4 Designers Conference London

As I did not attend 4 designers last year i thought it would be important to go this year.  There was a range of speakers who attended, this gave me incentive to go as there were many professions to learn about.  The designers who were speaking included Paul Davis who is an illustrator.  He came across as a confident person. I did not particularly like his illustrations as they were very childlike, however, the message he wanted to portray was apparent and to the point.  His attitude convinced me you should never give up.  David Hillman an Editorial Designer explained the history of typography, media print and newspaper design.  I felt that this talk was aimed more at graphic designers, however, I still gained an insight into the industry and how difficult it is to work as a successful designer.  Tim Mitchell was only on for a brief period of time, he explained the do’s and don’ts of job hunting in the design industry.  Jack Renwick worked for The Partners Design Agency. I found her interesting as she was really enthusiastic about all aspects of design.  She explained what she wanted out of an employee, this was good advice for any future job prospects.  She covered a lot of points which Tim had already raised in his talk and I felt many of the issues raised were common sense.  Jack also did a slide show of the designs that her company produce, I found this interesting as they had a different approach to every brief and where constantly thinking of unique ways of problem solving.  I found her very motivating. Tom Roope was the final speaker this year. He is a designer with a degree in film, video and photography.  Although this was the last talk of the day I felt it was the most entertaining as he told us about how he started to become successful.  Throughout his presentation he demonstrated his talents through video links.  It was apparent how he has become so successful as his work was so unique and groundbreaking.  I thoroughly enjoyed his talk and came away from it motivated and believing in my own abilities.

London Transport Competition

AOI London Transport Competition.
As part of negotiated studies two I decided to challenge myself and enter the London Transport Competition. I entered the competition last year but did not get selected. At this point I had not developed my own style and was still learning and improving my technique. This year I felt I was capable of producing an illustration suitable for this brief. In the way that I illustrate I thought it would be a good idea to create the Thames with one brush stroke. I used bright colours in my design, especially in the river, as this was an important element when responding to the brief. I wanted to show the benefits and the sights you see alongside the river to get business people and tourists visiting on special occasions.

Totally Thames and I

After submitting my work online I received a phone call congratulating me on my success at being selected in the final fifty entrants. This meant that my work was going be exhibited at the London Transport Museum. On Monday the 9th May I went down to London to find out if my work had been chosen. I was greeted with a glass of wine and was given a visitor pass with the title ‘illustrator’ on it. This made me feel important and professional.

I then went to look at the exhibition and saw the competition I was up against. I noticed most entries relied on computer software and were very similar designs. I think that my style stood out from the majority, as it looked more contemporary and had a mixture of an illustrative design with a fine art finish. I felt that many of the entries did not illustrate the benefits of the Thames and just appeared to be a drawing of the area. Whereas, when I tackled the brief I spent a lot of time researching and coming up with numerous ideas to represent the social benefits of the Thames.

I took along some business cards that I had created in order to expose myself to possible future clients. However, I found it difficult to approach and know whom to approach throughout the evening. The winner and runners up obviously got a lot of attention but other illustrators seemed to be overlooked. From this experience I gained more confidence and self-belief in my abilities as an illustrator. Even though I didn’t win the competition I came away from it knowing that I can compete with the best.

The following were the top three from runner up to winner…

I think this should have won it

Denise Chilton

After Lee Carter’s talk I wasn’t particularly looking forward to Denise Chilton’s motivational talk.  I guess this was because it wasn’t anything to do with illustration/design.  After the first five minutes I knew it was going to be interesting and that the information given would be useful in any situation in my future.

These were some of the exercises which Denise used in her session;-

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

In groups we then looked at the things which motivate and demotivate us. Denise then got us to write down what we really want in order to make goals for ourselves. She pointed out the purpose of setting goals and used the acronym SMARTIE goals;-

Specific and positive

Measurable and meaningful to you

Achievable and stated in present tense

Realistic and right for you

Timed and targeted and thrilling

I as in ‘my’

Exciting

Sensational

This helped to give a guideline of how to set realistic goals for ourselves.

We then were given the wheel of life and told to rate different aspects which are shown in the wheel to show how I perceive the quality of my own life. This gives an indication on where your life is at the moment. I gave myself a 9 for health, this demonstrates I am happy in all aspects of health at the moment, whereas with fun/recreation I scored myself as a 3, this shows this is an area where I need to improve and ask myself why am I scoring so low. This is due to uni commitments and work outside of uni, I feel I have little time for socializing at the moment.

At the end of the session I felt more confident and had more belief in myself. By following the methods, the stress of everyday life can be reduced. I feel I made a good choice in attending Denise’s group session and take many positives out of this.

