Book of Trades

In 1568 Jost Amman published his Book of Trades, a collection of illustrations with text that described basic functions of human endeavor. The prints themselves are lovely - a clear focal point, figure/ground relationship and great line quality.

Lots of artists have tried to contend with basic professional descriptions of people - profession as a description of identity. Eric Doeringer made children's toys, but avoided "doctor" or "firefighter" options in favor of "Junky" and "Bag lady". Manchester based collective Dorothy created a line of green army men showing the effects of post traumatic stress disorder - rather than seeing the traditional army guys (flamethrower, machine gunner, radio guy) we now see wheelchair bound soldier, domestic violence soldier, suicidal soldier.

For our final illustrator project we'll be making our own Book of Trades illustration. Think about what kind of profession you hope to practice, that you're afraid you'll end up practicing, or just make a spoof of some option. Come prepared with photos or sketches of a person & negative space so that we can get to work right away. We'll also work with text, so consider a short descriptive (or comedic) description of the duties of whatever job you're planning to illustrate.