Illustrations and Art

Last night I spent some time blog surfing. There are just too many interesting things out there to see. I started looking at illustration blogs. I ran across some great illustrators which reminded me how I used to buy the gigantic and expensive illustration annuals from the bookstore in college. No, I could not afford them, but they were such inspiration to me. I loved that the styles varied so much in one book. Now, I can go from blog to blog and see the same thing!

Ian Sands has some really fun illustrations and from there I linked to Illustration Friday! where I signed up to get a challenge each week. I don't know if I will do (all) the challenges, but it will be fun to dream about them.

I also had fun on Drawn! I especially liked the random creative blogs area in the sidebar.

While looking at the wonderful talent represented on the sites and blogs, I started thinking about the difference between illustration and art. Obviously, illustration can be used to illustrate or portray an image from another medium such as book illustrations or an album cover, but at what point does it become illustration and not art? I don't mean to imply that it isn't art, but is it the commercial aspect which leads someone to call themselves an illustrator instead of an artist?