The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital Time RGB Kids (2023) The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital Time The way images are consumed has always been linked with its corresponding media technology. For print media, a sea change was prompted by the iPad in 2010, compelling much of the publishing industry to overhaul its longstanding revenue models. More recently, the primacy of broadcast television has been usurped by online media consumption. In particular, mobile web has surged to lead internet traffic worldwide. “Visual search and recommendations in Google, Yandex, YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest expose us to endless images and video, while websites of major museums, invite us to browse hundreds of thousands of digitised artworks and historical artefacts.”Lev Manovich, 2017 The rise of media tech and digital platforms has spurred innumerable visual works made to exist as screen-based image data. And while some artwork may not be natively digital, this too is frequently documented, adjusted, and/or published digitally. Once within the mediasphere it is of little consequence how an image has been created; if it can be viewed on a pixel display, it is subject to the conditions imposed by the hardware and software technologies of the day. Unlike the single artefacts of the 20c., visual culture is now available at a massive scale in digital form. Adapting to Media Tech To paraphrase Professor Emeritus Alan Male, illustrated visuals are not made to be encountered in their original state. They are contextualised, and communicate to their audience largely through contemporaneous media. From the engraved images of late 19c. newspapers, to the offset-lithography used for printing ephemera, to 8bit computer graphics seen in early video games. Commercial practitioners have implemented techniques to make their visuals fit the media. Ergo, the skill profile of practitioners has adapted to the changes in media. As with other creative domains, the early internet beckoned greater computer literacy, setting the stage for use of today’s digital media platforms. While many illustrators might use traditional methods for creating images, the dissemination of visuals happens on screens. “In a post‐digital world, surely we are beyond the debates about digital and analog in the production of illustration: all illustration becomes digital in some shape or form.”Roderick Mills, 2019 In 2008 former AOI Director Paul Bowman highlighted numerous shortcomings within the Illustration scene. This included what he regarded as the parochial stance taken toward emerging media. However much truth there may have been in this view, it bears mentioning that wider broadband adoption had only begun. Since then hardware limitations have diminished, and evermore online space has been opened up for multimodal visual content. Illustration may have been incubated through commercial printing, but it could not have been insulated from the far-reaching changes that swept through the communications industries. The role of contemporary illustrated visuals now lies with their emergent roles in today’s post-digital culture. May 5th 2023 All WorkCase StudiesBlog Bicolour Chrysanthemums (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2024 Four White Chrysanthemums (2024) Join the Mailing List and Choose a Free Desktop Wallpaper Hibiscus (2024) Camellias in Snow (2024) Poppies (2024) Ferns and Hellebores (2024) Visuals are Hung Upon Ideas, and the Mind is Where Ideas Flourish Peonies at Twilight (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Autumn 2023 The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture Gingko Under Autumn Rain (2024) Is Copyright Now Under Threat From AI Machine Learning The List Goes On: One reason to Reconsider Illustration Listicles Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2023 見ぬが花 (Minu Ga Hana) Not Seeing is a Flower Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster The Way Copyright Protects Creative Works in Broad Strokes The Affect Digital Drawing has Made on Contemporary Illustration Follow on Instagram The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture A Dash of Colour: The Palette Shared by Visual Art and Illustration The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital World Uncovering the Roots of the Decorative Poster Outlining the Changing Role of Character Design Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World Editorial Illustration for Now Then Manchester Revealing the Language of the Illustrated Travel Poster Visual Communication for the Online World
Is Copyright Now Under Threat From A.I. Machine Learning? Neural Network (2023) Is Copyright Now Under Threat From A.I. Machine Learning? The emergence of machine learning has given many illustrators and visual artists cause for concern. The techlash has been especially pronounced where artwork is used by A.I. companies to train image making models. This also marks a turn for illustration markets which can now potentially be serviced by A.I. generators. Unlike the availability of creative software, A.I. does not remove barriers to entry, it removes the need for practical expertise. Text and Data Mining is essential for A.I. development, and governments have granted copyright exceptions to make those inputs available. As a result, text-to-image generators like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL·E, are being trained using copyrighted images harvested from the internet. The Fallout from Machine Learning Outputs The likelihood is that the A.I. generated outputs are where most first encounter this emergent technology. Though not protectable by copyright, an illustrator’s style is often a crucial part of their stock-in-trade, which has been made easier to coopt with little recourse. The difficulty of enforcement is partly why spawning.ai has been developed by digital artists Matt Dryhurst and Holly Herndon. Rather than react via copyright warnings and takedowns, this digital service allows artists to opt in or out of datasets used in A.I. training. From a legal perspective, if author attribution can be reassigned by this technology, the bearing on copyright ownership