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