Final pieces
Friday 20 December 2013
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Business cards
Portfolio visits
For the first meet up, I met with my guru Megan Thomas. She gave really good advice and I'm glad we got a chance to speak with her! After the review, Megan sent these pointers to refresh;
"1. Sounds silly, but know what your work is about. When someone asks you about your pieces, have something prepared to say - if a piece is just a personal doodle that you've brought to a completed point, make something up about it to make it sound like it was thought out and planned. The most common question I've been asked, though not really a question... is "tell me more about this piece". Which is pretty open to interpretation, so what makes that piece important to you/why did you take the time to do it if it's not for a client, etc. Pre-thinking answers can really help, especially if you get nervous in interviews.
2. Obviously you'll have to get nicer books (no offense to your plastic folders, of course. ;)). I got mine at http://www.portfolio-store.co.uk/acatalog/Prat_Pampa_Spiralbooks.html (more: http://www.portfolio-store.co.uk/acatalog/Coloured_Prat_Pampa_Spiralbooks.html). It looks like they're on sale at the minute, so are quite well priced. I think you can get the Prat Pampa books at Paperchase as well, but they have very limited stock last time I checked (I believe they only had landscape books in black last time I looked). They come with 20 (double sided) sleeves as well so no need to have to buy sleeves separately. Just a note, you can buy the Prats in colours like bright pink, teal and lime from other sellers but they're foreign so the sizes don't fit standard A-sized paper - so beware. Whatever brand you buy, you'll want to buy a book with a spiral binding/one you can remove pages from.
Of course you can buy any book you like, I just happen to own and recommend the Prat Pampas because they are nice quality and people always compliment mine.
3. When putting your work on the printed page, make it as big as possible.
4. I've been told a few times that having the little logo on the bottom of each page is redundant. Perhaps if you were dropping your book off with a client for them to look through without you, it might be a good idea to keep some sense of identification in place incase they remove pages from their sleeves, but this scenario is unlikely in this day in age.
5. You don't need to list the media you used to create you work - if an art director can't tell/cares enough, they'll ask.
6. More a note for Mat, but may apply to you all in the future: Have different books for different styles. Re: Illustration vs Photography. This could also apply for illustration work - say... watercolour vs digital work. You always try to customise your book for specific clients anyway, if you can.
7. Think about the order of your book - like a relay team, start strong, then send in your weaker pieces and finally, finish with your strongest, most impactful piece. This is the piece AD's are most likely to remember.
8. Get your work printed on good quality paper that shows it to it's best effect. Also, re: indesign - never put pixelated/blurry work into your book.
9. Edit your work down to 20-25, 30 max. pieces (when it's applicable - not yet, obviously). Don't put in work you're not proud of just to fill out space. A book of ten stellar pieces is better than a book of 30 blah pieces. Try and do some personally set briefs (write your own) to fill out your book, if you haven't had enough professional/college briefs. When you have enough work to fill out your entire book, edit carefully, removing work that is no longer relevant to your or your style.
10. If you work mainly in colour, try and include some B&W and vice versa, just to show clients you can do it. Also, a good idea, when you're doing personal work to fill out your book, try doing different types of work - editorial vs book covers and include different subjects. If Art Directors don't see it in your book, they'll have a hard time imagining you being able do it, oddly enough. So, if you draw 100 dogs, draw a few cats too - just to show you can.
11. Re: Online portfolios. They can be less selective, but for work that isn't necessarily "finished", make a separate section for this kind of work. I have a "sketchbook" section showing work that are little one offs, or me trying out new media."
All of the above suggestions and advice was so helpful and completely relevant. I really need to invest in a good portfolio (most likely the ones she suggested) and in the New Year, I'm definitely going to re do my whole portfolio as Im not happy with it as it is now. Looking forward to creating a portfolio I will (hopefully!) be proud to show :)
My other contact for a portfolio visit was my Art Foundation tutor, Gary. He had some similar advice, though some of which was related to the actual work as well. I have drop shadows on all the pieces in the portfolio which he wasn't a massive fan of, and to be honest I'm not either. When I re do it, I think I will just use a very fine line to go around the work, but I will see how it looks and what works better. He suggested to use a picture of the 8x8 book instead of just the image that was used in it, also to photograph things properly in the photography studio (this applying to the book and the wallpaper that I did, at the moment they're just photos I took myself which were really no good!). Also, having a logo, thats something I need to play around with creating ideas. I mentioned about my work looking a little lost and quiet sometimes and he advised to use more backgrounds. Again, everything was really helpful and I now feel like I have some good advice to go on with and make my portfolio better.
