The Education of an Illustrator

There is a lot of artsy fartsy talk that only someone who doesnt live in the real world could understand. The kind of talk im talking about is like "The plastic bag flying in the wind is beautiful". pfft.


Mixed feelings   November 11, 2002
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

Heller and Arisman are two School of Visual Arts (NY) professors who have achieved much in their careers. The conversation/interview between them is the strongest, most educational and most inspiring part of the book.

Brad Holland writes a detailed (but dry) description of the history of stock houses, the direction they are moving in now and how that relates to working artists.
Educational.

A very large portion of the book is a collection of art excercises useful to teachers creating curriculum or artists without the ability to direct themselves in the production of work. I found this area to be mildly interesting, but quite useless to me as an illustrator.

Teachers often tend to create excercises they would do very well themselves, but don't necessarily draw out the uniqueness of the individuals they are teaching. Success as an artist is following your own values of what a successful peice of art or illustration is.

I would have liked to read the perspectives of a more varied cross section of artists in addition to the New York city old guard. There is so much innovation happening in this field. To bemoan the fact that things aren't what they were, shows a lack of awareness of what the younger generation of artists do. Jump fences.

"I design my students to destroy me."
John Maeda of MIT Media Lab

"You are the next Picassos."
Sheridan College Faculty addressing the class in my foundation year 5 years ago.


Essential for any illustration major   June 23, 2002
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

My first thought when I really got into this book was "finally. An outlook on the career of an illustrator neither negative nor overly optimistic, but realistic and helpful." Being an illustration major I have several misconceptions about the field of illustration that were cleared up pretty quickly. I found the interview with Thomas Woodruff particularly insightful in the case of the illustration as low art issue, and I laughed my head off at Brad Holland's satirical lesson on art terminology. My advice is to buy this book not to decide whether or not illustration is the path for you, but to make sure you have a grasp on what you're getting into.


Interesting and thought provoking   July 24, 2001
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

The entire book is made up of articles written by various established illustrators. I found the sections on art direction and education extremely interesting. Included are sample course syllabii which is helpful if you are teaching illustration courses.

The part that I had a problem (maybe that's too strong a word) with was the section on the state of the illustration market today. To me, it came off as old time illustrators whining and pining for the good old days, you know before the computer when one could make a decent living as an illustrator. It wasn't terribly encouraging to new comers which I think is too bad. I rather felt like they were telling me not to waste my time, that there was no room in the industry for me. In the end, it just made me more determined to succeed despite (or in spite) of their views. All in all, it is a thought provoking book, whether you agree with their view point or not, and it's guaranteed to start some interesting dialog with your illustrator friends.