Lord Whitney

Deborah Wigglesworth Visit - The Paper Passionist

A 'Paper Passionist' talked to us today about paper, different kinds of paper, the processes of constructing paper, the different effects and styles of paper. She really lives up to her title! She had brought in many packs of paper with lots of different examples of styles of paper. It was very quirky of her to organise so many packs for us to take away. I now have a basic understanding of the process to make paper and how simple it actually is, she was very helpful and offered support if anyone needs help in using or sending off for any particular paper.

I was shocked that paper can come in infinite varieties. When you think of paper, you think of boring white A4 pieces, but they can be so very different. One piece was almost like a brick! She also showed us special types of business cards you can make that are very thick pieces of paper layered on top of one another. The most interesting piece was a stylised black piece that looked like metal sheeting and had holes in it, that was very nice, you could fit paper for any purpose at all, there is always a style that would work.

Deborah also showed us her archive of favourite pieces of work that she had done with many other artists, she seemed to be very knowledgable of people in the industry. This visit was probably the most interesting of all the visits, and I'm glad Deborah spoke to us about something so overlooked; paper!

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.

Animals in Anguish - My Project Drawings

I have started my final project and have decided to make it about Animal Cruelty, maybe lead into environmental issues that are affecting animals, I have started out by drawing animals just to get my head into the project. Here are a few of them:

Duckling

I feel that it is important to get into the project by just drawing and drawing and drawing. If I am going to feature birds or reptiles, I need to know how they look, how they position themselves, how they move. So I have started by drawing them.

Mouse

Kitten

A few attempts at birds

Next I am going to think about making posters and how the drawings I have made would factor in to them.

E-Portfolio Feedback - Philippa Lightburn

I sent my e-portfolio to Philippa Lightburn, Philippa is an illustrator who was an ex-student at my university, and has gone on to be a professional freelance illustrator.

"I've had a look through your portfolio and I'm really impressed with both your work and the layout. I remember meeting you at the guru evening and I don't think you had a lot of your work with you so seeing it all together like this is really nice! You've got a great style that is obviously working well for you and your portfolio flows well from page to page."

"My favourite illustration is the pollution piece for the RSPCA. I just think it's such a great idea that has been executed really well and it has an immediate message. The two block colours work nicely and it's very graphically striking. I also really love the Wind in the Willows book cover - especially the trees in the background. They're really beautiful colours and have a lovely texture to them."

Since a lot of my portfolio contains a lot of mixed media between hand crafted objects and work I've made on the computer, it's nice that she can appreciate this, and appreciate the use of colour between them. The Fairtrade piece had a strict colour palette, so it's even better that I managed to hold a good synergy regarding colour in the piece.

"The presentation of your portfolio is really strong and I can't fault anything. All the other gurus I've emailed have had little things that I would change with the layout, but yours is perfect!"

I feel I was happy with the way my work was presented, each page follows the exact sizing and measurements of the previous page, so it pleases my perfectionist side. It made me smile that she used the word 'perfect' though, that was a nice comment to receive.

"The only minor thing I can spot is perhaps some of the typography. I really like the typography on the two book covers, the hand drawn quality of it is really nice and compliments the work well. The fonts on the RSPCA and Fair Trade images could perhaps be a bit more interesting and match the styles of the illustrations more. But this is a really minor thing so please don't take it to heart. I'm only picking up on it because I went to a graphic design agency and the guy said I could do with changing the font on one of my pieces. Graphic designers are really in to type so carefully choosing one or designing your own can be worth your while!"

This has been interesting because Pat Carroll said the opposite, he has worked with graphic designers for years and doesn't think the typeface works with the skyline. I do think the type does fit with the series or books, it's a very hand rendered characterful typeface and I do like it. It's very interesting to receive opinions from people who have experience from the industry, because it's just an opinion, and you can only take from it what you asked for, a collection of opinions gives you a more broad range of feedback.

Overall Philippa was very pleased with my work and I am glad with this. I want to try and improve some of the pieces of work though, there are other potential pieces that didn't make it into the portfolio that maybe I will reconsider.

E-Portfolio Feedback - Gary Prendergast & Pat Carroll

I have been given feedback by two artists, Gary Prendergast and Pat Carroll, Pat has worked with many successful graphic designers and students, and has made LPs for band albums such as The Happy Mondays. They found my portfolio layout to appear very professional, all the pages are perfectly laid out and look as they should. They were both very fond of my illustrative and graphical combinations in my work, and said that they can tell straight away what kind of style I have with my work. 

Pat was very impressed with my RSPCA work and thought they were my strongest pieces, some pieces such as the Josie Dew piece, has a great potential, but is let down by the typeface and the statue in the centre, it would be good if this piece could be amended. I felt I liked the typeface, but agree with the statue comment, it is a bit of an anti-climax, it just looks a little out of place. If after removing the statue, there is too much of an open gap, I could work on making the skyline a bit higher.

They said my work reminded them of an artist called Paul Rand and recommended I look into him, as my work has a similar style. Overall, they said that my portfolio does have a really nice feel and gives off my aura, which I am glad about. I will go into my eportfolio and try to make some amendments to past work over the Christmas holiday.

What does illustration mean?

"As our visual language evolves, the playing field is leveling. Graphic designers, sculptors, painters, creative developers, and even musicians amorphously meander across different parts of our creative industries. As a consequence, I often wonder what the term 'Illustration' now means. Maybe as a medium it might need to do more than vocationalise aesthetics and cultivate a border palate of profundity for its own survival." 
- Michael Salu, Artistic Director of Granta Magazine 
2012 Varoom 

This is a very interesting and provocative quote. Technology is constantly upgrading, and has evolved how art is both created and perceived, is this a good or bad thing? Like a lot of things, there are pros and cons, take the new 'gifs' for example, a way of creating illustrations to be in two or three fast moving images, to create a 'moving' image, these are seen on websites now as an alternative to images in some e-magazines. These being better or worse than how they are shown in physical magazines isn't relevant, whats relevant is how they are being implemented into technology. 

Today we see the art work of Picasso in galleries and are amazed at the presence of the piece next to us, to think his hand once touched that canvas, it has an aura. But seeing the same image online isn't really the same, but how would someone being born into this new technological world perceive this? Would they miss this out, and only see the 'new' (which to them is the 'current') as being worthwhile? The playing field isn't just leveling, it's also changing. New vocabulary is being added to visual language, but I feel that different ages will see this in different ways, some will see it as an addition, and good thing, and others will take it as a change, when a way of working is being implemented, another way of working is being sunk. 

My own work will probably take a toll at this, I work as I want to work, I create images I like and cast it from my own heart, but I can still do the same thing using new technology, or adapting new techniques. I would really like to learn how to make gifs and any new advancement, as a new way of working is another challenge to overcome and maybe it will help me to find a new way of working that I can really enjoy.

"Illustration" to me means to produce art from the heart, this means making designs that I want to make, that I want people to see, not necessarily like. To me, changing or making a new word for illustration would be irrelevant, because it would still be the same thing. I may work on a computer sometimes, but I'm still illustrating, I'm still using my soul as the inspiration for my work, regardless of whatever subjective word is used, so what's the difference?

AOI would also have to change it's name.