Illustrators/illustrations

[Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

Some time ago I (foolishly??!) volunteered to help out with the quarterly
journal produced by the ISTC - basically the idea was to provide a few
articles/funnies etc which could be used as "fillers" any time there was a
shortage of articles or they didn't materialise on time.  Suitable articles
have also been reproduced from the STC journal (with the kind permission of
the STC).

The next issue of the journal is to focus on illustration and there has
been a distinct lack of response from members so far - are illustrators a
shy retiring breed (much like us really <g> !!)?  Anyway, I thought I'd
make a bit of an effort and put pen to paper or finger to keyboard.  I
thought of something along the lines of the changing face of illustration
and how it affects the tech writer. When I started, linens were still being
used (rarely!) and any drawings required were roughed up on paper and sent
to illustrators/tracers to produce the illustration.  Then came the joys of
cut 'n' stick (weren't a proper tech writer until you'd mastered the art of
cut and stick!).

Then came various drawing packages until now the writer is often expected
to produce (at least some) the artwork as well as the text.   Downgrading
illustrators? Upgrading writers?  Have we had to become jack of all trades?
Is this good/bad?  Then there is all the "new" focus for illustrations -
the web page!  Where do we/illustrators fit in here?

Any comments/stories etc from writers/illustrators much appreciated.  Reply
off-list and I'll summarise if there's a lot of interest.  I'd be
especially interested in the views of any illustrators as opposed to
writers.



Damien Braniff
Technical Author
PAC International