A foreword for the book Swedish Illustration, published by Arvinius Förlag.
»No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.«
(John Donne 1624)
No illustrator is an island. They are affected by the age and society they live in. As they amass life experiences this affects their pictorial idiom and their ability to form associations, and they are affected by visual impressions just like everyone else.
Pictorial communication varies between countries and cultures; there are different schools and drawing traditions. What is »right« in one country can be »wrong« somewhere else. To some extent this will surely always be the case, but globalisation is dissolving national boundaries and these days we are influenced just as much by illustrators from other continents as by illustrators from our native countries. We can see that the world is growing. We have never had access to as many illustrations as we do now. New pictures, ideas and styles are spreading around the world like wildfire. On the internet there is a plethora of web sites, blogs and illustrator's forums where artists – amateurs and professionals alike – freely share their sketches and rough drafts for illustrations along with their private sketchbooks, full of their own projects. We can find tips on literature and links to favourite illustrators, and the online world's flat structure allows us to freely contribute whatever we like. Some people even upload pictures of their studios and drawing tables. So the conditions for communicating with the world are better than ever.
However, this isn't altogether a good thing. I recently heard about an illustrator who had bemoaned the constant networking on MySpace, and said that it had resulted in people stopping drawing. Instead they sat absorbed by their computers, looking at other illustrators' work. Considering the amount of pictures available it's hard to believe that this testimony is completely true. However, it is very likely that illustrators these days spend more time on sharing their work and making themselves visible than they did ten years ago. The solitary nature of the profession combined with the relatively new technology available has encouraged us to share our work. We can only guess how this will affect the actual drawing process. It is questionable whether it will really generate more paid work.
Leading illustrators use new methods and are inspired by other art forms, and they challenge prevailing ideas about what functional pictures should look like, turning them on their head. They inspire future illustrators and must count on being referred to more than once. At the speed that pictures are now spread around the world, one possible scenario is that drawing styles will be exhausted more quickly and there will be an increased risk of getting copied. This would mean that something seemingly unique is lost. However, the importance of daring to be generous with one's work must be stressed. Pictures are intended to be seen and although a style can be copied, an attitude to illustration cannot be plagiarized as easily – and an illustrator's work should always be in progress.
An illustrator creates pictures to say something. By illuminating a text with an editorial illustration or creating the silhouette of a collection in a fashion illustration, by drawing a political caricature or a dreamlike fairytale world in a children's picture book. It's about narrative and creating associations – and doing this using the illustrator's own voice. In an age when huge amounts of pictures are available, when style is often studied at the expense of content, it is more important than ever for illustrators to focus on the factors that make their work unique. Illustrators' greatest tool is their ability to form associations and their way of visualising this. They use some of themselves in their work. We cannot and should not ignore the world around us but we must remember that »the individual style« is found beyond the surface. A unique illustration is characterised by a personal story.
No illustration is an island: it is directly related to its creator, to its context and to its intended audience. To read an illustration can be to recognize yourself, to take a walk through the gardens of your memories and use the references at your disposal to understand and interpret the picture. Some pictures might not be interpreted the way the illustrator wanted – and as an illustrator that's something you have to live with. An apple can always be viewed from several angles and a picture can never avoid having several different interpretations.
This book presents 151 widely different illustrators. It's a collection full of impressions, which demands that you spend time with it. The pictures can change appearance depending on which mood you're in and what you have learned on that particular day. A picture that doesn't make much of an impression today can spark a revelation tomorrow. A low-key illustration can suddenly jump out and an apparently simple drawing can seem extremely complex. In some ways it can be problematic to take an illustration out of its context, as it can suddenly appear to be something that it isn't. Some pictures need a context while others work well on their own. Now they are also competing with each other for attention in this book. Bear in mind that the illustrations selected within are a little bit homeless and have been put in a completely new context, so take them as they are. Swedish Illustration can be used as a library of images to be inspired by, a collection of styles and techniques – and as a document of our times.
Alexandra Falagara, Illustrator