a therapeutical way of creating new work.

As a freelance illustrator I find I am vulnerable to comparing my work to ‘more successful’ illustrators’ work. This in turn can result in an opinion that I am failing in some way.

The truth is I could never be like Jillian Tamaki or Tomer Hanuka because I’m not Jillian Tamaki or Tomer Hanuka; I am David McClelland.

In realising this I drew the mini comic “function” which helped me get a grasp of how to appreciate who I am as an artist and which direction I should follow based upon who I am rather than what other people say I should be.

I hope it helps you as much as it has done for me.

Function Mini comic, cover.

Function Mini comic, pages 1 & 2.

Function Mini comic, pages 3 & 4.

Function Mini comic, pages 5 & 6.

Function Mini comic, page 7.

IGI Member David McClelland show us an original way of standing out with your marketing materials.
For me business cards get old really quickly. Now being an artist I should include a piece of work on my business cards but if it takes me a year to move a bunch of cards that image can suddenly get old and irrelevant. My solution was to print out blank business cards and use them as a mini sketchbook creating individual pieces of art reflecting the time, my surrounding and what I’m thinking about.

Business card details with space for a handwritten job description.

Two birds, a wolf and an awesome rabbit, brush pen and felt tip.

A wolf, a fox an awesome bird and a telegraph pole, brush pen and felt tip. Note I was working on my BASE street art mural at the time.

Power hands, hairy rabbit and a raven apologising for being morbid, brush pen and felt tip.

Le Géant character sketches for an upcoming comic book workshop, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and USA president Barack Obama, in the middle of the UK elections and Osama Bin Laden news. Brush pen and felt tip.

Powerlines, powerhand, Scottish highlands and a face I saw in the Guardian newspaper. Brush pen and felt tip.

The 32nd edition society for news design awards were announced earlier this week – IGI member David McClelland won an ‘Award of Excellence’ for his 9-page comic and cover for The Times “Election’10” supplement.

Working with The Times’ art director Alex Breuer, David illustrated a day-to-day account of the election story from Gordon Brown announcing a general election on 6th April 2010 to the results being announced on 7th May 2010.  You can view more images on David’s portfolio website.

All you budding and aspiring illustrations (and old hats too!) get along to see some fine work by student’s of IGI Member Adrienne Geoghegan’s now famous Boot Camps! ‘Picture This’ exhibition is a collection of artworks by 18 Boot Camp students of Illustration and Picture Book art.

The exhibition is at the Exchange Venue, Exchange Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 on Sunday 10th April at 3pm. Come and enjoy our Tea and Homemade Refreshments!

Illustrators Ireland have lined up a return for the Laundry exhibition running from 21 – 27 October in Filmbase, Temple Bar in Dublin.

If you missed it the first time – here’s a second chance to peak  through the keyhole and see the murky,  guilty, and embarrassing side to Irish creative folk.

Mario Sughi: “A New Sense of Emptiness”
Opening 9 September 2010
Greenroom, Manchester, UK
The exhibition is curated by the Blank Media Collective and it will run throughout 23 October 2010.

Press releases and more info at:

http://www.greenroomarts.org/archive/events/a-new-sense-of-emptiness/

http://www.blankmediacollective.org/events/exhibitions/anewsenseofemptiness

Mario Sughi, a New sense of emptiness.

A “New sense of emptiness” is a group of 20/30 works (digital prints I made between 2009 and 2010).

I believe they can be appreciated either as colorful and spatial images or as a playful portrait of the world and society we all live in.
The works portray the world as a beautiful colorful world, where beauty and fashion are two important elements.
The people meet both in elegant interiors and spacious open air locations.
However behind a joyful appearance a mixture of emptiness and boredom starts to emerge.

Written by Mario Sughi for BlankMediaCollective, 2010

The Color from jason holley on Vimeo.

In early July IGI member, Steve Simpson, travelled from Dublin to sunny California for the biennial US illustration conference, ICON. Here’s his diary from the event:

After spending a couple of days acclimatizing on Jim Morrisons’s weird & wonderful Venice Beach it was time to head for the conference venue, The Langham Hotel, formerly the Ritz Carlton, in the baking heat of Pasadena.

