Little Brown Book Project - Marketing and Studio Visit

I have been to London to show several marketing directors my seven book cover designs for the Josie Dew Cycling Books project I have been working on. While I was there, I had a look around the building that Little Brown were stationed at. I was very surprised that there were so many employees in such a small company. It was a giant office with many people working on different things, some putting books together, others designing the actual books, it was really amazing to see! I spoke to one of the designers who was in the middle of designing a thriller book. 

They were working on Photoshop with one of those drawing tablets. She showed me some of the recent books she had designed and they all looked really different, yet intricate. Some had some funny illustrative characters, some were very dark and eerie, it was clear that most of the artists here don't have one particular style, they adapt to suit the content being made. She showed me a list of books that need to be made for a certain date (about two months away) and there were about 20 that needed to be made. I thought it would be very stressful buts he said she gets sent ideas of how they want it to look, the problem is that sometimes there are so many different ideas suggested, it can be difficult to understand which design they actually want. I asked her if she ever takes anything home or if it is all done at work. She said that luckily she never needs to work from home, it's all done during office hours, and that it is good to have a break from it as with anything.

As for showing work to the team, it was very scary! I assumed there would just be a few people but there was a giant roundtable and about 15 different people, they started saying "Hello I'm the marketing director for Waterstones" etc. I didn't expect this many, but I explained my work and why I designed them the way I did and it went ok. I was very lucky to get this oppertunity, but where it will go from here I do not know yet, but it was a really great experience!

Hopes Fears and Oppertunities

At the start of the year, I set some Hopes, Fears, and hopeful opportunities. Firstly, for my hopes, I wanted to create work that I (note the bold 'I') both enjoy making and am proud of, and I feel I have gradually felt the freedom of being able to achieve this, as in previous years I have felt that I have restricted myself while searching for how I want to work. During the last two projects I do feel that I am creating work that I want to make, and not necessarily something that someone else would like to see, I am gaining confidence in myself to make what I want to make!

Fears are always present, but I feel I have gained an immunity to criticism, I have always been worried about what someone really thinks of my work, and have always doubted myself when receiving compliments for my art, and think about what the person may actually be thinking. It's unhealthy to think in this way because if you ask someone for what they think, they will generally tell you what they think, when you ask someone for visual feedback, it's a very honest subject but just an opinion.

I feel that illustration is about finding your heart, and this should be reflected in a person's work. At the end of the day, you ask for someone's opinion, and you get their opinion, but that's all it is, and another person will give you another opinion. One human's opinion shouldn't be the only tie when making art, it's about what the artist has to offer (unless ofcourse, the work is for someone, but even then they want a piece of you, not themselves)

For the next semester I need to get involved in a few opportunities as I have in previous years, there's no better way to learn about yourself than to explore the art world, see how people work, get involved with them, see how things are on the inside. I loved working with Lord Whitney last year, it shows that on the inside they were just like me, there's no reason why I can't be as successful as they are. It was also nice to see how casual they are, they aren't 24/7 workaholics (well, only until the deadline date) but you can be both professional and casual at the same time, being yourself. 

I hope to spend time with other artists in the next semester, maybe get some experience to see how different artists apply their methods, and how they cope with stresses and just generally what they're like!