As a designer I often work with illustrators, and the biggest problem I have encountered is placing typography over a piece of commissioned artwork. What typeface to use and where to place it is the obvious first issue, but even once you have chosen the right color for legibility, most of the time you end up with a cold vector object on top of a warm textured surface.
The difference between the sharpness of digital typography and the roughness of the hand-done illustration lies in the visual representation of two worlds that are interrelated but tend to live on separate layers both in the physical and the conceptual space. I’m talking about the tragic loss in translation between the worlds of graphic design and illustration.
My dear colleague, if you are hoping to avoid this stumbling block in its entirety you just have to hire Mr. Jeffrey Fisher. Besides being an amazing illustrator he is also an incredible letterer, and because he does both, the world of letters and the one of images are always in perfect harmony; he will do all the work for you.
Mr. Fisher transcends the role of illustrator, like on the labels he did for a Brazilian liquor company in Paraty, on which the lettering is not an accessory to the illustration but instead becomes the main character of the brand.
My dear friend, the best part is that he does not use the computer: He actually paints the letters, (yes, he does!) with a real brush and acrylic paint, obviously with the same technique he uses for his illustrations, and YES, he does it on real paper.
He is not a luddite, but I can assure you that if it were still possible he would prefer to fax the artwork, rather than emailing it.
