The Art of Illustration | Off Book | PBS Digital Studios

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Illustrators articulate what a photograph cannot. Using an array of techniques and styles, illustrators evoke stories and meaning in a variety of mediums, from editorial illustration in magazines and newspapers, to comics books, to activist media. And as their tasks over the years have become less informational and more expressive, their individual voice as artists becomes all the more critical and beautiful, revealing an exciting and awe-inspiring age of illustration.
Featuring:
Steven Guarnaccia, Professor, Illustration Program at The New School
Yuko Shimisu, yukoart.com/
Sean Murphy, seangordonmurphy.com/
Molly Crabapple, mollycrabapple.com/
Artist Featured in the First Section:
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c...
Music:
LukHash - www.jamendo.com/en/artist/3538...
MMiKE - www.jamendo.com/en/artist/3719...
Matheus T - / matheus-t
Yu$ - / tracks
Claudiodonzelli - / claudiodonzelli
Floating Isle - www.jamendo.com/en/artist/3717...
Binarpilot - www.jamendo.com/en/artist/1125...
Hantof - www.jamendo.com/en/artist/3418...
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Produced by Kornhaber Brown: www.kornhaberbrown.com

[@myduyentran7991]

comics are one of the best forms of art i have ever seen, having to be able to write a compelling story while making the art easy to the eye but at the same time interesting, its almost magic

[@cinderblockstudios]

As an artist myself, I love this video. I'd love to see one of these done for painters.

[@Melbunni]

I'm a college art student/ aspiring illustrator, and illustration is very overlooked in my university's design program. This video gives me a lot of hope. Thank you.

[@BethBeing]

I'm an illustrator, so it was exciting to see you were doing a spot on Illustration. The information was good and the interviews interesting, but I couldn't watch this video because the animation was just too quick and made me motion sick. I'm bummed about how rapidly the illustrations were flipped through and how fast the panning shots were, because a viewer needs more time to really process what they're looking at. Other than that, keep up the fantastic programs!

[@starcampaign]

This is great and thank you for including comic art/ sequential art as well! That means alot!

[@chocolatecookie1234]

I'm an art student and you guys did a great job on showing the world what we do and why we make illustrations. this also gives me loads of insiration to start drawing again and make my drawings my own pieces of art. I love this and all the other videos. amazing.

[@2PercentMint]

Oooh, first Joe the Barbarian and then Unwritten at 6:28! These are some of my favorite graphic novels. I get so excited every time there's a new Off Book episode and you guys keep living up to my expectations.

[@dramamitch]

Very inspiring. Reminds me why I love being an illustrator in the first place. Thank you!

[@Vixx4eva]

All these art pieces are so interesting. Wow, how do these people even think up such absurd things, how creative!

[@charleneelvir4181]

This definitely inspires me to keep pursuing my dreams into being an illustrator

[@dispunktional989]

Much of Yuko's art actually spills over into comic book art as well - many of the images shown are from her Unwritten covers!

[@bitofnonsenseaccessoriesth41]

I like all types I think comic art is harder then it looks.

[@elmasmixedmedia]

Excellent video. This gives a such an informative window on the working world of illustrators. I am looking forward to seeing more here.

[@womacks8675309]

0:12 "A lot of people sort of look down on comics and art..." 4:44 "Why would I waste 80 years of my life..." Am I missing something? reading too much into it? Isn't Murphy doing exactly what he accuses others of? as if to say "My stuff is art, because I don't draw superheroes. Batman? oh that doesn't count, because he's dark" overall good piece, but yeah

[@hunterklie]

beautiful video. such gorgeous artwork.

[@PunkExMachina]

I want to show this to my classmates ): Wish I could give it some subs. Thanks for making this vid guys they're amazing and insightful.

[@MonocleDubstep]

i really enjoy these, keep them up!

[@khybot]

nice video! concise, informative and honest.

[@konradwerks]

Love me some Sean Murphy, but really overall this was a very well put together spotlight.

[@LifeAndDef]

sean murphy! amazing artist

[@observational1]

1:15 onwards answers part of that question. Plus sex and violence sells, illustrators will occasionally use this to stick out in their own portfolios or when exhibiting with a collection of artists.

