THE pre-historic world of the illustrator precedes all other areas of the Arts in impact and usefulness, as records of where we began as a species, with insights into how we lived thousands of years ago, followed by sculpture. The language of Art was well covered in a past column of Talking Culture on May 1 2022. This article is for the creative and skilled potential, with a leaning towards a career in Graphic Novels or illustrating literature, illustrating current and social upheavals and historical narratives today.

Thus, in the beginning, keep your day or night job, because unless you have a rich family who is enlightened enough to envision the future you are focused on, then you have to convince them or earn your studio development from your first publication, exhibition or core of assignments. People are pessimistic towards anything outside of their social class of endeavours. Minuscule thinking is more common than you can imagine, but fate is not cruel. You will meet inspiration and encouragement from kindred souls as you wrestle with your world for expression and a confident identity.

First, identify who you are, because there are two types of illustrators. Don’t confuse this with styles of work; this refers to the following. There is a small group of people who mainly write, design and illustrate their own work. Then there are those who illustrate work on assignment with incredible style. Identify who you are. If you are in the first category, welcome to 16 to 17-hour workdays, which is dangerous, health-wise. This brings us to the impact of the current standards required for your finished work as shelf life compatible compared to what obtained 45 years ago.

AGE OF THE INTERNET
Today, we are equipped with and enticed by the Internet and its potential. Beware that everything you see on Pinterest or other sites belongs to someone else; it’s not a free snack giveaway. It’s cool to use images as inspirational references, but understand the parameters of how far inspiration goes. Don’t judge what happens in Guyana as the yardstick. The world of art is a serious, vicious business, and they wait till you’re making money to come after you. The current equipment we use is snobbish. I’ve got some old-school sale boards that I designed, and they worked well twenty-odd years ago.

Recently, I scanned the first two that were on the same cardboard, and what I saw made me take them out of the scanner and re-examine them. The board seemed white to me, but the scan captured shades and stains that were invisible. I realised that what I had bought as Bristol Board back then was something else, and its manufactured combinations that would pass then isn’t going to make it now. Not having the time to redraw the sale-boards, I added a note and shelved it.
Everything you do now will have to experience the scanner and digital software that creates the pre-print artwork that will pay you, so understand that for an illustrated story, you will prepare your intended finished pages on Bristol Board drawing pads, after sketching panels and correcting text on light drawing paper from Austin’s to suit the manuscript you’re working from. Then you ink, and then comes the part an artist friend of mine refuses to do; halting the publishing of a book written by another colleague. The pre-press finishing of erasing the pencils after inking. Making clean-up of layers much easier, and the process of colouring layers is the next not-so-tedious step forward.

If you write and create your own characters and storyline, your work is cut out for you. The lead character must be defined from overseas, not using what exists on the stage. But what brings a difference from your perspective, substance that includes the hype of your own environment, whether current, historical or futuristic, must be enveloped in the concept you want to bring to life. Thus, you are compelled to research to be able to render locations in current or past imagery. Therefore, you need a camera and a habit of capturing local scenes before they are changed forever. In case your story needs flashbacks, remember Guyana has no collection of museums, and institutions hardly keep visual records. That’s why I’ve cautioned you to keep the day job. You will have to research Cosmology if you’re doing Sci-fi. The same goes for history, mythology, or any area. The day job will help you get there.

We welcomed the Internet and social media with justification, but the downside is that the world now has critical access to whatever you do. Your originality will be in subconscious question every time someone picks up your work. So, you must devise angles to every character you create, because you’re creating a lateral/three-dimensional human-based world, and you will draw from the real world, whether you recognise it or not. I’m not telling you this to intimidate, but to liberate, because your audience is no longer singular. It’s multi-plural. Keep the creative flame alive.