The tradition of the illustrator working along seems to be changing, increasingly illustrators are forming collectives and working together in studios, give examples of set up and compare and contrast. What are the advantages and disadvantages inherent in each method of working? Which approach do you feel would be most desirable for you?
“The notion of groups of illustrators collaborating on one commission and forming a collective is a growing trend. There are obvious advantages to working collectively: increased thinking power; support from other members’ camaraderie. But are there any benefits to clients in commissioning a collective? And can a team with a multiplicity of voices communicate as effectively as a solo illustrator?” This is a quote from an issue of Varoom, a magazine that specialises in issues within illustration and design. One of these issues was about the growing trend of illustration collectives. Nous Vous, Rinzen, Elvis Studio, Peepshow are just a few of the emerging illustration and design collectives that are featured within the article and that are also finding success within the design industry.
What are the advantages of belonging to a collective and how can this improve your chances of getting commissions? It is easy to understand why working with other people is appealing. You are able to think of more ideas, offer advice, improve upon work; you can leave your comfort zone and create work that otherwise you would never be able to create. I think that this would be appealing to potential clients as being part of a collective is a way to create work that is always changing and that is totally different to what has been seen before. I also think that it could possibly be seen as a novelty to commission work from a collective as this is still a fairly new trend within design. Personally, I could imagine myself working with another person to create illustrations, but I think that I could only work in a group with a maximum of three people. I feel that a collective such as Peepshow, which has 10 members, is just too many people and it would be at that point where I feel that the disadvantages would become apparent.
Headaches, disagreements, arguments, falling out with your friends, differences of opinion, balancing the amount of work, criticism. These are just a few of the disadvantages of working with other people. This is the reason that I couldn’t work with a large group of people, as it would be too stressful to meet everyone needs, but if you are not fully comfortable with a person, this can result in a personality clash, which could be devastating to the business. I also do not like the idea of your voice going unheard and when there are so many people working together, it only takes one person to take aggressive control and the whole objective of creating unique work within a group is gone. In terms of how this could effect a client, the problem with a collective is that each person could interpret a brief differently and the message could become unclear.
Due to our advanced communication technology, it is easy to correspond with people all over the world, and this is also something that crosses over into illustration collectives. A collective such as Nous Vous all live and work in Leeds, whereas Rinzen are based all over the world in Berlin, Brisbane, Melbourne and New York. Though at first this may seem like a hard way to work as there is no human contact, everything must be done either over the phone or the internet, I think that it allows a certain freedom from the people you are working with and the images you are creating, allowing you to think more clearly about the work as you are not distracted by personal issues. But it is easier to communicate an idea in person, so I think that there are benefits to working together and being able to work together over a great distance. Personally, after comparing the advantages and disadvantages of working within an illustration collective, I can imagine myself working with one other person as I like the idea of creating totally unique work through a combination of styles but I would still want to continue creating work by myself as I would not want my identity and my style to become lost through the process of a different working technique. Though illustration collectives are still fairly new, I think that they are a good way of working as they can produce innovative and distinctive work and it is something that I am definitely thinking of experimenting with in the future.
Word Count: 782 words
“The notion of groups of illustrators collaborating on one commission and forming a collective is a growing trend. There are obvious advantages to working collectively: increased thinking power; support from other members’ camaraderie. But are there any benefits to clients in commissioning a collective? And can a team with a multiplicity of voices communicate as effectively as a solo illustrator?” This is a quote from an issue of Varoom, a magazine that specialises in issues within illustration and design. One of these issues was about the growing trend of illustration collectives. Nous Vous, Rinzen, Elvis Studio, Peepshow are just a few of the emerging illustration and design collectives that are featured within the article and that are also finding success within the design industry.
What are the advantages of belonging to a collective and how can this improve your chances of getting commissions? It is easy to understand why working with other people is appealing. You are able to think of more ideas, offer advice, improve upon work; you can leave your comfort zone and create work that otherwise you would never be able to create. I think that this would be appealing to potential clients as being part of a collective is a way to create work that is always changing and that is totally different to what has been seen before. I also think that it could possibly be seen as a novelty to commission work from a collective as this is still a fairly new trend within design. Personally, I could imagine myself working with another person to create illustrations, but I think that I could only work in a group with a maximum of three people. I feel that a collective such as Peepshow, which has 10 members, is just too many people and it would be at that point where I feel that the disadvantages would become apparent.
Headaches, disagreements, arguments, falling out with your friends, differences of opinion, balancing the amount of work, criticism. These are just a few of the disadvantages of working with other people. This is the reason that I couldn’t work with a large group of people, as it would be too stressful to meet everyone needs, but if you are not fully comfortable with a person, this can result in a personality clash, which could be devastating to the business. I also do not like the idea of your voice going unheard and when there are so many people working together, it only takes one person to take aggressive control and the whole objective of creating unique work within a group is gone. In terms of how this could effect a client, the problem with a collective is that each person could interpret a brief differently and the message could become unclear.
Due to our advanced communication technology, it is easy to correspond with people all over the world, and this is also something that crosses over into illustration collectives. A collective such as Nous Vous all live and work in Leeds, whereas Rinzen are based all over the world in Berlin, Brisbane, Melbourne and New York. Though at first this may seem like a hard way to work as there is no human contact, everything must be done either over the phone or the internet, I think that it allows a certain freedom from the people you are working with and the images you are creating, allowing you to think more clearly about the work as you are not distracted by personal issues. But it is easier to communicate an idea in person, so I think that there are benefits to working together and being able to work together over a great distance. Personally, after comparing the advantages and disadvantages of working within an illustration collective, I can imagine myself working with one other person as I like the idea of creating totally unique work through a combination of styles but I would still want to continue creating work by myself as I would not want my identity and my style to become lost through the process of a different working technique. Though illustration collectives are still fairly new, I think that they are a good way of working as they can produce innovative and distinctive work and it is something that I am definitely thinking of experimenting with in the future.Word Count: 782 words
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