Symposium of the 27th Biennial of Illustration in Bratislava, Slovakia, 2019.
Topic: Cult of the original illustration in the world of digital technology
*Published in:
https://www.bibiana.sk/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/digital_archive/zbornik_bib_2019_mensie.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0QMB90amMDKj-2hHccIqMiAzG7Mv4UW2XXEifrmMgTa-6RMOY8ThPAbtg
M.A. Senka Vlahović
Banat Cultural
Center, Novo Miloševo
Serbia
ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION OR A SERIES OF ZEROS AND ONES?
Cult of the original illustration in the world of digital technology
The emergence of digital technologies, new forms of
internet communication, the massive use of computers in the creation of
artworks, especially in the graphics industry, the laws of the market, global
society, creative economies, the gradual deletion of boundaries between fine
and popular art, are all factors that have significantly influenced the issue
of the original illustration. What is the original illustration? What is its
value? What is its future? Why are we discussing the cult of the original
illustration? Should the original not be implied, or have the said
circumstances and context affected it to become a cult thing, rather than an
ordinary and everyday thing? Or is it no longer implied that every illustration
is an original?
It is necessary to add that we are not thinking of
originality in the sense of artistic authenticity and unrepeatability, but of
the original copy of an art piece as opposed to reproductions and multiplied
printed copies or prints. When we speak of the original illustration, we have
in mind an illustration that was created without the use of a computer and
other types of technical devices. In other words, in case of a product of
traditional graphic art techniques, that it has been signed and numbered. Digital and inkjet prints that we have today can also
be signed and numbered, but the question arises as to how we are to treat them,
as originals or not? In any case not in the same manner as we treat the ones mentioned
previously. Another question is: are they equally worth?
The massive use of computers in the creation of not
only illustrations, but also other visual artwork, the use of graphic boards,
various programs, the combination of multiple images, photographs, scanned
images and digitally processed drawings and the like, has resulted in the fact
that the majority of illustrations nowadays are produced in this way, and not exclusively
by hand, on paper, canvas, without the use of a machine, i.e. computer and
additional digital equipment, and ultimately the printers themselves or screens,
that make it possible for us to view those images as consumers.
Aleksa Jovanović (Serbia), digital illustration
Illustration is a product of applied art, but it is
increasingly being appreciated and equated with the works of fine art. We are
able to see illustrations in books, magazines, on screens, billboards,
products, etc., but also in galleries, where they exist entirely independently,
not as products of applied art, but as sovereign and autonomous works of art,
most often based on telling a story (Heller, Arisman, 2006: xix).
It is precisely the pure essence of the original
illustration that can be consumed exclusively in exhibition spaces and
galleries, where the original illustration as such can be seen, unless the
artist is a colleague or friend of ours and we have access to his studio or to
the archives of a museum, library or collector. The moment when an illustration
is incorporated into a book, a magazine, any type of graphics product or screen
display, we no longer have the experience of viewing an original illustration,
but its reproduction. A reproduction, no matter how faithful, and it is often
not faithful enough, does not possess the specific charm and aura as the
original illustration produced by hand. A reproduction depends on the scanner,
camera, the quality of print, paper, design, context, printing format, and all
those factors significantly affect how we will then experience this
illustration. Sometimes these factors can work in favour and sometimes they are
at the expense of the illustration. There are times when it looks better in the
original, but there are also times when it is the other way around.
Aleksa Gajić (Serbia), original illustration, combined
technique on paper
Bojana Dimitrovski (Serbia/Slovenia), original
illustration, watercolour on paper
It also happens that the authors of the original and
hand-produced illustrations, i.e. of illustrations created without the use of
digital equipment, when they finish their work and when it is supposed to be
reproduced in books and other graphic products, scan their work and process it
on the computer themselves, correcting colours, contrasts, clearing smudges,
making corrections of the things they do not like, various details, etc., which
results in a somewhat modified artwork being sent for reproduction. This is the
choice of the author himself, and the question of his work process, but it does
affect the very end result. Can this then be called the same illustration?
