Hopes, Fears & Opportunities

Aims Started in September:
1. To show my portfolio to at least 2x professional clients, for example Matt my Guru, Carrie May ( Illustrator) passed Tutor's
2. One to One meeting with a Client
3. Develop my knowledge of children book illustration ( Further Reference)
4. Work Hard on my Journal
5. Raise money to go to the London Show ( GREAT OPPORTUNITY)

Reflection on my progress
To reflect on what has happens this first semester is hard because I cannot believe how quick it has gone, and how much I have learnt as an illustrator is such a short space of time. The first an most important progress I believe to have achieved in even more detail is my time management. My work has always been organised that how I like to work and its part of who I am as a person, but it has been a challenge juggling so many different aspects of my project, my Journal, Portfolio and my own practice and making sure they all get an even amount of attention to make sure I portray my work as professionally as possible. So going into my Final Major Project understanding how to manage my time better will allow me to concentrate more on my work and making sure I produce the best work possible. Re flexing on challenges I have faced is also a key point to my development, one of these point is my communicate development, the more opportunities I get to present and talk to students about my work the more confident I believe I have become especially as my final Journal involves a 20min presentation, my ability to be critical, and analysis what I have learnt and how this has impacted on my work is vital in my working practice though out this semester, and also communicating my work to clients as well as I will be emailing my Guru and other illustrators & designer who have influenced me though out this course on my portfolio.
In regards to my work I also wanted to work more into my 8x8 work and my Age Uk and I think I have accomplished that with my first publication of the 8x8 work with my banner, it was a great achievement for me and really allowed me to experience for the first time the feeling of having my work published, This is a similar feeling to my Age Uk, developing the project even more by working on other Historical building is a great achievement for me because it is more a an amazing charity and if my illustrations allow other to communicate their memories, or Stockport's Hat Museum and Chapel's then I am as happy as a undergraduate student can be.
To reflect on my own working practice is very important and my aim was to develop a more critical, and in depth knowledge of children's books and how my work can challenge the traditional children  we see today. To be given an opportunity from Macmillan Children Book Competition I intent on finding new influences and develop a critical understanding or the work especially focusing on the meaning, and incorporating this into my journal.
Aim's for Final Semester:
To become more confident in my abilities as an illustrator
Remembering this is my degree and really push myself and bring together everything I have learn't these past 3 years
Enjoy every minute of working in Stockport, with my friends and Tutor because this is my final year
To develop my Critical Journal and not let my personal demons get in the way ( Proof reading)
To us my connections and build more bridge's with clients and get more feed back from my portfolio
Make sure my portfolio is professional and get as much advice as possible to make sure my work shines
And finally TO GO OUT WITH A BANG, enjoy working, producing and learning and look forward to my future as an illustrator for the rest of my life ( I cannot wait)
Develop thoughts about themes for my Final Major Project:
My continuation of my Macmillan children's book is what I had in mind for my FMP, creating the hole 32page children's book, and developing it by adding techniques from my Scary Stories Brief involving set development and design.

BBC1 Judith Kerr The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Judith Kerr and the Story behind The Tiger Who Came To Tea 
By Lucy Wallie
BBC News 

The Tiger Who Came For Tea is one of the most influential books that I have come across not only in this project but also in my own childhood.
This program really surprised me an opened my eyes to the true meaning behind Judith's stories and her childhood growing up in Berlin.
She was born in Berlin, and was forced to flee the country from the Nazi's because she was Jewish and her father Alfred Kerr was a well known political writer. The books Kerr has produced though out her life is based on experiences and also based on her life struggles. What was very emotional was how talented she was at drawing at the age of 9 and how much her mother loved her drawings, and with the heart ache of packing to leave Berlin, her mother packed her drawings because she loved them so much.
Part of the programmed showed Judith remembering life in Germany though her drawing her mother has kept and remembering the people she draw and why? what they were doing? Remembering happy times when she lived their, and not the reality of what was going to happen after she left. In the program she visited her old home in Berlin and said " I don't feel any different from that young girl who used to draw on that balcony" after hearing that I though that was so beautiful and so innocent.
In a lot of her books she tells a story of her family creating warm and safe environment. In the book The Tiger Who Came For Tea, Kerr explained what life was like at home with her 2 children and how she used to tell her daughter the story all the time and said how no one came to visit her, so why not a Tiger come and visit and tea all their food and then leave, with the understanding that the Tiger will never come back, but making the audience want the tiger to come back.
In the program a lot of illustrators and artist were featured in the film, illustrators like Laura Child sharing her influences from the book as well as other artist & designer.
What I will take from this program is new insight to Judith Stories and maybe go back and look though her books and develop that sense of what her life was like? knowing this new information about her and her life struggles and trying to understand what the stories really mean to her.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25027090

Website Research

Websites are an important factor to our work, in regards to looking at that quality of the work compared with the website. They both need to be as effect as possible to make sure your work is being presented as professionally as possible to clients. One particular website I always enjoy look at as well as keeping updated with her work is....
Carrie May's Website http://www.carriemay.co.uk
The introduction to the Title page to May's website has a very personal connection to her work, showing her technique with typography skill as well as adding small elements of her illustrations interpreted into the introduction, this show me that she has taken a lot of time making sure her first page is a clear reflection of what her work is like??? Very important for a client or an agent who is interested in her work. When you look into the main page of her website she show's a Menu this show her versatility as an illustrator & a Fine Artist. This is very important for my work, in my website I could like to show my skill in different Editorials and children's books, what my work can be used in. This is very important to get clients and to make sure my work is being promoted as best as possible.

