Rainy Days

Page from my 'unfinished' children's book! 

Still working on this image at the moment. I'm currently creating combining drawing and collage (due to limited time and no available slots in the photography studio). It is very different from my usual paper cutting and photography, so I feel a bit rusty! I like a challenge so I will press on with it! 

Jill Calder Lecture

A couple of weeks ago Illustrator Jill Calder visited us to give us a talk about working in industry. Jill is a successful Commercial Artist, working mainly using ink and drawing. 

The first piece of advice Jill gave us was not to let people mess you around with money and getting paid, Jill experienced this at the start of her career. We will be providing a service to people, it's a business, Jill said to make sure people do not take advantage!

Jill used to self promote by setting up meetings for portfolio viewings, but she has agents now. I'm sure she said she is represented by two or three agents, Central Illustration Agent (CIA) and Friend and Johnson Photography and Illustration. Jill has an agent in America who has her portfolio to show to clients for her. Jill spoke about design and layouts of portfolio and advised to make it individual and unique so it's remembered. Jill also has her portfolio on her iPad and takes it to meetings, she said it's great because if someone likes your work you can literally click and email them your portfolio straight away.

Jill went on to talk about her method and the importance of drawing and learning the shapes of things. Jill draws when she's out, she observes location and people in her sketchbook, which she says is good for going back and looking at for reference. Sometimes Jill uses google images for reference (as we all do), it's better to draw whilst looking at the real thing but this is not always possible. 

I really enjoyed the talk, Jill was very funny and her work is inspiring!

FabLab

Today I visited FabLab in Manchester to do a practice run using the Laser Cutter. The machine is awesome! I practiced laser cutting my fairy design out of wood, the tiny fairy sort of caught on fire!!! The wings are far too detailed for something so tiny. I will be going back to laser cut my designs out of acrylic to use for my final show at university.

Hopes, Fears and Opportunites

Where do I start?!! We were asked to write this post by our tutors as part of our course, and  I suppose it makes you think and have a little mini plan! You need to know where you're going if you want to get there right?!!

My hopes, I have many, my first is obviously to be successful in what I do. My dream is to be a freelance Illustrator working in my own studio space (which I now have)! I would love to be involved in a range of different aspects of design from creating images for editorial/books, and also working on events creating three dimensional works. I'd love to be creating window displays...Harrods would be a dream! I want to keep my options open and as a girl that needs to be kept on my toes, I would like to be involved in lots of different projects to keep it exciting and fresh. 

I have studied for five years as a single parent and it's been tough at times but I'm still going! It's good practice for the real world and the pressures I'm sure industry will throw my way, so I will embrace this challenge! I want to make my son proud and provide a good life for him, that's my drive.

My fears are really time management. As a creative I tend to be slightly disorganised which is a pain but something I'm concentrating on! I think it comes with the nature of artists. Also having huge responsibilities can be quite draining and I worry I will not be able to give my career everything I know I can because my son comes first. Hopefully I can find a happy medium, I'm not the first working mum after all! I just need to learn the balance, they should really write a manual for this!! I also worry that if I work freelance I will not have a steady source of income, again with having to provide for someone this is slightly worrying! 

At the moment I have two work experience placements, one is with Lord Whitney working on an event called Spellbound Forest which is taking place at Delemere Forest in a couple of weeks. I will be assisting to dress the forest for the event with the creatives, it will be a great experience as I am very interested in this sort of work for my future. So exciting! In return I will receive tickets so I can take my small person along and enjoy the weekend with him! My second work experience placement is for an event called 'The First Cut' which is taking place in Manchester and will be exhibiting artists from all over the world who specialise in creating art using paper! Right up my street. I am helping two artists but I will blog after the event about that. 

For now it's all about networking, creating, trying hard and looking forward. I am very ambitious and believe that if you want to achieve something you can. What you put in is exactly what you get out!

Thereza Rowe

Loving the work of Thereza Rowe at the moment! Her use of shape and colour is very bold. I particularly like her piece 'A Box Of Whispers', there's something naive about it yet it's sophisticated at the same time. 

It's a feast for my eyes looking at her work! It's really inspired me to go and play in my sketchbook which I shall be doing this afternoon whilst sipping on a strong coffee! Here are some more pieces of her delightful work!

Deadline is looming!!

Today I've had to have a chat with myself as I get these mental blocks with my design! I think it's all overwhelming what with creating a book ...and an installation for my final show, plus being a mum! So my conclusion is to just make and play in my sketchbook for the next few days and use my elements to create collages rather than make my usual three dimensional sets that are very time consuming and requires lots of planning and preparation. 

The three dimensional element to my work will come into play with my installation which I have time to complete after my book deadline. Also it will be better to show the two aspects of my work so potential clients can see that I am capable of working flat and also three dimensional (which is good for events, window displays, etc). I want to show I am versatile!

Wish me luck!!

Bits I'm currently working on!

An update on what I'm working on at the minute as I've not posted much of my work lately, been  preoccupied with other things!