We can view illustrations that were created as
products of traditional graphic art techniques (works produced by printing off
the original handmade matrices made out of wood, metal, stone, linoleum, etc.),
and signed and numbered by the author, separately. These illustrations, just as
the above-mentioned original illustrations, also have a kind of unrepeatability
and uniqueness. They are printed in a limited number of numbered prints, and
the quality and objective value are determined by the circulation and sometimes
the serial number of the prints (Grozdanić, 2007: 237).
Photography in the function of illustration, i.e.
photo-illustration, whose analogue aspect is nowadays a subject only amongst
the biggest enthusiasts and aficionados, while digital technology has taken its
primacy, represents yet another separate topic. Then again, numerous
manipulations of photography make it possible for us today to have
photomontages bordering on digital images, processed to such an extent that
they are reminiscent of paintings and as such have a function of illustration. The
truth is that their original copies are in fact an infinite number of zeros and
ones.
Nikolina Petolas (Croatia), digital photo-illustration
Zeros and ones, stored on hard drives, represent a
unique form of “originals” of digital illustrations, created exclusively on a
computer or with the use of graphic boards, digital cameras, scanners and
computer programs. Sometimes illustrators draw sketches or drawings on paper,
scan them and create and colour digital illustrations based on them. Although,
today, there is a growing number of those who handed their trust entirely over to
digital technology and who store all products of their creation and spirit in
imaginary sequences of zeros and ones. This has certainly been affected by
market demands, the speed of work, the ease of work, the monitoring of trends,
the effects that can be achieved, the use of photographs as templates, and the
like.
Digitally created illustrations can most precisely and
most accurately be viewed on a screen. But screen displays differ amongst
themselves. Printers that print them differ as well. The shade and type of
paper also have an effect. There are a lot of factors, so we cannot help but
wonder where it is possible to view this virtual original most faithfully
represented. Maybe solely on the screen of the illustrator himself. And even
the eye of every human being is different, which causes even original
illustrations to differ in the perception of each person, but these nuances are
nevertheless largely negligible.
The prints of digital illustrations can also be signed
by the author and numbered. The author selects a printer and a trusted printing
company, which will provide the genuine shades of his work. Perhaps this is the
most authentic representation of the printed digital illustration, when the
author himself is satisfied with the print. But, in situations when we have the
printing of, for instance, an illustrated book, the illustrator surrenders real
control and trusts the publisher to hire a quality printing company.
A question of market values of the original and the
prints can be posed here, of abuses concerning the number of prints, and the
like. Digital technology has challenged the problem of authorship in various
ways.
Two striking examples related
to this topic will be mentioned: The Biennial of Illustration in Bratislava and
the Book Illustration Festival “BookILL Fest” in Serbia.
The Biennial of Illustration
in Bratislava has, in the last half a century, from its very establishment,
dealt exclusively with the exhibition of original illustrations and this is one
of its specificities. When we look at the Biennial exhibitions in the 21st
century, we can see that today, half a century later, a very small number of
illustrations represents the actual originals. The largest number of authors
create illustrations by digital means. Still, if one had the opportunity to
view, at one of the Biennials, the original illustrations and to see how they
look when they are reproduced in books, one would notice an enormous
difference. Sometimes the originals are far more noticeable, larger in format
and leave a stronger impression, while in books they are smaller in size,
limited by design and text, and acquire a completely different appearance and
context than when they are in a gallery. Or when, side by side, in a gallery,
we are able to view the prints in relation to the original illustrations, it
appears that in digital illustrations there is a lack of genuineness, spontaneity,
warmth and aura of an artwork. And again, this cannot make an original
illustration more valuable in the artistic and aesthetic sense, than the one
that was created by computer and printed. It is interesting that, in Japan, following
each Biennial in Bratislava, an exhibition of the originals of the awarded
illustrations is organized, where the organizers insist that the exhibited
illustrations be originals. This is often not the case when it comes to the
exhibitions of the Biennial in numerous other countries of the world, where it
is exclusively the prints that are exhibited. It is also important to note that
it is the authors who submit the digital illustration prints to the Biennial,
and that the authors are the final judges of whether their digital art piece is
adequately printed for the exhibition.
