I am a big fan of illustration and used to do a lot within my work, unfortunately time/budget constraints and cheap royalty free images means that it’s now a luxury to be able to illustrate, and it’s easy to get out of practice. I thought I would share with you some sources of inspiration for illustration that I have found on the web.
Illustration Friday has a new theme every Friday and invites illustrators to submit illustrations on a word/topic. The topic is usually fairly loose so you get a real mix of interpretations and styles. The illustrations can also be seen via Flickr.
Illustration Class is a website I mentioned when my blog was fairly new (so probably only me and an accidental stumbler read it 
), so I think it’s worth taking a look at again. The website written by Von Glitschka (illustrator/designer) is literally as the website’s name a series of illustration classes. Tutorials include creating an illustrative logo, creating illustrative icons, creating illustrations starting with basic shapes, collage illustration. The illustration exercises really remind me of the sort of creative exercises I did at college (all be it they were then by hand rather than on computer).
Amateur Illustrator
This site is a community for illustrators. I am not quite sure of the term amateur as some of the entries seem to be by practising designers/illustrators, none the less there is a wealth of different illustration styles to view here categorised by media/technique. You can also join the site and upload your own images and profile to the site.
Advocate Art
A large illustration agency based in the UK has a website featuring illustrations organised by artist and type (cartoon, graphic, figurative etc)
The I Spot
This is a site where lots of different artists/illustrators showcase their work
Drawn
“Drawn! is a multi-author blog devoted to illustration, art, cartooning and drawing. Its purpose is to inspire creativity by sharing links and resources.”
Vektorika Magazine
Mentioned before on this blog, Vektorika is a free downloadable PDF magazine of vector illustration from various artists – each issue is based on a theme ie. Love, character design etc.
Start Drawing
A portal for Asia’s illustrators and artists this site features a wide variety of illustration styles, well worth a look. Found via http://www.webdesignerwall.com
Smashing Magazine – Masters of Illustration
Smashing magazine showcases more than 100 illustrations from contemporary illustrators.
If anyone knows of any more I will be happy to add them to the list.
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12 Comments
Nice illustrations, Great work!
Oh, I like that Advocate Art site. Too bad some of it is restricted
I really like Glitchka’s work, too. He was mentioned on Freelance Switch a while ago with his keyboard characters, little illustrated critters on cardstock made to keep you company while you work. I really like his style!
Hi Welder, Lauren thanks for your comments
Lauren, those keyboard charactersare cute!
Great collection Tara. I hadn’t seen Illustration Friday or Advocate before. I might introduce “Photoshop Friday” on my blog!
Hi Jennifer Photoshop Friday sounds a good idea! Let me know if you decide to go ahead and I’ll post a link mentioning it (won’t be about next week – but can post the week after)
Good inspirational sites…thanks for posting those!
I wish I had more time to stay with it too, but like you say, cheap royalty free stock versus days of doing it myself with no guarantee it will be accepted is just too much of a gamble.
Wow, illustration overload. Fantastic. That Illustration Friday is wonderful. Oh, and VektorJunkie is just what I was looking for. Thanks for mentioning again; I somehow missed it the first time around.
Great post, Tara. I’m in illustration heaven.
Sorry to double post, but I just wanted to say that this is a very Diggable post. Tara is too modest to suggest it, so I suggest we Digg away. It’s a great collection of resources.
I’ve come to this post late but have enjoyed reading it. I’ve been checking out Illustration Friday for months and love it and hope to become a regular participant … as soon as I set up my own blog space … and as soon as I find the time to regularly put together illustrations I’m happy to publish online. I have had startdrawing.org on my RSS feed for some time now too and love seeing all the different work that is showcased there.
I too worry about the effect of low-cost stock illustrations and time/budget constraints when it comes to opportunities to incorporate my own illustrations into my work. I have been thinking for a while now about whether it’s possible to steer my work in directions which are either more illustration-friendly (maybe that’s one reason why I’m working in animation at the moment?) or developing a niche style. I haven’t had a lot of time to work at it lately, but it’s in the front of my mind.
Hi everyone sorry for the delay in responding, I have been on holiday “NO COMPUTER FOR A WEEK” got the jitters now
Hi Joe, I know what you mean you can spend hours on an illustration and then the client doesn’t like it anyway.
Hi Johno, Glad you found the suggestion useful – Vector Junkie is great, I have downloaded quite a few of the mags, maybe you should set up something like this with typography – something like a bimonthly PDF mag with submissions from your readers/fellow typographers? Thanks for the suggestions to DIGG too.
Hi Tracey, animation sounds like an excellent way to keep up with your illustration. I look forward to reading your new blog soon too
. Of course if ever you want to write a bit about animation or illustration for Graphic Design Blog you would be more than welcome too.
Those are definitely some of the nicest themes I’ve ever seen.
Nicely done!
Its awesome that Illustration Friday changes its theme every friday. I will go to Flickr and check out their illustrations. Illustrations are so important but as you say people dont always want to pay for the hours of work that goes into it.