La Bete Blooms; I Know Its Nothing EP Design The Brief Post-punk band La Bete Blooms approached me in regards to creating a design for their upcoming EP 'I know it's nothing'. They had employed an artist to do this prior to asking me, however the illustrator was unable to complete the work within the time frame required. Having been in discussion with me over the past year about potentially collaborating on something, lead singer Dan Mawer reached out to me about designing the CD for their second EP. He already had a preliminary sketch of what he wanted the end product to look like, however wanted a much more DIY/punk aesthetic feel to the end product. I feel like this brief fit with my way of working well. The Rationale Building from OUIL505, I wanted to take on some more music driven briefs this year. As well as providing an opportunity for live work in my portfolio, this brief would also be paid work and allow me some insight into the relationship between musician/ illustrator within the design process. Evaluation Though this felt more like a design brief than an illustration brief, it did force me to look at my role as an illustrator and artist in a new light. Using my image-making skills in a way different from that I’ve used it in before. As well as this, the brief also taught me a lot about dealing with clients, I worked with both the band and the record label throughout the duration of this brief, and as such got a much better understanding of how the illustrator/client relationship works in the music scene. This brief also meant that my final work was printed and created as a tangible CD cover and case; it was exciting to be able to hold something that I’d created.
La Bete Blooms; Breaking In; Music Video The Brief For their upcoming music video 'Breaking In' a selection of frames from the video (shot by J. Moore) will be sent to myself. These frames are then to be drawn on-top of (seperate layer to original image) and sent across as PNG files to be layered over the original video and animated by J. Moore. The line work should be in-keeping with that shown on the front cover of EP 'I know it's nothing', and white in colour. Preferred client media; analogue. The Rationale As I‘d worked for Dan and La Bete's previously I trusted them to work with me on a professional level, whilst giving me enough artistic freedom to play around a little bit. In preparation for level 6 I wrote a blog post speaking about perhaps doing a brief based on line (as I‘d been looking at a lot of tattooists work over Summer), and this was a way of exploring that concept. I hadn’t had my work manipulated for moving image by someone else before, so was excited to see how it would turn out. This brief was also in-keeping with my focus for music illustration, but while branching out the context and format. Evaluation This brief was a huge turning point for me this year. Looking at imagemaking through the lens of line is something that I took from this brief into my further briefs. Working in this format and context was also something new to me, and I was really happy with how my final illustrations came out. Creating images for movement manipulation in a music video was also a new venture. It allowed me to see my artwork applied to a new product and discipline. Though I was a little disappointed with how the final images moved (down to videotographer) I’m still very happy with my own images, and how they worked with the frames I was given.
Ferens Art Gallery; Open Exhibition The Brief Artists aged 16 or above from across the region can submit up to three pieces of work for this popular exhibition, now in its 50th year, between Thursday 22 September until midnight Sunday 16 October. For the first time, artists will register their works online, submitting photos for the consideration of an invited panel of external selectors. 2017 is the 50th anniversary of the Ferens Open and will be an extra special year due to input from three highly respected external judges: Dr Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, the Hull born actress Maureen Lipman CBE and the internationally renowned sculptor and Royal Academician David Mach. The chosen artworks will be displayed from 21 January to 12 March 2017, taking centre stage for the gallery’s re-opening in January 2017, when Hull is UK City of Culture. This is a unique opportunity for artists to show their work alongside internationally significant paintings from the Ferens permanent collection. Councillor Terry Geraghty, Portfolio Holder for Culture and Leisure and chair of Hull Culture and Leisure, said: “It is fantastic for Hull that we have an exhibition to showcase exceptional local and regional talent. 2017 also marks the exhibitions 50th anniversary making it extra special for the artists and gallery.” Kirsten Simister, curator of Art at Ferens Art Gallery, says “The Ferens Art Gallery looks forward to receiving entries from not only wellestablished and popular artists but new and emerging talent, aiming to create an enjoyable and stimulating exhibition in the spacious and impressive setting of the gallery.” Cash prizes are on offer for the chosen works, which have been kindly donated by Friends of the Ferens and BSB Architecture. Any work submitted must have been created within the last 12 months. - Taken from Ferens Art Gallery Website
Ferens Art Gallery; Open Exhibition The Rationale I mentioned in my OUIL603 prep that I was considering entering Ferens Art Gallery's Open Exhibition. I thought this competition would allow me some space to create larger scale work, like my Humber Street Sesh painting over Summer. Prior to my painting at HSS'16, I was worried that my words and subtle emotional value I treasure in my personal work, may not resonate if up-scaled to something bigger. However the response I got from the general public was overwhelmingly positive. I was interested to see whether or not this kind of work would sit in a professional gallery setting. Evaluation Though I enjoyed the painting at the time, looking back at these images now they feel so disjointed from my practice. Realistically within the timescale that was available to me I think I was pushing myself too far trying to get two paintings of this size finished in such a short amount of time with very few ‘practice runs’ behind me. There are aspects of each image that I like, and I think the prose in juxtaposition with the images works well. I only wish I’d spent more time crafting each image, so they could have been finished to a higher calibre.
