Design and Business Strategy

Creative Industry Report

1.0 Introduction

            All around the world, the creative economy is categorised as an important and growing part of the global economy. It reflects from socio-economic potential of activities that trade with creativity, knowledge and information. Governments and creative sectors across the world are increasingly recognizing its importance as a generator of jobs, wealth and cultural engagement. The creative industry that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent with the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property which includes sectors such as advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, fashion designer, film making, interactive leisure software (i.e. video games), music, the performing arts, publishing, software, and television and radio. The first definition offered by a government, with the potential to generate income, jobs and export earnings while at the same time promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development. This is what the emerging creative economy has already begun to do. This is an economic agenda but it also has a deep social and cultural relations purpose.

            There is no denying that the creative industries are evolving as a force in our global economy. The world is rapidly changing and creativity is at the forefront. Technology provides new possibilities for artists especially in the creation of their works, as new outlets for their creativity, and as a means of promoting and distributing their work. Cutting-edge use of digital technologies produces networked performances and cultural experiences. The lines between creative fields are increasingly blurred. Visual artists use interactive and moving images, performers use digital media in site-specific works, and collaborative teams create sophisticated productions that captivate our senses. The creative industries are a priority because they are innovation led, knowledge intensive and highly exportable.

In short, the creative industry is industrial creativity, skill and talent and offer diverse and rewarding career opportunities as well as a contribution on the growth of the economy.

2.0 Defining Creative industry

Creative industry stands of by sectors such as advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, fashion design, filming, interactive leisure software (i.e. video games), music, the performing arts, publishing, software, and television and radio. Defining the appropriate creative industry for an individual is a result of self-analysing through knowing the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT). It is an application of psychoanalytic techniques and theories to an analysis of one’s own personality and behaviour, especially without the help of a trained person or a psychiatrist. This will make a person to understand places and points to be improved, and to penetrate a specific sector in the creative industry.

            Applying into a sector in creative industry are not as choosing job as wished and fitting in such an industry just to be rich and hold commitment. Thus, it should be applied by knowing self-ability and disability and holding up the best opportunities to stand in the industry for a long period of time. So, to overcome the difficulties in selecting courier for myself, the SWOT analysis is done, specifically in highlighting the path leading to the suitable creative industry (refer table 2.1a and 2.1b).

Strength	Weakness
Playing games	Font
Data collecting	Game Analysing
Collage	Painting
Illustrating 2D	3D Modelling
Photography	Web
	Writing

                        Table 2.1a

Opportunities	Threats
Photography collage	Competitive in technical skills
Photography manipulation	More demand in 3D industry

                        Table 2.1b

3.0 Job Opportunity

3.1 Illustration

There are many opportunities for jobs in illustration. As an illustrator, we might find employment with magazines, periodicals, book and software publishers, manufacturers, or working with various types of electronic media. There are also opportunities in the motion picture and video industries, and computer game design industry as well. Or we would decide to be a self-employed, freelance illustrator, and do work in several of these industries on a contract basis.

Illustrators’ work appears in books, magazines, papers and television ads. They illustrate posters, calendars, greeting cards, and comic books. It is drawing pictures for soup cans labels and cereal boxes. Illustrators design catalogues, technical manuals, and medical texts and for children’s storybooks and school history books. Our style, interests, and “the breaks” will determine what field of illustration we choose.

Certainly, illustrators make a living from illustration but it will take passion, hard work, perseverance and sometimes plain luck. Some illustrator can hit their stride right away, while others may struggle for several years. Because almost 85% of illustrators work freelance it is in the best interest of the illustrator to know their market, how to market and have a good sense of business, contracts, pricing and intellectual law.

3.2 Illustration in Creative Industry

3.2.1 Editorial Illustrators

Generally, this is free-lance work. The artist illustrates magazine-and newspaper articles as well as advertisements. The art director and the illustrator decide which important point in the copy should be illustrated. The illustrator then executes a drawing, painting, or collage in a unique personal style to illustrate the focal point of the copy.

3.2.2 Product Illustrator

Most often this is free-lance work. The artist usually is working with advertising agencies. In order to create a finished drawing or painting of a product, precision, drafting ability, and the capacity to render varied materials realistically are required.

3.2.3 Storyboard Illustrator

This illustrator may be employed in large ad agencies or may work free-lance. Taking the agency art director’s roughs, they develops finished drawings for presentation of a potential TV commercial or industrial film to a client. This series of drawings, which illustrates the progress of the action, is called a storyboard. The appropriate dialogue is typed underneath each drawing. This gives the client an idea of how a film might look before the client undertakes the expense of production. This technique can also be used to illustrate a potential TV pilot. Since multiple drawings must be produced within a short period of time, the artist must work rapidly and carefully, using economy of means to suggest detail.

