You might not realize it, but the field of illustration shapes the world we live in. It is at once highly visible while being invisible, and it has an influence that transforms our visual culture to give people a voice and our lives more meaning. Based on that, what exactly does illustration mean? Simply put, illustration is visual imagery that is best known for interpreting, depicting, explaining, and/or decorating the words in books, newspapers, and online media. Going well beyond that, however, illustrations are the drawings you find to make websites and apps more user-friendly (think emojis), the surface pattern on your paper coffee cup, the character on a cereal box, as well as the wallpaper in your favorite old home. And those are just some of the applications that illustration has. D.B. Dowd, a designer, writer, illustrator, and visual culture theorist, likens illustration to a hammer. The tool is practical and serves a very deliberate function. But can a hammer be beautiful? Yes, it can. An illustration is similar. It is practical—it conveys information. And, of course, illustration can be beautiful and evoke emotion. Now that you have an idea of the wide-ranging world of illustration, learn how the field got its modern start and more of the ways in which we see illustration today. ; The Golden Age of Illustration: The Beginning of Modern IllustrationIllustration can be traced back as far as the Lascaux cave paintings from the prehistoric era. And with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, publications could be replicated on a massive scale that allowed ideas to be communicated and shared. Although the world was seeing unprecedented printed material being produced, it still took centuries for illustration to enter its “Golden Age.” Why was this? Well, despite the ability to produce multiple copies of a publication, doing this was still an expensive endeavor with relatively limited distribution options. This changed, however, at the end of the 19th century. The halftone printing process was developed and made image production easier. (Prior to halftone printing, all images would have to be hand-carved into woodblocks and then printed.) Paper production and distribution were also factors. The material became cheaper, and the newly established cross-continental railways allowed for the widespread circulation of printed materials. Industrialization also played a part in the ubiquity of print collateral. Its effects made people wealthier overall with a disposable income to enjoy. One of the things they spent their money on was books and magazine subscriptions. It was at this time that American illustration began to take off. Publishers realized that to sell copies of their books and subscriptions to their publications, they needed to include images. Harper’s Monthly, Collier’s, and Scribner’s were some of the most popular companies because they recognized the value of illustration in their productions and they built large circulations because of it. You might be asking yourself—what about photography? Why couldn’t magazines just include those types of images? When the Golden Age was starting, photography was still young, having been invented just a little earlier in the 1800s. Photographs in these types of publications weren’t available yet, and so there was a high demand for illustrators. The illustrators who became popular during the Golden Age were akin to movie stars. They not only made a lot of money from their commissions, but they hobnobbed with Hollywood. One of the most famous illustrators from this time was N.C. Wyeth, who spent time with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford—massive celebrities at the time. Creative trends come and go, and so did the Golden Age of illustration. By the 1930s, photographic reproduction (and color photography) began to make its way into magazines and books and pushed illustrators aside. Although the popularity of illustration waned, it has continued to remain relevant, from signage protesting wars to New Yorker covers to clothing design—this is all even as photography and video have continued to proliferate across the internet. But in our increasingly digital age, illustration shows a handcrafted touch in a world that is commonly viewed from a screen. ; Some of the Ways Illustration Is Used TodayIllustration is used in so many ways—some you might not realize. Here are just some (but certainly not all) of the forms in which illustration exists in our world. ; To illuminate stories in books and magazinesIllustration is perhaps best known as the pictures that illuminate our favorite books and articles in magazines. Publication illustration is where the field came to life and where creatives have produced some of the most enduring images. And in many cases, illustrators have helped define the things we