-
On Design: Art Direction vs Graphic Design vs Illustration
I’ve been a Creative Director, the head of commercial art studios, for my entire career.
Allow me to share some information and wisdom.Graphic Designers and Illustrators are both professionally trained artists who focus on creating a work of art for commercial purposes. Just like doctors and lawyers, they are specifically trained and experienced in doing this job that will never be done as well by an amateur.
They are not the same, however. While there may be some cross-over training, Art Schools actually give out different degrees in Graphic Design and Illustration. A good commercial artist may be able to do both – but it is extremely rare that the same artist will do both well. Hiring a single artist to do it all is certainly possible, you will end up sacrificing one or more parts of your project in favor of their specialty.
My degree is actually in Art Direction from Pratt Institute of Art & Design in New York. That is a specialized degree not even offered by a lot of Art Schools, and honestly, the vast majority of people with Art Director titles, do not have that degree. Many publishing houses simply split this role between the title Lead Designer (or Senior Designer) and an Editor. But it is because of this degree and 25 years of celebrated experience, that I am qualified to discuss this topic in detail.——————————————————
You should not hire an artist for your book cover.
You should hire at least one artist for your book.
What is the difference between Art Direction, Graphic Design (Book Design) and Illustration?
Notice that there are different Awards for each Book Design and Cover Illustration, and even Art Direction.
SIMILARITIES
They share the same goal and some processes.Shared Goals:
- To translate the story into a visual format that compels the customer to buy the book.
Shared Processes:
- Identify the most salable aspect/s of a story that make it unique in the marketplace.
- Turn those story elements into a unique and compelling visuals.
DIFFERENCES
Their differences are important because their results are different.
Any commercial artist can attempt to fulfill any of these roles, but each will always be best at one of them. The best results come from a team of artists who are each the best in those roles.Illustration
Illustration Process:- Illustration is literal.
- The Illustrator finds the most compelling IMAGES AND SYMBOLS in the text, and weaves them into a work of art.
- They consider characters, objects, landscapes, scenes, emotions, colors, and all the elements in the text.
- They may invent a scene that doesn’t exist in the text in order to ‘encapsulate’ the story.
- They usually do this as part of a team with an Art Director leading the project (See below).
Illustration Results:
- A work of art that showcases what/who the story is about that may be used for the cover, the interior, or an advertisement.
- Illustration does NOT include typography, calligraphy, cover/book layout, or market positioning.
Illustration Notes:
- Famous illustrators include Michael Whelan, Bob Eggleton, Todd Lockwood, and Frank Frazetta.
Graphic Design
Graphic Design Process:- Graphic Design is symbolic.
- The Graphic Designer decodes and reduces the text into compelling SYMBOLS, and translates them into a work of art.
- They consider characters, objects, landscapes, scenes, emotions, colors, and all the elements in the text.
- They also consider the customer experience including shelf-recognition, legibility, and uniqueness.
- They will apply the decoded text into every part of the book that will visually affect the customer, including the cover and spine and back, the cover text, the interior text layout, the font choices, and rarely the illustration.
- They are not allowed to invent symbols that are not in the text.
- They usually do this as part of a team with an Art Director leading the project (See below).
Graphic Design Results:
- The result is a completed book design ready to be published.
- As mentioned above, Graphic Designers rarely create or oversee illustration. Most often, they are given illustrations to use that were produced without their input at all.
Graphic Design Notes:
- There really aren’t any famous Graphic Designers because its rare they produce consistent enough work for them to be identified outside of the industry.
Art Direction
Art Direction Process:- Art Direction is strategic.
- Art Directors oversee Graphic Designers and Illustrators to lead them to the best finished product for the marketplace.
- They consider everything the Illustrator and Graphic Designer do, and collaborate with them to ensure the project’s success (meaning sales).
- They consider the market, the business model, the short and long-term goals of the project, production needs (effort and cost), distribution needs, retailer needs, and every aspect of the customer that could possibly affect sales (e.g., preferences, income level, attention span, loyalty, ad infinitum).
Art Direction Results:
- The result in a completed book design carefully crafted to meet or exceed the business goals of the project.
Art Direction Notes:
- Any trained Art Director can do Graphic Design. It’s not because GD is easy – but it’s because AD is really just an extreme specialty of GD.
- It was mentioned at a meeting recently that sometimes publishers will change book designs of one project in order to improve the success of a completely different project. This is Art Direction at the highest level (some companies assign the title Creative Director to those who manage multiple projects. I have been a Creative Director most of my career).
- There are many people fulfilling the role of art directors, who are not trained for the job. Because Art Direction is a specialization of Graphic Design – many art directors rise through the ranks of studio to fulfill those roles. Those are often given titles of Lead Designer or Senior Designer. Some companies promote or hire Illustrators they have worked with for a long time to become art directors. Some companies give art direction as a responsibility to the project’s Editor (whose title doesn’t change). Some companies give the responsibility (and sometimes title) to an administrator (or owner) who knows all of the business goals, but must rely more than the others upon the expertise of their staff (or contractors) to ensure the project’s commercial success.
- It is extremely rare for Art Directors to get any credit outside of the industry. Arnie Fenner has been a Senior Designer for many years who founded Spectrum Fantastic Art, bringing the world of SFF cover art to the public’s attention and inspiring a generation of artists as well as helping to establish Fantastic Realism as a genre of fine art. Currently, Irene Gallo of Tor has become well known inside the industry, with many awards to her credit.
Now that you know the difference, you can begin thinking about who you should hire and why.
(In another post). -
1 Reply
-
Thanks. This is great information and really helps to explain part of the production costs in getting a book to market.
Log in to reply.