Roderick Mills
"At a fast changing time for illustration as a discipline, the recognition of change and the need to anticipate further developments has become paramount for educators."
ICON10 The Illustration Conference Detroit USA
Roderick is Course Leader for the BA(Hons) Illustration Course at the University of Brighton, PhD Supervisor Doctoral College, PhD Examiner, member of the Illustration Educators network, & Co-founder of the MOKITA Illustration Forum. Was a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Illustrators for nine years.
External Examiner for BA(Hons) Communication Design Glasgow School of Art, MA Communication Design - Illustration Kingston University London.
Has delivered keynote speeches, academic papers and presentations internationally including: Illustration Across Media: Nineteenth Century to Now Norman Rockwell Museum/Washington University in St. Louis Missouri USA, ICON10 The Illustration Conference Detroit Michigan USA, ICON9 The Illustration Conference Austin Texas USA, 5th International Illustration Research Symposium Bangalore India, CONFIA International Conference on Illustration and Animation Porto Portugal, ILUSTRAFIC Valencia Spain, Towards a Graphic Culture: Studying Drawing Florence Italy, Drawing Now Paris France, and VaroomLab. Writing explores the changing nature of illustration as a practice, the impact of technology, and the future spaces for illustration including the online.
Is an artists and illustrator based in London represented by Heart Artists' Agents in London and New York. Studied BA(Hons) Illustration Kingston University and MA(RCA) Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art.
Roderick's practice based research explores narrative and visual storytelling, the space between static illustration and animation, and an ongoing interest in performative and situated illustration. Roderick uses various media from drawing, writing, film and animation, with a growing interest in writing and curatorial opportunities for visual storytelling, and exploring the future spaces for illustration.
In tandem to illustration Roderick is an award winning film maker, having shown his first film 'Immortal Stories' at various international film festivals.
Supervisors: PhD Supervisor Doctoral College University of Brighton
ICON10 The Illustration Conference Detroit USA
Roderick is Course Leader for the BA(Hons) Illustration Course at the University of Brighton, PhD Supervisor Doctoral College, PhD Examiner, member of the Illustration Educators network, & Co-founder of the MOKITA Illustration Forum. Was a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Illustrators for nine years.
External Examiner for BA(Hons) Communication Design Glasgow School of Art, MA Communication Design - Illustration Kingston University London.
Has delivered keynote speeches, academic papers and presentations internationally including: Illustration Across Media: Nineteenth Century to Now Norman Rockwell Museum/Washington University in St. Louis Missouri USA, ICON10 The Illustration Conference Detroit Michigan USA, ICON9 The Illustration Conference Austin Texas USA, 5th International Illustration Research Symposium Bangalore India, CONFIA International Conference on Illustration and Animation Porto Portugal, ILUSTRAFIC Valencia Spain, Towards a Graphic Culture: Studying Drawing Florence Italy, Drawing Now Paris France, and VaroomLab. Writing explores the changing nature of illustration as a practice, the impact of technology, and the future spaces for illustration including the online.
Is an artists and illustrator based in London represented by Heart Artists' Agents in London and New York. Studied BA(Hons) Illustration Kingston University and MA(RCA) Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art.
Roderick's practice based research explores narrative and visual storytelling, the space between static illustration and animation, and an ongoing interest in performative and situated illustration. Roderick uses various media from drawing, writing, film and animation, with a growing interest in writing and curatorial opportunities for visual storytelling, and exploring the future spaces for illustration.
In tandem to illustration Roderick is an award winning film maker, having shown his first film 'Immortal Stories' at various international film festivals.
Supervisors: PhD Supervisor Doctoral College University of Brighton
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Books by Roderick Mills
Roderick Mills
ABSTRACT
With the advent of globalisation, digital technology, the Internet, social media and economic forces, the meaning of what can be illustration is profoundly changing as the practice moves beyond being grounded in print. The instinct to produce authorial work alongside the commercial practice is well established these days for a sustainable career, and collaborative practices are rapidly becoming commonplace amongst Illustrators, if not an essential need, beyond the traditional sole practitioner model. The forms of illustration are evolving past print publishing and the commercial template to also include sculptural, experiential, and moving image work, reflecting the accelerated nature of the creative industry, and a possible paradigm shift in our understanding of what is illustration.
