Page 8 - Advertising Annual 55

EDITOR’SCOLUMNPatrick Coyne
Although the editorial category contains the largest number of winning projects in this year’s Illustration Annual, the book and institutional categories were particularly strong—
both surged in the amount of work that the judges selected compared with previous years. International winners also increased this year with illustrators from seventeen countries, including Egypt, Ireland and the Philippines.
“It is encouraging to see interesting work done in categories other than editorial, which is usually solid and open to expression,” juror Ellen Weinstein says. “The book and advertising categories had diverse types of work and seemed more open to a variety of styles and interpretations.”
“There seemed to be a more sophisticated use of color that created a deeper, more emotive narrative within the pieces,” juror José Reyes says. “The subtlety of execution was a great surprise, and it got me excited about what may be on the horizon.”
“I saw lots of wonderful, inspiring artwork,” juror Shanti Marlar says. “When illustrators are being true to themselves and their work, it just stands out and feels complete.”
As in past years, visual trends in both content and execution become apparent to the jurors within the first few hours of the judging process.
“There were some images that came up repeatedly,” Weinstein says. “Donald Trump—not surprising due to it being an election year—and the image of an octopus were seen across different categories.”
“There was an obvious gap between trendy and original work,” Reyes says. “I was struck by just how much
a creative can be enticed by a trend and overlook originality for the sake of what’s new. I am guilty as charged.”
Despite the increasing use of digital technology by illustrators, several jurors expressed disappointment about its impact on the work.
“For some reason, I can’t help but favor the handmade work,” says juror Joel Arbez. “The computer can facilitate the process, but it always seems to suck a certain amount of soul from a piece.”
“What surprised me the most was the visual redundancy of a good portion of the computer work—it looked as if it had been ren­ dered by the same hand,” juror Monte Beauchamp says. “The computer is taking the humanness out of illustration. That said, there were some excellent computer renderings, many of which I voted for.”
Other disappointments cited by jurors:
“The self­promotion category was the weakest, which surprised me,” says Marlar. “Maybe many illustrators don’t see their work objectively, which can make it hard to assign themselves a project that will highlight their abilities.”
“The biggest disappointment was the low number of student submissions,” Weinstein says. “I hope more schools submit their department’s work next year. I also expected to see more animation and animated GIFs. I suspect that will grow as well.”
8 Illustration Annual 2016
JOEL ARBEZ is an award-winning art director, illustrator and
designer based in Toronto, Canada.
A graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design, Arbez has worked at some of Canada’s best agencies, including DDB Toronto, Wax and Trigger in Alberta, and Rethink
in Vancouver and Toronto. Until recently, he was the group creative director/head of art for Saatchi and Saatchi Toronto, where he worked on all of the agency’s accounts, including Toyota, Novartis and P&G. This year, he assumed the creative director, head of art position at Grey Group in Toronto.
MONTE BEAUCHAMP is the
founder, art director
and editor of the graphics, illustra-
tion and comics annuals BLAB! and BLAB
WORLD. He has received numerous awards, including five New York Festival Awards for excellence in print and television communi- cations, and his work has appeared in American Illustration, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, the Society of Illustrators Annual and the Society of Publication Designers Annual. In 2011, he was honored with the Society of Illustrators’ distinguished Arthur William Brown Recognition Award. In 2012, Beauchamp received the Society of Illustrators’ prestigious Richard Gangel Art Director Award.