Thursday 23 May 2013
TOP TRUMP CARDS - work based learning
Here are the Illustrators I studied on this task to make Top Trump cards. The artists I chose are: Alex Fuentes, Charles Burns and Gerhard Human. I generated statistics of what I think the Illustrators are rated, from 1 - 10.
Monday 20 May 2013
MAPPING PRESENTATION FOR CONTEXTUAL
Plymouth Time Lapse + Presentation
Here is the link to the time lapse me and my group created. With James Rae and Alfie Bennet.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMgMIHrMwUQ
And this is the link to the presentation we did.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMgMIHrMwUQ
And this is the link to the presentation we did.
www.prezi.com/slnonaiukj5o/plymouth-time-lapse/?kw=view-slnonaiukj5o&rc=ref-23735019
Friday 17 May 2013
SUPPORT NETWORK/ LEARNING RESOURCE
Comparison of two support networks, one local and one broad.
Local Jobs-
(Eg. Teaching, Art galleries-curation, mural artist, reportage, art director, tattoo artist, printmaking)
Pros:
Local Jobs-
(Eg. Teaching, Art galleries-curation, mural artist, reportage, art director, tattoo artist, printmaking)
Pros:
- You may live closer to friends and family
- Easy transport and less travel expenses
- You are almost guaranteed work (stability)
- Facilities are mostly provided
- Help/advice from tutors etc.
- Settle down, own house, family etc.
Cons:
- You can't travel much, tied to one place
- Repetitive work
- Dead end job? May have to do it for financial reasons
- Boredom and circumstances could lead to depression etc.
- Less free time
Freelance Jobs-
(Eg. Book cover/comic book design, concept art, costume design, editorial, children's books)
Pros:
- Always working on something different- new experiences etc.
- Lots of travel, see new places
- Able to visit a wide range of exhibitions and galleries
- Meet new people
- More independent
- Choose where you work and when
- Make more money as you can take on as many clients as you like
- Freedom
Cons:
- No guaranteed work
- Not close to family and friends (homesickness)
- Less support
- No guaranteed or steady income
- Risky
- Facilities needs, have to fund yourself
- Could lead to depression (from financial strain etc)
Comparison.
The main points of having a local job is that you can stay closer to home, receive more support and build up funds and eventually a portfolio which is transferable when you want to take the plunge and become a freelance illustrator. As students, i imagine we would have a local job first, or a part time job, to support ourselves financially.
In a local job you would be working to make a name for a company, and most of your creative efforts may not be seen in a broader sense. Freelance illustration provides opportunities to self promote yourself and your work, building a solid fan base and a portfolio of work which you choose to do.
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Thursday 16 May 2013
Support Network Local and Broad analysis ( Selling)
Selling work locally
Selling locally can help you start promoting your own work
and also gives the opportunity to meet face to face with consumers, talk to
them personally about your work and get feedback from them. This will help
improve on your communication skills and help develop your work in the future
from the public’s opinion. It also gives a very creative atmosphere and shows
what you have achieved. Another good point to sell locally is that you can
physically see and maybe touch the artwork, observe and have a first hand feel
of what it’s like.
There are also bad
points promoting locally as well. Transportation of work can be slightly
awkward and difficult. The competition will be high because of the amount of
artist’s artwork selling along side so will cause a problem financially. Your
personality will definitely have an effect on the target audience which decides
on their interests in your work. Manning a stall can be time consuming and lead
to being unproductive compared to selling work online, which is faster and
easier to organise.
I like the idea of
selling my work locally because I find it’s a good start to self promotion. It
also gives you a taster and the experience of meeting people, and to show off
your work in your own way.
Selling work broad
Selling your work broad is a
wider option outside your local area. It involves a lot of digital aspects and
the audience is much bigger as you are promoting to pretty much the world
instead of a specific area. The Internet is a good source, making it the
fastest and easiest way to get your work known and available to the target
audience. There are numerous of websites and events that can help illustrators,
such as Etsy and Deviant art websites. This is a great way to promote you,
sell, build a reputation and fan base.
The pros of selling work broad
are that it is financially effective; opening to a much wider audience can
produce a lot of interests. It’s not as time consuming as selling locally and
you can easily create contacts. Transportation will also not be an issue.
However selling broad is very impersonal, you will not be able to meet face to
face with contacts and consumers can’t physically see or touch the selling
artwork. Customers would solely rely on the image on the website. Certain
things about the product can be misleading and can be easily misunderstood by
the consumer, which links to how reliable it is. This method of selling is also
dependant on technology so would have to constantly check the Internet otherwise
you will lose interest and money.