In the preceding five years illustration has grown both in terms of recognition by the public and its popularity as a subject to study. In a world more dominated by image, the discipline is coming to terms with the migration of work from print to web based platforms, offering the opportunities of illustration within a timeline, encouraging the potential of motion, interactivity and participation within the work, challenging the roles of image and communication. This blurring of definition comes at a time when illustration is becoming more craft-like, and authentic through the handmade and the autographic, at the same time more digital as our interactions with everyday life become increasingly immaterial and mobile. Alongside this social networks have enabled illustrators to develop their own brands through the cultivation of audience across social networks.
This chapter will seek to explore the new territorials that illustrators inhabit, suggesting future directions and new approaches for the discipline, including visual storytelling, reportage/journalistic roles, hybrid/multidisciplinary practices, Illustration as environment. Speculating on the future discussions around the discipline and noting some of the significant changes that have influenced illustrators and how possibly what the role of the illustrator is ahead.
KEY WORDS
Authorial
Hybrid / multidisciplinary
Research and education
Community
Illustration online
“These three fields require a high degree of collaboration with
artists, producers, story editors, directors, programmers, and
any number of other people in both the executive and creative
ends of the business.This is most emphatically true for animation
and games. Depending on the project, you will receive
notes and feedback from any variety of people. In animation,
from story editor, producers, more producers, the producer’s
pet sitter, maybe a toy executive—whoever is allowed to have a
say. In comics, primarily the editor, but your artist must feel
that he or she is an integral part of a team, not a hired hand.
In games, you might get feedback from anyone on the design
team—publisher, producer, designers, programmers, animators,
and so on.”
Christy Marx, in the preface of her book Writing for Animation,
Comics and Games, pg. xix.
We open our book of proceedings with the words of Christy Marx,
mainly because CONFIA 2013 - International Conference on
Illustration and Animation aims to be synonymous with plurality,
multiplicity and interdisciplinarity. Our teamwork and above all
our passion are ever present in CONFIA’s areas of focus: illustration
and animation.
We started with the need to build critical mass around the subjects
we research and teach in our educational institution - graphic
design, illustration and animation in graduate and postgraduate
programs - and today, we are proud to present another edition of
CONFIA. It is very important that this opportunity serve as a moment
for reflection and questioning, as it is not possible to understand
illustration and animation in a contemporary world without
thinking of the strong growth experienced by both fields in recent
years. Their ability to adapt everyday to new visual languages,
mainly due to the constant pressure exerted by constant technological
developments, is also a key factor. Both illustration and
animation have been showing strong signs of being autonomous,
inside the broader areas of art and technology. We therefore believe that these two collaborative subjects have shown that
there is a wide space for discussion and a vast field for research
practice. Indeed, this international conference represents a meeting
point for researchers from around the world, with speakers
from all continents joining us this year. As we write these words,
we are already certain that the second edition of CONFIA will be
successful for two reasons: first, the high quality of the papers we
received, and second, the multiplicity of activities carried out by
the authors in the present edition.
The conference features a wide range of specialists, lecturers,
researchers and illustration and animation artists, who are often
active in both theory and practice, which makes the debate and
the quality of proposals richer. We go from theory to practice and
then return to theory. This translates into the 45 selected papers
in this publication, covering a variety of broad subjects such as
drawing/illustration, animation and art theory. The content discusses
specific areas of knowledge including traditional drawing,
contemporary drawing, graphic illustration, information graphics,
editorial illustration, illustration for children, character design,
comics & graphic novels, scientific Illustration, 2D and 3D animation,
animation for video games, character animation, animation
for virtual and augmented reality, animation in interactive media,
motion graphics, sound and animation, linear storytelling, creative
writing, visual culture, interactive storytelling, narrative and
non-narrative animation illustration and animation pedagogy and
authorship in animation and illustration.
