OUIL402- Study Task 4

Part 1

I chose the Association of Illustrators because there is a lot of focused discussion within the website about contemporary illustration and image making. 

The publication they bring out quarterly called VAROOM! is very insightful to me as an illustrator as it makes me constantly aware of what is happening within the field of art and design that I want to get into. 

The blog part of the website looks at things I’m very interested in going into as an illustrator such as character design when it reviews things such as pictoplasma’s annual book of character portraits. It reviews a lot of galleries, books and forums that are happening around Europe. It’s crucial for me to be aware of what is happening within not only the british group of illustrators but places further a field such as Europe.

• Stephen Vuillemin

Sam Chivers

Because the portfolio on the website are so varied in both style and media it makes the website a good resource for learning more about the diversity of illustration and the multitude of ways illustration can be interpreted. The Website also host and works with a lot of different events, competitions and workshops which helps me become aware of all the opportunities around. 

Part 2

Publication

1. Zine
2. Children's book
3. Book Covers
4. Information pamphlets
5. Text books
6. Fashion magazines
7. Newspapers
8. Specialist journal
9. Classic Books 
10. Gaming magazines

Place

1. Exhibition
2. Bilboards
3. Side of Buses
4. Buildings
5. Walls
6. Shop windows
7. Underground 
8. Restaurants 
9. Art Shop
10. Cinema

Product

1. Wallpaper
2. Cards
3. Makeup Packaging
4. Drink Packaging
5. Food Packaging
6. Notebooks
7. Stationary
8. Clothing 
9. Bags
10. Tape

Online 

1. Portfolios
2. Personal Websites
3. Advertisements banners
4. Online Articles
5. Pintrest
6. Google Search Engine
7. InPrint
8. NoBrow
9. Web Comics
10. Online Art Shops

Part 3

Publication

The Dark Illustrated by Jon Klassen

New Yorker

One Night Far From Here by Julia Wauters

German Holiday Brochure

The Golden Book of Biology by Charlie Harper

Place

Colour May Vary In Leeds

London Underground

Somerset House

Supalife Kosik in Berlin

Byron's Hamburgers by Mr Bingo

Product

Drink Packaging by Stuart Kolakovic 

Marks & Spencers by Sanna Annukka

Clothing by The Illustrated Mind

Card by Adam Avery

British Winter Animals Wrapping Paper by Adam Avery

Online

NewYorker Online

Ping Zhu Personal Website

Hark A Vagrant

No Brow

Google Search Engine

Part 4

Publication

Book cover illustration is interesting to me because it has to both relate to the book without giving too much away and be eye catching for a potential buyer. It relies heavily on the composition, use of colour and the items within it to fit with the book and tell a potential customer almost instantly what genre of book it is. Being able to create stand alone images that tell a narrative is something I really want to do when I push further within my practice. 

Place

I'm very interested in doing a exhibition of work within my professional carer, especially a collaborative exhibit. As the concept of negotiating the regulations of what to create and working within those regulations to create pieces with another designer or artist that are seen within a select space is something that personally I would be very proud of. 

Product

Creating clothing apparel as well as other products is something that I would like to do. It is relevant me because product are not only a smart way of financing yourself as a freelance illustrator but it also creates free advertising for your work as people begin see your illustrations in day to day life it can lead to a free mobile portfolio which can lead to more commissions. 

Online

Web comics is something that I have always been into and it's something that I definitely want to get more into as they allow you play around with narrative at your own pace and as you build up your archive of work you can have created a following from your web comic as well as learnt more things about composition and sequential narrative through doing your web comic regularly as well as being able to document the progress within your own work.

Thought Bubble

My haul from thought bubble. I've been going for 5 years now but I felt that this trip was the most valuable for me as an illustrator.

It was the first time I went to panels and found that the Bee & Puppycat one, which was a quick glimpse into the production and art direction of creating an animated series was very insightful in showing how integrated and integral illustrators are for animation.

The second panel looked more at illustrators drawing process which helped me understand how different illustrators use different techniques, from sketches to ink line, straight pencil or straight ink line. It was also very comforting to learn about other professional illustrators personal struggles becoming an illustrators and coping with work loads. 

I felt a lot more confident talking to illustrators at there stalls this time around and I was able to talk more freely with people like Donya Todd. What this also taught me was that I need to get a business card and website/online portfolio sorted because while talking to other illustrators I found that most would ask for a website or business card to see my work and it feel very unprofessional having to tell them that I had none of these things.

I have admired Elliot Alfredius's series called Three Blades for over a year now and talking to him about the work as well as finding out that the characters where non-binary instead of how I thought they where female was something that proved a really crucial point to me. Understanding an artist intentions is just as crucial to forming an opinion of the work as having your own interoperation of those intentions are. 

