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Tutorial with Teresa

In response to illustrated facts weekly brief...

Maybe spend a bit longer on each one, especially with the roughing and drawing stage. Think about adding an element of character to my animal imagery, it doesn’t have to become ‘cartoony’ but adding some character might make the images more appropriate for other applications too like greetings cards. It may be how I get my personality into the images. 

Think about using this as preliminary work for the Batsford Prize, the theme this year is ‘interpreting nature’ which fits with my subject matter. 

Whats sets my work apart from other people?

In relation to christmas card brief…

Think about ranges throughout the year. You would normally be making christmas cards a lot earlier in the year than this, or even the year before. I could even make different ranges of cards for this year following different themes, using a motif as a starting point for each set. 

Teresa pointed out some websites and practitioners that might be of interest to me. 

Kerry Lemon

Jennifer Nelson

smartcreativewomen.com - podcasts.

Spoon flower and citrus rain for fabric printing. 

The Design Trust.

Afterwards I had a quick chat with Ben about my work. He really liked how I was using colour and saw an improvement from my work last year. I did think that using adobe kuler as my way of bringing a solid colour scheme together was maybe a bit of a cop out but he assured me that there is nothing wrong with doing this and it seems to be working! Maybe colour is what's missing from my illustrated facts series. I had included in the brief that I should only be using black media, specifically ink. However, maybe when I take these into screen print eventually, I will be more inclined to play around with colour rather than stick to a monochrome palette. 

Ben also told me about U Studio (previously urban graphic) which is a really good reference to have. Not only can I use this to find illustrators with similar practices to my own but it will also be good for looking at trends and seeing what sells. They ming to be good to get in contact with to ask for advice or even showing them some of my work, they seem to have a very open approach. 

Overall today has been really good as I have managed to get some good feedback on my work and some pointers of what I can be looking at online. I think the Batsford Prize is a no brainer as I will already have a body of work to tweak to make it appropriate for submission to this. I am also looking forward to listening to some of the podcasts on smartcreativewomen.com, it will be good to hear about individual experiences and opinions of the industry. 

Illustrated Fact - Week 3

What went well?

I think the composition is good this week which is great because I have been struggling with this. It is balanced and fills the frame evenly. The position of the tentacles help to keep the eye moving around the image, keeping it fluid and easy on the eye. 

I used the wooden end of a paintbrush and quink to complete this image. I tested out a few different sizes of brush ends, there wasn't much difference between the outcomes but I chose the smallest one as it left less big splodges of ink but still had the line quality I was looking for. I think this was a good media choice for this subject matter as its quite fluid but also looks a little but clumsy and imperfect (intentionally) which links in with the idea that the tentacles don't really know whats going on and are just doing their own thing. 

I am thinking about screen print! I am starting to see how this is going to work now with layers of colour and a top layer with my outline. For the purpose of fulfilling this weekly brief I have kept the image in black and white but the principles are in place for this to be separated and taken into print.

What didn't go well? Ideas for improvement. 

Although I like the final composition of my image this week, I don't think that I am using the roughing stage effectively. It was at the point of actually sketching out my design that I came up with this composition. It was based on one of my roughs but in the rough all the tentacles were interlocking and crossing over whereas here I have kept them very much separate. To improve this I am going to tell myself that I need to keep roughing until I find the actual composition I am going to proceed with, not just something similar. 

The pattern I included at the end was an afterthought as I realised it filled the frame well and might look good repeated. I added it into the presentation of this week's image but I am not taking my project down this route, I still want to focus on single images and just test out patterns if they seem appropriate. Having the idea of making a pattern at the end would change the way I think about composing my images and I don't want that to happen. 

Book Binding Workshop

Illustrated Facts - Week 2

What went well?

I think the combination of media woks well, the fine liner was used for the precision needed in the circuit board and the unpredictable nature of the dip pen meant that the uneven texture of the beetle's shell was shown in contrast to this. I included some dip pen drawings of beetles that I did over summer to show the kind of aesthetic I was aiming for. 

My decisions about layout are getting better. I did the side view drawing of the beetle in my sketchbook and it just looked too long for the square format I was aiming for so I knew I needed to take a different viewpoint/approach for it to work. I like the symmetry of the final image, it makes the composition look a lot more considered. 

I loosened up in my sketchbook more this week and this helped me move away from the mindset that I should be using sketchbook drawings in my final imagery. This is okay sometimes but its unnecessary to get precious about sketchbook work for this purpose.

What didn't go well? Ideas for improvement. 

