Brian's ipad

I had the opportunity to visit Brian Grimwood’s exhibition at The Works Gallery in London. I had bought the book to accompany the exhibition before I went but I didn’t look through until I’d been. I didn’t want to travel all that way to see his exhibition, to have already seen his best work in the book. I thought it was a bit like when you see a trailer for a movie and when you go to see the movie, you have already seen the best bits in the trailer. Not only that, I didn’t want to have to pay inflated book prices in art galleries.

Anyway, I was gutted to find that when I got there, they were selling the book off cheap… typical. I felt smug with myself up to that point, and then I just felt stupid.

To my surprise, Brian Grimwood was actually there at The Works Gallery and he was going to talk to us about his work. It was a really good opportunity.

The first thing that struck me was how much like Picasso some of his drawing were. He had spent his life perfecting his technique into a strong, fluid, bold style that was very distinct and it can be spotted a mile away. He can really draw, and although his style appears free, when you see him work, its actually quite controlled.

He started work young and soon became freelance. He has worked all over the world and has established an illustration agency called the CIA.

His early work is clean and the quality is exceptional. It is clear he knows how to use his materials. His painting technique is so good, and in his gouache work, the colour is seamless and flat.

As his career progresses his work develops movement and his work then becomes what I can describe as painterly and stylized. He once described himself as a Commercial Artist and I think that’s right. Some of his work blurs a line between art and illustration and I like that.

Some of his portraits are simple and brilliant. I really am drawn to his black and white images. I like the fact that I can clearly see his experimentation. He was very generous with the knowledge he has gained throughout his career. (Apart from how he got his gouache paint colour so flat, he kept that to himself.)

I could go on about how interesting I find it all; however, there is a ‘but’ in all this.

He has recently started working on the ipad. He has discovered that he can draw digitally using free apple software and upload it to his clients within seconds. He gave us a demo on how he does it. As he showed us, my heart began to sink. I thought to myself ‘ He is very excited about his ipad work but I think it’s a bit rudimentary.’ He was using digital brush tools and he loved it. He was working on one layer and changing colour's with his digital swatch.

My point isn’t to protest that he abandoning his drawing and painting skills for the digital art board, or that his digital brush strokes were obvious and sometimes tacky, but that he was raving on about his digital switch over as though people haven’t been designing solely on mac’s and pc’s for years. He saw his ipad as a separate tool from other computers. I just didn’t get it. He said he doesn’t like working in the Illustrator software, which I found hard to understand, but I think he likes his current software because it’s simple. I’m sure as he travels around, speaking to many young art students, I won’t be the only one to think this.

I then realized that if I was him, and I had built up my reputation and style like he had over the years, I could draw pretty much what I wanted and it would still sell and people would say how great it was. (Even if the brush strokes were tacky and the colour’s a bit limited - in a factory setting kind of way). To be honest, he can draw what he likes and it doesn’t matter anymore, quite simply because he is Brian Grimwood.

I follow Brian on facebook and despite my reservations about his ipad work, I can see why he has earned the right to be crowned the man who changed British Illustration and I respect that.

Following the Grimwood exhibition I went to Images 36. It was an Illustration exhibition at Somerset House. Image 36 is an independent, judge selected illustration competition organized by the Association Of Illustrators (AOI). It was established in 1976 to promote British illustrators. It showed work in varying techniques and genres, for example; editorial illustration, book covers and children’s illustration. One of Brian Grimwood’s book covers was there too.

The quality of the work was exceptional. I didn’t like every piece but I appreciated the quality of workmanship.

I felt as I looked at the digital work, I was justified in my reservations about Grimwood’s digital ipad work, but maybe I’m missing the point?

What did I learn from the day?

Well, I learnt that Brian Grimwood is a very professional, approachable man who knows his craft and is embracing change even in the later years of his career. I learnt that he likes serendipity and he said that accidents are good and when they look good, they can give birth to style. I also came to see clearly that if I was to make a career in illustration, I’m going to have to work hard. I could see the immense variety of styles around me and I feel very fortunate to be apart of the very clever, edgy, professional world of illustration. (Even though I’m not there yet.)

The best bit however, was the trip home. My friend and I talked about our work and we motivated each other to try harder.  You see, looking outward at others is really helpful and informative but looking inward at yourself is progression.