Tuesday 17 December 2013
Reviewing Hopes, Fears and Opportunities
So following my other Hopes, Fears and Opportunities post, here is my progress and thoughts from that and my recommendations for next semester. My hopes were to get a good grade at the end of my degree, get a job somewhere within the art world and be happy and confident within my work. Id say confidence has been my biggest hinderance all the way through this course (though its gotten better now). I know everyone is critical about their own work but it really gets the better of me sometimes! I suppose its something that will probably take years to be really happy with my work but id like to come out of this feeling proud (and thats another hope, to be truly proud of my work). I think so far, like I said, my confidence has definitely improved. I'm starting to like some of the things I'm doing, though they still are not quite there yet, but with the help of feedback from each project I can hopefully start getting better and believe that not everything I do is totally terrible!
Id say next semester will definitely help with those 3 hopes I have talked about. Confidence wise, getting a portfolio together and going down to London will definitely take some confidence, so I hope that will give me a boost and make me strive to do better.
I want to try really hard in this last year so at the end, even if i don't come out with an amazing grade, Id be content with the fact that I tried my best anyway, the worst thing would be to come out at the end of this with a rubbish grade, kicking myself saying "why didn't I just do this or more of this" and knowing it was cuz I was just being lazy.
Another fear was that my work wouldn't be up to standard. If I'm honest, most of the time I think it isn't. I think thats to do with the fact I compare myself with everyone else, I know everyone does that as well but when I see amazing work, instead of feeling inspired, I usually just feel a little deflated and all "mine will never look as good as that!". I need to let go of that, because theres always going to be someone better than you, but you've just got to believe in yourself and not get bogged down with how well everyone else is doing. Having said that, I do still think that my work genuinely just doesn't look very professional. I know I'm only still a student but some of the other work in the class looks so well done and professional!? I don't know, maybe it will all come together in my major project (it better anyway!) or maybe its just the way I work, maybe its meant to look a little messy?!
Speaking of the final major project, Im not sure where to go with that yet really. Its the biggest project of the whole 3 years at uni (probably shouldn't approach it like that, it sounds even scarier when its put that way!) and I want to make sure that I pick something I'm fully happy with. I think I'm going to go for the 2 different projects as well, as I think I can get bored when iv got a long amount of time to focus on one thing, then again, when I have a proper think about what Im going to do, this could change! It will take a lot of thinking and no doubt a lot of mind changing, but by the end of Christmas I will have an idea that is hopefully do able!
Sunday 15 December 2013
Website research
The time has come around to start thinking about creating a website for ourselves. A place where our work can be presented in a professional way. I looked at Sarah Hankinson's website first off as she is one of my favourite artists. As soon as you are brought to the homepage, her work is there straight away (and lots of it). Its very minimal, plain white background and just her images with the options of different pages to the left. I love the simplicity of it, I don't like to over do things, Id rather it be reductive than too in your face straight away. It is easy to navigate and there is pretty much all the information on there that you would need to know.http://sarahhankinson.com
Another favourite of mine, Kelly Thompson. Her website is a little different, it seems slightly more advanced, on the first page when you click on the website she has different pieces of work that move and when you click on them it takes you to a whole page of all her work. One of the things I particularly liked was that to the side of her page, she has an Instagram link, where you can see her latest pictures as they are uploaded- I thought id mention it as I personally follow her on this and I think its a good way to showcase work. I think its a really nice insight to someone in the illustration industry, she regularly posts new work and even late night deadline sessions! (something I can definitely relate to) So I think its important this is on her website, as you can see her updates as and when. She also has her logo at the top right, so whenever you want to go back to the homepage, you click on the logo and it takes you there. I also think its good to have a logo as in illustrator, I think it makes it more professional.
http://www.kellythompson.co.nz
Artist Noma Bar's website, is literally just a page with his contact details on. I don't think this is ideal considering there is no other work on it except for what is on the homepage (which is only one thing). Even though you can pretty much get every artists work on google images, it still doesn't compare to having a proper website with all your work on, updates, F.A.Q's etc.
http://nomabar.com
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Updated work/change of direction
After coming back from Prague, Iv decided to just focus on that as my project subject as "travel"as a whole is just way too broad. Also, because iv just been there its all fresh in my head and theres so many things to draw from. Since I made a little video of my trip, it was suggested to maybe try incorporating some drawings into some of the clips. This was followed by some very complicated looking processes that Rick showed me. I didn't complete anything too amazing (to say the least) but it was just a play about to see how things worked.
