Let's say you're an illustrator living in the Twin Cities who combines drawing and digital media but you yearn to go back to painting and get your work into an art gallery. Or you're from Toronto and teach at one of the top art schools; you have ideas for a graphic novel but need a kick in the butt to get started. Or you're an artist living in the Upper Peninsula who paints and draws like a demon but you want to move into animation and gaming. Or maybe you live on the Upper West Side and you're just looking for some peer interaction while avoiding holiday travel.

For all of you, the world of art and design has somehow grown a little too small and you need a change of scene along with the inspiration. These and at least 50 more paths to enlightenment are yours at ICON5: The Illustration Conference. This year's event takes place in New York City on July 4^th weekend, with Stanley Hainsworth, the man who created Starbuck's illustration-based visual marketing programs as opening keynote. Kevin O'Callaghan, a native New Yorker and maverick hybrid of illustrator/product designer/ educator and artist, is the closing keynote.

ICON5 poster art by Edel Rodgriguez. Copyright the artist.

Just about every aspect of art, design and marketing is covered by top names in the field, from Marshall Arisman to Robert Zimmerman. Over a period of four days, you can go on a Sketchcrawl with Peter Cusak; visit two of 14 studio and art departments around town, including The New York Times, Pentagram, Matt Mahurin, Sam Weber, Christopher Silas Neal and more; get down with social issues and responses with Luba Lukova and Jerelle Kraus; hit some fabulous restaurants; see the best fireworks in the lower 48; and enjoy parties with your peers each night. In addition, the legendary Steve Heller will be interviewing speakers as they leave the stage and podcasting their wisdom from the ICON5 website. That's just the tip of the ICON5 iceberg.

And if that's not enough, free admission is offered to art directors, designers, editors and art buyers to preview the portfolios of 100 top illustrators at the ICON5 Roadshow.

ICON5: The Illustration Conference is being held July 2-5 in New York's historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. The Conference's theme The Big Picture suggests a future of limitless possibilities for illustrators as thinkers and providers of creative content. The Conference will examine and discuss the current creative and economic forces that every illustrator and his/her industry face today. For online registration please visit the website, and take advantage of the historic hotel rates the organizers have negotiated for this event.

American Illustration and DART: Design Arts Daily are proud sponsors of ICON5: The Illustration Conference, the only national event of its kind for illustrators.