I bought Brogan Carols zine of selected pages from her sketchbook because I feel knowing the different way illustrators do their drawing process is important to know as a way of maybe experimenting or pushing the way you use your sketch book. 

I loved the collaborative drawings in stroke where Dilraj Mann sent a single character to another artist and asked them to fill it in with another character. It allowed people to create senses no matter how amusing or dramatic and showcased how a 'generic' collaborative piece like this can go in so many different directions

The concept for this one amused me and works really well as a way of taking a hard topic like feminism and turning it into an amusing comic.

Overall my experience of Thought Bubble was very insightful and had made me think more about the way I network with other illustrators, and how important it is to not only prepare yourself verbally when speaking to illustrators but how having this such as business card with a website on them makes you seem more professioanl and a viable candidate for collabaorations.

Task 3

What Is Illustration For Me?

1. Illustration is away of communicating a message with someone or an audience.
2. Illustration has thought behind it, there is a meaning or opinion that is being expressed through the medium of image making.
3. Illustration with a narrative to it that feels like there is something within that image that tells a story either sequentially or not is something I personally use to identify illustration.
4. There is an obvious knowledge of craft and composition with in the piece which shows not only that planing has gone into it but that the illustration itself has been thought out to fit a purpose.
5. Illustration is translating the thing that are around you and that interests you into your own interpretation of that thing.

Pinterest- Examples Of Work

(My Pinterest)

Character 

Jillian Tamaki

Jillian Tamaki’s work shows not only a character but a narrative of this woman’s youth and old age. There feels like theres a deeper meaning within Jillian's work and the craftsmanship and sensitivity of this pieces  is beautiful. I want my character work to have the ability to reflect the depth and meaning and have the same sensitivity within the image. 

Sketching

Tom Gauld
The reason I chose an extract from Tom Gauld's sketchbook is because they way Tom uses his sketch book to document his work as well as planing future work. Which is something that I want to look at more within my own practice of illustration. I want to use my sketchbook more as a problem solving device and a starting point for new ideas rather than just a place to doodle. 

Print

Matt Brown

With this piece I was immediately drawn to the craftsmanship of the piece. The high quality of this print and the obviously high technical skills used within this wood print is something that I personally am very interested in a an want to be able to look filter into the craftsmanship of printmaking. The awareness of Matt brown when he is thinking of how to use light, detail and colour within this piece is superb and you can tell a lot of planning and thought went into this.

Line

Jean Jullien

I love the playfulness of the line work within this piece it’s flows within itself and although there is some imperfections within the consistency of the line quality itself there is still a high level of craft to this piece. This relates to my own practice because I want to have more fluidity and expressiveness within my own line work. 

Lettering

Jonny Hannah

I chose to look at Jonny Hannah's work because he shows a lot of versatility within his lettering and uses it as a part of the illustration rather  than something added on top. His work always looks well thought out and crafted and as lettering is a weak point for me looking and learning from people like Jonny Hannah will help in developing my lettering skills.

OUIL403 Final Evaluation

Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL403 Visual Skills	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	Naomi Crompton

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?

With the first brief Initially, I focused mainly on brush pen trying to create block colours and controlled line work within that piece. You could say that block colours and controlled line work have become a consistent focus though out this whole module for me with varying degrees of success. I found that block colours tend to catch the eye more. However creating block colours can be difficult. I found the most successful way to do this was with paper craft in my Play Play Play brief because it allowed for the overlay of blocks of colour and after time it felt like I was using the scalpel as a drawing tool rather than a cutting tool, which is something I found the most successful. But the least successful attempt at creating block colours was A Day In The Life where I was working in gouache; it was difficult to get the paint to the right consistency and I believe the paper I used may not have helped the process. I have struggled with my control over line quality with all these briefs, from using gouache to brush pens to fine liners parts of my work become to overthought and as a result have the quality of line affected because of this. However I have begun to be more expressive and less precious with my lining; thinking about it more than doing it. Which is a method that seems a lot more fruitful in better line quality than before.

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 found having both scamps and restricted dimensions to be incredibly helpful as it is an easy way to create a full idea of what the image is without having to draw it all out. Also drawing in set dimensions beforehand allows you to not have to fuss about re composing your image. Scamps are also great ways of showing a client or art director the general plan of an image without having to have a fully illustrated piece on you.

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

I have a strong sense of narrative and character, which is something I began to play more strongly on with the final brief. Going through with a narrative of character-based route make my idea generations not only quicker but more abstract than usual. I have also been complemented on my idea generations so I have been using more scamps as a way of quickly visualising these ideas.

