COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMPHOTOGRAPHY: © The AOI. Photography by Cristina SchekW
ith the incessant rumblings
that all traditional creativity
will soon be eschewed for
multi-platform-primed digital media
(created by AI turbo robots
presumably), it’s great that the
globally lauded World Illustration
Awards retains at its very core its love
for the idiosyncratic, often traditional,
always human.
Sure, there was plenty of software-
manipulated material on show this
year, but walking around the awards
gallery in Somerset House, London,
the draftsmanship, craft and hands-on
creativity was the main attraction.
It must have been a time-
consuming task for the panel of
industry professional judges, whoseranks included illustrators, editors and
agency heads. With a record 3,
entries, and a wider global reach of
entrants than ever before, 2019's
awards was as fiercely competitive
as it was creative.
There were eight categories –
Advertising, Books, Children's Books,
Design, Editorial, Experimental,
Research, and Site Specific (murals,
installations, graffiti, etc), with two
winners from each category,
Professional and New Talent.
From the dense, cartoon dystopian
city scenes of Anna Mill, to the
handmade mix of stop motion and
digital character work of Patrick Dias,
the skills and styles on show was
broad. Anna and Patrick took theOverall Winners trophy for
Professional and New Talent
respectively (as well as winners in their
category), but both highly
commended and shortlisted were
incredibly strong. Other highlights
were Marc Lehmann's Me-Time-
Postcards, which were playful and
poignant – a series of postcard
messages to his future self, all
brush-pen on paper – and the highly
detailed, cross-section illustrations of
Virginie Kypriotis that focussed on
nightlife, electro music and queer
culture... a kind of Where's Wally for
"outsiders, freaks and music lovers".
The exhibition will soon be touring
around the UK. For further details,
head over to: http://bit.ly/ca-wiaStrength in numbers
There was something for everyone in the most diverse World Illustration Awards to date
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KEY INFO:
History
The AOI has run
a survey show for
over 40 years.
This is the fifth
year of the World
Illustration AwardsDate
26 June-6 JulyExhibitors
21 winners,
16 highly
commendedPast winners
Olivier Kugler,
Alex T Smith,
Stevie Gee,
Aart-Jan Venema,
Thoka MaerCULTURE SEPTEMBER 2019