Travel illustrators
Travel illustrators
The travel illustrator is something of a modern-day Impressionist, quickly capturing a scene from the latest port of call in a loosely-drawn sketch.
You’ll recognize them by what they’re carrying. The travel illustrator may have a compact artist kit of assorted pencils, pens, paints, with a pad of watercolor or sketch paper under one arm and a drawing board or foldable easel under the other.
When others are on holiday, the travel illustrator is hard at work recording what’s around them. You may find the travel illustrator leaning up against a wall or sitting off in a corner somewhere well out of view.
Working ‘on location’ attracts attention, so the travel illustrator will not be in the center of the action but instead, off to the side. You may never know they’re in the crowd at all, or, more importantly, that they’ve captured your likeness in the crowd of visitors in line at the Taj Mahal.
They work fast because they have to; drawing outlines when more than one person is in a scene. Landscape and portrait artist in one, their quick impressions may include notes on color for when they return to the studio to complete illustrations in greater detail.