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

A major issue for development is Time management, due to my poor time management the craft and finished result of my work has suffered. So becoming strict with myself on how much time to spent on ideas, development and crafting is something I will be focusing on intently. The sketchiness of my final piece of work also has to stop, I will do this by focusing more on using one line instead of several when drawing the outlines of an image but also looking and drawing more images so that I become more confident in my line work so that the sketching doesn’t happen on my final pieces. I have also had numerous notes to chose subtler colour, so I feel that developing a pintrest of different ways to approach colour as well as creating my own colour experimentation sketch book will hopefully lead to me becoming stronger and more well versed in colour within illustrative work.

5. In what way has this module introduced you to the Ba (Hons) Illustration programme? By blogging as away of reflection it’s forced me to be more critical of the work I am doing and more aware of the things that need improvement. I also find that by this module only having 2 weeks per brief I have become less precious over work and began to head peoples advice more as well as develop more ideas for a project within a short amount of time. And by having the large crits at the end I have noticed patterns of both success and things that need to be improved in my work.

Study Task 2- 10 Questions

1.When is the best time to start networking within the illustration community?

 I want to understand how much time I should put into networking throughout the course, is it based more towards the end or more mid second year so that I have had more time to develop my tone of voice but I'm not too far along that I am 3 months away from graduating with no networks.

2. If you want to specialise or put more focus on on particular media (such as etching) what is the best way to go around that?

Do I try etching experimentation with all my briefs or is it something I look at doing in my spare time.  I want to know if etching / printmaking in general is something I want to focus more on than other media routes.

3. How do you get you first freelance job?

When is it best to start looking for freelance jobs and how do you go about looking for them. Look in Varoom and other illustrator advice giving magazines/blogs for and idea of where to start.  How to start making an online portfolio and putting yourself put there.

4. How do you work out what rate you should charge for work?

I want to understand what the best way to charge for work is as I don't want to do a piece that I should be charging £50 for but I am only getting paid £10 for. This is so that I am using my time wisely on projects and am getting paid a fair amount.

5. How do you create composition with multiple characters and backgrounds?

I want to know and understand how to create the a scene in which there is a lot going on with characters and background but there is either a clear focal point or the composition of the piece allows it to be busy without seeming not thought out. 

6. How to organise Finances and Taxes?

How do I make sure I am keeping on top of my finances and make sure as a self-employed person that I am filling in the right tax forms so I don't end up in a mess/ horrible debt.

7. How to become better at anatomy and figure posing

I want to be able to play with the way I draw figure by lengthening/ shortening body attributes but I wont be able to until I get a really strong sense of human anatomy, this may mean drawing a lot form life or reference until I become a better figure drawer.

8. Learn how to compose a comic

I want to learn how to create multi-paneled narratives, so I get a better idea about how much I have to show or skip though in a story so that it still remains easy to read and understand. It would also be nice if once learning this I could experiment with the formatting of a narrative like Emily Carroll does.

9. Learn how to colour and draw using tablets

I want to be able to use digital media so that if I need to do work for a client and it has to be digital or I want to use photoshop to colour an image I have that option available for me.

10. How to be less hazardous in my line work. 

My line work can be inconsistent to a degree so I would like to know if there are any tricks to helping improve line work along side continuous practice.

2nd Year Students Advice

1. Trust Your own opinion, but take others advice into mind.
2. Be open minded about a project just because it isn't your style doesn't mean it's not going to help.
3. Try plan a meticulous timetable for each day to keep on top of everything. 

OUIL402-Study Task 1

Identify 5 reasons why you chose to study Illustration.  

• I love story telling through visual media, specifically drawing and image making.
• I want to spend the rest of my like drawing/image making.
• I find Illustration is a really good way of communicating information.
• Illustration is such a flexible form that allows for so many different interpretations.
• Illustration is a healthy balance between art and design which allows you to chose how you want your illustration to be interpreted.

Identify 5 reasons why you chose this programme

• The intensity of the course.
• The facilities within the college that allow you the opportunity to experiment with media.
• The staff and their love of illustration and the course.
• The way it focuses on you developing both your concepts and technical skills.
• The broad spectrum of illustration that the course allows you to explore.

Identify 5 skills you think are your strengths 

• Characters.
• Humour. 
• Research.
• Experimentation with media.
• Initial Ideas/Concepts.

Identify 5 things that you want to improve

• My technical drawing.
• Experimentation with Illustrative styles/ tones of voice.
• Digital work.
• Colouring.
• Developing my work in more interesting ways.

Identify 5 images that demonstrate your interest in Illustration.

Morgana Wallace

Kate Beaton

Vicente Lopez 

 Dinara Mirtalipova 

Morimura Ray

Madéleine Flores

Emily Carroll