Who is a commercial illustrator and what do they do?

Contents:

• Illustrations as an effective way to convey ideas and meanings to the audience
• Who is a commercial illustrator?
• What does he do?
• What skills and tools are needed for work?
• How to become a commercial illustrator. Growth prospects
• The future of the profession. Useful resources from the editors of Skillbox.by

Illustrations as an effective way to convey ideas and meanings to the audience

Illustrations in the form of cave paintings were the first way to convey information. And although today the main tool for exchanging information has become text, we still use visuals.

We think in pictures and remember images better, we even read words not letter by letter, but as a whole. We love art and we are literally drawn to beautiful images. Therefore, illustrations are an effective way to communicate with the audience.

Sometimes a simple image can convey the essence of an entire article and complement its meaning. One striking image can be forever imprinted in memory and create a strong association with a brand. Marketers, publishers, and brand managers understand the importance of illustrations. That's why they use them literally everywhere, and often we don't even realize that we have already fallen under the influence of a brand.

Illustrations have been used to convey ideas for centuries. This tool has been especially well used for over a century by publications such as the New Yorker, New York Times, and Life. But with the development of the internet, the influence of visual images has increased exponentially. Advertising, social media posts, blog design—illustrations are needed everywhere. That's why the demand for illustrators is higher than ever.

Who is a commercial illustrator?

A commercial illustrator is a specialist who creates illustrations for commercial projects and brands. They create graphics for the interface of applications and websites, covers for music albums and video blogs, illustrate magazines, books, newspapers, and create characters for brands and events.

An illustration is a picture that carries a specific meaning and is tied to a context, location, and brand. It:

• can complement the text in a book or expand on the content of a chapter;
• visualize context in an advertising post, a message on social networks, or in an article;
• can give the user a hint about the purpose of the button;
• can convey the philosophy of the brand, the essence of the business.

In commercial illustration, aesthetics are not so important, the content comes first. Therefore, for a commercial illustrator, it is not enough to learn how to draw and work with graphic editors. It is important to familiarize yourself with advertising techniques, be able to analyze, concisely convey the essence, show familiar things in an unconventional way and understand how the audience perceives different images.

Is a commercial illustrator an artist?

Yes and no. Every commercial illustrator is an artist, but not every artist is an illustrator.

When we talk about artists and art in general, we mean creative freedom. Creation comes from the heart, a way to share your thoughts and perspective on what's happening around you and life in general. An illustrator, on the other hand, creates commissioned illustrations based on a technical brief. They translate other people's ideas and meanings into images. On the one hand, this requires sacrificing creative freedom. On the other, being creative and able to draw isn't enough.

Empathy, the ability to understand people, and business analysis are essential. To create an image that hits the mark and conveys an idea, you need to understand how the industry works—and that requires marketing knowledge. And you can't work only when you're inspired. After all, deadlines are always a thing, even if the client is willing to wait.

Commercial Illustrator vs. Graphic Designer

Outsiders sometimes don't see the difference between an illustrator and a graphic designer. In fact, these are different professions. But some of the tasks of these specialists overlap.

A graphic designer is a person who creates a holistic image. They create templates, page layouts for magazines, and create a visual concept for a brand. From a set of content, text, pictures, and photographs, they create a finished layout and apply effects to it.

A graphic designer does not necessarily need to be able to draw by hand. They can commission illustrations from an illustrator, and buy photographs from photo stocks or acquire them from a photographer. But some professionals create vector graphics or raster images themselves.

An illustrator tells a story, conveys emotions, not with words, but with graphics. Their main job is to create illustrations. These can be pictures for a book that help visualize part of the narrative, illustrations for blogs and magazines, stickers. Cats, people, or characters that reflect the essence of the brand. For example, the humanoid M&M's candies are the work of illustrators.

Illustrators usually do not define the concept, but work on assignment, bringing to life the ideas of a graphic designer, brand manager, marketer, or blog editor-in-chief.

What does a commercial illustrator do?

An illustrator can work in a creative, art, marketing department, graphic or web design division. At the same time, in some teams and on a freelance basis, a specialist can perform some of the duties of an analyst and marketer. In general, his duties depend on the company, area of ​​work and size of the team.

Here are the main ones:

• Studying the brief.This also includes communication with the client or the teams of the art and creative departments.
• Analysis of tasks, choosing a style for illustrations, creating a concept. At this stage, the illustrator can collaborate with creatives, marketers, and graphic designers. For example, working on a character concept for a brand can take weeks or even months.
• Creating a sketch - a rough version.The sketch is discussed with the client, and additions or adjustments are made if necessary.
• Choosing techniques and tools.At this stage, the artist finally chooses the type of drawing and drawing applications.
• Creating an illustration.Based on a rough sketch, the final version is created. Depth, detail, texture, and color are added.
• Exporting an image.The image can be created in a vector or raster graphics editor, or drawn by hand. The client needs to provide a graphic file in a format that can be used for print or online publication.

