Banksy may be notorious for his devilishly clever art, but his quotes too, humourously optimise humanity’s contradictions and apparent flaws. Whilst his quotes are usually of a political, anti–captalist or graffiti–justifying nature the one above (from his publication ‘Existencilism’) speaks with a lesser dose of sarcasm; there’s a voice of reason and a hint artistic integrity conveyed through a short but eloquent quote. I’ve been familiar with the quote for some time but only recently has it resonated more dramatically as I consider my job title as ‘illustrator’.
Introducing yourself at gatherings as a graphic designer or even a copy writer is tricky enough; I can’t help but imagine that when I say I’m an illustrator, I’m envisioned as sprawled out on the kitchen floor, accompanied by a mess of crayons and pencil shavings, feverishly scribbling away on a piece of scrap paper. Misconceptions aside, I do often find myself saying to those less creatively inclined that I’m essentially a “glorified drawer” and as a result “draw for a living”. As of late I can’t help but feel like a bit of fraud for saying so as most of my work is created on the computer and my skills with the pencil pale in comparison with that of my skills with the pen tool. The realm of computer aided illustration and art is still one which divides the masses; puritans may argue that the the ease of which a task is completed cheapens the work and thus its exclusivity compromised whilst on the opposite end of the scale adopters and embracers dispute that this new found accessibility and ease by which one can create allows for a better understanding and appreciation of the medium as a whole. Regardless, that’s not what this is about.
Banksy being an artist who delves into multiple disciplines, isn’t alluding to the idea that coherent realistic illustrations are better but instead that learning to draw furthers one’s ability to realise their ideas more vividly. Artists such as Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock were both proficient life drawers yet neither of them, particularly Pollock, are remembered for that form of art. Whilst the advent of computer-aided-anything has made life significantly easier, I still strongly feel that my own work has drastically benefitted from the few drawing classes I’ve undertaken, whether they’ve been in real life or out of a book.
There’s clearly a misconception that being able to draw is a skill blessed to only those gifted few and this forms the foundation for Banksy’s statement, cleverly likening the learning of drawing to suffering. The truth, I believe, is that we suffer regardless of what we learn and perhaps what is more intimidating is overcoming the pre-conceived notions and stigmas we ourselves put in place. Thus drawing hardly differs from learning any other new skill. That being said, I’m off to scribble with some crayons.
Introducing yourself at gatherings as a graphic designer or even a copy writer is tricky enough; I can’t help but imagine that when I say I’m an illustrator, I’m envisioned as sprawled out on the kitchen floor, accompanied by a mess of crayons and pencil shavings, feverishly scribbling away on a piece of scrap paper. Misconceptions aside, I do often find myself saying to those less creatively inclined that I’m essentially a “glorified drawer” and as a result “draw for a living”. As of late I can’t help but feel like a bit of fraud for saying so as most of my work is created on the computer and my skills with the pencil pale in comparison with that of my skills with the pen tool. The realm of computer aided illustration and art is still one which divides the masses; puritans may argue that the the ease of which a task is completed cheapens the work and thus its exclusivity compromised whilst on the opposite end of the scale adopters and embracers dispute that this new found accessibility and ease by which one can create allows for a better understanding and appreciation of the medium as a whole. Regardless, that’s not what this is about.
Banksy being an artist who delves into multiple disciplines, isn’t alluding to the idea that coherent realistic illustrations are better but instead that learning to draw furthers one’s ability to realise their ideas more vividly. Artists such as Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock were both proficient life drawers yet neither of them, particularly Pollock, are remembered for that form of art. Whilst the advent of computer-aided-anything has made life significantly easier, I still strongly feel that my own work has drastically benefitted from the few drawing classes I’ve undertaken, whether they’ve been in real life or out of a book.
There’s clearly a misconception that being able to draw is a skill blessed to only those gifted few and this forms the foundation for Banksy’s statement, cleverly likening the learning of drawing to suffering. The truth, I believe, is that we suffer regardless of what we learn and perhaps what is more intimidating is overcoming the pre-conceived notions and stigmas we ourselves put in place. Thus drawing hardly differs from learning any other new skill. That being said, I’m off to scribble with some crayons.
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