For inspiration when it comes to illustration I don’t think it get’s much better than this blog.
David Apatoff really likes great pictures…
That’s what his profile say’s anyway. But his well researched and intelligent response to traditional illustration are inspirational and enlightening. I’m always a little bit excited when a new article pops up in my feed.
But he really likes great pictures. This is what makes his blog so great. The work he find is truly excellent, he knows how to spot the work that has not just excellent skill and technique but soul.
Take the image above by Franklin McMahon. Apatoff writes:
“confronted with mountains of material and a need to transcend the usual dreary recitation of facts and figures.” His role was to “heighten the emotional reaction to a printed piece and transmit the special flavor of a [subject].” ”
That idea of transcendance show’s up in a lot of his writing and I’m always interested to here what he has to say becasue he dosen’t care for trends or stylistic fads.
The value of transcvendence in an illustration, the ability to heighten a peice to draw emotion from a viewer is what illustration is all about. Somehow a lot of that has been lost with the ease of technology.
Apatoff reminds us that tradional skills and technological ease are both not the integral components of illustration. He points us to somehting bigger. Something external, almost mystical that makes illustrations great.