There are lots of different processes I can do to get my drawings in the video. Printing paused clips out and drawing them frame by frame, then putting them back on the computer, the list goes on! I got to draw with a tablet which was pretty cool, never done that before, they take some getting used to though.
He showed me the end credits for the Sherlock Holmes film which you can see here . I really liked the way the paint moves and how the picture emerges, id love to do something like that! Unfortunately, theres no really any time to try anything like this now as it would take quite a long time but maybe in the future I can look at doing something like this.
Friday 6 December 2013
Hopes, Fears and Opportunities
We had a group discussion in which we talked about "Hopes, Fears and Opportunities" that we will go through in 3rd year, these are mine...HOPES;
>> to get a good grade at the end of my degree
>> be happy and confident within my work
>> get a job somewhere within the art world
FEARS;
>> to fail the course/to get a rubbish grade when I know I could've done better
>> not getting anywhere/being unsuccessful in finding a job
>> work not being up to standard
OPPORTUNITIES;
>> get involved with more art related things outside college
I'll be coming back to this later in the year to look at my progress and thoughts for the next semester.
Wednesday 4 December 2013
What is Illustration?
" As our visual language evolves, the playing field is leveling. Graphic designers, sculptors, painters, creative developers, and even
musicians amorphously meander across different parts of our creative industries. As a consequence, I often wonder what the term
'Illustration' now means. Maybe as a medium it might need to do more than vocationalise aesthetics and cultivate a border palate of
profundity for its own survival."
Michael Salu
Artistic Director of Granta Magazine
2012 Varoom
I think today, the term "illustrator" can mean so many different things. When I was younger, I would think of the term illustrator as someone who illustrates books and only books. Sometimes when I tell people I do an Illustration course, they almost always ask if its for books or comics. I think today, there are so many different types of illustration and many different ways of showing this and its ok to still be an illustrative drawer but I also think its important to keep updated with whats going on around you. I remember a discussion last year about how artists are starting to make they're images move, things are getting much more digital. I don't neseserily think every artist has to work this way but I do think it would be handy to know how to do it, especially in this heavily digitalised world that is constantly evolving and also if there was ever a case where you had to for a client. I think that about everything really, being an illustrator its good to have a knowledge (even if its only a little bit) of everything within the art world, it shows diversity.
Monday 18 November 2013
Irina Kaygorodova workshop
After watching her, we all got fashion magazines to paint from and off we went! She said that she doesn't usually draw first, just paints straight on the page. I don't think iv ever really painted anything without drawing it first but I actually liked not doing that, and I don't think it turned out the worst thing iv ever done either which is good! It also made me realise how important it is to have good quality paper/paints/brushes, it really does make all the difference. So yeah, I really enjoyed this day and thank you ever so much Irina for having us :
Saturday 16 November 2013
Prague 2013
So our trip to Prague was pretty amazing?! Iv never been to somewhere so beautiful, the architecture, the scenery, even the pavements were nice to look at! Even if you were just strolling down the street, there was always something interesting to look at and everything just looked (at risk of sounding like a complete girl) ...pretty! Truly an amazing place that I need to re-visit. It was a weird feeling when it all came to an end as it was our last residential trip ever (which is devastating, don't even get me started) so obviously it was a bit sad but at the same time I had so so much fun and it really was such a great trip!
During our 4 days in Prague, we went to the Sedlec Ossuary (after many trains and knocking on someones door for directions) which was really good, glad we got to see it. We got to do a workshop with Irina Kaygorodova which was amazing! I loved that (separate post to come for that). We went to the Mucha museum which again, amazing, the work in there was literally breathtaking. We had a lecture on posters from the Terry Posters collection which was really cool. In our free time we went to the castle, Charles Bridge, the John Lennon wall and consumed a hell of a lot of bread/pastries/beer- it was really good. And of course on the last night, we all went out for dinner (all the students that came and all the tutors) and then out to a bar after that, it was literally so fun I wish I could do it over and over again! I think Gary summed it up pretty well…
(Hahahaha, brilliant!)