SWOT Analysis
Illustration Student in Plymouth
Strengths
Opportunities
Strengths
- Drawing skills, lines, tones and idea generated
- Specific style
- Decent at digital work (Photoshop)
- Art and Language skills
- Presenting, speaking in front of people
- Analysing, criticize
- Screen print
- Maintain motivation
Weaknesses
- Writing, wording things
- Explaining
- Use Illustrator
- Not fully confident on Photoshop
- Lack of facilities (need Mac Book Pro)
- Rely on College facilities too much
- Easily distracted
Opportunities
- A lot of student opportunities
- Emails from College for opportune jobs etc.
- Style suits what I want to do, show industries
- Sell work/ art fairs
- Galleries, exhibition visits
- Blog, website promotion
Threats
- Financially could be in threat, debts
- Lack of equipment e.g. Mac, Photoshop, printer, scanner outside of the College
- Competition for target job
- Facilities that stop working, breaks down or fully booked
Comic Book artist
Strengths
- Digital art (Photoshop)
- Drawing skills
- Imagination/ creativity skills
- Motivation to business
- Quick at drawing
Weaknesses
- Lack of facilities like paper, book making etc.
- Knowledge of industry
- How to start
- Printing resources
- New to the job role
Opportunities
- Getting know for work
- Could lead to further success e.g. TV shows, film, products, toys
- Long term in comics, episodes and series, which means steady income
- Collaboration with other artists or specialists like e.g. toy makers
- Become an in house artist
Threats
- Story or comic not as affective so lack of interest in the target audience
- tough competition with big, mainstream companies like Marvel and DC
- Lack of business and industry knowledge
- No investment, lack of income
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Skateboard artist
Strengths
- Specific style for skateboard designs
- String with image making and creativity
- Screen printing
- Digital art
- Quick at drawing
- Motivated
- Hard working
Weaknesses
- Lack of facilities, sand paper etc.
- Need to be more focused
- Explain deigns
- Industry knowledge
- How to start
Opportunities
- Promoting work
- Getting known
- Links to other companies
- Earn money
- website promotion
- Sell or links with professional skaters
- Sell other products e.g. T shirts, Bags etc.
Threats
- Copy right designs
- Tough competition with other brands
- Facilities to mass produce
- Lack of knowledge could lead to threat to business
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Wednesday 15 May 2013
Analysis of three Illustration resources
Ape on the moon
Ape on the moon is a blog based in London and was created by two illustrators,
Alex Mathers and Phillip Dennis. This website was designed to blog contemporary
illustration and is updated regularly. It has a great archive which features a
huge range of illustrators, so has a good source for unlimited illustration
that you can be inspired by and influenced by. This is a good website to gain
research, learn and understand and appreciate illustrator’s artworks. It is a
very simple, well structured and easy to navigate. It links with other social
networks like Facebook and Twitter so that audiences can comment the work.
However it doesn't have links to other comparing websites to widen the options
and choices. It’s not interactive and is not the ideal website to showcase work
of something similar. Since this website is to present illustration only it
could categorise types of illustration to help the user to find specific art
such as the website ‘Illustrationweb’. The comparison to Illustrationweb is
quite large in population standards. The information on Ape on the moon is very
limited where only the creators describe the illustrator’s artwork instead of
themselves although the website does have good support network to back up its
reputation.
Deviant Art
Deviant Art is a website for sharing illustration. Anyone
can join which is why this site has a huge social network reputation, giving
feedback and comments. Deviant Art could be an ideal place to showcase artwork,
have personal space; self promote and create a fan base. You can easily keep in
touch with the audience and have a casual social network. This could be really
useful if you’re looking for work and have been contacted, this is an easy way to
connect with people. As resources and support network Deviant Art is very
useful.
However there are also negatives about this website, because
it’s so big and popular with not just illustrated based imagery the website has
lost its artistic integrity, and I feel that your artwork might be lost within
the chaotic mass the website has already produced. The layout of this site is
very busy and hard to navigate at times, and compared to other illustration
websites such as Illustration Age or Illustration web, it isn’t as professional
with the way they present and share artwork. If you wanted to self promote work
I would not recommend Deviant Art as one of the top websites to do so, it’s
more effective in building your fan base.
Illustration Web
Illustration Web is a great way to showcase your work for
potential clients. This website acts like an agency but without the fees,
giving a professional feel to it, it is described as a talent spotter for
illustrators. It is a good reliable source for research and studying purposes
because it shows the artists profile and descriptions along with their artwork.