Thing went a bit off track for me this week as I set myself this task to do on Friday afternoon but I ended up going home. I was still able to get work done but I hadn't got all the materials with me that I wanted to use, like my dip pens and ink. Instead I continued with the brief using fine liners but I wasn't happy with the result so I waited until I came back to Leeds to use the materials I originally wanted to. This meant I didn't complete this week's brief until Sunday. I suppose the lesson to be learnt from this is to plan ahead better and be more organised but also understand that things are going to crop up that throw you off track. This wasn't a big deal for this brief but for one with a tight deadline this could have been a big problem. 

When I was producing the final drawing I immediately regretted doing my dip pen ink work straight over the fine liner circuit drawing because I was feeling the pressure that if anything went wrong I had lost both drawings. In hindsight I should have done these on two separate pieces of paper and combined them on photoshop, this way I would have had more room for changing aspects and not worrying the the first attempt needed to be perfect. 

Virgin Media Communication Box Brief

After reading through the brief and considering the public setting I was drawn to the idea of trompe l’oeil which is artwork that deceives the eye into thinking something is there that isn’t. These influenced some of my rough ideas but I was also trying to think of things relevant to Leeds, hence the rhino and owl, but decided this was quite an obvious idea. I thought the shelving idea was working so I played around with contents and decided to go with plants because I enjoy drawing these and it would give me the chance to add lots of colour if I chose an unrealistic scheme. 

I chose to draw with a fine felt tip pen because I wanted a very simple line. If my design is chosen it will probably be hand painted so the quality of line will change anyway through this process. At this point I just needed a solid outline. 

The shelves weren’t working too well and I felt like I was moving away from the trompe l'oeil idea as it still looked like a picture on a surface. I edited this on photoshop to make the frame of the box into the actual shelving unit and drawing some plants from a birds eye view as this is how they would be seen on the top of the box. 

I originally wanted the background of the image to stay that dark green colour that the boxes are painted so it looks like the shelving was an addition to the existing box. This looked too dark though and the brief did specify that lots of bright colours would be good. Establishing a colour scheme was going to be key for finishing off my imagery. I found some images that I liked the colours of, put them through adobe kuler and made some decisions about what would be most appropriate for my audience and the outdoor environment. I didn’t want anything that would steer towards a certain age group or gender. 

The colour scheme I chose had some earthy tones to blend in to the environment but also some bright pops of colour which was important. I altered the tone and lightness of some of the colours to make them less dull and dark. After playing round with colours I asked for some feedback between the blue and orange backgrounds. The blue background came out as a clear favourite which I do understand as the foreground colours seem to stand out better against it. The positive comments about the orange background is that it felt autumnal, which is nice but this will be seen all year round so it can’t just be specific to one season. 

I applied the same colour scheme to all panels and mocked them up onto a photograph. I kept my presentation board simple with only a few pieces of text saying how I would execute the artwork in real life and stating my flexibility with colour depending on what paint they had available. 

What went well?

Choosing a concise colour scheme was really helpful for me because it meant I wasn't distracted by loads of different options and I could stay focussed. 

My efficiency with time - this brief only took me two days to complete which meant I wasn't dragging it out unnecessarily. I was making decisions and progressing with it at a good pace. 
Keeping the design simple was definitely the best thing to do here, especially because it will need to be executed by hand if chosen. 

What would I do differently?

I would have spent more time drawing plants before just using the drawings I had in the final design. 
Spent more time on the digital mockup making it look more realistic. Also, the brief specified that the kings cannot be painted so I probably should have made it clear in the mockup that this has been taken into account. 
Maybe stopping and asking for feedback from my peers more often would have been beneficial. It was very helpful when I was torn between background colours. 

Statement of Intent

Illustrated Facts - Week 1

FACT: Bonobos prefer sharing their food with strangers. They do it to extend their social network. 

What went well?

I am pleased with the texture I created with the brush pen to resemble the bonobo’s hair, I think it works well that the brush pen was starting to run out so there was some added texture. 

I think the monkey that is eating while reaching up and holding some fruit was the best aspect of the image and I think this is enough to answer the brief. I think my advice to myself for the future is to do the exploratory drawings but don’t feel like I have to use them all in my final composition. Keep it simple and if it answers the brief, there is no need to overcomplicate things. 

Decision making! I actually made a solid decision to strip my design back and get rid of unnecessary elements and I think it has worked out for the best. 

What didn’t go well? Ideas for improvement. 

