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‘Illustrator’ is much more than just a program – it’s a professional.

Here’s a classic example of why ‘pulp art’ is so powerful to me and brings up some points on what a professional illustrator today has to offer.  Hugh Joseph Ward created this illustration in 1942.

Look at some elements going on in this image: 

• The woman has climbed to the top of an electrical pole trying to escape the nut with a knife; she’s dangerously close to touching the wires in her panic.
•  She’s about to stamp her shoe maker’s name into the guy’s face.
• There is the contrast of opposites – sign says “Cozy Cabins”, and there’s definitely nothing cozy in this scene. 
• Even though she’s dressed revealing, she’s probably showing less than most female character’s in today’s graphic novels.  Sex has always sold, but as in design – less is more and imagination is powerful stuff.

Hugh Ward painted this illustration (oil on canvas).  Even with the current use of digital tablets and design software, illustration should be handled as an art and not eye intermission.  Whatever the intended end result for the illustration art, there should be thought and planning put into it.

I have seen and read where too many illustrators are focused on ‘copying’ a style (“I want to be able to duplicate that look”).  Trying to figure out what filter or brush to use in order to achieve a similar effect –their goal for a successful illustration is more on the mimicking than planning the image.  Illustration is a complex package, and it’s much more than a downloaded program zip file.

If you type ‘illustrator’ into Google, you get results for software instead of an artist.  I am an illustrator, I am a professional.