MoMA - New York!

I was lucky enough to visit New York recently and while I was there went to the Museum of Modern Art. It's probably one of my favourite places I've ever been in my life! However, although it was amazing to see all the really famous pieces of work they have in there (too many to name), it was exhibitions on the Russian Avante Garde and Bauhaus/Mid Century Design that I really was drawn to.

I've never really looked at Bauhaus before as I thought it was kind of a basic art school thing to be into and it wouldn't actually be that good, but I now eat my words. The posters were absolutely incredible just in terms of how they use shape, colour and type. Both those and the Russian work has really inspired me to try and use type more in my work as I now see it can be really effective, especially for posters.

Bauhaus

Bauhaus

Love this!!

Mural Painting!

This Sunday I assisted with the painting of a massive mural designed by classmate George Addy that will be displayed in Leeds train station for the next three weeks. It was absolutely freezing and took us 13 hours, but so much fun and great experience to see how painting something so large could actually be done in the space of a day. George decided on a paint-by-numbers system which worked perfectly - if I ever get commissioned for a mural, I now know what to do!

The mural has been given pride of place in the next Independent Leeds magazine, which is great exposure for both George and us as the painters. They also followed us all on Instagram and gave us a tagged shoutout, which in return gave me a weird influx of followers - it just goes to show how pitching in on live briefs and social media can expand my professional network.

Online Social Presence - Updating my cover photo

I feel like this suits my work better, as it is involves shape, texture and lots of colour; it is a bit blurry (I've had trouble getting an image that will fit the recommended dimensions) but until I make a perfect one I think it works much better for my profile. It's cropped from a recent image I made that I really like. I think to update the cover photo every now and again as my work improves will do my profile good; people might notice and want to see what is next sort of thing?! 

Online Social Presence - LinkedIn article

I decided to write my LinkedIn article about the mural painting on Sunday; it seemed a good topic and shows people looking at my page I am being active illustrating out and about in Leeds, looking for external opportunities and not just doing uni work. I also loved doing the painting, so it sort of counts as a passion post!

Online Social Presence - LinkedIn

I have set up a LinkedIn account and filled in quite a bit of the information (it says I am level 'expert' when it's not on the preview). 

I actually found it quite hard to write the little summary and still am not that happy with it; I still find it awkward and embarrassing to big myself up, as well as difficult for some reason to describe who I am. I want to re-write it after giving it some more thought. I need to get over this!

The Leadmill, Sheffield

As I think I might be interested in designing and illustrating for the music and events industries as a job, I have sent some relevant work off to The Leadmill Club in Sheffield after they posted on Facebook asking for submissions. If successful, it will be a paid opportunity illustrating for merchandise and promotional material. I would love to have a go at some live work for a real club or music business to see if I actually want to do this! Fingers crossed.

AIMS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR

I'd like to list a few of my current aims for third year, just to see if I meet them at the end (to sort of measure my improvement?!) It's also good just to get them written down and sorted out. 

1. Improve working with shape - effectively use shape and negative space within my illustrations to create more interesting and contemporary work.

2. Improve working with type - I currently know nothing and have no skills with working with type. I want to build up a knowledge of appropriate fonts for different uses; design boards, branding, presentations, within illustrations etc.

3. Improve working with colour - I feel I'm already quite good at this but still want to improve. Colour can add so much to an image!

4. Use the letterpress - why not! I might not have access to one after graduation so I need to make the most of it while I can.

5. Improve my screen printing skills - again, I feel I'm already ok at this, but ok isn't good enough. I want to be a master.

6. Do a massive screenprint to prove it - see above

7. Successfully brand myself - to help get a job!

8. Build confidence within my work and speaking about my work - I won't get anywhere if I don't believe in it myself and are unable to put myself forward.

9. Build confidence presenting - links in with the above.

10. Make good and useful contacts - creative professionals of all sorts/design studios/advertising agencies/etc.

11. Leave feeling like I've improved massively over the space of a year!

12. Leave feeling like I actually could possibly have a career in illustration.

Self branding?

