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.

 

  

   

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.prezi.com/slnonaiukj5o/plymouth-time-lapse/?kw=view-slnonaiukj5o&rc=ref-23735019

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:

• 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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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

• 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

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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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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.

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.

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

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.

another example of an illustrator who had designed graphics for skate boards is Jon Contino.

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. 

 Here are two completely different styles and how they would suit specific types of target audience. 

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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MIND MAP

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.

LIFE SNAKE

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.