Illustration: Two Things

I love illustration. I love looking at it and sometimes I enjoy attempting it. Even though I do an illustration here and there, I don't think of myself as an illustrator, but I somewhat secretly aspire to be one.

This morning I stumbled across two things. The first is an article from waaay back in 2002, by Laurie Rosenwald. It starts out:

Admit it. Oh, come on. Everybody knows that illustration is nothing. Nothing compared to graphic design. Nothing compared to photography.

She had me at hello. Here was a perspective I had not explored. But I got what she was talking about. Why draw a line between different areas of creativity? Fortunately for me, my college had encouraged mixing illustration with design and design with illustration. But even outside of scholastic programs, there is a prejudice about illustration.

Somehow I've become the illustration ambassador at my job, constantly defending its merits in whatever shape it takes. No, illustration does not have to mean watercolor or color pencil. Yes, vector art is illustration. And no, computer illustrations do not always look flat and basic.

The second thing I found today is an amazing blog that combines two interests of mine: illustration and missed connections from Craigslist. Sophie Blackall takes those lonely shouts into the wilderness and translates them into whimsical images that take on poetic tones with her blog Missed Connections. Really beautiful. It adds visuals to those vulnerable human moments of magic that we all hope are an opening chapter to something else.