The 8x8 illustration I did before we ended second year wasn't very strong, so I created a new one which I was much more pleased with. Everything in the first one looked a bit too quiet, nothing stood out and it would just get lost on the page. To fix this, it was sort of like going back to basic design, using texture, lines, colour etc. I looked at Roderick Mills for inspiration, his work helped me a lot, he knows exactly how to use lines and blocks of colour in the right way.

This was the orginal piece...

And this is the final piece of work I ended up creating…

Our tutors organised a Guru night for us to talk with past students and get advice about the year ahead and what they have been doing since they graduated. I thought this was a really helpful night and it made me feel a lot better talking to someone that had been through what we're going through right now (and got out alive!). My Guru was Megan Thomas which I was really excited about as her work was probably one of my favourites at the degree show, so it was lovely to meet the person who had created such beautiful work. I loved looking through her portfolio (just wanted to stick her work all over my walls!) and it was really interesting  and inspiring hearing about the commissions she's done and seeing the magazines her work has been in. Because a lot of her work included the female figure I wanted to ask about proportion and how to draw the figure. She gave me some good tips and told me about a few books to look at that would help me, as I love drawing girls/fashion illustration but I have trouble with proportion (face and body wise). She was saying to be successful in fashion illustration, its important to have a good understanding of the human body, so if its something id like to pursue and improve on, I need to study the body more and practise, practise, practise! Her work looks so professional, I hope one day my work might be up to that standard! As well as seeing all of her work and hearing about whats she's been up to after the degree, she also gave us advice about our final year; stay on top of things, get a diary/keep organised and be confident with your work.

All in all,  I found this night to be really useful and hope to be in touch with Megan again for a possible portfolio meet up! 

Wahhhh the time has come, final year is officially upon us, how an earth has it gone that fast? Anyway, for my summer project I decided to do the "Non Place" brief. We had to pick between two choices within this brief, "illustrator" or "authorstrator". Im usually more drawn towards being an illustrator as I work better with more direction and sometimes get stuck and a bit lost when I have to come up with my own ideas. But I was more interested in the authorstrator choice this time. It was about Marc Auge's book "Non Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity" who refers to the phrase "non-place" as places of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as "places" for example, airports, train stations, a hotel room etc.

I got the book from the library and read it, I also took some photos of non places. I started drawing some figures, "typical" people you see at the airport, things like that. But Id say none of these were successful really, though I only really drew them because Im not very confident drawing perspectively!

I started to look into artists that have worked with theme of "non places" and in particular Lisa Chandler

I really liked the way the figures are painted, they look like they are just floating through which is exactly what non places are supposed to be, not significant, just places of transience. This has influenced me to start drawing and painting a bit more relaxed, painting outlines of the people in non places...I shall update with what iv done soon!