Category: Illustration

Illustration is a form of visual art that has been used for centuries to convey ideas, stories, and messages. Illustrations can be found in books, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, packaging, and many other places. 

There are many techniques and styles of illustration that can be used to create different types of illustrations. 

Top Techniques of Illustration 

Drawing

One of the most important techniques of illustration is drawing. Drawing is the foundation of all illustration and is used to create sketches, outlines, and final illustrations. Drawing can be done using a variety of tools, including pencils, pens, markers, and digital tools like tablets and software. 

Painting

Another important technique of illustration is painting. Painting is used to add color and texture to illustrations and can be done using a variety of mediums, including watercolors, acrylics, and oils. Painting is a skill that takes time and practice to master, but it can produce beautiful and vibrant illustrations. 

Digital illustration

Digital illustration is another technique that has become increasingly popular in recent years. Digital illustration is done using software like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate. This technique allows illustrators to create illustrations quickly and easily, and it also allows for easy editing and revisions. 

Collage

Collage is another technique of illustration that involves using a combination of materials like paper, photographs, and other objects to create a final illustration. Collage can produce unique and interesting illustrations that have a tactile and three-dimensional quality. 

The Importance of Hiring Professional Illustrators from an Illustration Agency 

While anyone can create illustrations, there are many benefits to hiring a professional illustrator from a top illustration agency like Illo Agency who have a diverse range of advertising illustrators. Professional illustrators have years of experience and training in their craft, and they know how to create illustrations that are both beautiful and effective. 

Professional illustrators also have access to a wider range of tools and resources, including software, materials, and equipment. This allows them to create illustrations that are more detailed, more colorful, and more visually appealing than those created by non-professionals. 

Hiring a professional illustrator from an illustration agency also ensures that the final illustration meets your needs and expectations. Professional illustrators work closely with clients to understand their goals and vision, and they use their expertise to create illustrations that meet those needs. In addition, working with a professional illustrator from an illustration agency can save time and money. 

Professional illustrators are able to work quickly and efficiently, and they have the skills and experience to create illustrations that are both high-quality and cost-effective. 

Conclusion

Illustration is an important form of visual art that is used to convey ideas, stories, and messages. There are many techniques of illustration, including drawing, painting, digital illustration, and collage. While anyone can create illustrations, there are many benefits to hiring a professional illustrator from an illustration agency. 

Professional illustrators have the experience, tools, and expertise to create illustrations that are both beautiful and effective, and working with them can save time and money while ensuring that the final illustration meets your needs and expectations.

Provider: Japan Illustrators’ Association

Country: Japan

Deadline
30 June 2022

Who may enter
The competition is open to anyone.

Short description

The JIA Illustration Award is an annual competition organized by Japan Illustrators’ Association. 

You can submit hand-painted illustrations, digital works and three-dimensional works.

There is no theme.

All illustrations must be in JPEG format. 

All entries must be the original work of the entrant.

Entry fees
1 illustration: 4,200 Yen
2 illustrations: 7,400 Yen
3 illustrations: 10,600 Yen
4 illustrations: 13,800 Yen
5 illustrations: 17,000 Yen
6 illustrations: 20,200 yen

Prizes
Grand Prix: 500,000 Yen
Gold Award: 200,000 Yen

Competition website
For further information visit the official competition website.

“One picture can make a lasting impact than a script”

People love and prefer consuming information through visuals rather than context.

Visual ad campaigns have always been effective and successful, from traditional to digital marketing.

There are exceptions because of its ineffectiveness in clearly communicating the message.

If done properly, you can attract your audience, tap into their emotional brain and turn them into your customer.

Prominent advertising companies collaborate with the top illustration agencies to produce the finest ad campaigns that can attract prospects.

Even though stock photos and videos can do the trick, why should one use illustrations for their ad campaign?

In what ways do they benefit?

Well, then this blog is for you.

In this blog, we have listed the benefits you will acquire by using illustrations in your ad campaign and how these images embellish advertisements. Here they’re:

1.Easily draws attention

Business owners and marketers push their boundaries, trying different techniques to attract customers to the brand and products.

Incorporating your brand’s mission, vision, message, and the theme of your advertising campaign in your illustration can easily draw your target audience’s attention.

If any factor misses out, your ad campaign becomes counterproductive, losing the essence of your campaign, and the clarity of your message will be disrupted.

2. Creates and enhances brand awareness

Since these illustrations are quirky, colourful, and fun, it effortlessly draws the attention of people’s eyeballs.

