Ravensbourne celebrates illustration book launch

Mireille Fauchon, course leader for Ravensbourne’s new MA Illustration for Communication course, has released a book on the history and education of illustration. Ravensbourne will celebrate the book’s publication with a virtual book launch event on Monday 25 January 2021.

Mireille co-authored the book, titled ‘Illustration Research Methods’, with Rachel Gannon. Mireille is an illustrator, educator and researcher whose work spans publishing for print and screen, critical writing and installations.

For the first time in print, the book compiles a critical history of illustration, in addition to discussing contemporary illustration practice and research. The book argues that illustration is a discipline in its own right, not just a subsection of design. Published by Bloomsbury, it has been hailed as a seminal work in the fast-emerging field.

Speaking about the book’s creation, Mireille described the writing process as, “an entirely collaborative endeavour”, pulling together not only her and Rachel’s experiences, but also those of students and colleagues to create a book “by illustrators for illustrators”. The co-authors first started working together after they met as students in 2006, when they were both studying for an MA in illustration.

Ahead of the book’s launch, Mireille said: “The ideas in ‘Illustration Research Methods’ developed over many years. I always stress to students the importance of friendship and forming bonds with your peers; the people you meet while students often go on to be collaborators.

“The impetus to write this book was borne from a recognition that no texts could be found on any generic academic reading lists that captured our burgeoning philosophy of illustration as a discipline. We wanted to describe and analyse the distinctive and sophisticated ways we recognised illustration could perform.

“Our greatest inspiration has always been work made by students. Many of the projects and examples we feature in the book are made by students and recent graduates. The book focuses on the methods of illustration, not just the outcomes, because we know the processes illustrators use to find, examine and represent information are truly expert. We organised our chapters by themes according to the concerns we recognised were often informing our students’ work.”

We are thrilled to celebrate the launch with a digital event on Monday 25 January 2021. Join us from 6.30pm to hear excerpts from the book by authors Mireille and Rachel, followed by a panel discussion with guests Angelo Stitz, Laura Copsey and Olivia Twist.

The hour-long event, to be held over Zoom, will also feature a showreel highlighting some of the visual content from the book. Attendees will receive a discount code for 35% off when purchasing 'Illustration Research Methods' on Bloomsbury’s website.

The launch of ‘Illustration Research Methods’ will also be celebrated at the upcoming Illustration Research Symposium, which will be hosted by Kingston University London from 11 to 12 February 2021. The conference features speakers from around the world and will address the state and future of the field of illustration.