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theradioghost · 5 years ago

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what books did u get ? i rly need to get back into reading more now school is over

oh man. so I’ll give you what I bought & then I’m also gonna throw in some similar books that I have already read just because I can actually vouch for the quality of those

(brief note that my main qualifications when I was looking for books, besides not wanting YA, was that 1. they were not about straight cis white men and/or 2. they had particular appeal to one of the areas of sf&f that I have a particular fondness for and/or 3. they cost under five bucks. so there’s a lot of diverse lit, and a lot of novellas, and a lot of urban fantasy wizards who are also detectives/rebellious angels and or demons/necromancy/dragons/stuff that is explictly Lovecraftian adaptations but takes the piss out of Lovecraft/anything on this list/anything published by Tor)

new books that I have read:

(coming back to update this as I get through these books)

the Lovelace & Wick series by Jennifer Rainey – this is the Demon Husbands one I’ve been yelling about. Two gentleman demons in love – a Faustian tempter and a bringer of catastrophes – are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the work they do for hell, while also being forced to contend with new and dangerous enemies. Set in a vaguely-steampunk 1890s Massachusetts. Also includes monster-hunting steampunk scientist lesbian wives.

Deadline by Stephanie Ahn – fourteen months after a disastrous failed ritual, disgraced blood witch Harrietta Lee gets offered a ridiculously lucrative job quietly recovering a stolen artifact for a young member of a powerful magical family, and promptly finds out that this is too good to be true. Also she keeps meeting scary, hot women. Instantly the only wisecracking urban fantasy PI named Harry that my heart has any room for. (This one’s a bit Spicier than my usual fare but the author actually includes a list of content warnings including page numbers at the front of each book, which you can view with the preview option on the Amazon page.)

Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw – A kid hires London PI John Persons to kill his stepfather. The first catch is that the stepfather is a Lovecraftian horror. The second catch is that Persons is too. This is like, the noir-est horror I’ve ever read and that’s something I am very into.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark – An urban fantasy police procedural set in an alternate 1912 Cairo, in which two government officials are sent to deal with a strange, malevolent spirit in the midst of political upheaval as Egypt’s women demand universal suffrage. There’s a free short story prequel to this on tor.com called “A Dead Djinn in Cairo“ that’s worth reading first.

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone – high fantasy with a black protagonist, in which Tara Abernathy, a disgraced magic user and rookie associate in an internationally renowned necromancy firm, is assigned to resurrect a city’s murdered patron fire god – but first, with the help of a chain-smoking priest and a vampire-addicted servant of Justice Herself, she has to track down his killer.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey – in an alternate history where the 1910 “Hippo Bill” passed, Winslow Remington Houndstooth, an ex-rancher out for revenge, is hired to travel north with a ragtag crew – a con artist and pickpocket, a demolitions expert with a proclivity for poisoning, the most dangerous contract killer in the country, and the very man who ruined his life – and take on the dangers of the massive swamp that was once the Mississippi river, a place ruled over by deadly feral hippos and a homicidal riverboat gambling king.

or, essentially, a swamp-based heist Western with a cast including a British-East Asian bisexual man, a black nb person, an unashamedly fat woman, and a pregnant Latina lesbian, and also their pet hippos. Listen just go ahead and get the version with both stories in it

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh – Tobias has lived in the woods as long as anyone can remember; long enough that the nearby town tells stories of the Green Man, the spirit-king of the forest, who dwells in the trees. These stories are truer, and far more dangerous, than anyone but Tobias knows – so when friendly, handsome, curious Henry Silver buys up the neighboring Greenhollow Hall and starts investigating the local folklore, Tobias will have to decide whether to sacrifice the only life he has known for centuries, or the first person he has loved in all that time.

not-new books that I have read:

idk if you don’t know about the Wayfarers series, the first of which is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but it is an absolutely stellar bit of sci-fi very much based around ideas of found family and discovering your own identity and place in the universe and love and compassion and stories based around sweet slice-of-life stuff in a scifi universe with lots of fun aliens and it is so very queer and so very heartwarming and all three books (which each have different casts, although the characters in all three are connected to one another and sort of cameo across all the books) are fantastic.

