Welcome to the illustration issue, your one-stop guide for honing your skills and keeping on top of the hottest trends worldwide. We flip though the folio of our Dutch-born, Berlin-based cover artist Mark Verhaagen, and Nate Williams, founder of IllustrationMundo, talks us through his creative process – from honing roughs to keeping clients on-side – from his base in Buenos Aires.

Of course, with everyone’s budgets being credit-crunched, it’s more important than ever to sharpen your creative and business skills if you want to keep the commissions rolling in. We investigate some of the professional training on offer from the likes of D&AD and the AOI.

Digital art really comes alive when you can smell and touch it in the real world. We also show you several ways to translate your illustrations into 3D, with expert tutorials on creating stunning vinyl decals, stickering a vinyl toy, and getting inky fingers as you layer a beautiful seven-colour screenprint.

As the more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed, I’m not Kate Evans: she’s on maternity leave for the next few months, and I’ll be holding the reins until she’s back. Next issue we’ll be tackling typography in all its forms, and I’m also open to any future topic suggestions: email me, or if you can squeeze your comments into 140 characters, you can find us on Twitter. Enjoy the issue.

Nick Carson Editor
twitter.com/CAProjects
IN THE MAG

Project one: International illustration

Global inspirations
Illustrators from five continents discuss their cultural influences, and how you can apply them to your work

Mark Verhaagen interview
The Dutch-born, Berlin-based illustrator talks digital gradients with Dean Evans
Project two: Illustrating 3D objects

Designer challenge
We challenge three creatives to customise a plain white sneaker

Illustrate a vinyl toy
Triclops shows you how to transfer your designs onto a custom platform toy

Create vinyl decals
Create and apply stunning vinyl decals to add colour to your home or studio
Project three: Practical skills

Nate Williams interview
The prolific commercial illustrator and founder of IllustrationMundo tells Rob Carney how he deals with clients

Training day
Update your skills to stay one step ahead of the credit crunch

The art of screenprint
Create a beautiful seven-colour print and relish the smell of fresh ink on fine paper
Project four: Editorial illustration

By the book
Behind the scenes with book illustrators, juggling authors, editors, sales teams and publishers

Monochrome made easy
McFaul’s Chris Malbon shares the secrets of depth and contrast when working in black and white