This was the 6th ICON, previous conferences having been held in Santa Fe, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York City. This unique, global conference unites more than 600 highly-skilled, independent, entrepreneurial illustrators, educators, students and creative professionals from all media. Being an ICON virgin I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Would I return to Ireland enthused and invigorated or overwhelmed & depressed. In the current economic climate, how many illustrators were feeling the pinch? Would I find green shoots peeking through the soggy mush of  last year’s failed crops?
After attending last year’s outstanding OFFSET conference in Dublin (Check out this year’s superb lineup of speakers, October 1-3) I’d hoped for a similar mix of inspiration, enthusiasm and friendly banter. As it turned out, my experience of ICON can be best described by fellow illustrator, Aileen Holmes, as a summer camp for illustrators.

Prior to leaving Ireland I’d touched base and exchanged emails with a few of our American illustrator cousins via Facebook.  I was also sharing a room with the UK illustrator and AOI chairman, Rod Hunt who I met in the hotel bar for a few (not exactly cheap) beers that evening.

There was so much information and inspiration on offer over the next few days it would be difficult to condense it into this post so I’m adding a few links at the end if anyone wants to take a more in depth look at any particular area.

Wednesday

The conference ran for 4 days and kicked off with a number of mini illustrative excursions. I’d picked a minibus trip into Chinatown for a Film Noir life drawing session with top illustrators Jeffrey Smith and Paul Rogers. Actors played out the parts of Jack Nicholson & Faye Dunaway from the classic film, Chinatown.

Shade was at a premium for the 3 hour session and a post session beer was more than welcome.

Other trips, included a visit to The Clayton Brothers Studio & workshop with Veteran of Disney Feature Animation, Nickelodeon and Sony Pictures, Will Weston.

Oh, and there was a ICON soccer match which I missed due to the post life-drawing beer, ooops.

That evening the conference kicked into gear with a roof top cocktail party at the Arts Centre where conference attendees mixed with students to exchange thoughts on the current illustration climate and the forthcoming ICON line-up. With so many new faces and terrible memory for names, I was really starting to appreciate the huge name tags.

photo Michael Dooley

Escape from Illustration Island’s video on the Arts Center Cockatil Party and the Picture Mechanics Exhibition at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood.

Thursday

The following day I attended a workshop by illustrator and artist Jeff Soto talking about the influence his days as a teenage graffiti artists has had on his style, how he got his first breaks in illustration by targeting NY art directors with a 3 week salvo and the importance of promotional projects. Jeff also did a quick (less than an hour) painting demo using acrylics on board (with a little help from his trusty hairdryer).

Edel Rodriguez posted this photo of the completed demo painting along with half eaten donut.

Before the opening Keynote there was the Roadshow Portfolio Salon where an international collection of 200 Illustrators showed off their wears to an invited guest list of Art Directors, Editors, and Art Buyers with cocktails and nibbles. I enjoyed this event and was more than happy with the feedback and contacts I made. (although at first it did feel like I was selling time share at a holiday expo:)

Road show video (I’m in there somewhere) courtesy again of EFII

The Opening Keynote, entitled ’The Future of Publishing- The Great Transformation’,was moderated by Roger Black, Roger Black Studios,  Scott Dadich, WIRED, Kelly Doe, The New York Times, Jim Heimann, Taschen America, and Jeremy Clark from Adobe.

With the advent of the iPad it was suggested editorial illustrators should adopt the new technologies and become illustrator/animators to supply the publishers with media rich content (in layered form). At the same time it was even suggested the title “illustrator” was probably an out dated term and we should consider calling ourselves something more appropriate to the times(?). But it was the to animate or not to animate debate that put some heat into the conference. The general consensus seemed to be along the lines of “learn another program?” “do we get paid more?” and “I don’t want to be an animator!”

