Paul Roberts

Arts University Bournemouth

Paul Roberts is a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at the Arts University Bournemouth In the UK. His current research explores illustration contexts and the impact of digital technologies on the development of illustration practices and their reception. In 2012 He co-wrote the Digital Art Techniques for Digital Artists with Joel Lardner.

Abstract:
Defining the itinerant illustrator in the 21st Century

Contemporary illustration within the UK context has realised a broad expansion into areas previously held as the domains of other subjects and has evolved, adapted, and changed to meet the demands of the industries and the broader culture that it serves. It is not unusual to find illustrators working as animators, film makers, scenographers, fashion designers, graphic
designers, 3D artists, and more. Furthermore, the move towards digital publishing has begun to further push the applications of illustration, and whilst there is still a noted divide between the image-maker and programmer within ebooks and apps, this is likely to become less distinct in the coming years.

However, there is a potential crisis facing the definition of illustration. Whilst the contemporary illustrator seems to move comfortably between mediums, the use of the term ‘illustrator’ becomes increasingly problematic in terms of defining a set of practices or attitudes that are easily encompassed by the word. This is further compounded by a seemingly increasing
concern amongst practitioners with style over substance, with ‘illustration’ work primarily disseminated through aesthetically focussed blogs – forums in which context and meaning becomes a secondary concern at best. Within the academic context, getting a handle upon what is essential to illustration, it’s core values, practices, or approaches may be of increasing importance in ensuring that the subject does not become so fractured that it becomes meaningless to talk of it distinct from other fields. Indeed, the danger may be that illustration reverts to shorthand for quirky or stylistically led contemporary aesthetics over other concerns or critical purposes.

Whilst we may rightly celebrate the itinerant illustrator as a constant traveller who moves freely between subjects, media, and spaces, there is also a more negative connotation to the word itinerant of homelessness or aimless wandering. This paper sets out to broadly map the contemporary field of illustration, and question whether there is a need to take a moment to assess or reaffirm what the term illustration means, or could mean, in the 21st century, with a critical view towards whether, at its core and within the fields it is beginning to occupy, illustration is a vital and sustainable concept and practice for the coming century.