Rob revisited
I buy a lot of books about illustrators and illustration. While there are really good books out there about the more popular illustrators, I also love to look at self published books by artists that I admire and that inspire me. Nowadays with the possibility of inexpensive one-off printing it is possible to share one’s work with friends, clients and other artists which is exactly what Rob Dunlavey has done with his two volumes of characters and designs, that I happily purchased at lulu.com.
«The two portfolios that you are referring to (that you proudly own) grew out of my intensive sketchbook habits. By working regularly and somewhat obsessively in sketchbooks, I aim to capture fleeting ideas that can really only find life through working with materials » Rob explained. «This is a very interesting time to be an illustrator because of the way the Internet has infiltrated all levels of our business. There are so many different avenues for self-promotion to explore. One of these avenues is the application of imagery to various types of objects and self-publishing. The self-published portfolios grew out of developing portfolios on issuu.com. As a person who loves actual books and magazines and who imagines his imagery functioning most happily in that realm (as opposed to a completely screen-based experience), issuu is a great simulation. Anyway, it was an easy task to slightly reconfigure the issuu pdfs for publishing on other systems such as lulu and blurb.»
Rob is a prolific artist. His latest series of drawings revolve around these three themes which can be seen on flickr: Crystal Cities, Owl and the Tern: A Love Story, and Things with Wheels. Check out our two-part interview with Rob here and here.