In such a diverse context, we are pleased to have as guest
keynote speakers Professor Paul Wells of Loughborough University,
director of the Animation Academy, and Professor Martin
Salisbury of Anglia Ruskin University, with extensive research
experience in animation and illustration, respectively - which
strengthens the link between research and practice in the resulting
academic debate.
So with the mission of discussing these issues, challenges, opportunities
and trends related to everything from tradition to the
constant new developments and applications, the overall objectives
for the conference were achieved and now lie in the readers’
hands: to present new ideas, new technological developments that
fulfill the requirements of the market and practical,
state-of-the-art solutions; to provide guidance for further research
and development; and to strengthen the bridge between research
and practice.
Welcome to CONFIA 2013
Paula Tavares and Pedro Mota Teixeira
Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Portugal
Papers by Roderick Mills
Marshal McLuhan identified our tendency to use old frames of mind in the new frames of media and technology we invent, he called it the Rearview Mirror. As illustration has expanded beyond traditional forms through technology, it is no longer confined to the printed page. It is more ambiguous, temporal and immaterial, something that you may experience or interact with in a post digital age. We have moved away from the literary and binary to the visual-Instagram and the GIF are straight to the point, have immediacy, have speed, and with the advent of social media has arguably driven the widespread popularity of Illustration, changing how we value images-diversifying those who call themselves illustrators, who in turn are changing what we think of as illustration. According to UNISTATS in the United Kingdom there are 124 undergraduate courses with the word Illustration in their title. This proliferation of Illustration as a subject of study has dramatically changed what it means to study illustration thus mirroring the changing nature of the discipline professionally, and what it might mean to be an educator today.
https://www.grafik.net/category/heroes/wright-stuff
Talks by Roderick Mills
'The Daily Practice of Drawing: Looking & Visual Play' - A talk exploring drawing, research, and teaching practice at ESAD Escola Superior de Artes e Design Matosinhos Portugal in 2015.
'Drawing is not what you see, but what you make others see.'
Edgar Degas
A reflective talk on drawing within illustration and pedagogy.
Provocations:
Drawing as Research
Drawing as Performative Act
Communication
Craft / Technology
Mindfulness
Roderick Mills
ABSTRACT
With the advent of globalisation, digital technology, the Internet, social media and economic forces, the meaning of what can be illustration is profoundly changing as the practice moves beyond being grounded in print. The instinct to produce authorial work alongside the commercial practice is well established these days for a sustainable career, and collaborative practices are rapidly becoming commonplace amongst Illustrators, if not an essential need, beyond the traditional sole practitioner model. The forms of illustration are evolving past print publishing and the commercial template to also include sculptural, experiential, and moving image work, reflecting the accelerated nature of the creative industry, and a possible paradigm shift in our understanding of what is illustration.
In the preceding five years illustration has grown both in terms of recognition by the public and its popularity as a subject to study. In a world more dominated by image, the discipline is coming to terms with the migration of work from print to web based platforms, offering the opportunities of illustration within a timeline, encouraging the potential of motion, interactivity and participation within the work, challenging the roles of image and communication. This blurring of definition comes at a time when illustration is becoming more craft-like, and authentic through the handmade and the autographic, at the same time more digital as our interactions with everyday life become increasingly immaterial and mobile. Alongside this social networks have enabled illustrators to develop their own brands through the cultivation of audience across social networks.
This chapter will seek to explore the new territorials that illustrators inhabit, suggesting future directions and new approaches for the discipline, including visual storytelling, reportage/journalistic roles, hybrid/multidisciplinary practices, Illustration as environment. Speculating on the future discussions around the discipline and noting some of the significant changes that have influenced illustrators and how possibly what the role of the illustrator is ahead.