Urban Dragon by J.W. Troemner – Dragons are supposed to be ruthless, unpredictable, deadly, selfish creatures. So why is it that Rosa Hernandez seems to be able to keep her best friend Arkay in check? How did Arkay, a shape-changing dragon with lightning at her command, end up being found alone and starving and with no memory of her past by a homeless woman? And as evidence mounts that someone is hunting down supernatural beings, who can they trust? (I stumbled across this while looking for urban fantasy on TV Tropes and BOY am I glad I did. Good if you like close friendships between queer women or the enemies-to-lovers trope)

The Merry Spinster by Daniel Mallory Ortberg – of course I was going to read Daniel Ortberg’s short story collection, are you kidding me. Not “””darker””” fairy tale retellings, but fairy tales as often very surreal, psychological horror. Read this if you want to totally ruin “The Velveteen Rabbit” for yourself.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – historical fantasy set in the early-20th-century Orthodox Jewish and Middle Eastern immigrant communities of NYC, about the strange friendship that springs up between a bitter jinn trapped in a mortal body and a masterless golem living among humans. and it gave me feelings.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle – a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Horror at Red Hook” from the perspective of a black man. One of the better pieces of horror I have ever read.

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff – a very different take on a similar concept to The Ballad of Black Tom, wherein a mid-century black Midwestern family find themselves mixed up in the plans of a bunch of cultists and set out to disentangle themselves from this whole cosmic-horror mess. Apparently Jordan Peele is adapting this into a TV show, so I’m stoked for that.

new books that I have not read:

(& also a couple that are just books I want, and some that I just haven’t read yet but got free from the Tor monthly ebook club, which is very much worth joining)

Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield– I’m just going to let the official blurb speak for this one because there is absolutely no way I could improve on it

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark – New Orleans-based steampunk fantasy about an airship captain and a stowaway who talks to orishas.

Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef by Cassandra Khaw – Apparently several authors have written standalone works in this series, and Cassandra Khaw’s aren’t chronologically the first, but I love Cassandra Khaw and “chef for ghouls and pencil-pusher for the Ten Chinese Hells is forced to solve an inter-pantheon murder mystery” just sounds so good to me.

Bones and Bourbon by Dorian Graves – Cursed half-huldra PI is forced to help out his little brother and the demon who shares his body, and then everything goes wrong. Feat. carnivorous unicorns.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova – reluctant bruja attempts to rid herself of her magic and instead plunges her entire family into magical trouble. YA.

Robbergirl by S. T. Gibson – WLW retelling of The Snow Queen from the perspective of the bandit princess. YA.

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages – slightly-fantastical historical lesbian noir novella set in the burgeoning 1940s gay club scene in San Francisco.

The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang – admittedly caught my eye because the cover art reminded me of Moribito, which I adore. East-Asian-inspired epic fantasy which I believe has a nonbinary protagonist.

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire – I’ve been neglecting getting around to October Daye way, way too long considering how much I love Seanan McGuire and urban fantasy, but my mom started reading this and that pushed me over the edge because damn it, yes I want to read her take on the Wizard Detective genre that I have such a weakness for.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – this was recommended to me in a Tumblr post listing interesting, diverse fantasy, and I’ve been into high fantasy political intrigue lately.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg – came across this in a Twitter thread about fantasy worlds with unconventional and interesting magic systems. A newly graduated student of magic is bitter about being sent to learn paper-crafting magic rather than working with metal, until Murder Stuff Happens. YA.

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett – queer fantasy sequel to The Tempest, with Miranda as protagonist.

Witchmark by C. L. Polk – post-WWI gaslamp fantasy MLM romance about a male witch in hiding, working as a doctor; the reviews seem to indicate people think it’s more ‘delightful’ than ‘literary’ but apparently it is pretty fucking delightful.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard– East Asian WLW retelling of Beauty and the Beast and also one of them is a dragon.

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys – another one of the rash of new Lovecraft adaptations that are turning perspectives around, this being one where the citizens of Innsmouth are the protagonists. Also has a really good short story prequel you can read for free on tor.com.

also I just feel like mentioning that I’m stupidly excited for Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir to come out this fall because the review they’ve decided to put at the top of every blurb is “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” (not my exclamation mark) and I don’t know how anyone could more perfectly craft something to my tastes.

#bobbie recommends things #astronauticality #asks #my posts

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walkthegale · 7 years ago

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I’m asking a second one - Helen/Nikki

This one is the formative ship of my soul. ;)

So, season 1-3 of Bad Girls, with Helen and Nikki in them, aired on UK TV from 1999-2001. I got into it pretty early in season 1, I believe, which would have made me 13/14 when I first saw them on screen, and 16 when they left the show. (In fact, I just checked air dates and their final episode aired a few days before my sixteenth birthday).

