William Blake: “Fine Artist” or "Illustrator"?

William Blake was undeniably an intriguing person and could best be categorized as simply an amazingly motivated and intuiative artist. Saying he was both a fine artist and an illustrator may be stratling the fence a bit but it's the truth. As an illustrator, Blake first pioneered ingenius technical processes for printing which have their place in the evolution of chemical printing. At the same time, he provided the world with his own view of existing documents.

As an illustrator, his art may have seemed more like interpretation of someone else's idea. As a fine artist, his illustrations communicated emotion and common feeling that the orriginal author didn't.