Portfolio Review - Fig Taylor

I was lucky enough to get a portfolio viewing with Fig Taylor, writer of "How to Create a Portfolio & Get Hired" She had a look over my portfolio and assumed I wanted to get into Poster designs, probably for charities. She obviously looked over what I had and thought this would be the direction I am headed for, which would be right since a lot of the work in my portfolio is for organisations such as RSPCA, AGE UK etc. I think she assumes what she sees is what I want to do, which may sound obvious, but a lot of people seem to throw their best work in their portfolio without thinking about who it is that is actually looking. For example, if a book company was to look at your portfolio with hopes of hiring you, you would probably put mostly book designs to show you are capable of that medium, or for a poster agency, you would show them posters you have done. But my portfolio at the time was an average of all my best and personally favourite work, so maybe it was confusing to see where I actually stand from an employment perspective.

She thought my Age UK work was "the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my life" which is agreeable, since that was sort of the point of it. It was still very nice of her to look at my Portfolio since she is very well-known in the industry, and I have heard of her a few times before. From what she has said I do want to maybe do work for charities, but not necessarily posters and not necessarily just charities.

Business Cards

I have made some business cards for myself. just to see what they will look like when I come to make some official ones after Christmas. I think they look decent, they have a very 'shapey' feel to them, and a warm illustrative emotion. Will just have to see what they look like when they arrive...

I have worked with the skyline imagery from the current project to make the cards, I thought this was a nice idea as the skyline works well with all the illuminated lights, it is quite eye catching.


Front:

Back:

I wasn't 100% sure exactly where the cutting will take place, so I may lose a little of the design, but here's to testing.

Little Brown Book - Feedback

I have shown my work to Little Brown Publishing and they were quite surprised by the work of everyone. Their advice to me was to continue to work with shape and try to forge a concept of using the whole page (front, back and middle), as they particularly would like to see imagery that fills the whole page and not just separate to the front or back, this is an idea I agreed with as I have done this in the past for projects such as The Wind in the Willows, where I have used the double page to plant a whole scene.

They also recommend I work with a Graphic Design student to combine a suitable typeface with my designs, I don't always like working with others as I feel I can think better in my own head and like to think I'd be fine finding a good typeface, but having someone else to bounce ideas and combine thoughts is always good and it will be interesting to work with someone I don't know and hasn't had the same design experience. 

I am going to continue to think about the layout of the page and how this can be used to an advantage, instead of sticking to just using each page separate. I also think that if I use shape in each design and stick to my style, I will have automatically kept the synergy going and that will be the common basis for the 7 designs. 

Dr Sketchy - Gotham Villains Edition

The other night, I attended a Dr Sketchy event, it was themed around Gotham Villains. For those who haven't heard of it (neither had I, prior to the night), Dr Sketchy is basically a life drawing event, usually with a particular theme. It was a really tight squeeze because the bar was pretty small and the seating was perfectly horizontal and we were sat right at the back, which meant lots of heads in front of us! But we pulled through. The event was really unusual, and I have never done anything like it before, it was great to see so many people enjoying art as much as I do, and ofcourse, it was really great opportunity to practice my drawing skills during such a crucial project.

I think if I were more of a Batman fan, I'd have appreciated the event a lot more than I did. Don't get me wrong though - it was really amazing, but the characters I drew didn't mean so much to me as it would to a hardcore fan. Nevertheless, I managed to get a few speedy drawings (,some with charcoal too!), which is unusual for me! and I really do like to life draw from time to time, it helps me observe objects/people to improve my drawing quality.

A few sketches I did at the event...

I greatly gained from this event and managed to cope with the pressure of what was going on around me, it was really packed, but I got by, and brought home some of my sketches. Here's a link to one of the girls that performed as a model on the night, she has posted many pictures that will give you an idea of what the setting of the bar was like.

http://ivywildeburlesque.tumblr.com/post/44863072628/dr-sketchy-manchester-gotham-villains-feb-2013

Age UK - Chatting to the Elderly

I took a visit to a daycare centre for the elderly in Reddish to better inform some of the locations I have picked out. At first I was very nervous as I wasn't quite sure what to think or how to behave to being surrounded by many people. It was fine after awhile, but sadly, so many of the elderly seemed so confused due to the dimensia. Many of them were in tangles about their past, but I did manage to get a bit of information from a nice lady called Betty in relation to the Air Raid Shelters. 

"I remember the sirens going off, my parents got up and ran straight to the Shelters, but they couldn't find me anywehere. They eventually found me playing with my dolls, I was already in the Air Riad Shelters!"

"In those days I had a friend that worked in the chip shop, I went and got my fish and my chips one day, and she threw me an extra fish! Because I knew her 'course.. Actually no it was two extra she gave me! Hahaha"

It was funny listening to their old tales, and at the same time, quite sweet. Given the discussions, I need to look further into the Air Raid Shelters, to get a good look at what they look like now (as I have never visited them before!).

New York - Andre Da Loba

During my stay in New York, I got the opportunity to meet Andre Da Loba, an illustrator based in New Jersey. I had a look at his gallery and a quick snoop around his office and workstation. It was really great to see the environment of an accomplished artist, and to see just how honest and laid back he was. He seemed to be a very charming and 'says it how it is' kind of guy. 