Illustration is one of the most effective ways to communicate information clearly because it taps into the emotional brain of your audience and connects with them readily.

Blending your business with the current trending topic and creating an illustration boosts your brand awareness and engagement rate as well.

3. Propose the information strongly

A visual image can be more easily remembered and recalled than context.

Enforcing the message using appropriate illustration will sink deep inside your audience’s mind and stay there for a long time.

Whenever they ever come across the idea or need your product, this illustration can automatically strike their brains and make them visit your site and convert as your customer.

4. Easy customization

Another most crucial benefit of using illustration is framing your uniqueness.

Creating illustrations with your own style, tone, colour, and voice represents your brand’s uniqueness.

Illustrations are easily customizable than photos or videos. You can effectively communicate your message by simply adding and removing elements.

5. Cost-effective

If you’re a startup, obviously, your budget will be limited.

You have to constrain all your expenses within a certain budget.

Hiring a professional photographer to photoshoot your product with a limited budget might be difficult.

To overcome this hassle, you can use stock images for the ad campaign.

But the problem with that is that the photo can be overused and copyrighted.

Most importantly, it can disrupt your uniqueness.

With illustrations, you can share your message in an entertaining manner and make an impact without spending much.

Illustrations are the perfect way to share your message and save your purse on advertising.

6. Urges better response

Illustrating is the best way to promote brands and gain better user responses.

Each response the audience shares helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your ad campaign.

The better the responses, the more people will share it with their friends or on their social media posts, improving your brand awareness and traffic.

Moreover, understanding the response and improving it without hesitation will tweak its performance.

7. Grabs visual attention

Storytelling is an effective tool that will resonate well with the audience and help them engage.

Using the illustrations, you can vividly paint the message in catchy designs and elements pleasing the human eye.

Furthermore, you can easily pass even complex messages simpler irrespective of the industry.

The picture will tell the entire story, and the catchy phrase will stand tall.

Conclusion

The key to advertising is to grab your audience’s attention and make a great impression.

Strategically incorporating illustrations into your advertisements entices the audience and enhances the quality of your message.

Using the illustration, you can easily tap into any emotional nerve of your audience.

Basically, humour is the best emotion that can easily make your audience connect with and share with others.

Illustrations that convey complex topics in a fun-filled way will catch the audience’s attention and stick in their minds for a long time.

The above given seven factors are essential for running an ad campaign.

Illustrations sit on all the shelves.

Use it to deliver your message creatively and improve your ROI.

Cheers!

Deadline
30 June 2022

Country: USA

Who may enter
The competition is open to illustrators from around the world. 

Short description

The contest is organized by Clavis Publishing, which publishes books for children.

“ Clavis Publishing and the city of Hasselt launch the 14th edition of Key Colours, the two-yearly international contest for illustrators of children’s books. Only a children’s book, intended for children from 2 to 7 years old, can qualify for the award. A professional jury will judge the artistic, literary and child-oriented qualities of the works.

The text must be sent in the original language. If the original language is not the Dutch, French, English or German language, a translation in one of those four languages should be added.

A children’s story must be told and illustrated in exactly 24 pages.

Use the form on this website to submit your work. 

Entry fees
The competition is free to enter.

Prize
The winner receives 7,500 € and the winning work will be published by Clavis Publishing.

From all entries, a selection will be made for a children’s books exhibition in Hasselt. At the exhibition children will award their favourite illustration with the Children’s Award. The winner of the Children’s Award receives 750 €.

Competition website
For further information visit the official competition website.

Deadline
30 June 2022

Country: USA

Who may enter
Each illustrator based in the United States and Canada may participate in the contest. The competition is open to everyone, regardless of experience. 

Short description

The contest is organized by Clavis Publishing, which publishes books for children.

“ Clavis Publishing, New York launches Key Colors, the two-yearly national contest for illustrators of children’s books. Only a children’s book, intended for children from 2 to 7 years old, can qualify for the award. A professional jury will judge the artistic, literary and child-oriented qualities of the works.

A children’s story must be told and illustrated in exactly 24 pages, or 12 double pages.

Use the form on this website to submit your work. 

Entry fees
The competition is free to enter.

Prize
The winner receives US$8,000 and the winning work will be published by Clavis Publishing.

Competition website
For further information visit the official competition website.

Submissions open:
10 January 2022

Submissions close:
20 February 2022

Country: Spain.

Prizes: 1600 euro in prizes.

Who may enter
The competition is open to illustrators over the age of 18.

Short description
Illustraciència is an illustration contest organized by the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid and the Catalan Association of Science Communication in Barcelona.