I am already behind with this brief as it has taken me a while to actually decide what it is that I wanted to do each week. I created the two busy compositions and I was really not happy with them. I chose the square format because I thought it would be good as a weekly thing to share online and also if it had the fact written beneath it, it would fit neatly into an A4 format which could then be turned into a print. I am already regretting this decision as I am really not very good at layout and composition (as I rediscovered this week). I feel like I might try and focus on vignettes for some future weeks which still fit the square proportions but don’t have the defined border of the square, or do what I did this week and just utilise one edge. 

I have chose to focus on black and white a my scheme so I can push the development of my ink work but my approach this week as very safe. I need to push myself more and think about processes differently if I want to learn anything from this brief and develop my techniques. 

Brief Writing Workshop Notes

Rationale - what do I want to do and why do I want to do it? Don't overcomplicate things. 
Next week - bring a complete SOI and properly written up briefs. 
Make decisions and make them clear on paper. Try to get the most out of the time available. 
Strategic thinking. Be specific. 

Understand the difference between my own practice and strategic application. 
How is my brief going to help me define my practice?
Pick briefs apart and think about them strategically. 

Group Task (in session)

BRIEFS

• Self initiated one a week briefs
• Virgin media electrical box artwork
• Inktober
• Fumetto comix
• Folio society book illustration competition
• Art Station
• Short stories/folktales - 4 page comic books
• RWS watercolour competition
• AOI sounds of the city
• YCN
• D&AD
• Penguin Random House
• Secret 7"
• Self initiated series of prints
• Limited ed. DVD sleeves - self initiated
• Lifeform on Instagram - one a week
• Quertee
• Lifting tower projection

DISCIPLINES/AREAS/THEMES

• Comic books - 12+
• Concept art - character and costume
• Book/cover illustration
• Sequential and storyboard
• Pattern design 
• Exhibiting 
• Children's book illustration 
• Public art 
• Illustration for products
• Animation/moving image
• Educational
• Campaigns 
• Clothing and accessories 
• Album artwork
• Passion projects
• Self published books/zines
• Limited edition prints
• Music scene
• Traditional painting 
• Printmaking processes 
• Badges/stickers
• Stationery
• Textile applications 

BENEFITS OF ONE-A-WEEK BRIEFS

• Practical skills development 
• Keep active on social media and blog
• Practice good time management
• Produce large amounts of work in short bursts
• Keeps you interested
• You can keep track of your development
• Helps you identify a tone of voice and audience
• Can contribute to a larger final outcome
• Can trigger ideas for other projects 
• Gives a refreshing weekly break from other projects
• No pressure from clients 
• You can't get it wrong
• Experimental and playful 
• Quick turn around
• Efficiency and effective
• Personal themes/content - personal signature, unique and unified portfolio. 
• Reflection and evaluation 
• Structure and routine 

BENEFITS OF LIVE/COMPETITION BRIEFS

• Collaboration 
• Professional competencies 
• Experience of client based work 
• Get paid and win prizes
• Specifications are given 
• Problems to solve
• Exposure and glory
• Research and development 
• Exposure, contacts and networking
• Present professionally 
• Working to deadlines!

I left this session with a lot more information about what my briefs needed to include, especially self directed ones. I'm feeling like I haven't put enough thought into them yet which is maybe why I haven't been able to get properly started with this module yet. Hopefully completing the task from this session will help me to clarify what it is I want to do for my first few briefs and I will be able to get on with some work with clear intentions as soon as possible. 

Harrison Developments Ltd Calendar Competition

The Brief

Competition: One of the north's leading property development business (S Harrison Developments Ltd) are in need of a bold, cleanand modern advent calendar design on a 1:1 ratio. The advent calendar will be well distributed and the winning design will get £100.

For the design, we are wanting a contemporary Christmas themedadvent this year; that would be described as bold, clean and modern. If colours, are too pastel, it wouldn’t work as well when reproducing. Dimensions of the previous advent calendar were 20.5cm x 20.5cm. So, basically the design needs to be square and we can scale from that. 
Deadline 5th October at 5pm.

This brief seemed pretty open to me and the quick turnaround of it meant I could churn out some work under pressure and get something completed to get the ball rolling with my extended practice module. The idea of a contemporary christmas theme was something that intrigued me as so much traditional christmas imagery has been totally overdone. It would be nice to have a breath of fresh air from that. 

Initial Ideas
I started with christmas lights as my theme which then developed onto houses which I thought was vaguely relevant as this is a property development business. I took inspiration loosely from gingerbread houses for these sketches. On the bottom row of roughs I started to pull together a composition, I like the idea of the largest tree being in the middle as if it is the centre of a town or something. By looking at Harrison Developments Ltd’s website I could see they have involvement with charity work and also started off as a small family business, both of these things bring a sense of community to mind and I think the idea of a village or town at christmas evokes this idea too. 

