Illustration online: the exhibitions and events you can enjoy from home this autumn
Although galleries and museums have begun to reopen throughout the UK, many events continue to be held virtually - an experience that perhaps suits illustration better than any other art form - meaning that you can discover new artists from across the globe and learn new skills from the comfort of your home. Here are Cluster Journal’s top picks of the exhibitions, events, and masterclasses that you can enjoy online this autumn.
Image Via Marinda Tacchia
Association of Illustrators
World Illustration Awards 2020
Anurita Argal Acharya : Nukkad Ki Darji via AOI
Jonny Glover : Mural for The Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health Via AOI
The AOI’s World Illustration Awards (which are organised in partnership with the USA-based Directory of Illustration) highlight inspiring work being made by illustrators worldwide, with this year’s call for entries titled ‘Be Ambitious, Be Seen, Be Celebrated!’ The Awards’ judging panel includes leading industry names such as D.W. Pine from TIME, illustrator Axel Scheffler, and Erich Nagler, Lead Art Director for Google Doodles, who have chosen a shortlist of 200 works from over 4,300 entries. All works from the shortlist will be featured in a new online showcase from September 2020, offering an insight into the stories behind the projects. Category and overall winners will be announced on 21 October, launching an online celebration programme exploring many different aspects of the illustration industry through virtual events and presentations.
Jo Junghee : Island Via AOI
Fil OK, The Audience, New Talent Alternative Publishing Shortlist Image Via Digital Arts
Fabio Buonocore, Professional Science and Technology Image Via Digital Arts
Adobe MAX 2020
Unlike previous editions of Adobe’s annual creative conference, which have been held in cities throughout the USA, Europe, and Japan, Adobe MAX 2020 will be a virtual event held from 20 - 22 October, and will be free for anyone with an Adobe ID account. The conference promises to be ‘a uniquely immersive and engaging digital experience, guaranteed to inspire’, offering over 350 sessions in illustration and digital printing, graphic design, social media, and creativity and design in business. Registration is open here now.
Wallen Diaz Via Adobe MAX
The V&A Illustration Awards
Established in 1972, the V&A Illustration Awards have become the UK’s most prestigious annual illustration competition, and celebrate three categories of contemporary practice: book cover design, book illustration and illustrated journalism. This year’s award winners demonstrate the versatility and breadth of contemporary illustration, with subjects ranging from the use (and abuse) of Twitter in politics, and the realities of life in a refugee camp, to imaginative journeys through fairytales and fantasy worlds. Due to Coronavirus it was not possible to display the Award’s winning illustrations in the Museum’s galleries this year, but they can be enjoyed in an online gallery here.
Student Sally Dunne - Home in the Kakuma Refugee Camp via V&A
Pictoplasma in Isolation
Another major event to have moved online due to the impact of Coronavirus is Pictoplasma, an annual symposium and festival devoted to contemporary character design, which this year will be fully virtual, and will offer more than 30 artist talks, animation screenings, and live workshops from September 18 - 19, all free of charge. Register here.
Artist Cristina Daura Image Via Pictoplasma
Joseph Melhuish Image Via Pictoplasma
Genie Espinosa Image Via Pictoplasma
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival Live
From 9 - 11 October comic enthusiasts can enjoy the first virtual edition of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, a carefully curated weekend of largely free, pre-recorded and live events and workshops featuring a range of British and international guests. The Festival will include a dedicated strand of programming, Infinity and Beyond, focused on the cutting edge of comics in the digital sphere, through technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality, presented by creators and companies at the forefront of this fast-developing, ground-breaking evolution to the medium.
Thank you for reading,
Rebecca Wall & Cluster Illustration.