see when they are adapted in other ways—such as the Harry Potter book covers, illustrated by Mary GrandPre, and how that influenced the film series. ; To give items a more colorful and original touch—and the world at largeA world of solid colors would be boring. Think about wallpaper, socks, enamel pins, coffee mugs—they all use illustration to add personality to the object and, more importantly, let us express ourselves. ; To adorn package designIllustration, no matter how subtle, often adorns package design to help products stand out on the shelves. ; To make digital media feel more humanThe digital world can feel so impersonal. Illustration, especially when it looks as though it is drawn by hand, adds that human touch. You’ll likely see more websites and apps utilizing illustration in their icons, error pages, and accompanying login pages to make them feel friendlier and joyful. ; To take a social stand
There are many ways that illustration has aided in people taking a social stand. One way is through protest images and signage. This use of illustration has been around since the suffragettes, but it has grown more popular in recent years with the Women’s March, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Global Climate March and many other forms of activism. ; AdvertisementsWhether it’s in print, online, or on the television, you’ll find illustration in the world of advertising. While it has serious competition with photography and film, advertising was a huge part of illustration during the Golden Age and the middle of the 20th century and it hasn’t gone away. ; In the concept art of your favorite television and filmsBefore a television or film show goes into production, concept illustrators will imagine the visual design for an item, character, or entire world that doesn’t exist yet. You’ll see this with video games and fantasy films today, but concept art was also used for some of Disney’s most beloved animated films such as Alice in Wonderland. Illustrator Mary Blair came up with the initial design of the characters we know and love. ; Related Articles:Interview: How a Job as a Letter Carrier Helped This Artist Create His Retro-Inspired Illustrations Funny Little Matchboxes Feature Illustrations of Cats in Bars Who’ve Had One Too Many Powerful Illustrations Offer a Poignant Mirror to Our Modern World The post What Is Illustration? A Look at Its Modern Beginnings to How It Is Used Today appeared first on My Modern Met. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2IqOTwI
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While many Americans were enjoying a few days off of work for the Thanksgiving holiday, Curiosity Mars Rover (previously) was busy taking more than 1,000 photographs of the Red Planet. Capturing the Glen Torridon region on the side of Mount Sharp, the rover shot enough images to create a composite that totals 1.8 billion pixels and provides its most expansive view to date of Mars’ landscape. NASA released a video that points out the various landmarks and proves just how impressive the shot is, like the incredible detail that’s visible on a three-mile wide crater at least twenty miles away. The rover shot the panorama using a camera attached to its mast that has both telephoto and medium-angle lenses. In order to ensure lighting consistency, it only took images between 12 and 2 p.m. each day. Explore the panorama for yourself on NASA’s site. (via Uncrate) ; Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2ItpB18 via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/3czAE6x Like many kids with a love for digging in sandboxes, Calvin Seibert (previously) grew up creating grand castles and towers from piles of the sediment. But for Seibert, the practice wasn’t just a childhood pastime. “In hindsight I see that much of what I made was more like sculpture. It really was all about the object and its resonant meanings rather than interiors and spatial flow,” he says. After studying at the School of Visual Arts, the Colorado-born artist began sculpting modernist buildings featuring sharp angles, clean edges, and various geometric shapes that resemble brutalist architecture rather than something from a children’s story. “While not all of my structures have quite the rugged fortress-like presence of a Kenzo Tange or a Paul Rudolph building, it is something I aim for,” he writes. “Certainly I see my sandcastles in opposition to those frivolous turreted fantasies that Cinderella would feel at home in.” To create his works, Seibert begins by mixing water and sand to create layers, before packing and smoothing the rest by hand. He cleans the edges with various trowels and knives that he’s made himself. Plus, he never works without a five-gallon pail because it’s “indispensable for digging and fetching water, as well as carrying stuff to the beach.”