EFII have the opening keynote on their website, parts 1 -4

Michael Dooley of Print magazine canvassed a variety of professionals (including myself) to share their viewpoints on the matter for their Imprint blog:

ICON Reax, Part 1: Is Animation the Future of Illustration

ICON Reax, Part 2: Is Animation the Future of Illustration

Opening night  was put to bed with a few drinks and a party in the Viennese Ballroom overlooking the swimming pool

Friday

Illustrator Paul Rogers and art director Brian Rea did a great job introducing the speakers and adding a few laughs to the proceedings.

A few high lights from the morning session

Dave Peterson, Chief Marketing Officer, Coverity and Founder of Dave Tee Vee, had some top tips:

• Spend 33% of your time marketing
• Tell them (the client) your value
• Think about what verybody else is goingto do, then do something different
• Have a POV
• Attack what you hate & embrace what you love!
• remember, Illustrators are problem solvers

Kathryn Adams, Illustrator, Instructor Business Practices, Sheridan College and OCAD, on making sense of contracts. Helpful translations (PDF) of the legalese used in contracts

Maria Piscopo‘s (Author, Graphic Designer’s and Illustrator’s Guide to Marketing and Promotion) 7 tips to better price negotiation (PDF). (EFII have a video on this presentation)

Next up: Round table lunches. I went to 2, first hosted by Michael Fleischman, author of  the excellent “The Drawing Inspiration” and also an engaging session with Rachel Cole, Art Director at Random House. When trying to find a publisher for your writer/illustrator epic, she suggests submitting to one publisher at a time and allowing 6 weeks to get a response.

here’s me taking over Michael Fleischman‘s round table lunch, sorry Michael:)

Back on the main stage; Rod Hunt. His session entitled “Euro Smash; Illustration Across the Pond”  was crammed full of  helpful hints & tips on how to break into the European market (and steal our jobs:).

Illustrators Melinda Beck (you might remember her from the whole “Google – work for free” saga) and Gary Taxali both gave great insights in when you should and shouldn’t work for free. Don’t do free work for big corporate clients and don’t fall for the “it will be good exposure for you” line. Corporate clients can afford to pay. Before agreeing to do free work for charities and friends you need to ask “what’s in it for me? Will the exposure potentially lead to more work?” & “what are the promotional benefits? Can I use samples for promos?”.  Choose wisely.

I should mention the very entertaining video shorts by Jason Holley shown between sessions. A great example on how to keep the essence of the illustration when making it move (is this still called animation?).

Great talks followed by Wayne White (check out some of his type paintings), David Saylor (Scholastic Press) & Todd Oldham who spoke in depth on meeting, archiving and compiling Charlie Harper an Illustrated Life book. Apparently there’s a lot more of his unpublished work to look forward to.

D.B. Dowd, Professor of Art Washington University  - Illustration on Mars - Expedition to an Unseen World — A New Theory on the History of Illustration. Sorry fell asleep for that one

Craig Yoe’s much anticipated “Secret Identity” presentation - The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster was a big hit.

Here’s the blurb form the ICON site: Pssst! Want to be in on a dirty little secret? Craig Yoe discovered incredible, previously unknown, fetish art by Superman’s creator, Joe Shuster, and produced a best-selling coffee table art book “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster.” Shuster, who sold the rights to Superman for $70, tried to find relief in court, lost and was drummed out of the comic book industry. Falling on hard times, he then did S&M porn for under-the-counter booklets called “Nights of Horror,” in the early fifties. The back-story involves the Mob, slinky showgirls, neo-Nazi Jewish juvenile delinquents (known as the Brooklyn Thrill Killers), famed anti-comic book crusader Dr. Frederic Wertham, Senate investigations, corrupt cops, books banned by the Supreme Court, teenage girls being horse-whipped in the park, two murders…and dare we say MORE?” Yoe will reveal the rich history of Superman, Shuster’s bondage art and the chilling first-amendment repercussions in a multimedia show laced with laughs and licentiousness.

This was followed by Happy Hour and Book Signings (in the bar). Gary Taxali spent almost 10 minutes embellishing a copy of his latest book “This is Silly” for me. Top man!

