16
Apr

13 Super Useful Resources For Aspiring Illustrators

Posted by Jonathan 16 April, 2009

After scouring my list of favourites and trawling my feed reader, here’s a list of 13 super useful resources to inspire, inform and advise the aspiring (and experienced) illustrator.

I hope you find them as useful as I have and if you have any additions, please do comment and share your resources with everyone.

Resources For Advice & Industry Info:

Sterling Hundley Advice Blog

Experienced & accomplished illustrator Sterling Hundley runs a great little advice blog with info about the business and practicalities of illustration.

Illustration Mundo ‘Ask A Pro’

Aside from being a great all round resource for Illustration, the Nate Williams run site Illustration Mundo, has a great section called ‘Ask a pro’ where he poses questions to experienced illustrators who then weigh in with their answers. Lots to learn here from the experienced professionals taking part.

The Art Department

Art Director for Tor books, Irene Gallo, runs a great blog from an Art Directors perspective. Tons of great interviews with the artists she commissions for Tors book covers along with insights into working with Art Directors. Her love of sci fi and fantasy illustration is obvious and her enthusiasm for the subject is infectious.

Art Order Blog

Run by Jon Schindehette, Senior Art Director for Dungeons & Dragons® Wizards of the Coast, the ArtOrder blog provides a wealth of really useful information to budding illustrators wanting to get into the field. Always striving to improve the quality of information he provides and then delivering the goods based on feedback from his readers, Jon is very generous with his time and expertise.

Living The Creative Dream

Great series of articles following Children’s illustrator Holli Conger through the first 12 months of her illustration career.

Resources For Inspiration

Drawn

Daily doses of inspiration from around the globe from this illustration and cartooning blog

CG Unit

The blog strap line says it all ‘Daily Drugs For Artsy People’.

Illustration Promo

Great inspirational blog resource gathering together assorted promo postcards from pro illustrators around the world. It hasn’t been updated in a while, but plenty of posts to look through if you’re a first time visitor.

Todays Inspiration

Lovingly crafted blog by Leif Peng, sharing his obvious love of classic illustrators from the 40’s & 50’s. Beautiful blog - be prepared to spend quite a bit of time on this one - choc full of gorgeous golden age illustrations.

Illustration Podcasts

Sidebar Nation

Quite possibly the best illustration podcast on the web, hosts Dwight & Swain interview a broad spectrum of top illustrators and comic book creators. Their passion for the subject matter is obvious and their warm, friendly nature gets the best out of the interviewees.

Stand out episodes include interviews with Jon Foster (Part 1 and Part 2), James Jean, Drew Struzan and Marko Djurdjevic.

Illustration Mundo Iconic Audio

A great series of in-depth interviews with some of the most prominent names in contemporary illustration - hosted by Erik J. Olsen.

Stand out episodes include interviews with Edel Rodriguez, Tim O’Brien (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3), Chris Sickels (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3) and founder of Magnet Reps Artist Representatives, Chrystal Falcioni (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3).

Ninja Mountain

Primarily focusing on fantasy and sci-fi illustration, the Ninja Mountain podcasts are hosted by a collective of professional illustrators in this genre. Super informative and often lively discussions on life as a professional illustrator.

Big Illustration Party Time

Run by a couple of professional illustrators and cartoonists, I’m pretty new to this podcast but already finding it super useful and informative.

Inspirational Artists

I couldn’t resist adding a few links to some of my favourite illustrators - if you haven’t heard of them before, check out the links below and prepare to be blown away!

James Jean
Sam Weber
Greg Ruth
Ashley Wood
Chris Buzelli
Justin Gerard
James Gurney

Dave McKean: Official new site (still under construction) & comprehensive fan site
Jon Foster

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Categories : Case Studies & Inspiration, Challenges & Hurdles, The Business of Illustration, Tools & Resources

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