And it was incredibly formative, because this is two awesome women, who develop this incredible, fascinating, nuanced relationship over the course of several seasons of a show, and who go on to have a canonically happy ending together. On prime time UK TV, in the late 90s/early 2000s.

They are the first queer women couple I really remember seeing in any sort of media, outside of maybe some background characters, and outside of the puppy episode of Ellen. They were definitely the first queer women main characters with that sort of development I’d ever seen. Like, it was a relationship I would still be super impressed to see play out on television today, let alone back then. Teenage me had no idea how lucky I was to catch it.

And my god, I loved them so much. So, so, so much. I had pictures of them cut out of the TV guide and pasted into my journal with little hearts drawn around them. I also had a lot of angst over whether they would ever come back after season 3, and whether I wanted them to or whether I was happy knowing that they got their chance to be happy.

The DVDs were released when I was at university, and I was so excited that I could watch it all again. And I did. Several times. And I found the fandom! (Possibly I found the fandom before the DVDs? I am a little hazy on the timelines) The show was still ongoing until 2006, and it had a pretty active Livejournal-and-fansite-based fandom circa 2003-7. I’m still internet friends with some of the people I found through that fandom now.

What a great ship, is the short version here. I love them both so much - again, two brilliant, well-rounded characters, both of whom I love individually, and who work really well together. I love that Helen is driven and idealistic and caring and self-righteous and takes no shit, and I love that Nikki is smart and passionate and impulsive and will always always stand up for anyone who needs it and also caring and also takes no shit. And I love the balance of their relationship, even when they’re fighting and it’s not working - they both just so desperately want the best for each other.

(Also, holy shit, all the behind-the-scenes stuff that Simone and Mandana did for the DVDs and the South Africa trip, and everything. I’m not gonna lie, I tinhatted that pretty hard for some years.)

I’ve been meaning to do a rewatch for a few years now. Maybe it’s time. ;D

send me a ship and i’ll tell you my relationship with it!

#ship meme #bad girls (uk tv)#helen stewart #nikki wade #nikki x helen #ktlsyrtis

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mwccc2 · 4 years ago

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Bibliography

Elo, Mika, and Miika Lutoto. Figures of Touch: Sense, Technics, Body. The Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Art Helsinki, 2018.

Fulkerson, Matthew. The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of Human Touch. MIT Press, 2013.

Lipps, Andrea, and Ellen Lupton. The Senses: Design Beyond Vision. Princeton Architectural Press, 2018.

‘Janine Antoni in Loss and Desire’. Art21, 1 Sept. 2003, https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/janine-antoni-in-season-2-of-art-in-the-twenty-first-century-2003-preview/.

Maurette, Pablo. The Forgotten Sense: Meditations on Touch. University of Chicago Press, 2018.

Molesworth, Helen. ‘From Dada to Neo-Dada and Back Again’. October, vol. 105, 2003, pp. 177–81. JSTOR.

Pallasmma , Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin. TJ International , 2005.

‘Training the Senses: Silence’. Marres, https://marres.org/en/programmas/training-the-senses-on-silence-2/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.

‘Training the Senses: Talking Smell | Marres, Maastricht’. Marres, https://marres.org/en/programmas/training-the-senses-talking-smell/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.

‘Vibration | Physics’. Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/vibration. Accessed 29 Sept. 2020.

sensorystudies.org

‘Ulay | Retouching Bruises’. Art Basel, https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artwork/18821/Ulay-Retouching-Bruises. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

stehlikova, tereza. Moving Water. 2014. Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/108765276.

‘René Descartes - Meditations’. Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Descartes. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.CloseDeleteEdit

René Descartes (1596–1650): Themes, Arguments, and Ideas | SparkNotes. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/descartes/themes/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

Tate. ‘Readymade – Art Term’. Tate, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/readymade. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

‘In Touch with Reality’. University of London, https://london.ac.uk/touch-reality. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

René Descartes (1596–1650): Themes, Arguments, and Ideas | SparkNotes. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/descartes/themes/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

‘Rationalism’. Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2020. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rationalism&oldid=983416642.

John Locke (1634–1704): Themes, Arguments, and Ideas | SparkNotes. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/johnlocke/themes/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

John Locke - Defining Knowledge. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_knowledge/locke.html#:~:text=Locke%20views%20us%20as%20having,into%20new%20ideas%20via%20reflection. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020

‘Making Presence Felt: On Film (Version without Stereo)’. Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/138187905. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

‘Marina Abramović. Point of Contact. 1980 | MoMA’. The Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/243/3122. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

Point of Contact | Www.Li-Ma.Nl. http://www.li-ma.nl/lima/catalogue/art/abramovic-ulay/point-of-contact/7213. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

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markashtonlund · 7 years ago

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In First Signal a military satellite in Earth orbit intercepts an alien signal.