KEY WORDS
Authorial
Hybrid / multidisciplinary
Research and education
Community
Illustration online
“These three fields require a high degree of collaboration with
artists, producers, story editors, directors, programmers, and
any number of other people in both the executive and creative
ends of the business.This is most emphatically true for animation
and games. Depending on the project, you will receive
notes and feedback from any variety of people. In animation,
from story editor, producers, more producers, the producer’s
pet sitter, maybe a toy executive—whoever is allowed to have a
say. In comics, primarily the editor, but your artist must feel
that he or she is an integral part of a team, not a hired hand.
In games, you might get feedback from anyone on the design
team—publisher, producer, designers, programmers, animators,
and so on.”
Christy Marx, in the preface of her book Writing for Animation,
Comics and Games, pg. xix.
We open our book of proceedings with the words of Christy Marx,
mainly because CONFIA 2013 - International Conference on
Illustration and Animation aims to be synonymous with plurality,
multiplicity and interdisciplinarity. Our teamwork and above all
our passion are ever present in CONFIA’s areas of focus: illustration
and animation.
We started with the need to build critical mass around the subjects
we research and teach in our educational institution - graphic
design, illustration and animation in graduate and postgraduate
programs - and today, we are proud to present another edition of
CONFIA. It is very important that this opportunity serve as a moment
for reflection and questioning, as it is not possible to understand
illustration and animation in a contemporary world without
thinking of the strong growth experienced by both fields in recent
years. Their ability to adapt everyday to new visual languages,
mainly due to the constant pressure exerted by constant technological
developments, is also a key factor. Both illustration and
animation have been showing strong signs of being autonomous,
inside the broader areas of art and technology. We therefore believe that these two collaborative subjects have shown that
there is a wide space for discussion and a vast field for research
practice. Indeed, this international conference represents a meeting
point for researchers from around the world, with speakers
from all continents joining us this year. As we write these words,
we are already certain that the second edition of CONFIA will be
successful for two reasons: first, the high quality of the papers we
received, and second, the multiplicity of activities carried out by
the authors in the present edition.
The conference features a wide range of specialists, lecturers,
researchers and illustration and animation artists, who are often
active in both theory and practice, which makes the debate and
the quality of proposals richer. We go from theory to practice and
then return to theory. This translates into the 45 selected papers
in this publication, covering a variety of broad subjects such as
drawing/illustration, animation and art theory. The content discusses
specific areas of knowledge including traditional drawing,
contemporary drawing, graphic illustration, information graphics,
editorial illustration, illustration for children, character design,
comics & graphic novels, scientific Illustration, 2D and 3D animation,
animation for video games, character animation, animation
for virtual and augmented reality, animation in interactive media,
motion graphics, sound and animation, linear storytelling, creative
writing, visual culture, interactive storytelling, narrative and
non-narrative animation illustration and animation pedagogy and
authorship in animation and illustration.
In such a diverse context, we are pleased to have as guest
keynote speakers Professor Paul Wells of Loughborough University,
director of the Animation Academy, and Professor Martin
Salisbury of Anglia Ruskin University, with extensive research
experience in animation and illustration, respectively - which
strengthens the link between research and practice in the resulting
academic debate.
So with the mission of discussing these issues, challenges, opportunities
and trends related to everything from tradition to the
constant new developments and applications, the overall objectives
for the conference were achieved and now lie in the readers’
hands: to present new ideas, new technological developments that
fulfill the requirements of the market and practical,
state-of-the-art solutions; to provide guidance for further research
and development; and to strengthen the bridge between research
and practice.
