Romanticism and not the art movement

What I really love about working on Christmas projects is the ample amount of illustrating opportunities I get to indulge in. While at heart I am really just an artist who just wants to sketch whimsical monster the whole day, my miserable skills with the pencil, and not to mention the amount of money I am going to make as a full time illustrator (not much), really keeps me at reality bay. So when the holiday hits the businesses with full force, and they don't mind a little illustration in the name of the Christmas spirit, errm... well they hire me. (A designer got to do a little freelancing on the side, to actually afford a humane christmas.)

Designing and illustrating is seemingly similar. Both deal with images, proportions, shapes, colors and composition. But while designing is cerebral and almost devoid of personality, illustrating is a heart-on emotive experience. It's a contrast of writing an instruction manual and writing a heart wrenching novella. An illustrator almost cannot avoid leaving a mark of himself in his work. Designers on the other hand, try their hardest to make the work all about the client.

This client of mine, seems really open to most ideas (except the shirtless boys and girl angels on a huge Santa idea, I wonder why :P) and really is generous with his praises. Being in this industry for awhile, you will learn to differentiate the real praises and critics from the fake ones, but the occasional barrage of praises really does help boost the ego. Here is a tip to get the most from your designer, stroke his ego endlessly. He will work harder for you than a hebrew slave.

I love design work that makes use of illustrations. The presence of an artist's touch in a design makes it all so romantic. Squiggly lines. Rough edges. The process of the work is transparent to the audience Compare this to clean typography, conceptual photography all packed in a sleek glossy print. It is almost fake. The world is not that perfect. No one writes in Helvetica. (Though if you have to write in a typeface, I would rather write in Futura).

Maybe one day, after I am tired trenching down in the dirty world of graphic design, I would settle being a freelance illustrator, of course with typographical wits and wisdom. My days would be busy trying to get inspired and sketching on notepads. Lots of walk in the park and slow lunches. Occasionally an idea would struck, and I would quickly take out my sketchpad (I would of course, carry my sketchpad everywhere I go) and record the idea in sketch. My close friends would just look at each other and sigh at my quirkiness. While those not too close acquaintances would either be drawn to me armed with curiosity or repelled away by the strangeness.

And at the peak of my illustrating career, I would be invited to illustrate huge murals at a new fancy government building, where millions will see and agree unanimously at my ingenuity. I will be awarded the cultural medallion just because I am too old to receive any other award, and I will die, leaving behind sketches more precious than any other public work ever erected in my name.