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)