Modern Abstract Illustration - What are the main styles of illustration art?

What are the main styles of modern illustration?

Realistic style is a unique expression, can be combined with the photography style, which can bring a more realistic feeling, but also on the basis of realism plus exaggeration, virtualization and other artistic techniques to increase the infectious force.

Abstract style design is also the designer in order to achieve a certain visual effect and produce, pay more attention to is the expression of inner thoughts and feelings. Make the reader to think, give full play to the reader's imagination. Not only play a role in the dissemination of information, but also strengthen the reader's subconscious communication.

In commodity graphic design, there are a lot of children as the main consumer groups of enterprises with cartoon style illustrations to increase affinity, there are some decorative illustrations, such as interior design of the background wall. Achieved a strong decorative effect. It also adds some beautiful things. The rapid development of modern society, many designs are mostly to convey the atmosphere of joy, especially some advertising, fashion magazines. There are also exaggerated character modeling, bright colors and so on.

The role of illustration in graphic design is irreplaceable, so graphic designers just look at not do is not learn, must be practiced. And, in the process of learning as much as possible to ensure that you learn one and then go to learn another, to stay focused. It is recommended to add this to the daily program, perhaps not in the morning, but be sure to choose a fixed time and insist on doing it, it will be effective.

The most popular and striking fashion illustrations of the moment are here!

The work of Helen Downie, a popular fashion illustrator

Fashion illustration, as the oldest medium of visual communication, has not only not stopped developing in the new era, but has also given rise to many new forms of expression with very different styles. How many of the most popular and notable fashion illustrators and their works do you know?

The Golden Age of Fashion Illustration

Early on, fashion illustration had a heyday with fashion magazines. Almost without exception, magazines used illustrations from cover to cover. Readers at that time received information about fashion, art and taste from a beautiful illustration. It can be said that fashion magazines and fashion illustration at that time were the relationship of mutual fulfillment.

Harper's Bazaar Magazine Cover

The Collision of Fashion Illustration and Fashion Brands

In the digital age, photography has become the main source of visual communication for magazines and publications. Although the era of magazines, in which fashion illustration was the main promotional medium, has come to an end, the fashion illustration industry is not sleeping, but is constantly developing and evolving in a new direction.

Collaboration between fashion illustration and fashion brands is one of the most successful new paths that have been explored, and Gucci, as one of the most talked-about brands, often searches for popular illustrators to collaborate with on social media.

The following colorful, poetic pieces were created by illustrator Helen Downie. It's worth noting that this highly professional illustrator is actually a housewife who came from a non-professional background, and whose story has become as popular as her paintings. Her drawing style is so similar to Gucci's new aesthetic that the brand's creative director immediately recognized her work and launched a series of in-depth collaborations.

Helen Downie

Though she is a mother, she has always shown a sense of innocence in her work. In particular, the wide, innocent eyes of her characters are whimsical and full of childlike wonder.

Helen Downie's work

However, this is not the first time Gucci has collaborated with a fashion illustrator. Earlier, the brand invited another illustrator, Alex Merry, for a more "artistic" collaboration.

From New York to London, Milan to Shanghai, wherever there is an art wall, the city was occupied by Alex's creative fashion illustrations almost overnight. It's rare to see such huge fashion illustrations presented in such a way, so when the images of the art wall were released, they immediately caused a stir on the Internet.

Alex Merry's work

In addition to the illustrations, Gucci made the products available for sale, so that all of the consumers who were excited by them could find and own them. They make these dreamy, ideal products a reality. On the other hand, the viewer can see from these romanticized fashion illustrations that the style of fashion illustration is no longer homogeneous.

Alex Merry

When it comes to cross-border cooperation between fashion illustration and brands, we have to mention Prada, which invited illustrator James Jean to collaborate with it for a second time at its men's spring/summer 2018 show, which shows the degree of attention that his work has received.

JamesJean and Oliver Schrauwen

This time, JamesJean teamed up with Belgian graffiti artist Oliver Schrauwen to create illustrations of the show space. The showgoers could look at these graphic works as if they were reading a live version of a comic strip.

At the same time, the author produced a similarly illustrated promotional video for Prada, and James' cool illustration style was a perfect match for Prada's futuristic approach to fashion.

JamesJean's work

The same year, for Prada's womenswear show, the brand also chose to work with fashion illustrators. The collaboration brought together eight female illustrators: Stellar Leuna, Trina Robbins, Brigid Elva, Joelle Jones, Giuliana Maldini, Natsume Ono, Emma Ríos and Fiona Staples.

In addition to their work on the walls of the show space, the eight women also worked on the walls of the Prada showroom.

In addition to creating the walls of the show space, they also integrated their illustrations into the new season's collection. Their manga-inspired work has energized fashion and increased the possibilities for stylized fashion illustration.

Today, fashion illustration is no longer the norm, as long as you are willing to put pen to paper, everyone can create their own illustrations.

Grace Coddington's work

Pioneering fashion illustration

Besides collaborating with fashion brands across borders, there are also professional fashion illustrators who insist on working independently. While mastering the basic techniques of illustration, they extend and explore the painting form of fashion illustration, and figure out their own style.

