As Illustrators, I think it is all too easy to forget our main focus – story and concept. That is where our profession lies. We create new worlds and often romanticize real parts of our own world. Without a story or a concept, what would we be? Artists, yes, but illustrators? Probably not as much.

When applying for an art school, the very first step is to submit a portfolio. They ask for basics like still life, figure drawings, and environments. It is all to measure your skill.

Figure Drawing

Self Portrait

Color Theory Homework

Those are examples of some pieces I submitted. Now, looking back, I think I might have been crazy but it was all to see where my skills were. There were no concept drawings, comics, or anything symbolic of any kind.

Now after a year of school, it is still foundation classes. We are now required to do concepts for our pieces, but I noticed that a lot of people had a hard time either finding something elaborate enough to branch off of or had far too complicated of a story to be showed in one simple picture.

I think as illustrators, we should learn how to write. And by write, I mean we should learn how to simplify things not only in blocking in colors but also how to develop stories but not over develop though so that it becomes confusing and cloudy for the viewer. Believe it or not, sometimes writing can be too detailed. Shocking I know but if you are writing about a fist fight and you are describing every knuckle in his hand, how they looked, and how each felt when it collided with the enemy's jawbone, then you have gone way too far my friend. Sometimes things are just easier to say, "he punched him straight in the jaw" and then go on to highlight possibly feeling and mood. Is there anyone witnessing this fight? How do they feel? Are the witnesses in shock or are the witnesses just a bunch of young drama hungry teenagers videotaping the whole event? We need a little bit more training in how to make things as clear for other people to understand while keeping our creativity. Like drawing, story making is a skill.

A lot of people may argue that not all illustrators need this. And there are some reasons why that would be a viable argument. One, a lot of illustration work is commission. You will not have to do a lot of the story making per say. It would have already been laid out for you. Two, a lot of clients will already have visions in their heads of what exactly they want it to look like. That is all fine and dandy but if you want to do your own personal work, I would say you need it. Without a client, you are left there to think of stories to illustrate, concepts to breathe life into, and brilliant metaphors to set free. If you have a hard time doing all that on your own, it will be a bumpy road as a freelance illustrator. Creative Writing also provides problem solving skills and forces you to figure out what is important without losing any key elements. All the fancy talk in creative writing is just fat that you can trim off anytime but you want to make sure you have a grasp on the main points. If you do not, it will be harder to draw a cohesive illustration because all the fancy extra details will all disappear and your artwork will have to tell the story for itself.

We do not need a lot of classes for it but one would not hurt. It would be a good place to really let our minds roam free.