From finishing the latest class at the Naval Justice School to National Guard role playing exercises at Joint Base Cape Cod, the last six weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. But perhaps the most anticipated was last weekend’s auditions for First Signal.

From the National Guard role player exercises.

Every film has its origins. First Signal can trace its back ten plus years ago when I wrote First World in 2006. After three screenplay nominations, the production of a short film version, over twenty screenings at sci-fi conventions around the world, that project was at the twelfth hour of funding with a production company attached only to see the economic collapse in 2008 hit the entertainment industry like a rocket explosion. Anyone that was around at that time and working in the industry knows what it was like. But in the end it’s called survival.

At The Verve Crowne Plaza.

At the Nashua Library.

It was First World that gave birth to Justice Is Mind. The psychological sci-fi courtroom thriller with mind reading at the center of the story. When I was writing notes on a sequel story to First World, it was the development of a mind reading computer called CENTRAL (Computer Encoding Neuro Transmission and Library) that found its way into Justice Is Mind. In Justice the computer program was called FVMRI for Functional Video Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The rest, as they say, is history when Justice Is Mind was produced in 2012 and released in 2013. My goal since 2006 was to create a new sci-fi franchise around the “First World” universe. With First Signal the aim is to do just that.

The location search for an underground (or windowless) conference room commences for First Signal.

Like Justice Is Mind, I wrote First Signal with the intention of producing it myself. Sure, one can pitch to “the industry” and wait…and wait…and wait. Or, take the bull by the horns and get it done. The key is to find enthusiastic actors, crew, location partners and a host of others to see the vision through. To say I am pleased with the auditions from last weekend would be an understatement—I was thrilled.

But first and foremost I want to thank actress Patience McStravick for inspiring me to write First Signal. If it wasn’t for our conversations last fall during our time at the Naval Justice School about a story that largely takes place in one room, I doubt this project would be where it is today. Then it was her introduction to talented filmmaker Daniel Groom. Patience starred in his film They Don’t Know (highly recommended!). With Patience and Daniel on board, First Signal was moving forward.

Patience McStravick in They Don’t Know. Patience will play Major Ellen Sampson in First Signal.

Auditions commenced last Saturday at the Nashua Library in Nashua, NH and then moved to The Verve Crown Plaza in Natick, MA on Sunday. Some I cast in my past films (and were good friends), some I recently worked with between the Naval Justice School and National Guard. Others I didn’t know. But prior to all this, some parts were already cast. There are times as a director you just know you can offer a part to someone without an audition.

Kim Gordon as the President of the United States was my immediate first choice for this role. Her portrayal as District Attorney Constance Smith in Justice Is Mind was brilliant. I wrote the Major Ellen Sampson role specifically with Patience McStravick in mind (Patience is an Army veteran as well).

Kim Gordon as District Attorney Constance Smith in Justice Is Mind. Gordon will play Helen Colton the President of the United States in First Signal.

But there was one actress that I wanted to bring back to the “First World” universe. It was in 2006 and I was getting ready to produce the short film version of First World. The short called for a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. An actress by the name of Lindy Nettleton submitted. She arrived at the same time actor Jeffrey Phillips did who was auditioning for the role of the President. They both read for the parts together outside an elevator bank at the hotel I was staying at while I recorded it on my Palm Treo! During their reading I truly thought they were heads of state (Jeffrey also appeared in Justice Is Mind as George Katz). Although I stayed in touch with Lindy throughout the years, I had no idea if she would be interested in reprising this role after a decade plus. When she said she would play Allison Colby I was beyond elated! First Signal was coming full circle.

Lindy Nettleton as Prime Minister Allison Colby in First World. Nettleton, pictured with Jeffrey Phillips as the President, will reprise her role in First Signal.

But the circle was complete with last weekend’s auditions. I could not be more excited to work with such talent. I invite you visit to First Signal’s IMDb page to learn about the talented group of actors in this project. For those that know how I promote, you’ll be learning more about them the weeks, months and years ahead.

Pre-Production

Vernon Aldershoff, at his audition last Sunday, will play General John Reager in First Signal.