On the other hand, the far
younger, eight-year old Book Illustration Festival “BookILL Fest” in Serbia,
accepts works exclusively through the Internet, the works are judged in a digital
format and all works for the exhibition are printed by the organizers as
intermediaries. So, the ultimate arbiter of how the illustrations will look is
the organizer himself. This manner of exhibition erases the differences between
the original and the print. The technique is the only thing that differs, and
it can only be ascertained whether something was created by using a traditional
or digital technique. Likewise, the experience is lost in relation to the
format, the background on which the original artwork was created, the texture
and similar elements. But, what is gained is the speed and ease of
communication, organization and transmission of a visual message. On the other
hand, as the majority of illustrations were created by digital means, only a
handful of works are actually robbed of the opportunity for the audience to
experience them in all their authenticity by this manner of exhibiting.
These two examples are located
at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problem of the originals and
digital prints in the field of illustration in the contemporary world, because
it is precisely at big international exhibitions that the cross-section of the
current illustration production can be seen.
We can see that the problems related to original
illustrations and those that were created digitally are very complex. We are
left to wonder what the future holds for illustrations, which are increasingly being
created on computers, but also what the future holds for art itself or for the
printing industry, and ultimately what the future of the material world is in
relation to the virtual. Where is the boundary that humanity should not cross,
is the virtual world a threat or an advantage? Will all illustrations in the
future be on screens? Does this even matter, or is the most important thing
that communication through art is realized? But, this communication also
depends on the context, medium, format, numerous factors. Is the generation of
millennials, i.e. those who grew up with digital technology and the Internet,
actually more accustomed to the screen, than to the printed, tangible book or
picture in a gallery?
It is my personal belief that man, as nevertheless a
part of the material world, possesses an essential and natural need for
everything that belongs to that world. But he is also a spiritual being, and spiritual
messages are transmitted in other ways as well, through images, sounds, words,
intangible formats, which are quite well and easily transmitted digitally.
Worldwide museums are, despite virtual reality, full and everyone still wants
to see the Mona Lisa or Klimt’s Kiss. Technology has advanced and changed, but
what truly drives the human spirit has always had that effect, though the
centuries, and that is why it represents a work of lasting value. Original
illustrations will, in the future, in the least, survive as a cult thing and
their value can only grow, along with the required aesthetic value. Digitally
created illustrations, as strings of zeros and ones, in their screen-adapted
and printed forms, are just a new format for the transmission of those
universal and lasting values and messages that humanity has carried through art
for centuries.
References
Bibiana,
www.bibiana.sk
Grozdanić,
Mile, Put do knjige, Publikum,
Beograd 2007.
Heller, Steven; Arisman, Marshall, Teaching illustration, Allworth Press, New York 2006.
Vlahović, Senka; From illumination to the Video-illustration
of a book: A New Perspective on Illustration and Creating the Image of a Book
in the Public: Abridged translated edition, Banatski kulturni centar, Novo
Miloševo 2017.
Vlahović,
Senka, Ilustracija govori sve jezike:
Nagrade Festivala ilustracije knjige BookILL fest 2012–2017 /
Ilustration speaks all languages: Awards of the Book Illustration
Festival BookILL fest 2012–2017, Banatski kulturni centar, Novo
Miloševo 2017.
Illustration references
Albahari,
David; Banović, Siniša; Gajić, Aleksa... [et al.], SRPSKE narodne bajke : za decu XXI veka, Čarobna knjiga,
Beograd 2012
Dimitrovski,
Bojana; Todorović, Dana, Cickove avanture, Kreativni centar,
Beograd 2016.
Novak,
Nikoleta; Jovanović, Aleksa, Maštovita
žirafa, Pčelica izdavaštvo, Čačak 2017
Petolas,
Nikolina, www.nikolinapetolas.com
Translation by Dunja Aleksandrovski
