Pictures that I like- KT&Paul

Its not so much their work that I'm interested in when it comes to these guys, but its what they do. They've set up their own screen print studio, and work from there to create art together. They both share a love for art, and quality limited editions. everything is produced by hand, in house in small runs, and always finished to the highest standard that they can achieve.

This inspires me.

It makes me think that I really don't have to be a digitally based illustrator in order to succeed in the future. If you love something enough, you can make it work.

I want to continue researching other print based artists that have set up their own studios like this, and perhaps talk to them about how it can be done. 

M C Escher exhibition

My time in London was very educational, what with the London illustration fair and then this. The  M.C. Escher exhibition in Dulwich picture gallery. My cousin works there and managed to get us some tickets to see the exhibition, which was great because tickets weren't cheap as it was a private display. I didn't expect to love it as much a I did. The last time I studied his work must have been when I was about 14, when I perhaps didn't understand the complexity of his practice.
His woodcut images were exceptional! Given that we are printing at the moment, and can now understand how difficult things like lino are, it puts it all into perspective.
His geometrical work and repeated patterns were mind blowing. Absolutely loved it and made me realise I need to go to more things like this, because I came back to Leeds feeling completely inspired after an art filled weekend.

London Illustration Fair 2015

Lat weekend I went to the London Illustration Fair.

I couldn't believe how inspirational it was! We spent hours there, wondering through the stalls and talking to various practitioners. I could have spent a fortune, but managed to restrain myself and only buy a few bits. One of my favourite illustrators was there, unfortunately he wasn't as the stall when I was there, but I did meet a man with whom he collaborates. Daniel Jamie Williams is the guy, and I got two of his zines. 

I was also lucky enough to meet some of the Wrap magazine team, and got talking to them about Leeds college of art and our upcoming exhibition at colours may vary. They said that colours may vary are one of their best stockists, and we ended up having a really great chat, and they wished me luck in the future which I thought was lovely. 

Got me thinking, the illustration gang should apply for a table there next year! There is so much talent in our class, and where better to showcase it than there?! I think I'll pitch it to the group next September, see if we can get something going. The amount of people there was crazy. 

Ive looked into it a little, and here are their pricing's ...

Something to think about.

Victo Ngai

I felt honoured that I was present to hear Victo Ngai talk the other week. She spoke a lot about what its like to work as a freelance illustrator in the creative industry today. It was really interesting listening to what she had to say, even if it was a little (a lot) daunting.
My notes from the talk
"Fine artists like to create problems for themselves while illustrators like to solve problems given to them."

Illustration is about problem solving and puzzles, its working within limitations and its about communicating.
Ideas keep you evolving, and keep it fresh.
Be sensitive, think about your audience.

Make the most use from limitations/ layout etc, make sure you capture the best moment in the frame given.

Try to bring your own interests into commission work.

More money usually means less freedom. If you're working on a big corporate advertising job, try to keep a sketchbook for creativity to flow on the side of what you're doing. Make sure you always enjoy what you do even if you don't particularly enjoy the brief you're working on.

Advertisements online usually give more freedom because production costs are much lower.

Make things personal to you.

I absolutely love the compositions she comes up with. I need to think outside the box that is my tiny mind a bit more, because these are far more exciting to look at and interpret than a lot of illustrations I've come across. Interesting layout, composition and colour palette make these great pieces of illustration in my eyes.

Lifes A Pitch.

Haiku

A new movement

A creative collective

A space to create.

Our business proposition

Really excited about our groups ideas. So far our idea is to create and environment which makes art and creativity accessible to all. We want to have a space with either hot desks or studio spaces for rent for up and coming creatives. The studio spaces will be affordable, especially for people who are fresh out of uni and who need a place to work. Another idea would be to have walls that are easy to take out, so that if you felt you needed a bigger space to rent it would be easy to give two spaces for a little extra money. 

A very large table would also be placed in the studio area in order for meetings or collaborative projects. Also a separate room for workshops would be in the space, which could be held by the people renting in order to fund their own practice.