Seibert tells Colossal that he’s moved to Colorado since making the works featured here, which limits his time on the beach, although he dreams of transforming a pile of sand at the Venice Biennale or as part of Casa Wabi in Mexico. Follow what he’s up to, and perhaps get a glimpse of his next visit to a sandy landscape, on Instagram. ; Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2TwAt4G Typically known for their care-free attitudes, the dogs in Elke Vogelsang’s portraits are experiencing some of their more intense moments of canine anticipation, like waiting for a taste of bacon cream or finding the right time to snatch a squeaky toy. The Hildesheim, Germany-based photographer captures the canine’s fleeting expressions, shown through tilting heads, open-mouthed smiles, and wide-eyed stares. Each piece is matched with an equally playful title, like “The Dog Side of the Force” and “Bessy Muppetational.” Vogelsang began photographing her three rescue dogs during a period of family hardship that started in 2009—she was charged with caring for her mother-in-law, who was suffering from dementia, shortly before her husband was in a coma due to a ruptured aneurysm. “I decided to start the project, despite my husband being in the hospital, or rather because of it, as I wanted to try to keep up a bit of normality and have something like a visual diary for my husband of that time,” she tells Colossal. Now, the photographer’s work has expanded beyond the absurd images of her furry family members, and she tries to “get to know as many dogs as possible. Each and every one of them will have their own personality.” She’s traveled to Morocco and Spain to capture the lives of those living in shelters and on the streets, which has posed unique challenges. She “had to document whatever I was presented with. I couldn’t throw treats or get out a squeaker. Here I have to learn to wait for the decisive moment…These dogs had lived on the streets and didn’t know any basic commands. Those can be very difficult to photograph. ” In order to get such revealing shots, Vogelsang isn’t afraid to appeal to their canine desires. “With every dog I learn a new trick. The energetic terrier might need action to really enjoy the session, while the sensitive sighthound might prefer a very calm environment and some super treats,” she writes. “The key is patience, trust, repetition and lots and lots of bribery.” To see more of Vogelsang’s posing pups, head to her Instagram. ; Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2TCdbJa via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2VRY1lY via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/3atF6BS Packed within a 6,000-square-foot space on Chicago’s south side is a fictional universe teeming with pinned up newspaper clippings, towers of retro electronics, and tons of vintage advertising from McDonald’s to Vienna Hot Dogs. It’s the world of Hebru Brantley’s iconic characters, Lil Mama and Flyboy, whose enlarged head rests on the floor in one room of the immersive installation, titled Nevermore Park. Moving through the pathways lined with plastic toys and paint-spattered pallets, visitors pass a downed spaceship and a brick wall of street art, elements that structure Brantley’s narrative for the surreal environment. The Los Angeles-based artist cites the tales of the superheroes and comic books he engaged with during his childhood living in Chicago as directly impacting his current projects. “I’m in love with creating and I have so many stories I want to tell,” he tells Colossal. “I want my work to create a narrative that hasn’t been told before, in ways others haven’t seen expressed. I’m working to create the things I wished existed.” Although Brantley created many of the objects specifically for Nevermore Park, he also amassed thousands of pieces of real ephemera that create a strong undercurrent of Chicago’s history as expressed through pop culture, toys, magazines, and found objects. The periodicals lining the newsstand, for example, belonged to his grandmother. “She had saved a number of them and it created a unique opportunity for me to incorporate these real historical artifacts into my body of work for visitors to experience. Everything weaves together with the goal of staying authentic to the stories I wanted to tell,” he says. Nevermore Park, though, is intended “to be a total sensory experience,” inspiring Brantley to collaborate with WILLS on the audio component, offering a soundtrack that he says visitors always ask about. “Bringing people into a space they wouldn’t normally occupy with sounds that are familiar, amplify the story and culture even more,” he writes. “Sight is an important aspect of the experience but so is the sound piped into each section.” If you’re in Chicago, there are tickets available to visit Nevermore Park through May 3. Otherwise, head to Instagram to keep up with Brantley and see what’s next for Flyboy, Lil Mama, and Nevermore Park. ; Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2Toimxw John Collins, aka The Paper Airplane Guy, is a master at shattering world records with a single sheet of paper. The aircraft designer now has collaborated with Great Big Story on a new video that not only teaches the Susanne, the model that secured his spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012, but also two others that swoop through the air. As its name suggests, the Tube resembles a hollow cylinder designed to be tossed like a football, while the Boomerang is the most complex of the trio, requiring more complicated folds and angles in order to craft a model that returns to whoever throws it. You can find more instructional videos on Collins’s YouTube channel or in his book that comes with 16 tear-out model planes. ; Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, apply for our annual grant, and get exclusive access to interviews, partner discounts, and event tickets. via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/2VM5xic Lola Gil (previously featured here). ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; via Art with Shop https://ift.tt/32S5piE |
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