Scotland based illustrator and lettering artist Jill Calder’s work is a colorful, free-wheeling and absolutely joyful representation of the illustrator’s art. It makes me smile anyway. Check here as well and see for yourself you old sourpuss.
Author:Mark Kaufman
Mark Kaufman is a partner at Vivitiv, an issue oriented design firm providing creative services for organizations involved in housing, technology issues, education, the environment, and the arts. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Progressive, National Lampoon, The Stranger, and The Oxford American. Mr. Kaufman writes and draws the comic strips American Affairs Desk and I Drew This Thing. Mark is Vice President Communications, ICON9 The Illustration Conference and is an editor at Illustration Age. Mark Kaufman's Illustration Site ///// Vivitiv Issue Oriented DesignDon't miss a thing!
Subscribe to our RSS feed and social profiles to receive updates.
10 Comments on “The Absolute Unrelenting Joy of Jill Calder”
Thoughts?
ILLUSTRATION AGE 
gorgeous!
Beautiful (:
nice work! i love this type of art, but always wondered if people who make this kind of illustrative art has to know how to draw humans realistically first to know the draftmanship of the figure before having any crediablility with this? thanks…
IMHO The short answer to this is “who cares?”
I’ve had this discussion with people over the years and I guess what it comes down to is your definition of what illustration or art or painting really is. If you believe that an artist is not an artist unless they conform to classical notions of anatomy, perspective, scale and beauty, then no amount of argument will dissuade you of this view.
If, on the other hand you believe that art and illustration encompasses a wide variety of influences, approaches and technical acuity then the only answer is who cares.
I don’t know Jill personally, so I am unaware of her ability to draw realistically, but as stated in the original post I love her work and it never occurs to me to question the route an artist takes to get where they are. As the saying goes “I don’t know about art. But I know what I like.”
Bravo!
I love your style! It’s so fun.
Thanks for writing such a joyful post about my work, Mark!
The question about drawing “realistically” first, before doing the inky scribble stuff is a good one though. And the answer, for me anyway, is yes. I studied Life Drawing for years and I still have days when I go out with my sketchbook and do “serious” research drawings. It pays to look, really look at the things that catch your eye and study them properly. After that I feel I can play around with that knowledge visually, often ending up with something pared down or even overly inky and exaggerated . I love drawing and practice it every day, whether the serious, realistic kind or the doodle kind. Thanks! :-)
Jill,
Thanks for illuminating us on your process.
What great images! I love your style Jill :)
Absolutely lovely illustrations :)