Next to this, possible separated with a glass wall so that people can see the creativity being created behind the scenes, would be a really beautiful coffee shop, but not just any ordinary coffee shop. This  coffee shop would be filled with tables and chairs that are practical to work at as well as relax, on each table would be stacks of paper and pots of pens for anyone to be creative while they sip their delicious coffee. 

Its ideally going to be a great place for people to do their work and feel inspired in. 

In the coffee shop we would sell various products that are made in the studios and elsewhere, and we would also have a space to hold gigs and other similar events. Anything that gets people to the space and makes them realise who we are and what we do will be extra income. 

We will have a great outdoor space, a bit more of a place to kick back and relax, with swing ball to take your creative anger out on. A big wall for graffiti artists will also be in the outdoor area, as well as fire bits and of course, fairy lights for ambience!

If our business takes off, we would also like to invest in a van that drives around to youth clubs and schools and sets up fun and innovative workshops for children who perhaps don't get the opportunity to be creative. We want to make a difference with what we do. 

We want to be community driven. 

Who would our competitors be?

-Precious arts collective

-Monroe house

-Colours May Vary

-Our hand made collective

-Duke studios

-Sheaf St Cafeteria

-Every coffee shop in Leeds

What makes us different?

-Affordable prices

-We stay open late, till midnight. (There is no where like this unless you're going to a bar, and a bar isn't really a good place to crack on with work)

-Accessable location

-Creative events and workshops

-Paper on every table making creativity welcome to all

-We help the community, we give opportunities to those who don't have many

Who would our customers be?

-Creatives

-Professional artists/ free-lance

- Studnets in education

- People who drink coffee

-Graffiti artists

- Youth clubs

-Schools

-General public 

Our name

We are...

THE PENPOT COLLECTIVE. 

Thought Bubble Zine

Making a zine for thought bubble ended up being quite stressful, and I really don't think it should have been. I think if we were told to finish the zine over summer it would have been a lot easier. I should have thought about that myself though, and had it ready to go before coming back. 

I think I sold 2 or 3 zines at thought bubble which was quite promising.

 The thing I don't like about my zine is that its really child like, and I think the appropriate audience for it would be children, which isn't what I want to go into. Which I really need to consider when making work in the future. Its good to be able to do that sort of stuff, but I don't want it to be the primary focus within my practice.

London Illustration fair 2015

Today I finally booked my ticket to go to the London illustration fair in December.

I am so excited! I think this will be a great opportunity for me to see whats on the market at the moment and whats current and also potentially a good networking event. There are workshops held throughout the day which would be good to attend and I will definitely come away feeling inspired. 

Ive never been to an event like this before, and I think it will really push my practice and inspire me to take other avenues in the creative industry. I'll hopefully find out about more what fields there are and what opportunities await me when I graduate.

All in all, I cannot wait for this.

Study task 3- Sectors and Services

Primary Sector- Raw materials
Secondary Sector- Raw materials turned into something of use
Tertiary Sector- generate income/finance from servicing other sectors
Quaternary Sector- The managing of others. Knowledge (government, culture etc)

Public sector- Owned by the government. Services that benefit the whole of society. Encourages and supports equal benefits. There for the good of society.
Private sector- ran for profit, not owned by the government. Not state controlled. There to make individual or company profit.
Third sector- voluntary, not for profit.
Service industries >>>> CREATIBE INDUSTRY.
Professionalising practice- choosing to generate wealth from this.

Tertiary sector

Public Sector

Creative industry- publishing, graphic design, crafts

Discipline- Communication design

Tertiary sector

Public Sector

creative industry- crafts, publishing

Discipline- communication design

Tertiary sector

Public Sector

Creative industries- Designer fashion, fashion and textiles

Discipline- Fashion and textile design

Tertiary sector

Public Sector

Creative industries- advertising, graphic design

Tertiary sector

Public Sector

Creative industries- advertising, crafts, graphic design, music industry

Life's a Pitch

Things to think about-

-Must bring my own individual practice to the group.
-The work set will be individual
-Creative strategy will continue along side life's a pitch to let it feed into it.
-Must communicate well as a group.