Matthew Richardson Website: http://www.matthewxrichardson.com
The introduction was very simple compared to May's introduction, Richardson's introduction goes straight into this main website and the colour combinations are very simple clear white screen, with a large image located on the left. It show a verity of piece of work he has been production and links to his blog and contact details which is very important that it is as clear as possible. His logo should be a little bigger as more focused on his personality in his website, add elements of excitement. But as a website it is very professional layout  but I think his website could be more personal and exciting for clients to see.

Heart Agency Website: http://www.heartagency.com/
The access to the website is very simple and features images that the Agency clients, the simple layout process is very important for clients seeking information about an artist, designer or illustrator this is very important. So making sure the website reflects each clients working under Heart is very difficult but I think they showcase their work very effectively finding artist's information, details, images, and professional people  they have illustrated or designed for in their career.

From this research of website and having a keep updated with the world of Art & Illustration I think its very important that I make my website represent my personality and how playful my work is an can be. Making sure my work is promoted to the best of my ability will allow me more opportunities to promote and advertise my work very clearly and professionally. What I need to work on is making sure my work is available not for just editorial and children's books but for a verity of other process as well, for example. Printing, advertisements, poster design, 3D outcomes and surface design, having these elements show that I have a verity of knowledge and that I am experience in different fields of Illustration & Design.

Beatrice Alemagna

 Alemagna is one of my favorite illustrators that I have come across in my studies, the quality of texture, shapes and narrative she brings together is very exciting and very influential part of my studies. The book covers she produces are clever, exciting, inviting to the reader. The tree are my favorite parts of her illustrations, I plan to practice some of her techniques and challenge my own abilities.

The quality of her colour pallet is also very exciting and combines the quality of line, shape and textures. Her work is exciting I plan to look at her work in more depth and continue update myself with her work and progression.

Rough book

Continuing on with my research on my story and developing the language to make it more age appropriate to my audience, it was important to get all my ideas onto paper and start using all this new knowledge about children's books into action. This simple layout design allowed me to looks at the layout of my illustration, making sure that the illustrations move with the text, and also adding illustrations that move across 2 pages to add drama. This process was successful I understood more about cropping, to add more interest, looking at different angels, birds eye, worms eye, Ariel view points. All these elements are worked into parts of my story to add interest and scale I did it also because it a new challenge for me to work not with just a flat space and understand the background and us of space.

The key challenge I have set myself is working with 3 elements, 1 the their, 2 the behind, and 3 the background.
1: Is the illustrations that are most details and have the most importance
2. Is the background with limited details & texture
3. Is simple shapes no pattern or texture's
I decided on this process from my Scary Stories sets, I added to much detail into the background and lost the importance of the story and also characters that were important were not as details.
So working with 3 elements allowed me more time to work on the characters that are important and less on the background because in the end the characters are the story and need to be as good as the story itself.

Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild things Are (1963) American Illustrator & Author Maurice Sendak/ Published by Harper & Row
Though out this project and my development of my Journal this book has always been a constant influence in my work, the layout, scale, colour pallets, connections to the audience and typography. All these elements I have aimed to achieve in my own workings of my children's book. Also the layout, what are the illustrations like? Does the type become part of the illustration or on a separate page?. What was interesting to be was how they incorporated the monsters humor's and personality Sendak created each monster with a different personality a lot like the classic Snow White & the Seven Dwarf's each persona had their own personality that create constant excitement and interest in the story. The quality of the illustrations themselves are interesting, looking at the way be creates the fur on the Monsters this how his understand of materials, the colour pallet is simple and more over powering, he keeps the monsters similar colours depending on the personality for example, one is a female with red hair, one has a birds face when the others are similar in shape. Elements like this are key in my research, I hope to look at other children books for inspiration but this book is a key part of my journey to children's book Design. 

Use Of Enchantment Marina Warner

Bettelheim, Bruno, The Use of Enchantment 1976

“You can't teach children to be good. The best you can do for your child is to live a good life yourself. What a parent knows and believes, the child will lean on.” 
― Bruno Bettelheim

This book has been a key influence not only in my Critical Journal but on my practice also, my subject matter has revolved around the historical important of Fairy tales. What they mean? Why they are important to children? How they have changed?