Types of projects and areas

It is important to mention that commercial illustration covers several areas at once:

• Artistic illustration.This area offers the most creative freedom. This includes illustrations of books, magazine covers, fiction stories, and newspaper and online publications. You can also design covers for music albums.
• Comic book illustration. One of the areas of artistic illustration. But here you need to be not only an artist, but also a writer to come up with complex plots. A related area is storyboarding. Before filming begins, rough sketches of shots are created based on the script. These help the director see the scene and immediately make the necessary changes.
• Technical illustration and infographics. Creation of images that visualize various processes and tasks. For example, a schematic representation of the activities of a logistics center, the operation of a mechanism, or the website development process.
• Medical illustration.These are illustrations for medical journals, books, and presentations. Here you need a good knowledge of anatomy and biology and the ability to reproduce the structure of organs or biological processes with high accuracy.
• Fashion illustration.This includes images for fashion magazines and fashion blogs. In this industry, it is important to find a balance between accuracy of rendering and creativity.
• Advertising illustration.This could involve drawing banners, booklets, illustrations for POS materials, working on product packaging, corporate identity, or creating characters that personify a brand or a specific event. For example, the Duolingo owl or the World Cup characters.
• Concept art.An illustrator in this field creates character concepts for films, cartoons, games, and brands.
• Interfaces. These include buttons for a website or application, navigation signs, and illustrations that help quickly understand the essence of a page or service.
• Printed products. These can be postcards, booklets, or photo album covers.
• Merch. This includes prints for clothing, tableware, sticker packs, badges, or decals.

What skills and tools are needed for the job?

To succeed, a commercial illustrator needs to develop certain soft (personal qualities) and hard (professional skills) skills. We'll list the main ones, including popular tools that are suitable for all areas of work.

Soft skills:

• Time management. Will help you meet deadlines.
• Ability to ask the right questions. At the briefing stage, will help you understand what exactly the client needs.
• Empathy. Allows you to create illustrations that evoke the right response from your audience or customer.
• Proactivity. It will help you stay on trend and create high-quality illustrations in various areas - artistic, technical, medical, advertising.

Hard skills:

• Basics of painting, composition, coloristics. It is also necessary to know common styles of fine art.
• Fundamentals of marketing and psychology. You need to understand how the audience reacts to different images and metaphors, as well as how to evoke the necessary emotions, encourage action.
• Understanding of printing and prepress processes, layout principles.
• Fundamentals of graphic design. You need to know the principles of creating packaging, various advertising materials, booklets, electronic banners.
• The basis of production. Will help to put a complete message or idea into one illustration.
• Knowledge of the main graphic editors. In raster graphics - Photoshop, For working with vector illustrations - Illustrator or CorelDraw.
• Knowledge of additional graphic illustrators for artists. For example, Gimp, Sumo Paint, Krita, Gravity Designer, Affinity Designer.
• General understanding of working with animation software and publishing systems.For working with animation, you can note After Effect, among publishing systems - InDesign, Quarkxpress.
• Lettering. Ability to work with fonts - edit existing ones and create new ones.
• Skills in using a graphics tablet. For some illustrators, this is their primary tool for the job.
• Hand drawing. You can work in some areas without this skill, but it will be more difficult to advance in the profession without it.

How to become a commercial illustrator. Growth prospects

As commercial illustrator and comic book artist Jen Bartel noted: "Many illustrators are not very technically savvy, but they have a recognizable style. If you want to make illustration your career, the first thing you need is consistency."

Modern employers rarely require a college degree from illustrators. In the creative field, a portfolio and self-presentation are paramount. While an academic education can provide a good start, online courses can be a good alternative. When choosing them, we recommend paying attention first and foremost to the relevance of the curricula and the opportunity to work on real-world cases. To gain experience, you can start building an academic portfolio while still studying and complete internships.

After this, the commercial illustrator can:

• Get a job as an artist in a creative or advertising agency;
• Work in a publishing house and exclusively create illustrations for magazines, newspapers, or books;
• Work for a video blogger and create video covers, illustrations for transitions between frames, and infographics;
• Get a job at a large company with its own creative department - these could be telecom operators, supermarket chains, or clothing brands.
• Work in a film studio - create animations, make storyboards.

In the future, an illustrator can develop in the profession and become a top-class artist who receives several thousand dollars for one illustration. Vertical development is also possible - over time, you can reach the position of creative director.

Many illustrators work as independent artists. Reputable and established professionals can earn significantly more than hired workers. You can find clients through freelance exchanges, agencies, or professional communities. Developing a personal brand and networking will help you find more interesting and profitable projects.

The Future of the Profession. Useful Resources from the Editorial Board of Skillbox.by

With the development of artificial intelligence, many representatives of creative professions began to worry that they could be replaced by robots. Yes, there are risks. At the current level of development, neural networks can cope well with illustrations and prepare beautiful images. But they can only replace low-skilled specialists.

Image generators take everything literally. They don't understand metaphors; they're difficult to use to convey a subtle idea or encode hidden meaning. Even for a regular blog or social media, it can sometimes take dozens or even hundreds of attempts to get exactly what you want.

When you need to create a turnkey project, for example, to design a book, blog, or magazine, you can't do without human help. And the value of professional illustrators in the world of AI will only grow.

A commercial illustrator can use neural networks in their work, because this tool generates ideas, solves routine tasks, and helps people do their work more efficiently and quickly. And many illustrators have already begun using AI. Therefore, we recommend not being afraid of neural networks, but studying them to become a more sought-after specialist in the market.

To help you get to know the profession better, the Skillbox.by editorial team has collected useful resources for you to study.

Internet resources:

• www.behance.net — a community of creatives. Here you can post a portfolio, find projects, and get inspired by the work of other authors.
• artbusinessnews.com — Here you will find news about the art business and creative industry.
• creativebloq.com — A blog about design and graphics.
• creativeboom.com — an online magazine about art and design.