Spotlight on… Illustration with Liam Palmer

Greetings Liam! So could you please shed some light on your role at Creative Concern?

I like to make things… be it through graphic design, illustration or animation.

For me illustrations are there to enhance and complement design projects and add that all important human element. It’s a super flexible medium that can be used in a variety of ways and across any project, from advertising campaigns and marketing materials to websites, big maps, infographics and branding. It’s all about creating images that communicate ideas effectively, sometimes evoke emotions (especially humour!), and importantly resonate with the target audience.

What do you enjoy most?

I enjoy working through the early construction part of the job, exploring the fundamental elements. When the ideas are still raw and not set in stone, some really nice things can come out of experimenting and not worrying (yet) about what the final outcome is.

Once the direction has been decided, exploring the aesthetics can be fun. This is when you have time to work out how the more abstract elements can form and add to the message. Looking at the quality of the line, textures and colour. Different mediums and subcultures can all contribute significantly to the storytelling and appeal of a project. And it’s always good when you can get to use some tools from your own toolbox too!

Visual from the Eat & Drink on Campus campaign for the University of Salford

Opening graphic for the Lakes Culture animation

Map of cultural assets for the Cumbria Museum Consortium

An illustration for the Abzolutely campaign

Illustrations for the Politics Project

Posters for the University of Leeds sustainability report

And - honestly - what are some of the challenges?

Falling back on photography and illustration tropes for sure, and thinking I can't draw for toffee!

Being adaptable and creating a multitude of illustration styles that are flexible enough to work at many different scales can present challenges. Learning to watercolour digitally was an interesting one!

Interesting...
Do you have any handy tips or tricks that you'd be willing to share?

Sometimes we have a million ideas and can overcomplicate the designs. Design software now has a million new features and knobs and dials that you can go to town with, so it’s good to step back sometimes and mask off a small selection and define the style from there. Simplicity is something that you don't start with; you have to refine it back to the core elements of the message you want to get across. You don't always have to spell it all out, over rendering and photorealism can sometimes be a bit of an eyesore for me. I find having an element of artistic ambiguity and openness leaves some room for the viewer to project their own ideas, feelings and imagination.

And while we have you in a sharing mood... would you be happy to spill the beans on a single most favourite or magical moment?

Creating characters for Eat & Drink on Campus for the University of Salford. Especially the monobrow carrots that I secretly based on a couple of famous local argumentative musical brothers.

"For me illustrations are there to enhance and complement design projects and add that all important human element. It’s a super flexible medium that can be used in a variety of ways and across any project…"

Liam Palmer, Illustrator, Graphic Designer & Animator at Creative Concern

Creative Concern.

Creative Concern.

Spotlight on… Illustration with Liam Palmer

"For me illustrations are there to enhance and complement design projects and add that all important human element. It’s a super flexible medium that can be used in a variety of ways and across any project…"

Spotlight on… Illustration with Liam Palmer

"For me illustrations are there to enhance and complement design projects and add that all important human element. It’s a super flexible medium that can be used in a variety of ways and across any project…"

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