Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Today I visited the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. I've been to it before, but it's always so good that it's worth going again. It inspired me to practice and improve on my photography skills, as it is a really useful and powerful way of capturing visual imagery, and begin using tools such as shutter speed and aperture more. Here are some of my favourite images! 

Study Task 4 (What is Illustration?)

Choosing a website; It's Nice That 
(http://www.itsnicethat.com)

I chose this website out of the three given as I am drawn to it the most and find it the most interesting. The selection of work they show is wide and contemporary, compared to the House of Illustration which seemed to be more classic, such as Paddington Bear. They have featured illustrators that use a variety of ways to create images, from digital to painting to using coloured pencils. Much of the work is editorial or for brands, showing where illustration is being used in relation to current issues and trends, for example Laura Callaghan's piece about Tinder. I like the layout of the website and how they have simple articles, such as the 'Top 10 Illustrators of 2014', filled with images. It is being constantly updated, with several new articles a day, so will never get boring or samey. I feel this website will give me the most inspiration and open my eyes to loads of illustrators I didn't know before, without going through long winded articles that appear on others. It is a massive creative hub without being overwhelming, full of new ideas and brilliant pieces of work, from accomplished illustrators to the less known and created by people in the industry who know what they are talking about. 

An example of some of the great articles Itsnicethat has to offer

Laura Callaghan's dark but comical piece about Tinder

Where you can find illustration:

PRODUCT

Food/drinks packaging

Clothes labels

On clothes

Logos

Music/album covers

Cards

Wrapping paper

Public transport, e.g. trains and buses

Signage

General product packaging e.g. makeup

T shirts and clothing - illustration can be so varied on clothing products, to suit the taste of the target audience or brand. I have considered printing some t-shirts now we have had the print room induction to sell; it is quick and easy to reproduce loads of them for a small price compared to what they could be sold for. It would also be interesting to see if people would actually be interested in wearing my work!

Food and drinks packaging

Album covers

Household packaging

Signage





PUBLICATION
Childrens books
Book covers
Newspapers
Fashion magazines
Music magazines
Zines
Manuals
Encyclopedias
Graphic novels
Leaflets

Magazine covers

Encyclopedia illustrations

Childrens books

Book illustrations (Iron Man - Ted Hughs, illustrated by Laura Carlin)

Zines - again, something that I would like to get into making and distributing around Leeds, in the college and potentially at art fairs, for free and if I can for a profit. You can make zines as daft as you want but they still could work, because of the nice hand made quality you get from them. 

PLACE

Schools and universities

Hospitals and doctors surgeries

Museums

Galleries

Cafes

Restaurants

Clubs and music venues

Pubs

Train stations and bus stops

Shops and supermarkets

Mural in a Mexican restaurant

Childrens hospital entrance

A poster found in the tube stations - I really love the colours and textures used in this piece. Posters are very relevant to illustration today, as they are being used to advertise products and events everywhere you look. I would like to get better at producing posters as it is something I am definitely interested in, but I think I need to get better at working with composition before (not so great yet).

Bus stop poster for a play

Mural in Leeds (by the Corn Exchange)

ONLINE

Social media (facebook, twitter, instagram)

Art blogs (colossal.com, itsnicethat.com) 

Online portfolios

Search engines (google, yahoo)

News websites

Photo sharing websites (pinterest, tumblr, flickr)

Video sharing websites (youtube, vimeo)

Online adverts

Online shopping sites (asos, etsy, ebay)

Informative websites (wikipedia)

Photo sharing websites (Pinterest)

Online shopping

News websites (New York Times)

Art blogs (thisiscolossal.com)

Search engines (Google)

Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery Visit

Yesterday we visited the post second world war illustration exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery. I thought it was really good to see a varied collection of illustrations from the past 60 years; some of the ones by Edward Ardizzone were really lovely. Most of the works in there seemed character or reportage based, many reminiscent of old fashioned children's book drawings. I will go back again to get some proper names (we were in a rush). Unfortunately they didn't let us take any pictures!

Even More Pinterest

Created another board for the COP module; collecting images of event and gig posters, mainly off of gigposters.com. Hopefully this will help when writing the essay and give me a wide variety of image and artist references; its already given me a few more ideas. It's good to see some modern ones vs. older ones, and photographic vs. hand drawn vs. digital etc.

More Pinterest

Today I created a new board to collect reference imagery and inspiration for OUIL404 (Visual Language) - Ska, Punk and Northern Soul. It's great as a board, and when it's all up there together you can see the clear visual links between the three genres really easily. However, I don't like Pinterest as much as I thought I would, just as you have to faff around signing in and stuff to collect imagery and have access to internet. I would like to have a tangible collection of images as well as an online one, for postcards and things I find laying around. I can always take pictures of that one and then make a new board for it on Pinterest.

Self Evaluation; End of Module (OUIL403)

1. Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?

I have been able to expand my skills in ways such as being able to be much more relaxed about the work I have produced; not being afraid of doing a bad drawing and ‘messing’ up a page in my sketchbook. I can now look at a bad drawing and use it to correct the next one, for example making fingers longer on a hand.  Leading on from this, I feel I have massively improved my drawing skills, as I have been constantly creating new drawings and repeating them almost every day. I also think I have gotten better at using my time wisely to create work, something I have previously not been very good at. This could be because the course is so demanding that if you don’t plan out your time you will get very behind very quickly, something I learnt early on. It has been useful to have a go at editorial illustration, as I have learned how to extract key parts of an article and visualise them on a piece of paper whilst communicating an idea.

2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?

I have found repeating the drawings I have created to improve them very valuable, by tracing and tweaking them on the lightbox or just looking at them and trying to do it by eye. This for me is the best way to make the work I have created better and I feel this has really benefited my drawing skills and final work outcomes. I have also found observational drawing very helpful, as it has given me a more realistic outcome to my work, without detracting from my own drawing ‘style’ (not something I’m set in stone about, it is just good to try and keep a sense of character within work and not draw fully from reference).

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

I feel I have used my time fairly wisely and have created a collection of works in which I am overall pretty happy with. I think my drawings have been successful and communicative; I have capitalised on this by continuing to practice illustrating concepts or stories, e.g. an article, and asking people whether they understand what the message is behind the imagery. I feel I have been able to reflect on what didn’t work so well and use it to improve the work I am creating.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

I think I could produce more development work for future projects, as I am prone to jumping the gun and settling on a final idea before I have tried and produced more rough ideas. This will also help me improve the concepts behind my work, something I have struggled a little with in this module, especially towards the start. I will improve on this by making sure I set aside enough time to create more, and take books out the library, watch relevant films and visit places for inspiration; absorb and document as much information around me as I can.

5. In what way has this module introduced you to the Ba (Hons) Illustration programme?

I have gathered the feel for the standard of work we are expected to produce, and how creating at this level will help me move forward in the future. It has taught me that working within a creative studio environment is helpful and influential when it comes to creating. I have really enjoyed this first module, although it has been challenging, as I feel I am developing my skills more and more every day, from drawing to concept making.