Published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts
ISBN: PB: 978-1-4742-6302-3
ePDF: 978-1-4742-6304-7
My Review
I am an Illustrator. I have been one for over
30 years. I was excited about reading this book, as I know of the author by
reputation. It is quite dry and academic and the writing style doesn’t flow as
well as it might. I persevered because my interest wasn’t diminished. I do
wonder if some undergraduate students of design might be intimidated by
academic writing. This book will be a challenge to the uninitiated and is
probably more useful for post-graduate level study. It will also be useful for
academics and practitioners of illustration. It explores the meaning of
illustration through historical contexts and contemporary examples (many from tutors
and alumni of Falmouth University) showing the vast array of topics tackled.
This second edition includes an additional chapter that focuses on the
inter-disciplinary nature of illustration practice and the potential for it to
take the lead in the development of design. It is this that is the strength of
Male’s argument.
For a book that is supposed to display the
power behind visual media and the relevance of illustrated products the size
afforded to some of the examples doesn’t really work. Poster sized
illustrations shown at postage stamp size, why? Cartoon strips where you can’t
read the speech bubbles, why? The layout of the book should allow the power of
the illustrations to shine through as many art books do. This problem is not
exclusive to this book. That being said the images are carefully and
appropriately captioned to help the reader to appreciate the context for the
work and the manner in which drawing is utilized to communicate value.
Alan Male states that illustration isn’t
self-expression but self-expression does lie at the heart of visual curiosity.
Illustration is a commercial enterprise that has managed to maintain its
relevance and importance regardless of technological advances and changing
social mores. The section on how illustrators collaborate with science is
really engaging and points to several ways that the status of imagemakers can
be enhanced. As a Professor of the subject Male knows his onions and fully embraces
the variety of construction methods and complex applications used by those of
us who channel image as our choice of visual communication.
This book contains a broad range of approaches
deemed illustration and how this work impacts on the wider society. Though dry
to read in places this book is rich in description, breadth and scope of this subject.
It is clear that the illustrator is at the heart of the destiny of this
profession not industry. Alan Male advocates that illustrators should be
consulted at the start of a commission and we are essential to the development
of dynamic and significant work. We are most definitely not ‘colouring in
technicians.’
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