Pioneer fashion illustrator Velwyn Yossy has created a series of unique works. The smooth, clean lines and exaggerated, yet still appropriate proportions of the characters in his works show that he has always practiced a modernist aesthetic.

Velwyn Yossy

Another rising star, fashion illustrator Ernesto Artillo, takes fashion illustration in a more abstract direction. His unique visual expression breaks the public's traditional perception of fashion illustration.

Some of his recent surrealistic works combine motion and stillness, the virtual and the real, using hand-drawn collage to magnify the visual impact of illustration, giving the static fashion illustration some momentum.

Ernesto Artillo's work

His creative works are still published in magazines and exhibited all over the world, and Ernesto Artillo says: "I want to feel relaxed and excited when I see my work. It's the same in my life, I look for the balance and how I can break the status quo."

Ernesto Artillo's work

Even though the golden age of fashion illustration has passed, it is undeniable that fashion illustration still has a place in the fashion world, and at the same time, it contains high artistic value.

Fashion illustration is one of the few industries where business and art can be perfectly combined, and the constant emergence of sought-after illustration works has added to the possibility of fashion illustration's continued advancement.

JamesJean's dynamic fashion illustration works

After learning about these most popular and eye-catching fashion illustration works, we can all lift up our pencils and try to discover a new path of fashion illustration. You may be the next big hitter.

Highlights of the review:

[Editing, text/Chen Zhuo]

What are the art styles of illustration

1.Flat illustration

. Flat illustration is relatively strong versatility, because it is simple and intuitive, weakened the details and perspective, recognition and the degree of relatively faster, fit the young people on the lovely and cute aesthetic requirements, is the easiest to make the picture out of the overall effect of the technique; usually use the rules of the geometric shapes or irregular vector graphics to retain the object's original recognizable form, with a large color block, with simple graphics to make the subject form more abstract. Graphics to make the main form more abstract or minimalist, the use of a wide range of common posters, packaging, banners, App splash screen, game interfaces, and so on.

2. Gradient illustration.

Gradient illustration is characterized by a large number of low-saturation gradient techniques, and in the use of color is generally taken close to the color; its details are rich and delicate, the picture style is realistic, visually stable and atmospheric, so that the picture is very visually impactful and sense of hierarchy. Among them, gradient illustration is subdivided into two-color gradient, translucent gradient, grid gradient, gradient blur and other forms.

3. MBE illustration

. This illustration style is characterized by: simple, rounded and lovely, generally with a thick dark tracing lines, Q version of the cartoon image, rounded lines, vector drawn lines + surface combination of design styles, the overall very fresh, lovely tone, generally used in icons and blank interface reminders and so on.

4. Texture illustration.

The texture illustration is generally based on the basis of flat paintings, and finally integrated into the texture effect, and finally presented a texture, and there is a light and shadow effect of the picture; this painting method is generally not traced line, most of them are through the color of the dark and light to distinguish between each element; through the increase in the texture, miscellaneous colors, etc., to increase the level of the illustration and three-dimensional sense, can be effective in carving out the details of the work; to give a person a very simple feeling, relatively relaxed and casual; texture illustration is usually used to illustrate the picture of the screen. It gives people a very simple feeling, relatively easy and casual; the grain sense in the texture increases the details of the picture, but also more durable, but also more personal style.

5. Three-dimensional illustration.

The three-dimensional illustration can show three-dimensional things in two-dimensional space, bringing a sense of perspective and spatial sense to the picture and conveying information better.

6. Stroke illustration

. Stroke illustration can be simply understood as a combination of many lines and surfaces combined with the icon combined together, echoing each other to form a large picture, more with the stroke of the processing; more use of lines and strokes, the overall picture is relatively clean and tidy, commonly used in H5/App; in the application of the stroke of the thickness of the contrast to be measured whether it is in line with the norm.

7. Paper-cut illustrations.

Paper-cut style illustration is to use paper-cutting illustration, through cutting, stacking and layering paper-cut to create different content. Compared with the traditional flat illustration, paper-cut illustration can make the picture more layered and three-dimensional sense, the form is also more novel and interesting.

8. National wave illustration.

The national tide in recent years is highly respected, in short, the national tide is based on Chinese culture and tradition, fashion, style and tone in one, is the traditional and modern cultural trends collision, it is the Oriental aesthetics of the best show. Therefore, the illustration integrates the national trend culture, accelerates the communication strength of the picture, and has a more fashionable sense; at the same time, it also gives the brand more symbols and cultural values. The brand can use this as a way to bring out its infinite charm and marketing potential.

9. Light and shadow illustration.

Light and shadow illustration can utilize the combination of light and shadow to maximize the atmosphere of the picture, which is a perfect collision of imagination and reality. Through the darkness and shadow level changes, so that the visual sense of three-dimensional, so as to form a solid image, so that the picture is more attractive and sense of visual space.

10. Hand-drawn illustrations.

Hand-drawn illustration is one of the most primitive illustration techniques, it is a test of the creator's form and painting skills; through the use of hand-drawn texture and graphics to intuitively convey the emotion of the language of art and design, which allows the audience to more directly accept the emotion, very intuitive image and real life sense and rapid emotional infectivity, more than other forms of illustration of a kind of humane meaning. Mostly used in artistic activities or animation, poster design, the overall flamboyant and casual, with a lot of life atmosphere, very affinity.