Welcome to CONFIA 2013
Paula Tavares and Pedro Mota Teixeira
Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Portugal
Marshal McLuhan identified our tendency to use old frames of mind in the new frames of media and technology we invent, he called it the Rearview Mirror. As illustration has expanded beyond traditional forms through technology, it is no longer confined to the printed page. It is more ambiguous, temporal and immaterial, something that you may experience or interact with in a post digital age. We have moved away from the literary and binary to the visual-Instagram and the GIF are straight to the point, have immediacy, have speed, and with the advent of social media has arguably driven the widespread popularity of Illustration, changing how we value images-diversifying those who call themselves illustrators, who in turn are changing what we think of as illustration. According to UNISTATS in the United Kingdom there are 124 undergraduate courses with the word Illustration in their title. This proliferation of Illustration as a subject of study has dramatically changed what it means to study illustration thus mirroring the changing nature of the discipline professionally, and what it might mean to be an educator today.
https://www.grafik.net/category/heroes/wright-stuff
'The Daily Practice of Drawing: Looking & Visual Play' - A talk exploring drawing, research, and teaching practice at ESAD Escola Superior de Artes e Design Matosinhos Portugal in 2015.
'Drawing is not what you see, but what you make others see.'
Edgar Degas
A reflective talk on drawing within illustration and pedagogy.
Provocations:
Drawing as Research
Drawing as Performative Act
Communication
Craft / Technology
Mindfulness
Responding to the travel writing of Nicholas Bouvier's The Way of the World, the set of drawings are based upon a journey across Iran in the 1950's. Roderick is interested in the traveller's half-glimpse visions of cities, flickering architectural scenes viewed across the landscape, impressionistic in tone of partially remembered cities and colours. Reminiscent of early film technology, of motion, of domestic memories caught on Super 8 film footage. Using archive reference material of palaces and gardens, Roderick uses seeped out colours to depict transitory memories. The ink of the felt-tip pens used will naturally be affected by light in time, not unlike chemical based photography-the drawings are not entirely fixed, and the image will continue to develop exposed to light. The compositions of lines create tonal shapes that interplay with representation and abstraction, moiré like, making the drawings transparent, almost ethereal yet recognizable.
Roderick Mills 2012
‘… Style is often felt to be a form of insincerity: evidence of the artist’s intrusion upon his materials, which should be allowed to deliver themselves in a pure state.’
Susan Sontag - On Style
The subject has been explored in the current issue Varoom 22 Illustration Report and discussed at Crowd Talks Style event at Hoxton Gallery. This is an opportunity to further debate and define the term. With an invited panel of speakers and guest chair, both sides of the case will made pitching style versus content, imitation versus sincerity, and semiotics versus aesthetics. Speakers include George Hardie, Lawrence Zeegen, Luise Vormittag, Catrin Morgan, Ian Wright, Crowd Talks and John O’Reilly. Both the divergent and emergent aspects of 21st-century illustration will be examined in this latest installment, intended to make a fit-for-purpose architecture for the subject.
Roderick Mills & Rosie Pedlow
2006, single channel, 05.08 mins
Fragmented vignettes weave and divide in a film that plays with Hollywood’s portrayal of cancer. In ‘the movies’ it is nearly always the young, talented and beautiful who die from this disease even though cancer is most often the product of aging as cells divide over and over.
http://www.folkprojects.net
Intrinsically there is a visibility about the subject, not only as an act but increasingly for those calling themselves illustrators, with a widening demographic, who I would argue are changing what we mean by illustration. Through social media, especially platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have radically changed the relationship between artist and audience, commissioner and buyer on a global level. This is dynamic and constantly evolving, as is the relationship between practice and research, and the student with the university/institution. Perhaps because illustration isn’t confined to a form, a medium, a theoretical framework, it can exist purely as image beyond text, with a greater relevance in today’s world? Anyone can be visible now and perhaps anyone can be an illustrator now, in the context of AI technology?
In the past 12 years there has been the establishment of an illustration research culture and of the studies in illustration, there are print publications reflecting this now and a growing network of conferences establishing the critical discourse in the subject. Illustration Research, Varoom Lab, CONFIA, ILLUSTR4TIO, and even ICON The Illustration Conference incorporates an educators symposium.
Interestingly ICON separates education from the main stage events, in most cases at a different venue. Whilst there is a burgeoning research community within illustration, the white elephant in the room is arguably the lack of impact on the professional world of illustration? This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the academic/research world and how it interacts/effects with the professional (vocational) world.