My journey as an illustrator will never end and developing my style of working with children's books is something I an keen to develop my knowledge of, this book has allowed this process to happen. It digusses the emotional, dark & sinister meaning, talking about hoe Authors have abandoned the tradition tales of horror, myth and death. I will continue to us Bettelheim as a key influence to my work, and I cannot wait to learn more about the tales I listen to as a child and what dark meaning they may have?

Fashion Illustration Work Shop

Experiencing Prague in all its wonder was amazing, the buildings, Charles bridge, the exhibitions we went to, but that main reason behind coming to Prague was to sign myself put to do a workshop with a very talented fashion illustrator called Irina Kaygorodova.

After all the walking and following Jo to were her studio was a an experience and such fun, Irina's studio was so beautiful and the perfect place for your create mind to run free. The highlight for the hole session was the example Irina gave us, I could what her paint all day. She was incredibly relaxed even though Irina has about 13 students watching her while she painted ( No pressure). I could really tell that she new how to us watercolour, how it moves, how she can work with it, how much or less water she needed to produce what she was aiming for. 

Watercolour isn't my strongest materials in my visual world and I felt like I wanted to find some scissor or some wallpaper and start cutting, but that just who I am. But I forgot how at peace painting and working with watercolour was, for the first time in a long time I was so relaxed and felt more pressure to get the face or hands I was painting right, it was just the journey that  I was enjoying the most. 

But when it got to the eyes, it was difficult but just watching Irina and how she works with not only the brush but the end of it to create eye lashes was very interesting.

The hole day was amazing and teached me more about how to maybe work with watercolor more in my illustrations especially with text. This is my example of an eye, needs a bit more work but it was a lovely experience and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Irina for the amazing workshop.

http://irinakaygorodova.com/

Laura Carlin

Laura Carlin is an illustrator that I have looked at a lot for inspiration for my children books especially the Iron Man Children's Book. I also looked her work for the quality for her illustrations, because the shapes and colours she use's are very exaggerated an that it what I need to consecrate on in my illustrations, less making them more real and more playful shapes and colours to interact with the children and adult who will be reading the book.

Prague 2013

 

Prague 2013
Prague is the most amazing place in the world, the landscape, the buildings, even the people and the environment was incredible.I would talk forever about my experiences and things I have seen but I don't think we have enough room, traveling to another country is exciting but its even more special when its your last trip as a third year and with your friends you have made in the course. My most favourite part of the trip was going to the MUCHA MUSEUM and the Workshop with Irina Kaygorodova, both experiences were eye opening. 1 learning about MUCHA and the work he produced and the story behind his life and how he created his works, and also learning about Irina work, her experiences in education and working in her studio learning more about the process of watercolour again. 
The group dinner that we had on the last night was interesting, having the chance to meet the new first year as well as getting to no the seconds year also and looking at their work. Well an the night was even more eventful, we danced the night away in Prague.... I will leave it at that....
The Terry Poster Lecture was very interesting, having a chance to look at original posters that are no longer in print, and understanding the process of making posters in that time was interesting, showing us how they were created with college an then printed. 

The hole experience was amazing and I cannot wait to one day go back and show others what I have seen an learn in my time their.

What Does Illustration Mean

Could and should Illustrators do more to push the boundaries of the Discipline.?
On the journey to be a Illustrator the one thing is has tort me to to push boundaries, to understand that anything is possible in illustration. That its not just pretty picture in books, that it means so much more if people took the time to understand how we work and how our minds work they will understand that we create our own images, we have our own imaginations and that we don't just produce work from other peoples ideas. The us of animation, sculpture, and the introduction of technology is something I have worked with in my study years, and have knowledge of how they work, what the end result might be if I choice this materials. The conflict between handcrafted with technology is something that is apparent in illustrators lives. In my work I bring both elements together but the handcrafted style is more apparent than the digital quality, and that how I work, the us of technology is ever changing i books, eBooks and apps have been introduced into our lives, and from personal experience are full of graphics and should have elements of illustration to enrich and bring alive for example a game, an app that changes pictures, these elements don't just have to be boring or be produced by graphic designer because its easier,we shouldn't be labeled as Illustrators that have no imagination.
Illustrators work in all fields not just children books and publishing editorials, a lot of illustrator are influenced by Political & Social matters, when clients are looking for posters or work to be published that they should look at illustrators and not just graphic designers this is what illustrators need to work on to make sure they we are noticed and not forgotten.

I see my work boarding into all areas of design, not only children books, book cover, editorials, 3D sculpture, animation, surface design and even produces design. This is best supported in college because of the equipment we have available, the quality has to be a excellent standard and the experience of the staff will help introduce all these elements and allow you to have that experience to take away with you in the future.

To me I am not too concerned about being called an Illustrator but I understand how people would take offence to being labeled as just an illustrator when they work in other areas other than illustration. Most people ask me what I do an I stay illustration and they don't no what that is so I say Art & Design which is very annoying sometimes, but Art & Design Illustration is what I say to people and by saying this they understand the connection. I think personally this question will never be answered because their will always someone who will agree and disagree.