LONDON.- The Association of Illustrators, in partnership with the Directory of Illustration in California, announced category winners of the World Illustration Awards.
This year’s winning entries were selected by a panel of international judges from all aspects of the industry including commissioners, publishers and artists, such as Alexandra Zsigmond, Designer at the New York Times, Matt Smith, Creative at Australian public broadcaster SBS and London-based Jonathan Hubbard, Creative Director and Founder of The Clearing.
Zan Boag, Editor-in-Chief of New Philosopher and Editorial Director of Womankind magazine said after the initial shortlisting: “A wonderful bunch of entries, I look forward to discussing the favourites with the other judges. I think these are all excellent artworks - I would commission all of these artists in an instant.”
Category winners include a characterful portrait of Bill Murray for the Washington Post by US-based artist Tony Rodriguez, which was lauded by the jury for its strong composition and well executed traditional technique that captures the subject perfectly and in a unique style. Claudine O’Sullivan’s complex digital illustrations for the Apple Pencil Campaign were commended by the jury for their superb technique: “Flawlessly executed: can’t stop myself from staring at the pencil's mesmerizing effect, it's quite original” - judge Gabe Usadel. Lizzy Stewart’s playful and vibrant illustrations for children’s book ‘There’s a Tiger in the Garden’ were an immediate favourite with the category jury thanks to their full texture and character which reflect the key scenes from the book. Up-and-coming British talent Bethan Woollvin’s college project ‘Little Red’ delighted the jury with its simple yet powerful imagery, portraying a contemporary retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with an androgynous protagonist, who could be seen as a relatable role model to all children.
Environmental themes are addressed with works by Chen Winner, whose educational animation made for CNN titled ‘Econundrum’ shows the consequences of buying bottled water, while the imaginative series of illustrations titled ‘Yen Town - The Last Unpolluted Territory’ by Sam Ki, depict a unity of humanity and the natural world.
Also of note is Marguerite Carnec’s series ‘Lieu de Vie’ which documents the artist’s time spent volunteering in The Jungle refugee camp in Calais and was skillfully created using a monoprint technique.
All category winners will feature in an exhibition at Somerset House from 31 July to 28 August. With over 2,300 entries from 64 countries for this year’s World Illustration Awards, the exhibition will showcase 50 shortlisted projects across the eight categories, from Advertising and Design to Books and Editorial, offering an accessible introduction to illustration in its many forms, and demonstrating the importance of visual communication in everyday life. Original exhibited works on display will include animations, posters, packaging and children’s books by artists from the UK, USA, Italy, The Netherlands, South Korea, Hong Kong and Israel.
This year, The World Illustration Awards is teaming up with Walker Books, the world's leading independent publisher of English-language children's books, to offer the Walker Books Family Programme. A series of free family workshops will take place throughout August in the exhibition space at Somerset House. These include workshops with debut author-illustrator Alice Tait, award-winning author-illustrator of the ‘Julius Zebra’ series Gary Northfield, upcoming artist and illustrator Elissa Elwick, and debut graffiti illustrator Sav Akyuz.