First History From finishing the latest class at the Naval Justice School to National Guard role playing exercises at Joint Base Cape Cod, the last six weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.

#auditions #Crowne Plaza Natick #filmmaking #First Signal #First World (movie)#Joint Base Cape Cod #Justice is Mind #mind reading #National Guard #Naval Justice School #science fiction #The Verve

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professionalpracticetendai-blog · 8 years ago

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Industry expert reveals what the future holds for illustration

By Creative Bloq Staff February 25, 2015 Illustration

Varoom’s John O’Reilly reveals the emerging illustration trends you need to know.

There was probably a time when an institution like the Connaught Hotel in London, a venue marinated for generations in establishment values, would have commissioned an artist to fill a prominent space in its hotel.

Yet when brand consultancy The Partners was asked to rebrand the premises, they used the work of illustrator Kristjana S Williams to visually anchor the project. The large-scale illustration featuring images of the Connaught's history was played out in other touchpoints in the hotel – from the in-room menu to complementary bags and 150 other pieces of collateral.

However, what makes Williams' work so telling as an emerging trend is not simply the growing appreciation of such clients for their illustrative versatility. It's the fact that the centerpiece of the project was originally a 3D handmade collage. The continually evolving process of making the work emphasises the hotel's heritage, which on this evidence is one of the Connaught Hotel's subliminal pitches to its clients.

If there is an underlying direction in illustration, it's that the practice is getting more physical, more craft-like and more 3D, while also becoming more immaterial in exploring the creative opportunities of movement in digital channels on the internet and on tablets.

You could call it Divergence Culture – an extension of Henry Jenkins' idea of Convergence Culture, or the flow of content across media platforms and the migratory behaviour of audiences.

Technologies are continually converging, and so clients' marketing has had to converge differing communication channels and platforms. But consumers are increasingly interested in unique forms of content across their media, not just different media-appropriate iterations.

As Handsome Frank co-founder Jon Cockley notes, social media followers don't want to see re-hashed content, they want bespoke content that's purposely made for a smaller screen. The past 12 months, for example, have seen some cracking work where traditional illustration has got subtly mobile.

Illustration in motion

The cover of Computer Arts 231 is a case in point: it was originally illustrated by Jack Hudson, then tweaked for mobility by animator Joe Sparkes. This mobility is neither animation nor illustration – the context for movement is not the frame or border of the screen, but the image itself.

At this year's VaroomLab conference in Bournemouth (a network of colleges researching illustration with Varoom), illustrator Roderick Mills, who is also course leader at Brighton, showed a 2012 interactive from The New York Times by Jon Huang, multimedia editor at the paper. It was a piece about the popularity of Farmville and Angry Birds-type games.

The lead image had a small white triangle in a black surround, reminiscent of the triangle at the centre of classic arcade game Asteroids. But what made this slightly anarchic was that you could move the triangle down and across the column of text and fire stuff at a column of game characters on the left-hand column.

Removing the fourth wall

It's where the art director uses movement to break down the 'fourth wall', the imaginary barrier between audience and screen. The New York Times, whose nickname is the Gray Lady because of the amount of copy it features compared to graphics or images, had suddenly been taken down by a graphic as the triangle swooped down the copy, shooting the fruit, angry birds and farm animals.

This year The New York Times did a slightly more conventional illustration/animation by the ever-innovative Christoph Niemann, for an online version of their feature on the Brazil World Cup.'My Travels With The Curse of the Maracana' (again developed with Jon Huang) features a mix of illustration and animation on photographic backgrounds – if nothing else, it's worth watching for the kick-about between Niemann and the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

The mix of illustration, animation and photography makes you consider the hold football has on Brazilian life. It's a great example of illustration going for a walk across different media. Niemann draws over photographs, it feels live and delivers a narrative journalistic experience.

One missed opportunity for the marketing department to have a play on social media was with the most uncanny illustration I saw this year.

While chairing the judging of the Association of Illustrators Awards, barely visible on the table surrounded by colourful, contemporary editorial work vying for attention, was an old black-and-white image of what looked like a dragon flying in the foreground with an old castle or stately home in the background.

It looked like something found in an old shoebox, stored away in someone's loft from the 1950s. Its visual language – the engraving, the sculpted visual information of the subject matter – was so unfamiliar and so not-at-home in the second decade of the 20th Century.

It turned out to be an image by illustrator Andrew Davidson for an adult edition of the Harry Potter series. In a recent interview, Davidson explained that he wanted the illustration to look like the books were taken from the library at Hogwarts – my original instinct that these were 'found' images wasn't too far wrong.

