This week we had the demonstration of a digital image, By Andrea Wicklund, that proved that plain digital expertise is not what makes an artist’s career, but what he/she is capable of doing as an artist.

She is a compulsive image maker, drawing since she was a kid on papers spread around the house by her mother, trying to save the walls from being promoted to “artistic support” by little Andrea.

She is former student of the Academy, which she attended 5 and 6 years ago (a curious fact: most of the illustrators have returned for a second year at the Academy, in consecutive years, but that’s a theme for another post), and her passion is creating Art with paints and paper. Digital production is a reality she is becoming used to, not for a long time, and she broke the paradigm of technical excellence or the necessity of merely mastering a software, down to pieces during her demo.

She knew exactly where she wanted to get with the image, and trust me, she rocks.

This photo, taken from the dark projection room, does not match the beauty of the original image she was making on her laptop, but the concept is clear:

ART is undead.

By the way, this is a current subject here at the Academy: Is illustration dead? is it dying? will it die any time soon?

Mark English said that this type of comment started the 60’s, and is still around to this day.

For the last 15 years, the Illustration Academy has been a living and breathing institution, gathering hundreds of students and dozens from around the world and of the most accomplished artists in America. During the 7 week program, students benefit from the expertise of these Masters, and have intense activities, in the studio and attending lectures and demos 7 days a week, anywhere between 12 to 18 hours a day, generally speaking, and depending on personal dedication by the students, of course.

Many of these students, such as Andrea Wicklund herself, Robin Eley, Edward Kinsella, Doug Chayka, John Hendrix, Jim Burke, Ernesto Nemesio, Kevin Chen, Jamie Morris, Scott Henderson, Alexander Klingspor, among many others, succeeded national and internationally, and one of them, Sterling Hundley, is one of the most solicited and renowned illustrators of America these days.

He has become a legend himself, to artists young and old, and in his 30’s has already received 3 prizes from the Society of Illustrators. He is quickly paving his way to the Hall of Fame, and his name is already part of the History of illustration.

Not bad for a business who is said to be on its death bed long before I was born, and look, I am in my early 40’s.

Lady Illustration, believe it or not, looks very healthy, strong and beautiful, at least from my point of view.

A very hot old lady, I dare to say.

This respectable madam is still bringing joy to our lives everyday, and hopefully will keep serving the bread on our tables for many years yet to come.