Lee Carter – Concept Art

Lee began by explaining his career past to present.  I was inspired by his determination in believing in himself and his ability in pursuit of his dream from being a young child.  Lee Carter didn’t want to do a ‘proper’ job; he wanted to draw the things he drew as a seven-year-old boy and get paid for it. Lee took us through the process of how he created his artwork and how he succeeded as a concept artist.  He offered really good personal advise and answered any inquisitive questions.  Overall his attitude to his work was an outstanding example of what any aspiring artist can achieve, and it shows that if I stay focused I will have no problem in achieving my goal.

Creative Futures Week

Creative futures week began with an interesting talk with stats about the creative industry and how it is developing and interest in it is increasing. This really excites me as it shows realistically that I have many options and I’m now more optimistic about the creative industry and more importantly my future.

Barry Purves had a lot of experience in the animation sector. First impressions of him were his enthusiasm, love and passion for his field of work.  Although it was a lengthy talk he broke down the sessions with videos to give examples of his work. Considering he was an animator, I felt as an illustrator, I could relate to some of the work Barry produced. For example, the character Cliff who he created a puppet of demonstrated the movements and emotions I can portray in my own work. I can relate to the way that Barry researches for his projects in terms of gathering many images to produce his work.

Paul Gravett.  I was really interested in his talk about graphic novels. Even though I’m an illustrator I felt he had important information and knowledge which would help me. Paul gave an in depth talk on history and relevant comics today. I’m sure Paul inspired the majority of the audience, giving them confidence and belief when creating comics, he explained how there are new concepts and ideas that can be brought to the comic style today. In particular how a comic doesn’t necessarily have to exist on one page or in a particular format, it could expand in any direction forming a cube of endless stories. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to have a portfolio review from Paul. I think he liked my work and he suggested I had a new form of composition when analysing my time brief. After looking through the rest of my work Paul suggested David Mack and Mattotti as artists to look at that have a similar style and as inspiration but not to copy from. His feedback was good and will help me in future projects.

December editions of Art & Design magazines

 

 

Computer Arts magazine offers good information and useful tips, advising you on all the latest softwares and apps to download. Below is an illustration from the adobe ideas app I have downloaded from this magazine. This could be a useful tool for playing around with my ideas in my spare time.

 

I admire the contrast in the black and white image.

 

This image demonstrates a technique i would possibly like to use in my 100 years of solitude project. A limited palate has been used in this black and white image with important bits of information illucidated in yellow.

Initially I chose this image because i liked the colours and the composition. However, it appears to be a massive coincidence that the image was designed in accordance with a music brief to represent a band who play Russian soul music, with touching jazz harmonies and clear female vocals.

Because of my interests in portraiture I really liked the composition and the contemporary way this has been designed. I especially like the blues.

When looking at this image I again thought of one of my projects (100 years of solitude). The idea revolving around the butterflies carrying tarot cards tied in with elements of the story.

I found this image in Artists & Illustrators magazine after re-looking at November’s edition, pending the arrival of december’s edition. I admired the drawing style of the abstract geological landscapes.

I found this illustration extremely interesting in particular the weird perspective. I always aspire to show this in my work.

Working to a finished piece of artwork

After 12 hours of frustration trying to put the piece together in photoshop this is the final outcome as shown below. I am really disappointed with the way it turned out for a number of reasons: The drawing isnt in proportion; it looks like its been edited, for instance the dress doesnt cover the horse like it should do, and the musical object does not fit as intended. The piece should not have taken me so long and with a deadline looming it was obvious that i should work with something i feel comfortable with.

After being disappointing by the final outcome from photoshop, i decided to revert back to working traditionally in pencil which i am comfortable with.

After speaking to my tutor Yadzia, a decision was made to sharpen the image by using softer pencils creating a contrast. I am pleased with the final image and feel it is good enough to be displayed in the Smithy heritage centre, where it will be judged for the Randolph Caldecott competition.

Caldecott

I am drawing the separate parts of the fine lady for my Caldecott project, these drawings have been put together using photoshop as im now putting the brief together.

The image below shows my final drawing of Ride a Cock horse to Banbury Cross before using media. I intend to use the drawings above, putting them together in photoshop.

November’s magazines

These are the November editions of the art & design magazines that I regularly look at each month.

October’s magazines

This month’s magazines

In the Computer Arts magazine I discovered an artist that I hugely admire.  His name is Yuta Onoda.  His work contains a dynamic style with strong composition.

The following ‘horse’ magazines were consulted for reference purposes for my Randolph Caldecott work.  My images for Caldecott may contain horses so I needed to study them.