Behind the scenes here at TFIB we’re tagging all over our posts, putting them in neat buckets so that the data can managed for potential future uses. Often though I struggle with how to tag certain posts. Is it art, design, illustration? Illustrator and cartoonist (her words) Jillian Tamaki has written a nice piece on the difference between drawing and illustration which hits the nail on the head, I think. Here’s a snippet.

I actually think that most people don’t realize or think about the difference between Drawing and Illustration. They think they’re the same. They’re not. Drawing is an act, whereas Illustration (as I define it) is a profession. Illustration *can* involve drawing (it can expand beyond drawing too, obviously), but it’s actually the act of thinking and problem solving. I think I’ve mentioned this before but Tim O’Brien once said something to the effect that the sketch-phase of a project IS the Illustration… I couldn’t agree more, despite my work being incredibly different from Tim O’Brien’s.

I definitely agree with Jillian and I think she explained it so well. I always tend to think of art or drawing as a personal outlet, while illustration is meant to visualize an idea and is probably something you’re getting paid for. It’s certainly a grey area but I appreciate Jillian taking a crack at trying to better define these terms.