Manifesto

Picking back through the manifestos, and some other quotes I collected some key points:

Paul Jarvis:

• Illustrators are amplifiers
• We'd rather be challenged
• Work must be useful and good for the world 

Milton Glaser

• Doubt is better than certainty 
• Tell the truth 

Tibor Kalman

• Design is just language the real issue is what you use that language for
• Everyone can understand images
• Pictures are good at giving people information that they're not looking for

Paul Bowman

• Bridging gaps

Creative ideas that I believe in 

• I'm not sure that I fully understand this question, it's very open and a bit ambiguous. Maybe all the things I noted above? That images are the best way to communicate?

Rules of engagement

• Work has to have a positive impact or a useful purpose
• I don't promote things that I don't believe in
• My work will not be used to encourage anything that will harm people or the environment (do no harm)

Types of work

• Diagrams and explanations
• Educational
• (Narrative/reportage/recording)

Favourite tools

• Depends on what I'm doing
• Reportage-Biro and paper
• Urban sketching-Brown paper, ink and coloured pencil
• Portraits-pastel
• Almost everything else-mixed media

Thoughts on current debates and history

• We are doomed unless we are more respectful of our environment
• We need to create a more fair and equal society

Pieces that have provoked me

• Lazy drawings
• Gross inaccuracies that can't be forgiven for being in the moment.
• Copycat pieces and "house" styles
• Advertising that targets the vulnerable

View on industry 

• We need to make stuff, so we need industry to make it but what we make should be of high enough quality to last
• We need to move away from tat

Narrative and storytelling

• I would like to do more of this
• My work doesn't fit with current children's picture book fashions

Personal practice

• Drawing to explore and understand
• Drawing to relax and "meditate"
• Drawing to record and remember

Self publishing and authorship

• I think that this is a good way to use my illustrations and something that I want to do

First thoughts

• Illustration can be a powerful tool which shouldn't be misused
• I'm not happy with advertising that preys on the vulnerable
• Make work to explain clarify and entertain
• Always give100%
• Respond to external needs and adapt to suit the commissioner
• Journey of discovery, will take my clients with me
• Attract attention for all the right reasons
• Make important information stand out
• Look for novel solutions
• Interactive and tactile ideas
• Combine old fashioned drawing with digital technology
• Different perspectives
• Past experiences

An idealists manifesto

As a mature student with a day job that supports me I am in the fortunate position of being able to pick and choose the sort of work that I make and who I make it for. I can afford to be idealistic, but I am not unrealistic. I will not to use my fortunate position to undermine other illustrators who rely on commissions to earn a living, I intend to always charge fairly for my work, unless the client is a charity which deserves my support. I expect to be paid promptly and in exchange will meet all reasonable deadlines and keep my clients informed of my progress. I will also work in collaboration with my client, offering alternative versions, listening to their needs and making appropriate modifications as required. I will always attempt to bring a different perspective to the work required, as an illustrator, artist, scientist, nurse, and recent student.

 

I, Caroline Hoy, promise to only make work that benefits the world that I live in. I will follow the physicians oath to do no harm, to people or the planet. I will not sell things that I don’t believe in to people who don’t need them. I will not knowingly make work that is designed to be immediately discarded.  I intend to use my illustration skills to share knowledge and open eyes. I will strive to continue to explore and experiment, embracing new techniques and technologies. Using old fashioned drawing combined with digital technology I will explore visual, interactive and tactile ideas to make important information stand out and to entertain my viewers, whether the piece is intended to be educational, instructive or for entertainment. I believe in using illustration to make complex ideas and concepts more accessible and understandable and to reveal the seen and the unseen. I will look for different perspectives and novel solutions and take my viewers and clients with me on my voyage of discovery always attempting to give them my best work.

 

Digital technology makes illustration more economical and accessible than ever before. I believe that it is a powerful tool which crosses barriers of language and culture to reach a wide and diverse audience.

Who is this manifesto for? Potential clients? They might view it as a bit belligerent and unrealistic. Although I have made commissioned work for external clients I am not an industry insider and I suspect that some of what I have written would have them shaking their heads at my naivety. Other students? Assessors? It's a good exercise to collect my thoughts but it will probably need revision as I learn more.