#WomenWhoDraw Creates Ripples In The Art World

Amrita Shergill, our desi Frida Kahlo, the creator of ‘Common Man,’ R.K. Laxman, Mario Mirando, and M.F. Hussain are a few names that come into my mind when I think of illustrators. 


An illustrator is an artist, who specializes in enhancing writing and elucidating concepts to break the monotony of a piece heavy on text. Illustrations are used in advertisements, posters, magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, video games or anywhere it is intended to clarify complicated concepts that are difficult to describe textually. 


A platform called Women Who Draw lists professional women illustrators. The site's mission statement is to "increase the visibility of female illustrators, of colour, LBTQ , and other minority groups." 


It’s an open directory of female illustrators created by Ms MacNaughton and Ms Rothman, who are both successful illustrators. They worked on this concept after noticing certain publications were dominated by male artists. 


In the first three days of its launch, the site registered a whooping 6 million page views. The site crashed and they had to shut down the submissions. They received 1,200 submissions in just 24 hours. 


The site essentially functions as a place to showcase artists’ work and provide their contact info for anyone who would like to hire someone listed there. Already, several illustrators featured on the site have landed paying gigs. And its early success hasn’t faded. Just last week, the site passed a major milestone when it published the work of its 1,000th illustrator. 


Read how a platform changed the viewpoint of professional women illustrators. 


It is because of platforms like these, women are able to establish their credibility as professionals. Especially in a highly creative and prejudiced field like illustrations.