I have started to think more about how I appear online. I feel like I need some sort of logo or picture that can go universally across all my online platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Blogger, upcoming website) so I can start to appear more recognisable. 

I do quite like this image; I tried to incorporate what I want my work to start to continually become and include (shape, bright colour, texture) and how people who know me might see me (personality?) I am going to try and make a few others and compare them; this did get a really positive reaction when I posted it on Instagram. 

Leeds Zine Fair

Myself and two classmates got a table together at this September's Leeds Zine Fair. It's the first fair I've ever done, and I made a mighty £6 (and spent £3 on samosas at the fair). 

It was so uplifting to see people picking up and engaging with my work as the walked around the fair - even if they didn't buy anything! A few people took my business cards and one lady asked if I would ever be interested in participating in a live art event in Sheffield if I was ever there. All good experience and great to make contacts!

Now I also know what sells well - postcards, t-shirts, ceramic models and badges were all very popular. Screenprints didn't do so well, maybe as they were priced higher. Prints could possibly do better at a proper print fair in the centre of town where visiting customers could be prepared to pay more. 

We also were included in a zine they complied during the fair - it was printed all on risograph, which I was so excited about as I've never done it before! Everyone had to do a quick sketch and they had made it within a couple of hours. My quick doodled design is pictured below. 

Final Presentation

Creative Presence Image Summary

Notes for the presentation...

I don't want to write an actual script for the presentation, as I think it is unnatural to just read something pre written, especially as it is about my own practice and I should know what I want to say like the back of my hand; I know I wouldn't use it anyway even if I did write one. I am just going to have some rough reminders of what I want to say for each slide, incase I get too nervous and have a mind blank. 

Slide 1 - Introduce who I am, quick reflection on where I was with my practice at this point last year.

Slide 2 - OUIL504 and how I had a change of direction within my practice towards print based methods of making, especially screenprinting. Why this module was so beneficial and why I enjoyed it so much/feel it was so successful.

Slide 3 - Presentation of work - how I now understand the importance and impact good presentation has on the overall look of my work, especially when pitching it to potential clients. How it is good to see all your work looking nice and why.

Slide 4 - Introduction of monoprint and a rough intro about Responsive and how it went - what I learned, what I liked/disliked, why the module was beneficial. What I took forward from it (I don't like making book covers but it was good to have a go etc, I enjoyed product and packaging...)

Slide 5 - Design boards and collaborative brief - again why presentation is so important and why I find design boards so beneficial to my practice, why the collaborative brief went well and how I used what I had previously learned this year (print) to create something I was really happy with.

Slide 6 - Secret 7 - the success of the brief, the exhibition, why I think this could be a potential direction (music promotion?) for me to move towards and why I enjoyed it so much.

Slide 7 - More music promotion/print based work - moving towards the end of the year, how far my work has progressed and how I can start to look back and see a tone of voice developing and a clearer direction I want to move in looking forward to level 6. How I worked out how to incorporate digital methods into my work when I thought I could only ever work analogue now.

Slide 8 - A bit more music related stuff - mockups, gig posters and external opportunities which are beginning to potentially arise, through people seeing my work on social media.

Slide 9 - Creative presence - business cards and letterhead etc, Instagram... justify my position on why I am keeping my original Instagram account as my professional one and why I don't want to have too much going on at the moment (too many accounts to keep track of while studying, what I want to do after graduation with my presence e.g. proper website, how I hope my mockups will have improved by the end of next year).

Slide 10 - Summary... how this year has been, how I feel now, what I want to take forward and how I hope I will have progressed as much as I have again in the space of another year when it comes to the final level 6 PPP presentations. How I am glad I am finding my own independence within my work and way of working, how I care/worry less about certain things but how this is a good thing. How I want a nice long break to stop being so fed up with work.

