Inside the Business of Illustration by Steven Heller

Author:Steven Heller [Heller, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1581153864
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Talking about Authorship

HELLER: The MFA design program that I co-chair at the School of Visual Arts is called “The Designer as Author” and the MFA program that you chair is called “Illustration as Visual Essay.” Although the words in the titles may be different, the meaning is the same. Both of us believe that designers and illustrators should tell stories, create narratives, and otherwise become creators of their own fundamental content. In other words, they should be authors in the broadest and narrowest senses. Of course, “should” is a loaded word, and not everyone should or can be what we tell them to be. But we are proposing alternatives to conventional practice. In graphic design, authorship does not have the same history as illustration, and even our definition is somewhat different, so for the sake of clarity, what do you mean by the term “author”?

ARISMAN: The illustrator as author is a self-appointed state of mind. Aside from using your talents to visualize someone else’s thoughts and beliefs (the author of the piece you are illustrating), you become the author of your own stories and beliefs. This is self-improvement. You assign yourself an issue that you are deeply involved in. You give yourself permission to illustrate it. You use your illustrative abilities to help clarify your own life experience. You find a way to pay for it. This is not in opposition to continuing to accept commissions in a more traditional way. It isn’t either/or—it is both.

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