Illustration is a dirty word, or at least was until recently. Neither truly accepted by the art establishment nor the design industry, illustration has battled on regardless. Derided as whimsical by artists and arty by designers, illustration had found itself existing in a no-manÕs-land between the two. In education the discipline has fared no better - rarely given more than just studio space, the student illustrator has learnt to bend the rules and break across borders to gain access to facilities and equipment to facilitate their work. So life as an illustrator is not for the faint-hearted, it takes massive determination to face the demands and rigours of a career choice that can feel vastly unsupported, but against these odds the discipline has mounted an impressive return to form. How and why?

According to The National Museum of Illustration in Rhode Island, USA, 'Illustrators combine personal expression with pictorial representation in order to convey ideasÕ - a useful description certainly, but one that falls short of fully capturing the essence of what the subject is or has been about. Describing the 'golden eraÕ, when magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post scoured the studios for great illustrators, Steven Heller the design writer and art director stated that 'Illustration was the peopleÕs artÕ. A sentiment echoed by the National Museum of Illustration - 'illustration serves as a reservoir of our social and cultural historyÕ, even going onto state - 'Illustration is therefore, a significant and enduring art formÕ.