Key Principles:
• The notion of 'inspiration' derives from constant inquiry, based on research, observation, recording and experimentation.
• An understanding and knowledge of 'an audience' can enhance and focus the communication.
For a commercial illustrator, "artist's block" is simply not an option. That is why recurring and constant influence from anywhere and everywhere should be absorbed, recorded and responded to. It is this process that creates the most interesting images, both when considering aesthetics, meaning and intent. This way, the creative mind is always at work and from intentional subject research and chance inspiration, a confusion of thought processes can be filtered to create exceptional ideas that can be applied in exciting illustrative ways.
An example of a practicing artist utilizing this method is Paul Davis, whose notebooks are always in use as a creative personal record; stemming from the sights, sounds and events of everyday life. His works culminate in a book entitled "Us and Them"- a brilliant example of a body of work that portrays our two key principles.
The book is inclusive of many observational drawings collected whilst travelling America and England, which have been merged with hand-written text to form a social commentary on the way in which the two countries percieve one another. Davis demonstrated an ability to conduct primary research through his direct conversations, inclusive of inquiries and answers from residents of both countries and subsequent recordings. In addition he collected original photographs for this research; only adding to a diverse original bank of self-collected inspiration for the project. The quick sketches from his notebooks are then constantly added to, with ideas and quotes switching places and mediums, growing larger, smaller or being discarded completely. The artist himself comments on this process with "Notebook after notebook after notebook, because I feel sick when I forget potentially good ideas. I don't slack. I take photographs. I scan. I photoshop."
Through observation and inquiry we see how other's have created and expressed ideas. We see colour, light, dark, opinion, culture, life, composition, emotion, intent; be this in existing art, conversations, nature, lifestyles. We can use this observation and it's subsequent record to create something of our own form of self-expression.
This is what Paul Davis has managed whilst retaining, however, a sense of his audience. His work is not only a social commentary designed to appeal to an intelligent audience with an interest in modern social and geographical relationships but are tinged with an ironic sort of humour. The artist knows that his images are somewhat crude and so fuses this with similar typography and correlating quotes of a naive nature to form a neat visual package with clear communicative intent.
Knowing that his audience will mostly consist of the English, his take on Americanism learns towards stereotype, although is valid as he has conducted primary research and collected additional quotes himself. His books are provided as an unusual form of visual entertainment for the audience, many of whom we can presume are broadsheet readers who have viewed his illustrations accompanying articles. This audiences' opinions are similar to his; they understand his social commetary through simple visual message encoding; the creation of a 'smile in the mind', a feel of belonging to a group whose voice is correlating, of intelligence regarding social geographical issues. We can tell this as in his other book "God Knows" the artist reveals his belief that “Corporate American hell is winning”. This would be an unusual statement for an artist with no intent to portray a social commentary, thus he is demonstrating a faith in his audience to agree and presume that one reason they view his work is on common political grounds. Therefore, it is continually published in the same manner.
For a commercial illustrator, "artist's block" is simply not an option. That is why recurring and constant influence from anywhere and everywhere should be absorbed, recorded and responded to. It is this process that creates the most interesting images, both when considering aesthetics, meaning and intent. This way, the creative mind is always at work and from intentional subject research and chance inspiration, a confusion of thought processes can be filtered to create exceptional ideas that can be applied in exciting illustrative ways.
The book is inclusive of many observational drawings collected whilst travelling America and England, which have been merged with hand-written text to form a social commentary on the way in which the two countries percieve one another. Davis demonstrated an ability to conduct primary research through his direct conversations, inclusive of inquiries and answers from residents of both countries and subsequent recordings. In addition he collected original photographs for this research; only adding to a diverse original bank of self-collected inspiration for the project. The quick sketches from his notebooks are then constantly added to, with ideas and quotes switching places and mediums, growing larger, smaller or being discarded completely. The artist himself comments on this process with "Notebook after notebook after notebook, because I feel sick when I forget potentially good ideas. I don't slack. I take photographs. I scan. I photoshop."
Through observation and inquiry we see how other's have created and expressed ideas. We see colour, light, dark, opinion, culture, life, composition, emotion, intent; be this in existing art, conversations, nature, lifestyles. We can use this observation and it's subsequent record to create something of our own form of self-expression.
This is what Paul Davis has managed whilst retaining, however, a sense of his audience. His work is not only a social commentary designed to appeal to an intelligent audience with an interest in modern social and geographical relationships but are tinged with an ironic sort of humour. The artist knows that his images are somewhat crude and so fuses this with similar typography and correlating quotes of a naive nature to form a neat visual package with clear communicative intent.
Knowing that his audience will mostly consist of the English, his take on Americanism learns towards stereotype, although is valid as he has conducted primary research and collected additional quotes himself. His books are provided as an unusual form of visual entertainment for the audience, many of whom we can presume are broadsheet readers who have viewed his illustrations accompanying articles. This audiences' opinions are similar to his; they understand his social commetary through simple visual message encoding; the creation of a 'smile in the mind', a feel of belonging to a group whose voice is correlating, of intelligence regarding social geographical issues. We can tell this as in his other book "God Knows" the artist reveals his belief that “Corporate American hell is winning”. This would be an unusual statement for an artist with no intent to portray a social commentary, thus he is demonstrating a faith in his audience to agree and presume that one reason they view his work is on common political grounds. Therefore, it is continually published in the same manner.
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