The document discusses trends in the field of illustration, focusing on growth areas. It analyzes that illustration as a specialized skill is a growing area of the industry, with new avenues for employment created in 3D sculpting, animation, and fantasy artwork, especially for the game and movie industries. Key growth areas are identified as conceptual art, 3D sculpting, and animation, which require intensive training in applications like Mudbox and Zbrush. New ways of producing work digitally through applications allow designers to create animated and 3D artwork.

2. INTRODUCTION
This article is a personal journey of discovery around the specialty of
Illustration, and whether I see a future career for myself emerging in this
area. Through this article I will focus on current and future trends as a way
of determining the potential growth of the industry.
The term Illustrator does not just mean a commercial artist anymore. Gone
are the days of sitting at an easel or desk and pumping out commercial art by
hand. I have found that most of the current work today is generated through
advanced illustration and design programs, unless you are creating a unique
hand drawn or painted illustration for a client. The one thing I learn’t during
my past career in print and design is that Illustration is a much needs skill
in the graphic design industry and to be trained in the most current applica-
tions and techniques is a necessity to advancement.
There are many areas an Illustrator can specialise in; from editorial,
advertising, publishing, and even medicine and science. But two areas of
increasing growth for Illustrators are that of 3D Sculpting in the Gaming
industry and Animation.
Both these trends are growing in popularity already, and large game devel-
opers understand the value of this form of illustration to add visual interest
and reality to their games. What is used a lot is anime a style of Japanese film
and animation techniques which enhances Fantasy art making with some
spectacular graphics that are life like. Research states that we should see a
continuing growth in this area, but also in more sophisticated art such as 3D
sculpting. (Mike Griggs freelancer 3D, VFX, mograph artist and technical
writer http://www.creativebloq.com/3d/animation-trends-2015-111413522).
Piotr Siedlecki 3d Game
Illustrator
Face of the Dragon

3. ILLUSTRATION
An analysis on the current state of the
area. Is it
expanding or shrinking
This area of the Graphic Design Industry is expanding be-
cause of the following trends: The game industry as it’s one
of the biggest growth areas.
Other trends found were minimalist designs for logo’s and
branding, custom illustrations and interactive animation,
designing with shapes in the form of icons, logos, back-
grounds and repeated patterns in both web and print. This
information was researched at these internet sites FIDM
Digital Arts, Creative Bloq Oxygen, Linkidin .
The sorts of skills a designer would need to have to capitalize on
these trends:
You need to have some skills in basic drawing and design techniques . An eye for detail and keep on
improving on what you have learn’t. anime, manga, Sketchbook graphic skills 2d and 3d Sculpting,
would be an advantage if you are interested in this area of illustrating. Experience in the film industry
could be of benefit for some artists.
The following information I found while writing this article would help a designer who is interested
in learning in this area. From (FIDM Digital Arts) they stated that the term for “sketchbook” graphics
would be a key trend which was forecasted by WGSN a trend forcaster in fashion and design.
Single-line doodles and rudimentary mark-making create quick, expressive motifs, as though
scanned from a sketchbook. This skill was used and is being used by a lot by designers when
doing branding see example below. (http://blog.fidmdigitalarts.com/graphic-design-trends-2015/)
The biggest area of expansion other than the drawing and art skills above is online games and movie
production ie animation and fantasy character design. With the latest trends being some artists fol-
lowing the likes of the late Japanese Anime’ Artist Hayao Miyazaki. The other skills trending in game
design would be conceptual artistry and learning the different aspects of sculpting.
This style of art has been developed to use mainly in the game industry but could be used in a variety
of ways in other areas. Three of the more popular applications now being used by 3d artists are Mudd,
Zbrush and Maya. (Jack Gilson, lead artist at Wooga stated 3d artists are increasingly in demand .)

4. Where/How a designer could pick up these skills:
If you have finished high school or want to change your present profession I would suggest
taking a small course in a related skill that could give you a start on the basics of art and design.
To get the formal education I recommend a good design school online is now an option.
With the game industry you can learn the necessary skills at a recognised college but other places to im-
prove can be by watching tutorials on You tube and reading material from design related groups on the
internet such as Creative Bloq. If you want to pick up the skills in the game industry you may need
to learn a program like mudd a 3d sculpting program or Zbrush. At Lynda.com this learning provider
has excellent courses in most of these skills which is done online.
Joining professional groups is also recommended.
MUDBOX
3D Sculpting Programs
Summary:
Illustrating covers a wide area in Graphic Design anywhere an image is needed.
I have analysed and written about game design and how some of the trends seem to be in
this area for the future The area of Illustration as a specialised skill is a growing area of the industry .
An Illustrator can now work on-line as a freelancer or in a traditional studio work environment.
New ways of producing work using applications by designers so they can
produce animation and 3d artwork. IE Mud box, zbrush.
New avenue’s of employment have been created in 3d sculpting, storyboard
artist ,animation, anime’ and fantasy artwork.
Growth areas of Conceptual art, 3d Sculpting and animation for the game
And movie industry requires a lot of intense training and study on applications to be able to work profi-
ciently in the industry.

5. http://www.creativebloq.com/tag/3D/page-2
htmlhttp://oxygenagency.co.uk/graphic-design-trend-predictions-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki
http://blog.fidmdigitalarts.com/graphic-design-trends-2015/
www.aion.com
http://www.wgsn.com/en/fashion/services/
Artwork from FIDM , AION websites links above
References:
Being an all round skilled Illustrator that can do what is required for the client is the aim I think for
most in this specialised area as in all parts of being a designer.
I see growth in Fantasy and anime’ style’s done in many online game designs mainly for the Asian
markets but now popular world wide. I think the trend for retro looks although popular will change
as new trends come in the next couple of years. The use of shapes in design will I think continue
after reading up on the other trends from FIDM and Creative bloq. An example being Single-line
doodles and rudimentary mark-making create quick, expressive motifs, as though scanned from a
sketchbook. For examples of 3d sculpting visit AION and Eve online Many artists in these indus-
tries are using these skills as are many of the recent sandbox and virtual fantasy game designers and
I think it will continue to be a popular technique.
This skill of creating art with a sculpting technique is a wonderful concept of creating life like imag-
es. As I have said game design is an expanding market for artists who can do this style of art work
that is required. This area of Illustration is a great area to specialise in as are some of the other ones
already mentioned. I think its just finding your niche’ and working at it to be the best you can in the
art of Illustration.
Design Trend Examples
Fantasy artwork
Sketchbook Graphics,
minimilist branding and
3d Sculpting
Conclusion