Next came the subject of portfolios, of
course in this day and age a portfolio is contained within an illustrators
website and allows people from all over the world to view their work. Jill
began her career at a time when portfolio visits (much like the viewings I’ve
recently had) were the norm, and the best way to get your work out there.
Although times have changed, Jill still puts a lot of thought and attention
into her physical portfolio.
Jill’s advice is to create a physical
portfolio that will stand out from the crowd and will inspire people. She has
her portfolios custom made by a professional bookbinder based in Fife, who she
went to meet in person and together they collaborated on creating a series of
unique portfolios that are works of art in their own right.
However, alongside these handcrafted
pieces Jill also uses an iPad as a portfolio. One of the benefits to this is
the zoom feature, meaning that those viewing the portfolio can look closely to
admire the intricacies of each design.
The second big lesson was: Draw. Jill
made it clear that although she, like many other contemporary illustrators,
uses Photoshop to compose illustrations; the elements used are all drawn by
hand. Drawing is still very important to Jill, as are the materials she draws
with. She made a point of saying how she draws with anything and everything.
From the small pencils that are given out free in IKEA, to crayons that she
bought years ago at a market in Mexico. And then of course there is ink, which
can transform any household object into a drawing implement and produce a
unique and distinct quality of line.
Then there is the question of what to draw;
Jill talked of the time she likes to spend exploring the world with a sketchbook
at hand to document her discoveries. She now has a large collection of
sketchbooks documenting various people and places that she has encountered over
the years, and all of which are now unique reference points that can be used in
commissions.
She also mentioned what she referred to
as ‘Google Drawing’; this is where you draw with reference to Google Images. To
be honest I’ve been overly reliant on this process for a while now and could do
with collecting more first hand sketchbook references like the kind mentioned
previously.
Jill’s final lesson was to “Make
mistakes and be silly”. She explained how illustration student are often guilty
of taking themselves and their work too seriously, and that often when they
start to get paid to illustrate they take their work even more seriously and
forget to have fun. This means remembering to be playful in your work, to have
a sense of humor about it and to have no fear about making mistakes. It is
often when we are at our most playful that we are at our most creative and
create our best work. If you have fun in creating a piece this will show in the
piece itself.
I myself, now that I am faced with
looming deadlines and responsibilities have been guilty of taking my work too
seriously when I should always be remembering to be playful and enjoy the
process. This important piece of advice came just at the right time for me, and
I’m grateful that it did.
This was a
fantastic talk, given by a passionate and confident speaker. Jill was as
humorous and entertaining as she was informative and helpful. Thanks Jill!
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