Fibs and fripperies: References to the real in digital illustration

Abstract

Abstract This article considers the phenomenon of illustrators digitally mimicking traces of the handmade as ornament. It will explore whether these decorative tendencies are Adolf Loos' backward or degenerative tendency, or a generous contribution to our visual environment. It will ask why illustrators falsify the smudges, spills, textures and shadows of paper-based work within the digital workspace, what is gained and lost by doing so, and for whom? These questions will be explored in relation to interviews with two contemporary editorial illustrators and their work, to unpick the professional benefits of the phenomenon, coupled with a foray into theoretical perspectives on ornament. In this regard, the article will consider the benefit of treating ornament as labour, and also whether illustration is suffering from Herbert Read's horror vacui, in order to understand what happens when these terrifying empty spaces within images are filled with introduced artefacts. The discussion will also take skeuomorphism into account to explore the phenomenon, which then raises questions concerning illustration's 'usability'. The article draws upon wildly different perspectives and practices from other fields as it seeks to consider the pleasures and pitfalls of a richly-ornamented composition, and ultimately argues that making 'noise' can be seen as a generous, temporal and critical act.