“ Our goal is to promote scientific illustration in all its forms and reward the work of scientific illustrators through the call for the International Award on Scientific Illustration. For each edition, an itinerant collective exhibition and a catalog with the 40 selected works are made.

Each participant may submit only one illustration. 

The work must have been created between January 2021 and 20 February 2022.

The subject of the illustrations must be related to science or nature and the technique is free.

There are two categories: Scientific illustration and Naturalist illustration.

Entry fees
The competition is free to enter.

Prizes

• Scientific illustration
The winner will receive 800 €.

• Naturalist illustration
The winner will receive 800 €.

Competition website
For further information visit the official competition website (scroll down for English version).

Every artist knows that for art to be considered exemplary and a masterpiece, it has to tell a story. Every stroke of the brush on a piece of canvas draws power and emotion capturing people’s attention. The use of colors, shapes and other artistic elements are essential aspects of illustrative artwork. As a result, for an illustrative artwork to stand out, the artist involved should show the knack and skill to bring out the story in the art to stand out and draw people’s attention.

Following several of their works, the following illustration artists are to be watched out for in 2022.

1.  Beatriz Castro

Beatriz Castro, 36, is a professional illustrator who studied art in her hometown Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. Her love for art was evident from a tender age where she could draw and write eye-catching stories. After graduating from college in 2008, she began writing books that have been household names to international publishers such as Anaya, Oxford University Press, and Rovio based in Spain and England, respectively. Her works majorly appear in books, illustrated books, and covers. In her illustrative artwork, she produces colorful images with funny character designs.

Beatriz Castro is a lover of animals and books. Her hobbies include reading classic stories, fairy tales, listening to punk and rock music.

1. Annie Wilkinson

Born in a family that is enthusiastic about art forms like drawing, photography and music, Annie Wilkinson has grown to become an epic illustrative artist and a band musician. Until she was 21 years old, she had not thought of being an illustrative artist despite being skilled since her childhood. However, when she began engaging in illustrative artwork, she grew to love it and wouldn’t imagine doing anything other than that.

She digitally creates her work using native apps and prominently uses the juxtaposition technique to enhance her art.

When she is not working, she plays in a band with her friends and engages in ice hockey during winter and baseball during summer.

1. Chris Herriot

Chris Herriot is an illustrator and an enthusiastic writer, producer, actor, and ardent fine arts lover. He is well trained in his trades and has worked as a voice-over agent for film production and tv companies, giving him all the ability to view art from a wide range of creative angles.

As a man of many hats in the creative arena, Chris is passionate about advertising. He has worked with various brands for more than five years. In his creative journey, his best moment is when he receives a new client and prepares to fully deliver high-quality work to meet his clients’ needs.

His most recent projects include Nike Commercial for the World Cup, content development for Jaguar Land Rover, advertising for Pantechnicon, Washington Post, New Yorker, and other renowned companies.

1. Fabian Slongo

Have you ever drawn your inspiration from your childhood experience? You are not alone because Fabian Slongo, a freelance artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, began his illustrative artwork journey when he was three years old. Despite not reading, he could decipher and get drawn to the images and texts in his comic books, something that made him specialize in vivid illustrative artwork for school children and textbooks.

Apart from doing illustrations for children’s textbooks, he is also a professional art illustrator for medical, technical, and nature books. Fabian, 59, has illustrated for Macmillan Education, Edelvives, Clarín Group, and Norma Editions.

When he is not engaging in his artwork, Fabian will watch Hitchcock’s and De Palma´s movies. Moreover, he loves watching modern South Korean cinema

1. Ana Peake

Ana Peake is a dedicated and enthusiastic illustrator focusing on children’s artwork, greeting cards, and editorials. She is a veteran illustrator as she has been in the industry for the last 10 years, giving her a perfect mastery in her work.

As an artist to watch for in 2022, Ana has created works for various globally recognized brands, including Target, Minted, Barness and Noble, all in which her focus is to bring art into the lives of children, opening their environment to lots of learning, fun, and exposure.

When she is not in her creative studio designing the next big illustration, you will find Ana tending to her garden, discovering new recipes in the kitchen or exploring Austin’s culinary scene.

As days go by, art is gaining more pop and color. Discoveries in new art techniques, tools, and creative ways of doing it are a significant contribution to this. The artists are still coming in handy to move the industry to newer levels each day. Their competitiveness amongst themselves is making them rush to offer the best illustrations. When you get an art project next time, consider the above-reviewed illustrators.