A lot of his art work seems very eye-compelling. The image isn't everything you think it is at first glance. It is, in it's own respect, very clever!

It was very kind of him to allow special access to his workstation, you can see his own work, and his inspirations are all over the place. It was good to see that his work is reflected upon with lots of bits and bobs that are all around him when he works. What a great experience this was!

The City That Never Stops Flashing 'Color' Vomit Everywhere

I have been lucky enough to go to New York City! I have done so much in just a few days, it has all been so overwhelming. I have been to meet several artists in my time here, and was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to them about all the work they produce and how they got to where they are. I took lots of pictures of the work I was inspired by, and ofcourse the amazing architecture of NY! I have learned so much in my time here, I will surely upload as much as possible.

The unmistakable food, population, traffic and bright-yellow taxis!

David Shrigley Exhibition - Cornerhouse Manchester

So the other day(, the third of October to be exact), me and a few companions visited David Shrigley's exhibition in Manchester. It was really great to see all of his fascinating and crazy work all over the walls. Shrigley has always been a really big inspiration for me, because I believe he has a similar sense of humor (though I say that with a pinch of salt :P ) to me, and we illustrate in a random and unpredictable manner. 

Here are a few shots I took at the event...

Just a shot of a wall, his drawings are everywhere!

"The North Wind Doth Blow"

At the end there was a life-drawing event and everyone's sketches were hung around the room. The model also took a wee into a bucket at 3 minute intervals. There was also a chance to act out a scene shown on a screen that we took part in. Then the characters are supposed to swap around. There was a naive customer, a stuck-up artist and a smart banker. It was interesting to see people switching roles around because you get used to seeing someone play a part and then switch to another completely different person.

Anyway, I really loved the exhibition, it was definitely one of my favorites! I love David Shrigley, and his funny characteristic art-style. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to see another exhibition like this.

Running Errands

Last night, I was lucky enough to get talking to some people in a pub and have been asked to do a couple of jobs for separate people. These will be paid and I have been given several weeks to complete them. These are effectively my first proper paid illustration jobs so I am excited!

Firstly a girl wants me to design her a tattoo featuring a dragon spiralling cherry blossoms, I find this request both honourable but kind of challenging because someone is going to be placing a design of mine to their body for the rest of their life (bar laser surgery to remove it (haha)) and so they are putting quite a lot of trust into my work. But at the same time, that makes me feel happy that my drawings are respected by people I don't know.

The second job is from a man who wants me to sketch a professional portrait of his dog who is really old as a memory of when he passes on. He is going to send me a picture of the dog and I will draw from the picture, he also said that pastels are preferred but is completely open to any form of sketch. I do like to do observational drawings

To be completely honest, money does not mean very much to me, I'm much more thankful for the opportunities and the experiences, as this is all worth a lot more than just Happy Meal spends. I am very excited and will get round to doing these jobs as soon as I can.

-Shatty

Just-So Festival 2012

Over the Summer, I have been working with Lord Whitney once again to create and set up the Just-So Festival; a much larger and demanding task than the last festival. This involved a lot of heavy lifting and walking to dedicated spots, painting, den making, crafting, origami, decorating, more walking and many other exciting tasks! 

First day of opening, wondering round to make sure
 everything is running smoothly and all is well...

Lord Whitney have created some really interesting pieces of art and they think cleverly outside the box and make both simple and complicated ranges of art and I think that some of their skills have rubbed off on me and I am starting to think a lot more about what I do as an illustrator and even when I see other people's work I can appreciate what they have done and understand the values of their work.

Parents and children enjoying the day, hay everywhere because of damn kids! :@

I think just being around Amy and Beks has inspired me to create more and better quality designs in my work, because there is only the two of them and they manage to make and organise most of a festival, and if two people can do that, I think the possibilities are fairly infinite in terms of completing future briefs and tasks that I will face next year.

Hanging bird cages surrounding an area in the woods

There were so many amazing things to see but I was unfortunately too carried away to take pictures, but you can see more on the Lord Whitney website once they've uploaded them. I had a really fun time working with them and will definitely work with them again!

The Spellbound Forest Event

This weekend, I aided the fabulous Lord Whitney in displaying their wonderful fairy-tale works throughout Delamere Forest. The forest looked so stunning with all the crazy elements being shown all over the place, from trails of birds, to arrows being blind-fired at your face, theres always something to look at. Everyone was so hard working and polite, and we all had such an amazing time! The rain kept off mostly and I managed to survive a night of camping (despite the fact I'd never been camping before). 

"High up in the hills of the deepest darkest Scotland, the Earl Mar's daughter danced.
She played chase with the wind and teased the rain."

These are a few pictures of one of the three trails throughout the forest 'The Earl Mar's Daughter' I helped to work on. There are birds everywhere! (This was the day before exhibition so excuse the obvious container on the floor...)

Beks: Are you a bird?! (I made these ;) )

I really loved working with Lord Whitney, they are so inspiring, and I hope to see them again soon! I will put a link to their blog of the event once they've finished it, and I'm sure they will upload loads of exciting pictures from the day!