According to Chapter 1 Illustration is unique compared to most other career fields in that other career fields usually don't require one to come up with new innovative solutions to the problems they're faced with and simply have to work within the confines of existing practices and knowledge which makes the risk of failure not nearly so present, whereas illustrators never have a set way of solving the problems they face in their line of work, as it is very dependent upon what idea and what concept they're tasked with advertising as well as what picture and word combination would best advertise it to the average viewer which makes the possibility of failure ever-present.
The two things illustrators work with to solve these problems are words and pictures, both with their own pros and cons, which combined accentuate the other's strengths and negate their weaknesses and become altogether stronger.
This complex problem can be divided into either applied art or fine art, applied being the application of one's work to someone else's product or problem, and fine art being a work of art that stands alone as a representation of an idea or concept that the artists themselves want to display. The starting point for either is in the illustrators work space or the "blank space" where they are tasked with turning a nothing into a something through a rigorous 7- step process, which utilizes the problem solving methodology of Edward De Bono known as the "Six Thinking Hats".
The first and second steps utilize the "White Hat" method to figure out what the problem is, and do research on it. The third step utilizes the "Green Hat" Method to generate several options based on research done in step one with which to present the idea, which brings us to step four and the combination of the "Yellow, Black and sometimes Red Hat" methods to evaluate these options in order to give one the general idea of both the strengths and weaknesses of each idea, and in the case of the Red Hat method, to think about them emotionally so that they may determine how it can be best tailored to elicit the necessary emotions of the viewer. The fifth step involves more "Black Hat Thinking" to come up with a criteria to judge your own ideas and their effectiveness at meeting the requirements for the purpose of the illustration, and the sixth step involves both "Black and Yellow Hat Thinking" to try and implement the chosen idea in the best way through visual refinement. Finally the seventh step, which goes back to the Yellow and Black Hat methods, involves reflecting on your finished piece and determining both the strengths and the flaws of your work process so as to keep to your strengths and avoid your flaws in the future, which is greatly assisted by following the Blue Hat method throughout the entire process.