3.2.4 Cartooning

This field of illustration is familiar to everyone. There are as many variations in style as there are cartoonists. Each has a unique humorous or dramatic point of view and the ability to illustrate it in a direct and economical pen and ink technique. In most cases, the ability to write is essential. The cartoonist may do spot drawings or gag or satirical cartoons on a free-lance basis. He may have a staff job for a publication, or he may be syndicated as a comic strip artist or political cartoonist. In any case, the ability to sustain a high level of humour or drama over a long period of time is vital.

3.2.5 Caricature

The Caricaturist is primarily a free-lance artist who works for newspapers and magazines, but they may also be called upon to illustrate advertising. While similar to the cartoonist in skill, the caricaturist also has a special ability to emphasize facial and body features in a drawing in order to create a comic but completely recognizable drawing of a particular individual.

3.2.6 Animation

The animator has grown in popularity with the tremendous burgeoning of the television medium, and there are many companies who produce for advertising agencies. Another area, which we know well, is in movies dealing, specifically with cartoon. There has been a new growth in the use of animation in full-length features, as well as the continuing use of the cartoon material.

3.2.7 Fashion Illustrators

Fashion Illustrators are among others who work only in one subject. They draw models wearing the latest fashions. They also do accessories such as gloves, handbags, and hats. Their artwork appears in catalogues, newspapers, magazines, and television commercials. Most are free-lancers. Others are staff members of clothing manufacturers, fashion designers, mail-order firms, or department stores.

3.2.8 Free-Lance Illustrators

Free-lance illustrators may do many kinds of artwork or they may produce only one kind. Most illustrators do not start in staff positions doing illustrations. Many begin free-lance work right after graduation. Some may get staff jobs in related fields as they build up their portfolios. As a rule, illustrators work for many clients, instead of one company. They line up jobs and plan their work so that they will be busy but not rushed. Some artists call on art directors, show samples of their work, and get assignments. Other artists hire agents (called reps) to get work for them. Well-known free-lance illustrators have clients who come to them. Free-lancing is the aim of many illustrators. This work lets them do the kind of illustrations they like best and allows them to schedule their own workload. Many of them travel or do assignments by mail. They may develop a unique style and do only one kind of illustration such as animals, children, home furnishings, or fashions. Free-lancers do all the tasks of an assignment. They get the job, buy supplies, hire models, do the project (from rough sketch to finished illustration), and deliver it. Some have aides who fill in colour or background, add lettering, or do other tasks. Some free-lancers have agents who acquire jobs for them to do.

3.2.9 Technical Illustrators

Technical illustrators, who do most of their work in black and white, also use drafting tools and machines. Their work may consist of layouts showing how to install equipment, diagrams for wiring, or perspective and cutaway views of machines. They study blueprints, models, engineers’ drawings, and equipment to make sketches. They often use computer-aided design techniques.

3.2.10 Medical Illustrators

Medical illustration is used in textbooks, magazines, charts, and advertising directed to the medical profession. This work demands both a scientific and an artistic knowledge of anatomy. Precise and accurate draftmenship combined with a realistic style is necessary.

3.2.11 Mural Designers

The primary application for the mural is in hotels, restaurants, and residences. One must have the ability to emulate various artistic styles. Excellent painting technique is required. One should approach this field with an education in fine art and art history. Muralist can works for an interior designer.

3.2.12 Pricing and Wages

The average earnings for salaried illustrators are around RM 30,000 to RM 40,000 annually. Earnings for self-employed illustrators vary. The best source for salary statistics for staff illustrators and pricing for freelance illustrators is located in the Graphics Artists Guild Publication the Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. There are also some great places for freelance illustrators that cover pricing, contracts, legal issues etc.

4.0 Current Illustration

Illustration has always had a profound impact on the design community, whether it is children’s books, editorial, apparel or television, it adds emotion and soul to an otherwise flavourless landscape. In the forever changing industry of art and design illustration has been a consistent way of telling a story through visual interaction with the viewer. With that in mind what can we expect to see from the dynamic field of illustration?

            The real question is will illustration continue to expand and develop with the technological takeover of the creative industries? The answer of this question is to look at just how malleable Illustrators are. The forerunners of the illustration community will inevitably adapt to trends in style and technology and will use these to their advantage; staying current and remaining a desirable asset to the rest of the creative culture. 