Licence to play

It's partly down to illustration's warmth as a medium, and how we are socialised as children through children's books. We all remember the magic of drawing when we were kids, inventing characters and worlds, which means there are opportunities for design and marketing to be playful in merging fiction and reality in campaigns and communications.

Take for example Mireille Fauchon's images for The Prisoner of Zenda, designed by the consistently innovative John Morgan Studio for Four Corners Press. The studio created objects and artefacts that weren't actually in the book, but looked like part of the universe of late 19th century Ruritania. Illustration has a visual charm – is a charm in that magical sense – that enables it to be playful with consumers.

Confident brands take advantage of illustration's licence to play – such as the mural Tristan Eaton created for Versace around the opening of their new flagship store in Honolulu, where he got to play with the company logo.

Most of all, the magic of drawing still has an immense cultural aura around it, and that's why brands have been increasingly engaging in live drawing events whether in shop window displays or more remarkably, Lindsey Spinks' project for Novartis pharmaceuticals.

Novartis is known for commissioning high-end editorial photographers such as James Nachtwey, Mary Ellen Mark and Stephanie Sinclair for their annual reports. Spinks did a live drawing for the company on a large-scale Moleskin notebook, illustrating the stories of patients whose lives had changed for the better after being given medication produced by the company.

Adding authenticity

This impressive project highlights the craft of illustration as a signifier of 'authenticity' – in some ways a burden for such a playful art form. In The Dove Real Beauty Sketches, the drawings became the instrument of the authentic image, more real, more telling than a photo for the viewer.

The popularity of illustration among commissioners over the last decade has been driven by the digital age. While our contact via the internet with companies and people often feels remote, illustration signals something familiar, emotionally warm, and most of all tangible. For brands, it's a signifier of provenance, made-by-hand and trustworthy.

This driver is accelerating and illustration is becoming divergent – both more digital and more animated. It's becoming less like the illustration we are familiar with, as art directors and designers explore the boundaries of various editorial and advertising contexts. At the same time it's becoming more three-dimensional and more about delivering a tangible experience through its physicality.

Just look at the Year of the Bus Sculpture Trail in London, featuring work from 40 illustrators and artists such as Rod Hunt, Edward Carvalho-Monaghan and Fiona Stewart. Or the 30-metre-long illustration in London's Eurostar ticket hall designed by Christopher Jenner, narrating the journey from London to Paris. The image isn't wallpaper, it's not even collage, it's photo-etched on stainless steel.

Then there's Joe Wilson and Helen Friel's pop-up cocktail book for The Savoy Hotel, which embodies the idea of illustration as an experience. Joseph Pine II and James H Gilmore's The Experience Economy was published in 1998 and has been the subject of much debate, but in an ever more digital age it has increased resonance.

Even digital tools like smartphones make us scroll, swipe and pinch, echoing the original Latin meaning of digital – referring to the 'digits' on our hands. When guests at the Savoy choose their cocktail they experience it through the magic of Wilson and Friel's pop-up book. But we've always known that illustration can open doors to other worlds. At its best, it has always been a medium of wonder.

We live in a post-advertising age, the age of the attention economy, the age of 'content marketing' – all phrases that touch on the fact that consumers constantly filter out unwanted noise. We need to return to illustration's roots as a source of magical interaction with the world.

Visually rewarding

Noma Bar's style for example is coolly graphic, but what he delivers is the experience of working out a visual puzzle, and the pleasure and amazement in figuring it out.

One of the smartest and funniest books I read this year was Chris Haughton's Shh! We Have A Plan, a children's story that doubles up as a book about mindless leadership and doing the same thing over and over again as a recipe for failure. We need to move on and think differently about illustration as more than simply the visual support.

Whether it's the tactile craft of collage, where we put together the fragmented storytelling of the illustrator, or the enchantment we experience in great narrative image-making, or the unexpected movement of a detail in an image online, in 2015 illustrators and art directors have a big opportunity to get more playful, to transport us somewhere magical. This will happen when clients understand that illustration is no longer the support act, it's the headliner.

Words: John O'Reilly John is editor of Varoom, a magazine produced by the Association of Illustrators. A journalist, writer and consultant, his clients have included The Guardian, The British Council and Nike.

You can read the full version of this special report inside Computer Arts issue235: Make 2015 your best year ever.

http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/industry-expert-reveals-what-s-next-illustration-21514274

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