This website is very much based on clients as their target audience to help
them find the right illustrator for their needs. Compared to other websites
such as Illustration Mundo, it provides expertise on information about the
illustrator and feels more professional. It doesn’t have much of a social
network compared to Mundo but in a way that’s not a bad thing since it was
created purely for prospective clients.
The structure of the
site is very well placed and set up, categorising styles and types of art which
again means that it is relatively easy to find specific illustration for
certain jobs.
However I feel
because it’s so professional not anyone can showcase their work here. Only if
you sell yourself well enough that you can acquire a request to be put on this
website. It isn’t updated as much as other comparison websites but it still has
a huge range of illustrations to be inspired and be influenced.
Tuesday 14 May 2013
Analysis of an Illustrator
The illustrator I've chosen is Dan Mumford. He is a freelance illustrator/designer
based in London .
I came across this artist in one of the disciplines I studied in the
presentations. I find his work very interesting and like his visual style. His
work is very aggressive and bold using very sinister colour palettes. His
images are very dark which gives a Gothic look and feel at times; illustrating
very disturbing images like deadly sharks, dead people and scary crows.
Here are some examples of Dan Mumford's work:
With these
specific images and in many of his other artwork he uses limited colours,
focuses on one colour that fills most of the image. He uses different
tones of the colour to create shadows and light and make the image 3D. This
shows skill and expression to his trademark style and gives the artwork more
depth and detail.
His most recent artwork has become less sinister and mellower.
His recent piece consists of three silhouettes of the same woman, drawn using
black lines and colourful images within the silhouettes. Each have different
aspects of images and have different colours.
For me this piece is
very attractive and catches the eye. I like the comparison between his works in
the past, it shows that he is open minded and doesn't set on a specific theme
or subject and can do more feminine, light heart artwork.
He uses a lot of lines, swirls and splats that create a pattern of sorts which is his theme and trademark. He then finishes his artwork digitally which shows professionalism.
Dave Mumford’s work
is very flexible yet has his own style. This could fit into several
illustration roles and disciplines such as: comic, skateboard design, tattoos,
clothing and poster design. Some of these he has already taken in consideration
and are available on his website http://danmumford.bigcartel.com/
Two Disciplines of Illustration Analysis
This illustration role is on Comic Book artists and what
they do. It explains what illustration is used for very well in comic books,
which is to use visual narrative for the story, set the tone, dynamics of the scene.
It also shows a characters identity and its visual attributes. Over all it
successfully presents the basics to introduce people to the comic book world.
Comic books are now
very popular due to the promotion of successful films and TV shows, the target
audience has widened. It gives good examples of famous, well known comics and
character. Each show different styles of illustration but all suit the comic
book industry and target specific audience.
Here are the older looking comics:
Here are what comics look now a days:
It shows how comics
have also evolved and will keep changing over time. It shows comparison to old
comics to future comics.
A good example to represent futuristic comics is Dave
Mackean:
It explains how the
big companies such as Marvel recruit in-house illustrators. However it also
explains how less well known companies are an increasing market for comic books
and freelance illustrators are starting to become more mainstream.
This presentation was very well structured and easy to
understand. It made my interest in comics grow now I understand the basic knowledge
of comic books work and the industries.
The comparison to
other disciplines is that it has a lot of useful information, breaking down the
points and subjects for easier understanding and provides links to other useful
websites.
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This illustration job role is on skateboard artists. It
consists of designing: skateboards, graphic design, clothing, stickers,
websites etc. to help promote your style of work. It shows good examples of the
typical styles of skateboards and how they they’re presented.
It presented a famous skating brand Santa Cruz . The style is very bold and crude
which was its trademark. The illustrator are Jim Phillips and Lucas Musgrave, Art Director and
Brand Manager for Santa Cruz
as well as contributing artist Creature skateboards.
Jim Phillips. |
Another illustrator
who had designed graphics for skateboards is Jon Contino, former designer from New York . He too, has a
specific trademark style that fits very well in the skating industry. However
he doesn't skate himself which shows not all skate graphics have to be designed
by people who have grown up around skating, just need to understand the
principles.
It explains how skateboard designs have grown with many
different styles and methods on how to design them e.g. photography,
portraiture, screen print, stencils etc. however there are specific styles that
are reproduced more than others, popular images such as: skulls, flames,
graffiti and radical colours. This gives a good idea on how to approach the
target audience or the basis to start thinking of ideas.
Other products to help promote skate brand.