            Illustrators following trends is not new, in-fact, this is how a lot of new styles are born. Trends are a safe road for Illustrators to travel on until they can create their own style that is unique to them. One such trend that is perhaps the most obvious is the digital art movement that has gained momentum extremely quickly. A vast number of Illustrators work primarily on digital platforms; it can be said that this may eventually exceed traditional illustration mediums depending on what type of Illustrators we are talking about. An illustrator based in Pretoria, South Africa who works solely with digital mediums to create bright, crisp, and clean artworks for anything from editorial works to nightclub wall prints. There are quite a few advantages this trend carries for illustrators, predominantly speed; work can be produced at a fraction of the time and cost. Another feature that digital illustration offers is an easy way to achieve a clean, crisp, and fresh look. The introduction of vector programs has opened the door on countless opportunities for illustrators to achieve things that would have been previously thought of as unattainable, such as large-scale artworks and super crisp, perfect lines.

            In today’s world it is almost impossible to get through an entire day without referring to one of the numerous social media sites that govern modern life. This may be a future trend or it is possibly already a global necessity. Social media is an Illustrator’s best friend and their best chance of getting work. To predict that social media will take off even further than it already has seems like a lazy prediction because it has already proven that it will. However, there is still room for this to develop even further, almost to the point where printed portfolios are an outdated thing of the past. In coming years it will be essential to have your best work slapped across every social media account you can get your hands on or your work flow will quickly trickle out. If our work and name isn’t plastered over the internet we can expect to be invisible to almost all potential clients.

            For an Illustrator, financial gain isn’t always a priority but in most cases it is a necessity. The Illustration industry has suffered a blow with the economy to blame. Illustrators have compromised on briefs they would otherwise refuse to sustain themselves financially and have produced sub-par work. The future looks to provide illustrators with a more stable economy and more freedom to pick and choose what briefs they believe they can execute with high standards. This trend prediction would prove to be an exciting one with a wave of high quality work being produced because illustrators won’t have to settle for projects that don’t allow them to produce their best work. 

            Photography is slipping in to illustration more and more, aided by the seamless integration between programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. The trend of using photography and traditional mediums in conjunction with each other is starting to take flight in a big way; pushed by the incredible programs accessible to illustrators and designers today. The ease of creating illustrations with photography and collage has made this a very possible contender to be a future trend. An Australian Illustrator who frequently incorporates his photography work with digital illustration to give a surreal take on real life. This style of illustration was well received in the 60’s within the more alternative audiences. The popular grungy nature of this style accompanied with the ease of creation due to advances in technology and practices is allowing this trend to quickly take shape.  Photographic collage is quickly coming into fashion and may very well be how a lot of illustrations are created in the future.

            After all this talk about digital illustration dominating the playing field we can’t forget where it all started; paper and canvas. Traditional mediums have slowed but are definitely still active. Paint, ink, pen, and pencil are on their way back in. With the industry seeking a more industrial and raw look it would be foolish to forget about our roots. Traditional illustrating is great for achieving a raw, industrial feel which is highly sought after. Just looking at trends in interior design one can assume that Illustrators will draw inspiration from these trends and grow from doing so.

            To act on these future trends an Illustrator may need to adapt their particular style to suit without compromising the quality of the work they produce; they will need to become more versatile. An approach an Illustrator could take to better equip themselves with the skills needed to do so would be to piggy-back on current Illustrators that are carving their way to the top of the industry, and when they feel they have learned all they can from them, begin to develop a technique of their very own.

To predict future trends in an environment as versatile as illustration is a tough task and remains just as speculation. Things change and new trends are created every day. Is it predictable? No, but we can make an educated guess based on other industry trends that have come and gone. To put it quite simply, the future of illustration is a blurry one, but seriously not as a dead end for the Illustators.

5.0 Conclusion

            Illustration in the current era are more advanced and in a huge and booming trend to be in the future. Thus basic and amateur skills in illustrating not the perfect one to stand in this field of creative industry.  Though, pro-amateur and professional level is crucial to be placed in this creative industry. Other than that, competitively other countries are moving on to the advanced trend and technically improving too. Thus, serious effort, skills and experience are being the first to be noted for planting ourselves in such a field. Hence, this is the moment where important values and methodologies to be taken. Although the illustration are blurry in future, certainly never fall to be the least in creative industry.

6.0 Reference

Hutchinson, C. (2016). Behance: an article on future Illustration trends. [Online] Available on: https://www.behance.net/gallery/16295221/An-Article-on-future-Illustration-trends. [Accessed on 26 April 2016]

(2016). Kcad: Illustration careers. [Online] Available on: https://www.kcad.edu/career-professional-development/for-students/illustration-careers/. [Accessed on 26 April 2016]

Polzi, N. (2016). Just creative: the current state of illustration and how to succeed. [Online] Available on: http://justcreative.com/2014/02/10/the-current-state-of-illustration-and-how-to-succeed-in-2014/. [Accessed on 27 April 2016]

·