Creative Presence - Letterhead

I have tried to follow the same design criteria as the business cards for my letterhead - using the monoprint textures and same black handwritten type. I have included my basic contact details (email and mobile number) and just left it at that; it shouldn't be too overcrowded and busy, especially as it has a lot of texture and colour on it already.

Hopefully this would make my letters to potential clients and practitioners stand out from the crowd a bit; I do however still feel like it is a bit amateur for some reason and I will definitely want to re-do this at some point before I graduate next year. I think it needs a bit more personality to it and I will have to find a way of adding this without making it too mad. 

Creative Presence - Business Cards

These are my first personal business cards I have ever made; I've been faffing around trying to skew it onto the mockup for so long now I can't even tell if I like it or not. I tried to keep the information minimal and the decoration maximal to make it eye catching; I used monoprint textures from previous recent work, as I feel this accurately represents and my work and what I am interested in continuing to do.

I would distribute these at art/print fairs and markets, in studio spaces and galleries in Leeds and London (such as Colours May Vary or Peckham Platform) and in arty cafes around both cities (such as Opposite). I would maybe even just go and stick them around on walls and flat surfaces in areas where I know there is a lot of interest in the arts, such as Shoreditch, as you never know who might be walking around ready to pick them up!

Creative Presence - Instagram

I have decided to keep my old Instagram account as my professional one as well; it already has a lot of my work on it, a good following (including professionals in the industry!) and the pictures that aren't specifically my work are fairly art related anyway (stuff I like and see around Leeds, inspiration, friends at university that are also illustrators etc). I have gone back and removed any slightly dodgy drunk photos from a few years back and made it a little more safe and appropriate! Lots of practitioners use their Instagram accounts for more than just pictures of their own work, such as printmaker Kate Gibb, and if it works for them, why can't it for me? Having too many accounts for things just seems messy and I would rather have a select few that I regularly post on, rather than loads that just has a bit floating on it as I have forgotten I even have it. 

I also know it works professionally as I have actually had interest from the Head of Promotions for Leeds dance night Highrise, after a friend who knows him showed him my account. He liked the posters I had recently posted, said they had been looking for new designs and I might be getting some work out of it making posters for Highrise; fingers crossed!

Creative Presence - Big Cartel shop!

At the moment my Big Cartel is very limited, as I have signed up for the free version where you can only have five items on the shop, and I wan't to make some more prints before actually putting them up for sale!

I shared it on Facebook and it got a good response, even though it is only from friends and family. I did have interest from a few people and managed to sell a couple of prints! I don't expect it to go wild but to be honest at the moment I don't want it to; I need to focus on my uni work before going wild with stuff I'm selling as well. 

Other ways to sell...

In terms of selling my work, I also want to find some art markets and fairs over summer than I can participate in; I think it is good to get out there in the real world as well as online and try and meet as many people as I possibly can. You can only gauge so much sat behind a screen, and anyway it's more fun! I will look both in Leeds and Kingston (my hometown) - I know they have loads in Kingston every summer already. There is also a little local shop down Surbiton high street that are currently advertising for local artists to bring in their work, so I will give them a try. I want to make more prints and take them home, to sell with my business cards to try and get my name out there a bit more. 

Messing around on Adobe Colour

These are a few colour schemes I really like - could be used for future projects! I really like when images have contrasting and bright colours; the top one is my favourite.

Thoughts after the pitch...

I'm not very happy with how the pitch went; we were both really nervous and I feel like the nerves got the best of it. There was a lot of important stuff I knew for my slides like the details of finance and funding but just completely forgot to talk about them, as my mind went blank and I couldn't read the notes due to being so nervous. I'm not usually a fan of presenting but this was so much worse than usual! I feel like I let the rest of the group down and need to sort this out for the next one, or it will be equally painful.

However, talking to my peers after made it seem a bit better; no one else thought it went as bad as I did (unless they were just being nice). The positive feedback was mostly centred around the presentation being visually engaging, saying they liked the logo and the animation, also the concept if we had refined it a little better. It will be interesting to see the tutors comments later on. 

Re-doing the website mockup!