[@EverythingShakespeare]

beautiful art

[@dearmalika]

Great job!

[@Cydoffgrid]

Really interesting episode!

[@PBSoffbook]

did you read our mind? we are working on an episode about web comics. :)

[@myersa80]

I'm just waiting for the day when Andrew Hussie gets called in to do an interview for one of these videos.

[@nincomboob2]

yuko is the best!

[@sudevsen]

If you want to see comic book as art read any of the great Vertigo series-Sandman,Y The Last man and V for Vendetta

[@andrehena]

Shimizu and Murphy in the same video :O Wow... How you do that?

[@OliviaDurant]

RE: Webcomics ep. I wanted to reach out because I've been working in webcomics since 2003 (I draw Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos and My Annoying Life). Through my work in webcomics I was able to leverage my fanbase to found a yearly convention that educates and empowers webcomics. We are now the premier showcase of webcomics and online creativity. I'd love to get in contact with someone to provide more details about what we are doing.

[@TheEvilLove3]

This was awesome.

[@quintonlafferty4461]

Check out Emma. It's an online comic and the creator does a livestream tutorial for artists. He used to work as a splash artist at Riot.

[@bentobin1148]

Where does the image at 0:23 come from? I've never seen it before but it's exactly like a scene I wrote for my movie script last spring. Down to the color of the eyes and the liquid in the tube and the hands pressed against the glass. I had it as a dream too only I was drowning in the tube. My mind is kind of blown.

[@jackwood2104]

My life long dream is to become a comic book artist im 15 and im taking a diploma in collage but I wanna do my own thing build from the bottom I feel I have the skills to do it aswell got a lot of ideas ;)

[@vernonrobinson7470]

Such excellent draughtsman/womanship is rarly found in examples of so-called fine art.

[@AfenyiArhin]

Ghad soo trueeee...🤗❤️👍🏾

[@julievanlohnnevadalearning9318]

Did the guy from Exit Through the Gift Shop edit this video? I feel dizzy.

[@bentinho]

Probably because sometimes people don't consider it "high art" and at times it isn't produced well and with the same level of skill or quality as other types of illustration or art.

[@thegreatmonster]

this was really good stuff, bis bis bis

[@DirtyKnees]

saw some ghostco in there :D

[@quintonlafferty4461]

Theres a really cool comic you should check out called Emma.

[@eggz09]

please tell me your getting Randal munroe on that episode

[@TheSome01]

like this vídeo is motivational.

[@MRdynok1d]

At end the song

[@mamaruko]

i need subtitles in spanish for this please

[@smileyman1977]

I think you're reading too much into it. He's not saying that comics are bad--he's just saying that they're not reaching their full potential and that he doesn't want to do the stereotypical super-hero thing. Thus the comment about images of people wearing undewear over tights. I'm not generally a fan of super hero comics, so I don't know what his previous work is, but the images that were shown in the docu were very much atypical of what I associate with most superhero comics.

[@shivpratapsingh928]

Nice

[@justinecooper9575]

How can you say the word "illustrator" and not mention Frank Frazetta?

[@oldmatrices]

How can that guy see why people look down on comics? I want to know.

[@spiritizeable]

Obviously he's not saying comics are bad (he does make comics for a living after all)--but he did kind of choose to insult the superhero genre, which is kind of a dick move because it implies that he makes art but that his colleagues at DC don't. It also sounds like he thinks the genre itself is silly and childish, which just isn't true considering the content of most of the comics out there, especially the ones made by DC.

[@glitterygloss2001]

does pbs stand for peanut butter studios

[@MRdynok1d]

Asdf movie

[@Levenshulme]

...

[@DanielBoa]

I love these videos, but I have to say the rapid editing of images and panning about is pretty disorientating.

[@liquidlethe]

Sean points out that 80% of the comic market is superheroes and then pretty much trashes it, dude how do you think most of your readers got into comics in the first place? Have some class dude and stop trashing other forms and uses of art.

[@katjak0717]

why is so much modern illustration so freaky or shocking?

[@seannemetz4856]

it's great but not the music

[@DavidMartins1]

What a nauseating video to watch.