Saturday

Morning coffee and pastries followed by more coffee

Clone Them: CDs Who Dig Illustration. Soojin Buzelli of Asset International (Plan Sponsor and Plan Advisor Magazines), Irene Gallo of Tor Books and Tor.com, and Sally Morrow of Sandstrom Partners are 3 great advocates of illustration. Soojin (AKA Mrs Chris Buzelli) has an obvious love for illustration and makes the case that illustration enhances the overall value of a publication.

Video link to “creatives who dig illustration” parts 1-4

One of the highlights from the afternoon session was Choose Your Own Adventure - Three Unique Stories from Today’s Picture Book World with Illustrators John Hendrix, Istvan Banyai and Adam McCauley. John Hendrix, dressed as John Brown in period outfit and fake beard talked about getting his books published while a highly entertaining Istvan, author and illustrator of the book ZOOM,  gave us personal insights into just how difficult it can be (even for a best selling author/illustrators) to even get to talk to publishers these days.

photos by SCAD

“Spread the Word: You are the Brand” with Fernanda Cohen and Yuko Shimizu

Fernanda Cohen

• human interaction is valuable. seeing people reminds them you exist
• be nice
• talk to everyone everywhere!
• also listen and be patient
• keep telling people what you want to be, they will eventually believe you!

Yuko Shimizu spoke about promotion

• website is your main site (not blog, FB, etc)
• be professional and consistent
• enter competitions
• ai-ap.comsociety of illustrators
• commarts.com
• 3×3.com
• theaoi.com
• spd.org (for published works only)

Tim Biskup was a surprise speaker (but unfortunately I missed that, damn!)

Kathy Altieri of DreamWorks wrapped up proceeding “be sure you know what you love, be sure you do what you love” before Tim Biskup took to the stage again. This time as DJ at the closing party.

Overall it was an utterly, amazing experience. It more than surpassed my expectations! Several weeks later and I’m still digesting top tips and insights. It was great to see illustrators finding new avenues to promote their work with galleries seemingly more open to the illustrator than ever before. With so much information on line it’s easier than ever to revisit and review presentations. Most of all, I value the new friends I made over the 4 days of the conference. Everybody I met was so genuine and friendly. From the big names of illustration who were so encouraging to the enthusiasm of the student volunteers. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay in touch through Facebook and email.

Many thanks to the ICON6 Board who did such a fantastic job.

Would I go again… damn yes I would!

some very useful links:

For a more indepth overview of the speakers, Aileen Holmes generously shares her notes from the 3 days on her blog, day one, day two & day three.

Fernanda Cohen shares her thoughts and quite a few pics on Illustration Mundo

Rod Hunt has more photos on Flickr as well as a great review of the conference on the AOI site

Thomas James of Escape from Illustration Island covered most of the conference speakers with some great video interviews

Also, another great bit of indepth coverage on SCAD Atlanta’s blog

An IGI historical look at ICON:

2001 Effecting Change: The Illustration Conference 2001. Padhraig Nolan reports from the the inaugural ICON Illustration Conference

2003 ICON 2003 Conference Report. Joven Kerekes attends 2003′s illustration conference as the IGI delegate

The brief was to provide 11 colour illustrations for a 6 page feature for september’s issue of FHM magazine. The feature was written by Chris Ryan, formerly of the british SAS, now a successful author entitled: “How to kill Osama Bin Laden”

The art director wanted it drawn in a modern british comic style and the deadline was quite short- only 8 days to complete the job.
I was initially struck by how easy it would be to demonise and humiliate OBL, so I opted not to show his face. Regardless of his reputation and the deeds done in his name, I felt it would be too facile to depict him simply as the Boogeyman.

I spent many hours collecting references. I thought that since it was written by a military expert, it would have to be as factually accurate as possible, so I had to be sure the uniforms, hardware and weaponry were current and correct.
There were no changes made to the pencil stage so I was able to really sink my teeth into the inking and colouring stages.

I recently tracked down some lovely hunt 101 dip pens and this was my first chance to let rip with them. After a couple of late nights and changes to the colouring of the opening illustration (which I’m glad to say was welcome as it was too bright initially), I was done.

The feature will also appear in the international edition of FHM sometime this year.