The Discussion Forums

1) 'Digital vs Print'

 Nathaniel and I presented our chosen discussion forum to the rest of the students. We talked about the negative effect digital media is having on print sales and how this will effect us as illustrators in a faster-progressing world.

 I believe the reason to why digital media is causing this is because of people's lack of motivation. The internet has proven to be a quicker way to gain information than to visit a library and read a book. People nowadays take the quickest route to all sources.

 We went on to discuss the advantage digital media has over hand-rendered work when it comes to moving an image. A way in which illustrators can embark on traditionalist methods in moving an image is through, for example, pop-up books. This is a limited field of course, but it requires no digital involvement and can obtain a far more charming interaction with the reader, as opposed to a .gif on a computer screen.

 Digital has the upper-hand naturally with the use of digital recording equipment. The traditionalist way to make something move on screen would obviously have to be the medium of film. Digital media has caused these methods to be almost non-existent on the current market.

 We do indeed live in a digital world but maybe it isn't such a difficult thing to incorporate the two together to gain more variety.


2) 'Where is the content? Where is the comment?'

 The students who presented this discussion had read an article by Lawrence Zeegen who criticized the state of illustration today for excelling in aesthetics, but lacking in meaning.

 He backs up this argument with David Shrigley's 'Fight the Nothingness' poster that was hung up outside Hayward Gallery in London. It is a protest by Shrigley to influence other illustrators to apply meaning in their work rather than put all the time and effort into just the draughtsmanship.

 Zeegan claims that illustration has lost its way from discussing social topics into just becoming just a vacuous streamline. I agree with what the article is stating. Indeed this is happening, especially in the digital purist realm of illustration, and the market for 'pretty pictures' so to speak is becoming a hazard to what people perceive as 'good' art and 'bad' art.

 In the eyes of a conventionalist, the works of Shrigley would be automatically considered 'bad' art (if there is such a thing) and only 'good' art would come from the likes of fine artists due to they're aesthetic taste.


3) 'Taste'

 The students leading this discussion forum had answered the questions provided relating to a quote from a blog named 'Key Ideas' by Daryl Clifton. It discusses the role of taste and how it alters our lives.

 It raises the question that as students learning about the art industry, are we working to how we want to work or are we just making other people happy? My answer to that would be that I take a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. An example of the way I like to work would have been in The Big Sleep project with the sketchbook development I conjured. Column B applies because I felt my final outcome was trying to be stylized somewhat in order to be successful in the competition.

 The likes of other people judging for themselves what is tasteful and what isn't is all a trend. It happens in fashion all the time. Last week it was 90's grunge, now this week it's 80's disco. Nobody truly has authority over that decision.

 In the case of fashion, taste is hard to come by, especially if you're some way influenced by what is considered tasteful. Taste derives from within and I feel that some people are too afraid to express their true taste due to trends and such. If your work suddenly appears original and it is published, your work will no doubt become unoriginal in a week's time.