We had the same problem with the website mockup as we did for the logo; the file was corrupted when Billie sent it over. I re-did it again on Illustrator and again this was fine as we still have enough time for accidents like this! (I think it looks really nice).

Updated van design

After consulting the team, we agreed it looked a little weird with our three heads floating in the back window with no one driving, so I updated it. It definitely looks better now!

Van design and logo problems!

I have made a mock-up design to go on the van in the animation, to give a better idea of what our van would look like during the pitch. We wanted it to be bright, colourful and eye catching, so I tried different basic patterns in the colours of our logo. Ideally, that three colour combination could become associated with us, like the Cadbury's purple.

The logo was originally made by Billie (we loved it) but we had some problems with the files when she sent them over to us to work onto the van and animation. I re-did it, as Billie is now away and can't access them to re-send until past the presentation! It is good that we left enough time to cater for accidents like this; it could have been a last minute nightmare. 

Illustrator portraits

I have quickly made these on Illustrator, to go on our presentation slideshow and website mock-up, so customers and clients get a better idea of who we are. I worked with shape as Billie and Fennell both work quite shape based; it's so different to how I usually work and it's hard! I guess that's the sort of compromise you have to make when collaborating on a project and everyone has been assigned a different drawing/creative task. Hopefully they fit in enough with the logo, website design and animation. 

Colours May Vary exhibition: emailing potential sponsors….

This is the email I have drafted to try and get Tall Boys Beer Market to sponsor us with some tasty beverages at the exhibition. This is weirdly one of the scariest things I've ever sent off! If they don't like it then it could ruin potential links forever (ahhhh.) I have sent it to my peers and a friends on an events management placement to check it over and see if they think it is appropriate.

THE EMAIL:

Hi Ben,

I am a second year BA Illustration student studying at the Leeds College of Art, contacting you on behalf of the rest of my peers about an upcoming exhibition we are putting on at Colours May Vary, "Off The Page". We will be exhibiting a series of limited-edition prints we have recently made, based on and celebrating the lives of well and lesser known classic authors, such as Agatha Christie, Oliver Sacks and Aldous Huxley. We are all very proud of our work and are very exited about being able to show it off in such a great space!

We have noticed you have collaborated with local Leeds businesses and creatives in the past and were wondering if you would like to support our exhibition and Colours May Vary by supplying us with a little bit of your lovely beer. We currently have a marketing team who are working on promoting the exhibition by creating posters, flyers and social media campaigns, so of course your name and logo will be added and promoted along with ours. We are also looking to ask other businesses, such as the Tetley, if they would like to be involved as well; it could be a sort of creative, beery evening to celebrate great artwork, and Leeds-based breweries. You will also of course be invited to what should be a very fun and successful event.

The exhibition private view is taking place on the evening of Friday, February 12th.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards, 

Charlotte and the rest of BA Illustration.

Instagram - Print related accounts!

Following my recently discovered love affair with analogue print, I have used Instagram to find some accounts of printmakers and print workshops. Print Club London is my favourite and I want to see if I can try and get in contact with them over the summer as I am in London with easy access to it at home; it would be a great potential contact to make and really fun to spend some time there! Maybe ask them if they ever offer work experience, even if I am just making tea and getting sandwiches - I would love to be able to watch a proper workshop in the real world in action and learn as much as I can about printmaking! I will send them an email once I have a bit more print based work to show and then drop in - fingers crossed!

Contextual Research - Instagram

These are my current favourite professional Instagram accounts that I am following for inspiration and contextual research. I love Instagram for finding new practitioners to reference as it has the easy discover button, where it finds people related to the accounts I am already following - giving me loads of new stuff every single day whenever I want it. As they are all constantly updated with new work it keeps research fresh and interesting, compared to when you Google image someones name and it comes up with the same most well known stuff over and over again, and you have to dig for anything new.

I like Instagram as a platform for my own work as well for these reasons; I think it will make it easier for others to find me (Kate Gibb recently liked a few pictures of my work and my cat!! So it does work).