The School of Art & Design within the Faculty of ADA are pleased to be hosting a guest lecture with Professor Alan Male who is an illustrator, writer, and academic. For nearly 20 years Professor Male directed the Illustration Program at Falmouth University. An authority on communication and cultural studies, professional practice, and science and knowledge bearing illustration, he contributes widely to debates across a range of journals, conferences and magazines. Professor Male is also the author of a number of texts including Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual Perspective (2007 & 2017), Illustration: Meeting the Brief (2014) and The Power and Influence of Illustration (2019). As an award-winning illustrator Professor Male has extensive experience in publishing and advertising having illustrated more than 170 books and other publications. He has won numerous awards including Gold from the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles and a Texas Blue Bonnet for children’s books. He has exhibited internationally and has work in New York State Museum’s permanent collection where he won the critically acclaimed Focus on Nature Jury Award three times.

In a lecture titled Illustration and the Graphic Arts: Perspectives in Visual Language and Contexts of Communication, Professor Male will examine the power and influence of communication through visual imagery and how it can impact upon its prescribed audience. The lecture considers key points related to the language of Illustration such as style and iconography, visual metaphor and irony, and semiotics – the decoding of imagery by the sub-conscious. The lecture also presents applied illustration associated with a range of contexts from propaganda and political commentary, narrative fiction, advertising and knowledge. 

Please be advised that the lecture contains challenging and provocative themes of an adult nature.

Following his lecture, Professor Male will be available for a Q&A session, and has also kindly offered to provide feedback and discussion on your own illustration work. If you are interested in the feedback session on your own illustration work, please email Carly Vickers at c.vickers@unsw.edu.au for details. Illustration files will need to be submitted by 5pm Monday 22 March for feedback. The feedback session will occur straight after the Q&A in a small group with only those who have submitted work.  

Lecture Time:
Wednesday, 24 March 2021, 9:45 AM AEDT
Please join the Zoom lecture via this link.