The structure of the
presentation could be better compared to the comic job role. It could position
or rearrange the images and the text to best suit the presentation.
It could've also
explained how to illustrate or design on the skateboard, pointing out key
factors such as the middle of the board is the most important when it comes to
design, and to look out for the 4 holes which is where the trucks are fitted.
Monday 13 May 2013
SKATEBOARD ARTIST JOB ROLE
The illustration job role we were giving was skateboard/ surf artist.
This job role consists of designing: skateboard/ surfboard, graphic design, t shirts, stickers, creating a websites etc.here are some examples of skateboard graphics
This job role consists of designing: skateboard/ surfboard, graphic design, t shirts, stickers, creating a websites etc.here are some examples of skateboard graphics
Santa Cruz is a perfect example of a professional, well known Skateboard brand. His style is very bold, crude and is sick. The illustrator and graphic designer for this brand is Lucas Musgrave, who is also the Art Director and Brand Manager for Santa Cruz Skateboards as well as a contributing artist to Creature Skateboards.
a designer form new york.
here are the decks he designed for the company 'flip'
he is not known for designing skateboards and doesn't skate himself, but his style was appropriate for the skateboarding industry. this shows that not all skate graphics have to be designed by people who have grown up around skating.
its hard to pinpoint a style that would not work as a skate graphic because in recent years everything has been covered. but there are specific styles that are reproduced more than others, popular images likes skulls flames ,graffiti, and radical colours.
Illustrators like Santa Cruz and Jon Contino are linked to popular retail brands such as Route One and SS20 to widen their network and become more known. This would also link to product design and merchandise to try and sell their brand further. Products such as T-shirts, clothing, stickers, bags, shoes etc.
they would also consider ways to sell their products by acknowledging methods e.g. discount prices, buy one get one free, and exchanges.
To start a skateboard business you would have to create a website to spread your work.
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Sunday 12 May 2013
Friday 10 May 2013
SELF STATEMENT
I wanted to do an Illustration degree when I
enrolled in a Foundation course in Cardiff. Before I wasn’t sure what subject I
was going to do but knew my future ambition was always going to involve art.
Ever since I enrolled I have been inspired by many new forms. In particular
during a study visit to London I went to the illustration agency, YCN and
learned a lot about the industry and the process of becoming an illustrator.
From that moment forward I was sure I wanted to pursue illustration as a
career. The reason I love illustration is because it has so many career choices,
so many different styles of illustrations that inspire me. I enjoy using my
imagination to express my art and create fictional characters and images. I’m
very opening minded and ambitious to learn new methods, techniques and
different mediums to widen my style and skills.
My aim in this degree and in the future, is to
be inspired by others and acknowledge any thing that can be transformed into
art. I would like to help spread inspiration and creativity to anyone and
everyone because art is a very colourful factor in life.
I have been influenced by many
artists and illustrators and have turned to their artwork for artistic
stimulation. For example artists like; Iain Macarthur, Sara Blake, Sachin Teng,
Nanami Cowdroy and many more. I still get inspired by new artists and continue
to do visual research and study to help improve my own artwork. My long time
dream to be along side all of these artists so people in the future would be
influenced by my work.
The comparison between the Foundation course
in Cardiff and the Plymouth illustration course was very different. At first I
much preferred my previous degree because I felt it was more comfortable and
liked how they structured things. I based a lot of my images at the time using
media such as ink and water colours in a large scale, which made my work very
abstract and expressive.
When I
first began the illustration course I felt new and not exactly myself, which
now I think was normal since I was moving quite far away from home living in a
new environment. I also felt, that the first couple of briefs, my style and the
way I approached things seemed different. I thought of this as a negative
instinctively because I wasn’t used to the sudden change. However I later
adapted my way of illustrating things by using pen and Photoshop. My skills
using the Photoshop program have increased a lot and ambitious to learn more
and develop them. Over all I have and grown to like and enjoyed this illustration
course. Hopefully someday I could go back to using ink and watercolours to
create images or even collaborate with my new skills in the near future.
Thursday 9 May 2013
Friday 3 May 2013
THE HUNGER GAMES BOOK COVER.
Here's my final cover design for stage 2 Art and Language.
I created a smokey/ flame background which is in a faint grey colour to complement the black. The main image is in different tones of gold with some white. It really works with the background and has a similarity to the original colour scheme. For the back cover i reversed the image and made it as a silhouette so the blurb could fit inside. I chose the font Herculanum as my text. Finally I added a few effects like the blood splat and the red flames. Overall I like the final cover but could have tweaked it differently.
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