Inking
I has a really tight deadline for this brief (I decided to do this brief at 11am on the day of the deadline which was at 5pm). I started inking out some designs based on my sketches, admittedly I was feeling the pressure so took a more simplistic approach to my drawing. After having enough elements I was happy with, I arranged them in a square format on photoshop as specified by the brief. When arranging the pieces, I moved away from my rough by not having the central christmas tree. However, I don’t think that actually makes much of a difference to the concept behind it. 

Colour
I really wanted to avoid the red and green colour scheme that is really overdone at christmas so I found some winter images I liked the colours of and used adobe kuler to select a colour scheme I could use. The purples and yellows seemed to soft in my opinions and I don’t think they matched the ‘bold, clean’ aesthetic the brief is looking for. I chose the bottom colour scheme because I felt the colours were strong enough to be considered bright but had different enough hues to stand out against each other. I consider blue to be a cool, crisp colour and with its relations to the cold and winter, it felt appropriate. 
I played around with colour on Photoshop, deciding against a pale blue background. The brief had said to be wary of pastel colour because of how they will look after being reproduced. White seemed best, especially as this was a 3D product it would be applied to and from the previous examples shown, the other sides of the product have white backgrounds. 

Editing
When the design was almost complete, I thought it might look better if the houses had some grounding so I extended their base lines. I was torn between the two designs but after asking for some feedback from my peers I decided to submit the design without these extra lines. I had also very slightly increased the saturation of the image to make the colours pop out against the white a bit more. 

I submitted the design on time! 

Reflection
I am really happy I managed to complete this brief in such a short amount of time and I actually made something I am pleased with. I think that if I had more time to do this, the design would have been more detailed and refined, I feel like the time constraint has caused me to cut corners a bit which is obviously something I would prefer not to do. I will see how my design does in the competition but if it is unsuccessful I already have plans of how I could use this design in a repeat pattern or christmas card design. (This isn’t me preparing myself to fail, it just got the cogs turning in my brain!)

Rationale Workshop

5 things I want to make

• Patterns
• Screen prints (paper and textile)
• Work that I am proud of. 
• Professional/sellable final products. 
• Good drawings. 

5 practical skills I want to develop

• Pattern design/layout
• Photoshop skills
• Screen printing 
• Book binding 
• Preparing my work for pitching/presentation. 

5 disciplines I want to explore

• Analogue printmaking
• Textiles - print designs 
• Product and packaging
• Drawing 
• Exhibiting

5 practitioners or people in the creative industry who inspire me

• Julia Rothman 
• Leah Goren 
• Lee John Phillips
• Jamie Mitchell and Mark Callaby - founders of Ohh Deer
• Susie Wright

5 things I want to find out

• How to promote my work effectively 
• How to produce a high quality screen print
• What I really enjoy drawing 
• Where and how to get my work printed onto products
• How to conduct myself professionally over email. 

5 things I never want to do again

• Animation, after effects and stop motion
• Vector illustration 
• Life's a pitch 
• Linocut printing
• Typography and layout - I would prefer a graphic designer with specialist knowledge to do this. 

5 places I want to visit 

• Yorkshire dales
• London (exhibitions)
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park
• The countryside in general
• The library

Summarising... 5 things I want and need. 

TASK: I want to ... because ... this means I will be able to...

I want to make work that I am proud of because then I will be able to talk about it with confidence and believe it is worth something. This means I will be able to be more professional in my approach to my own work when talking to other people about it and I will have a more positive attitude towards my practice as a whole which is really important. 

I need to be making professional quality, sellable products because I need a strong body of work/portfolio behind me for when I leave my final year of formal education. This means I will be able to enter the working world with a clear collection of work which really highlights what I am good at and that I can produce professional work. 

I need to explore paper and textile applications of my work because I don't just want my work to appear in two dimensional print formats. This means I will be able to understand more about how and where I really see my work existing in the market and I can figure out what companies, agencies and people I should be making contact with in relation to this. 

I want to stick to analogue drawing processes this year because I have learnt from experience that I really struggle with the process of drawing digitally, especially with vectors. Avoiding this will allow me to develop my basic drawing skills further and start to really understand how I work best and what drawing materials and processes work well for me. 

I need to develop my Photoshop skills for editing scanned imagery created with analogue processes and for making patterns because pattern is something I have a keen interest in at the moment. This will allow me to produce professional quality outcomes effectively.