Narrative Illustration Artist Research. Robert Gillmor

One Illustrator who takes their interpretation of mid-century to the limit would be Robert Gillmor. He also workd as a natural history illustrator and is most well-known because of his cover illustrations for the “Collins new naturalist” book series. His work tends to be more reserved in colour pallet and doesn’t focus on geometric angels as some mid-century style illustrators do, Instead his work extends on a more organic feel. Most of his work consists of traditional paintings of print work.

The image above shows a cover illustration from a Collins new naturalist edition. This image has an interesting colour use as most of the image is made up of different shades of green. This keeps the image looking natural and also helps the white flowers stand out. The back drop of the piece is particularly interesting as it has similarities to traditional British pattern work. Despite the flat tone of the image there is still a respectable amount of detail within both the grasshopper and the plants. The image still keeps a feel of realism about it which is helped because of this small attention. 

  

The second image shows a print of a starling bird created for a stamp design. This illustration seems a bit more colourful then the last and it also has a much brighter colour palette. There is still a lot of green but the dark contrast of the subject bird helps it to stand out from the light background. On the topic of the background, there is a really simplistic look to the flower bed but it still remains an interesting feature of the image.

The last illustration is from another Collins new naturalist book cover. This image has a nice sense of contrast between its colours. It’s quit a simplistic image in its construction and composition but there clearly has been a lot of thought put into this piece. It’s also worth noting that most of the image is made up of different layers of blue tones. This helps the yellow light to stand out and helps the landmass to tie into the ocean scene. The birds are also the same colour as the Light House which makes them blend in to the illustration.