All the trips we've been on during our time at uni have been amazing and iv experienced some amazing things and been to some incredible places. Im so happy and grateful iv been able to go on all the residentials, I think its so important to take advantage of these trips, to see some amazing places and to mix with other people in the course (I think thats one of the most important things, some of my best friends on the course I got to know because of this). Without sounding too cheesy, its more than just going to a different country and getting told to go to a few museums, we've had the chance to meet some amazing illustrators/art directors, even go into their houses?! We would never get the opportunity to do that on our own. So many cool things we wouldn't of been able to do if it wasn't for these trips. So for that, I am truly grateful! (Okay, getting cheesy now)
I'll finish this post with some photos and a short video of our time and Prague, I think it sums it up pretty well :)
{one of many beautiful buildings}
{Gary throwing some shapes}
{the view from the castle}
{standard tourist pic}
{some of the John Lennon wall}
{Irina Kaygorodova doing her thanggg}
{the "I don't know where we are" look}
{the cathedral}
{one of many "dance offs" on the last night}
{the main square, so beautiful ahhh}
{some traditional food at the group meal}
{Wenceslas square by night}
{the cutest, parisian looking pizzeria with amazingly cheap pizza and also 2 guys playing the violin/paino}
{upside down man/horse/thing?}
{Sedlec Ossuary}
{beers with our tutor!}
Friday 8 November 2013
Work update
From all the research I did I decided to start with trips iv been on and places iv actually been to. I gravitated towards New York and Miami first as I have a lot of collected things I can use for it and so I have started collaging and using my own photographs.
I will definitely be doing some work on Prague as we will be going there for our residential soon. Im going to take my sketchbook everywhere and just get anything and everything in there. I want to use it as a travel journal of some sort, then see what I can do with it when I get back.
Iv also just come across this on (yes, I'm waffling on about him again) Roderick Mills blog which I felt I needed to put on here as I literally share the same view!
"I use sketchbooks when travelling to gain in impression of a place, whether these be drawings, or writing down thoughts for myself, a means of documenting my experience of a place."
This is exactly what I love doing, documenting everything even if its just the food we ate or how cold it was that day. Im looking forward to getting back from Prague and hopefully having lots to work with! Though at the moment I am focusing my project about a range of different places, things might change along the way, as Prague will be the most fresh in my head, I may choose to focus on that, but we shall see!
Tuesday 5 November 2013
New brief - Self Directed 2
For the new brief we had a lot of different choices to pick from. I decided to go with the self directed route and I chose to focus mine around travel. I chose this because in my last project, even though it was about non places, a lot of my work was to do with places like airports/train stations and I liked focusing on that, so I thought I would expand and explore the places beyond the airports and train stations. Here are some of my first notes and research…
I looked mainly at places like Pinterest and Tumblr for map-relating art work. I love the maps Oliver Jeffers has created, "1 city 5 hours" in a number of different places. I really liked that idea, have a little collection of mini-maps that are not over complicated or over worked, just simple and lovely to look at. I perticularly liked the journals at the top, they look quite textural and messy but in a good way. I might look into working straight onto books instead of a plain sketchbook as part of the project, as sometimes it can be slightly intimidating just having all that white space to work with. Or staining a page with paint/collage or anything really so that I can work straight onto that.
Thursday 31 October 2013
8x8 Launch night
On Wednesday 30th October, us illustrators and the authors of the short stories gathered at Manchester School of Art for the launch night of the 8x8 book. We all got a chance to talk along side our author about our illustrations and it was a really lovely night! It was kinda scary talking in front of everyone and my cheeks definitely stayed bright pink/red for the whole thing but I enjoyed it! It felt very weird but exciting to see my work in a real, actual book!? Felt like a proper illustrator. Also, really proud of my fellow classmates as everything looked amazing and thanks to the authors and tutors and everyone that made it possible really. (ps; props to the guys who wore suits)
Thursday 17 October 2013
Updated work #2 - None Place -
This is where my work has got to from the previous update post. Iv been using mainly type, watercolour, figures and collage then putting them into Photoshop. I feel better about my work and much more confident than I have before, some of them are hit and miss but I think there is more of a feel that I'm going in the right way (I hope!). The thing I keep having to be careful of doing is making my work too "quiet", things can get lost because nothing jumps out at you, not that I want it to look too in your face but sometimes I'm not aware of it because iv been looking at it for too long! Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to point out that there needs to be a bit more punch to it. I think a good example to look back on is my 8x8 work as that was once too quiet but when I added some blocks of colour and a mix of different lines it looked much better. Iv used the same sort of colour pallet through out the project, I actually think these colours are what I use through out most of my work anyway, they're quite feminine but muted so they're not too overly girly.
Tuesday 24 September 2013
Updated work - Non Place -
I decided to focus mainly on things like signage and type in places like airports/train stations using mainly watercolour, this is where im up to so far with everything. I now need to create more work so i can put it on photoshop and edit colours/put work together etc.
Heres some of the work so far. Im starting to feel more positive about it now, I slowly feel like I may be getting somewhere finally!
