ITAP Lecture 2: Research and Development; Through the ‘visual practice’ of observation, collecting, studying and exploring, illustration can contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject. AND An understanding and knowledge of ‘an audience’ can enhance and focus the communication.

When producing work as an artist the practice of observation, collecting, studying and exploring, illustration is vital to the progression and furthering a deeper understanding of the particular subject; in this case illustration. To have a basic understanding of a subject such as illustration you have to have looked at and studied the subject as to what it means and is, by researching the history of it and those who practice in this field as well as its contemparay use. When doing this it is good to use as much and varied information as is available. This then needs to be an on going process to further develop skills and understanding. To begin to develop an understanding of this field a number of different methods can be used such as researching artists, looking at examples of their work and analysing them as well as finding examples of sketchbook work and interviews or commentaries’ by the artist. Keeping a visual diary or sketchbook of your own is important, to record this research as well as observations, notes, interviews (by other people or your own), critiques, reviews and collecting things that inspire you as an artist and that impact your work. By doing this you can gain a true understanding of your starting point and you can develop your ideas more thoroughly.
The artist BLU has a great website and blog. Bellow are some pages from his sketchbook which he posts online, and also a link to his blog.

http://blublu.org/sito/blog/




When looking to produce a piece of work another vital element in the initial work when generating ideas is to have a substantial knowledge and understanding of the ‘audience’, and this should dramatically enhance the focus and communication of the piece. The subjected audience of a piece of art can vary widely depending on a number of things, if the work is commissioned by an independent or a company for example a newspaper, the selected audience are the sorts of people that buy that particular newspaper. In this case the artist should be researching into these people to create a clear idea of what is expected of the final outcome. An illustration going alongside a piece of political journalism would be very different from an illustration from a children’s book, as the audience’s have different levels of sophistication and intelligence, as well as interests, and it is only by looking at the target audience the artist can make a clear understanding of the different expectations of the work. It will thus make the work more successful in communicating the piece of works message to the audience which is the artists initial aim.