-Refresh my own understanding of what illustration is, what it can be and the jobs available to me when i graduate. Do this often, keep reflecting.

-The business we set up must be grounded in reality, its and imaginary business but it must be able to fit into the real world.

The creative industries

Industry-broken down into sectors
Primary Sector- Raw materials
Secondary Sector- Raw materials turned into something of use
Tertiary Sector- generate income/finance from servicing other sectors
Quaternary Sector- The managing of others. Knowledge (government, culture etc)

Service Industries - essential for the creative industry.

Public sector- Owned by the government. Services that benefit the whole of society. Encourages and supports equal benefits. There for the good of society.

Private sector- ran for profit, not owned by the government. Not state controlled. There to make individual or company profit.

Third sector- voluntary, not for profit.

Service industries >>>> CREATIBE INDUSTRY.
Professionalising practice- choosing to generate wealth from this.

Sub-domains under creative industry include;
Advertising
Architecture
Publishing etc etc

Illustration services all of the above field. It services all of the sub-domains in the creative industry.

Working in the creative industry
1. Design studios/Agencies
2. In house creative teams
3. Free-lance practitioners

Everything we do feeds into the rest of the economy. (Thats pretty cool)

Big heads - Kate Gibb

Kate Gibb was awesome! Even if the quality of the Skype was a little off.

It was really cool skyping someone whose work I actually know and love. 

Its so impressive that she uses such a traditional approach to her work and is still booming in the art industry today. Her screen prints are incredible, and she doesn't use roughs! Completely new to me but I think its great that she works so differently and to suit her rather than the clients.

Things I'll take away-

1. I'll definitely be using the college facilities a lot more, I will never have a free print room to use when I leave.

2. I want to try and add shape into my work to give it that extra something like she does so well.

3. Be experimental, work hard.

After the lecture I started following her on instagram and she liked two of my photos! (Fan girl moment)

PPP Task

Retail and Merchandise

Charlie Wager 

Band posters

Luke Dixon

T-shirts, fashion

Product- Album cover

Harvey Nichols christmas window display

(But all their window displays are amazing!)

Marcus Oakley for Lazy oaf.

Character and Narrative

Lauren Child- Charlie and Lola

Quentin Blake- the Bfg, children's book.

Jack Teagle- Jeff Job Hunter

Judith Kerr- children book

Chicken run- Aardman animations

Editorial and Reportage

Brian Rea- New York Times

Arian Tomine- The New Yorker

Lizzy Stewart- Wrap magazine

Pat Perry- California sunday mag

Jon Klassen-  For National theatre

Product and Packaging

 Collaboration by Óskar Þórðarson, Kjartan Gíslason, Karl Viggó Vigfússon and André Úlfur Visage

Toro Pinto

Hylton Warburton

Brenno Pinto-

Nick Dwyer-

Notes from the session and how they inform the images above-

Context of illustration- where it is

Product- What it is

Function - Why/what does it do?

Can a product be the function? Anything thats physical, conceptual or disciplinary can be the context.

Reportage is a disciplinary context, but it can also be a function because it responds to a text and also becomes a product.

1. Drawing is a process/investigation (media, line, translation.) This becomes...

2. Image making when we add visual language (composition, shape, texture, colour etc)

3. It becomes illustration when it communicates a message/solves a problem. When in response to a brief. Illustration is all about the brief.

Session 1-reflective practice and professional contexts

Who makes the rules? Question this, try and figure it out. Its hard to define what illustration is, so I must continue to ask questions and figure out what fits and what doesn't. 

Allow events to change me. 

I must be willing to grow.

I must learn to benefit from my practice because I do it for myself, free lance, its about exploring my own personal potential.

Think about who I would want to work for, and whether working for them will benefit my practice, whether it will support my own views and continue to hep me grow as a practitioner. 

At least 50% of what we define as illustration is defined by people out there, not us. 

Networking will become very important. I must always be aware of the requirements.

What do I need to learn? 

How do I know that I've learnt it?

Whats driving/informing me?

Level 5 is a time to individualise my own practice.

KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS. Questions are positive things.