is significant. Litigation involving entertainment companies repeatedly shows us how copyright can be weaponised. “First, can you copyright the output of a generative AI model, and if so, who owns it? Second, if you own the copyright to the input used to train an AI, does that give you any legal claim over the model or the content it creates?”Andres Guadamuz speaking with James Vincent – The Verge Unsurprisingly the Society of Illustrators has disallowed A.I. work from their annual competitions. Their rationale is that A.I. has been trained using copyrighted images, which they view as “the cornerstone of the illustration community.” Similarly, the Association of Illustration has urged the Intellectual Property Office to reconsider the copyright exception granted for A.I. training. “This exception would mean that creators and rights holders of images would not be able to prevent their work from being scraped for data unless it was protected behind a paywall, which clearly would not be practical for image makers who want potential commissioners to see their work in the easiest way possible (or stock libraries who want to licence images).”The Association of Illustration Platforms Abetting Machine Learning Though authorial works are protected by copyright, when original content is published to an online platform those rights can be held hostage. Artist gallery platforms Artstation and DeviantArt have drawn the ire of their user-base for permitting image scraping. The community reaction has led to them introducing opt-in ‘No-AI’ tags, preventing content being used to develop A.I. generators. Meanwhile, A.I. generated images have become viral on social media. Are A.I. Generated Images the New Stockart Much concern related to A.I. generated images is around the erosion of illustration’s market value. Once prompted, an image generator can render countless images, making the task one of curation and adjustment. It is disheartening that a person’s creations can be used to undermine the viability of markets for that very work. Author and art journalist Zachary Small writes in Artnet; “Recent developments in machine-learning programs have turned A.I. into an impressive artistic tool capable of outpacing—and underpricing—human artists, touching off an earthquake in creative circles. Anxieties are highest among graphic artists and commercial illustrators whose livelihood is connected to their ability to turn out content to clients’ specification.”Zachary Small – Artnet The notion that A.I. is a technological tool frames its comparison with other historical technologies. Engravers were made redundant electrotype plates, and illustrators gradually lost the advertising market because of advancements in photography. But the execution of artwork has always been pegged to human authorial intent, which is not the case with A.I. Conceptual artists can often provide a reasonable argument for the superordiante role of creative authorship. But as conceptualism has shown, this does not bode well for human craftsmanship, nor the autographic works of hand and mind working as one. The Un-new Truths of Our Derivative Culture In spite of how societies glorify creativity, derivative works are much the norm in our post-digital culture. This coupled with algorithmic bias means little of what we encounter is truly original. Be this as it may, published content once had to be made by people. As emphasised by the AOI, an illustrator’s contribution is not merely the image creation, but also suggesting ideas and exploring a brief to bring about best results. Though cases of progressive work using A.I. are likely, one can imagine how generators trained on chirographic man-made images shall mostly amplify the dominance of derivate images. Might Legislation Catchup to A.I. The intersection between A.I. and copyright law is rapidly evolving, and is where many expect to see landmark cases in the coming months. The use of A.I. does recast the role of authorship, and often makes a claim for copyright protection less accessible. However, in spite of its shortfalls, copyright law may be one of the best available deterrents against A.I. enabled plagiarism. The stakes are high. If the cultural products we consume are A.I. generated, the potential for controlling human perception may become centralised in a way that won’t be easily unspun. December 15th 2022 All WorkCase StudiesBlog Bicolour Chrysanthemums (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2024 Four White Chrysanthemums (2024) Join the Mailing List and Choose a Free Desktop Wallpaper Hibiscus (2024) Camellias in Snow (2024) Poppies (2024) Ferns and Hellebores (2024) Visuals are Hung Upon Ideas, and the Mind is Where Ideas Flourish Peonies at Twilight (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Autumn 2023 The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture Gingko Under Autumn Rain (2024) Is Copyright Now Under Threat From AI Machine Learning The List Goes On: One reason to Reconsider Illustration Listicles Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2023 見ぬが花 (Minu Ga Hana) Not Seeing is a Flower Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster The Way Copyright Protects Creative Works in Broad Strokes The Affect Digital Drawing has Made on Contemporary Illustration Follow on Instagram The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture A Dash of Colour: The Palette Shared by Visual Art and Illustration The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital World Uncovering the Roots of the Decorative Poster Outlining the Changing Role of Character Design Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World Editorial Illustration for Now Then Manchester Revealing the Language of the Illustrated Travel Poster Visual Communication for the Online World
Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World Morning Notifications (2021) Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World In today’s digital-first world, illustrated images continue to accompany written editorial. Having emerged to furnish the printed articles of European and American publishing, editorial illustration took a conceptual turn in 60’s. This made them better able to communicate complex themes. Not to be mistaken for conceptual art, whose execution is often a perfunctory affair, conceptual illustration crafts images that move the mind of the onlooker. These images allude to a discoverable inner meaning, often setting visual problems and using semiotic cues. In the service of editorial, this becomes a means to better engage the reader. With digital having practically subsumed printed publishing, editorial illustrations still offers scope for non-passive reader deliberation. What conceptual images were once presented amid columns of printed type are now seen on websites offering editorial content. These include online publications, indie mags, blogs, and online documentation. Insofar as their current role, this remains unchanged. Editorial illustrations are not page decoration, they expound the article topics so they can be better grasped by the viewer. The Changing Landscape of Publishing What has changed is the stability once offered by the printed page, to which illustrated images were made to fit specific sizes. Today’s online editorial is commonly delivered via website CMS. Unlike the images of the past, illustrators are obliged to make adaptable artwork that can scale, and be cropped to suit screens of varying types and sizes. In the torrent of unbound content, anything that might increase dwell time is welcome. With evermore people accessing the web by way of broadband, images with subtle animated movement have also become commonplace. Moving forward it seems likely that editorial illustration will not only be hitched to online publishing, which is in turn bound to the technological timeline of the internet. Much of today’s editorial content is being publicised through social media. Consequently, the pairing of a headline with the illustrated image are often the prospective readers’ point of first contact. In this context, the way an image can pique the interest of a viewer is not unlike an eye-catching cover on a newsstand. June 15th 2021 All WorkCase StudiesBlog Bicolour Chrysanthemums (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2024 Four White Chrysanthemums (2024) Join the Mailing List and Choose a Free Desktop Wallpaper Hibiscus (2024) Camellias in Snow (2024) Poppies (2024) Ferns and Hellebores (2024) Visuals are Hung Upon Ideas, and the Mind is Where Ideas Flourish Peonies at Twilight (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Autumn 2023 The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture Gingko Under Autumn Rain (2024) Is Copyright Now Under Threat From AI Machine Learning The List Goes On: One reason to Reconsider Illustration Listicles Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2023 見ぬが花 (Minu Ga Hana) Not Seeing is a Flower Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster The Way Copyright Protects Creative Works in Broad Strokes The Affect Digital Drawing has Made on Contemporary Illustration Follow on Instagram The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture A Dash of Colour: The Palette Shared by Visual Art and Illustration The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital World Uncovering the Roots of the Decorative Poster Outlining the Changing Role of Character Design Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World Editorial Illustration for Now Then Manchester Revealing the Language of the Illustrated Travel Poster Visual Communication for the Online World
Editorial for Now Then MCR: Fresh Servings at Kim’s Kitchen Fresh Servings. Editorial Artwork for Now Then Manchester (2021) Editorial for Now Then MCR: Fresh Servings at Kim’s Kitchen One of Manchester’s longstanding cafe restaurants, Kim’s Kitchen, is revived with a kitchen refurb and new menu. The following excerpt comes from an article written for Now Then Manchester. To help realise its full potential the premises has been refurbished with a new kitchen, drinks counter, and at the time of writing is being redecorated. The refurbishment also includes a new sound system, laying the groundwork for future DJ sets and video streaming. The ethos of local cooperation informs which suppliers are chosen, and extends to fundraising initiatives for select charities. A phased relaunch began in early 2021, offering an updated menu for takeaway and local deliveries, and includes plant-based and gluten-free options. “The people involved in the plan have lived and worked in the building and local area and have a true recognition of what the space and surrounding area means to the community.”Bevon Manville (Kim’s Kitchen Co-owner). As Manchester looks toward the easing of COVID restrictions, Kim’s Kitchen is poised to offer a community-orientated revival in Hulme’s increasingly gentrified landscape and, by doing so, serve a reminder of what has been achieved so far in this part of the city. Read the full article at Now Then Manchester May 24th 2021 All WorkCase StudiesBlog Bicolour Chrysanthemums (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2024 Four White Chrysanthemums (2024) Join the Mailing List and Choose a Free Desktop Wallpaper Hibiscus (2024) Camellias in Snow (2024) Poppies (2024) Ferns and Hellebores (2024) Visuals are Hung Upon Ideas, and the Mind is Where Ideas Flourish Peonies at Twilight (2024) Posterboy Mixtape Autumn 2023 The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture Gingko Under Autumn Rain (2024) Is Copyright Now Under Threat From AI Machine Learning The List Goes On: One reason to Reconsider Illustration Listicles Posterboy Mixtape Spring 2023 見ぬが花 (Minu Ga Hana) Not Seeing is a Flower Hear and Now: Charting the Event Poster The Way Copyright Protects Creative Works in Broad Strokes The Affect Digital Drawing has Made on Contemporary Illustration Follow on Instagram The Social Importance of Protest Artwork in a Consumer Culture A Dash of Colour: The Palette Shared by Visual Art and Illustration The Case for Illustrated Visuals in a Digital World Uncovering the Roots of the Decorative Poster Outlining the Changing Role of Character Design Understanding Editorial Illustration in the Digital World Editorial Illustration for Now Then Manchester Revealing the Language of the Illustrated Travel Poster Visual Communication for the Online World