Virgin Media Box The Brief Create a proposal to cover up a Virgin Media Telecommunications Box within the local area of Headingley. Final designs to be chosen by the Ash Road Residents Association. Design must be child friendly, and utilise bright/ light colours so the insides of the box don’t get fried in the Summer time. The Rationale When this brief popped into my inbox I immediately felt excited by it. It combined my love of live work, large scale painting and artistic freedom. There weren’t any particular restrictions on subject matter, and being able to paint something real world was very exciting. I enjoy seeing my work applied, and this brief offered an opportunity for doing more than simply 'mocking up' an image. As well as the practical benefits of the brief, I also thought it was a nice community project. I've lived in Headingley for the past two years, and I like working for the local community. Evaluation This brief taught me so much about the practicalities of painting outside during the bitter Leeds winter. Having done a few live painting events before, I didn’t feel too intimidated by this brief, but it turns out painting in 3degrees Northern winter weather can cause quite a few practical problems you didn’t foresee happening. What I really loved about this brief was that each visit I took to the box I felt I learnt something new. Whether that be wrapping up warm, taking more paper towels, making a trip to costa to refill my water bottle with clean water; the box really pushed me and my resilience to new heights. Though it’s now a piece of work that perhaps doesn’t sit so cohesively with my other pieces made this year, it’s one that has been a huge part of my growth as a professional and a practitioner.
Artlink Gallery; Pop Up Print Shop The Brief As you know Artlink’s run the print open for the past 10 years but this year we wanted to change things around and give our visitors chance to buy more printed products for Christmas. We came up with the idea of a one stop pop up print shop. We wanted to showcase the work of six Hull based print makers vs 6 none Hull print makers in hope to raise awareness, standards and ideas around new artists coming to Hull in 2017. Would you be interested in showing with us? We are installing a shop experience in the gallery space from Monday 6th November, with a preview on Friday 11th November. The exhibition will run until December 10th. Work will be on a sale or return basis and we take 25% commission on sales (so we ask artists to consider this when pricing). We would need around 10 prints and a couple of products, we can also let you know if stock is low throughout the show. – Taken from email with Artlink The Rationale This brief provided opportunity for getting hands on with a gallery and also being able to showcase and sell my work! I mentioned within my statement of intent that I would love to get a little more knowledgeable on how to contact and speak with galleries, and this was a great start. It also pushed me to get a little better at screen printing which is something else that was on my list. Evaluation As well as providing experience working alongside a gallery and learning how fill out inventories, produce invoices, communicate about payment etc, this brief did also boost my confidence a lot with screen printing. By the end of the brief I had screen printed 50 split fountain prints in a week. I also learnt about packaging my products to sell, and going down to the exhibition once it had opened gave me further ideas on how to hone this in for upcoming exhibitions. A great experience, and I was pleased with my final outcomes (5 designs all split fountain screen printed).
La Bete Blooms; Adelphi Gig Poster The Brief To create an A3 gig poster (two copies; one RBG for digital promotion, one CMYK for printed media) for La Bete Blooms upcoming home gig at the Adelphi. The Rationale Having done the previous artwork for La Betes since the release of I know it's Nothing, it made sense for me to do this gig poster for them too. I thought this brief would be more image manipulation than illustration, but I slightly manipulated the brief to my own ends. It also gave me a chance to have a go at gig posters, something I‘d been interested in exploring for a while. Also paid live work is always good. Evaluation This brief was a fantastic success for me. I felt as though it was the start of me finally finding my own tone of voice. Though I originally supplied them with the digitality manipulated image they’d asked for, I’m glad I stuck to my guns and suggested my illustrated version in place of it. This image has actually lead to a number of other commissions through people who’ve seen the design either as a poster or a t-shirt design (manipulated slightly). I’m really humbled with how the boys at La Betes have treat me this year, and it makes me happy knowing that they trust me to do their music justice.
La Bete Blooms; Low Hummer Story-boarding The Brief Meet with Dan and run through his storyboard proposals for La Bete Blooms newest single 'Low Hummer'. Dan had already taken the time to sit down and plan each scene to the second, but needed someone to visualize and storyboard it for him so he could take it to his videotographers. The Rationale At this point I’d almost become the visual artist for La Bete Blooms during their 'I Know It's Nothing' EP run. As such Dan came to me with this brief. It's not one that I really needed to finish with a high level of craft or style, but one in which my skills as a visual storyteller were most needed. I had be able to translate what Dan was telling me into understandable visuals so his videotographers understand the angles, shots and frames used in each segment. It was also a chance for me to try something a little different, I wouldn't have ever thought I'd be doing a storyboard this year, so it was another avenue of live illustration to explore. Evaluation This was a brief I was really proud about completing. From meeting Dan first thing in the morning to having finished the video storyboard at night, it was a full day of illustration based client work, and I really enjoyed it too! It felt really good to have a finished product by the end of the night, and it showed me what I was capable of when I put my mind to it. This brief also allowed me to practice using Adobe Premier, a program I hadn’t used since responsive last year (big up Izzie Glazzard for showing me how it worked in OUIL403)!
Love Glove The Brief Hey , i'm putting together a queer/LGBT+ arts and culture magazine and i'm looking for some illustrators to collaborate in creating some satirical adverts. I have a few ideas so far and am just looking for some talent to execute them for me. The ideas so far are... - Finger condoms/latex gloves for lesbians - U-hall van hire - Vitamin D - Nike - Dyke - Lesbian manicure service - to cut and clean up nails rather than add falsies - Gay conversion therapy - to make straight people gay - Cock engagement rings - Coming out cake makers I'm completely open to any other ideas and would love you to get involved. Lemme know if your down. – Taken from email with Izzie The Rationale I was contacted by Izzie (who I worked with last year on responsive D&AD brief) about making an image for her queer/LGBT+ arts and culture magazine as a part of her COP practical work. This brief came out of the blue but I really liked the idea of getting involved. I've enjoyed working with Izzie in the past, and this seemed like a really quick turn around brief that would be a bit of fun in between all the current COP stress I was dealing with in my own project. Evaluation
As mentioned this was a quick turn around brief. It wasn’t really one of ‘learning points’ but it was a refreshing break from my own COP stress. I also quite like the end product even it it’s just something simple. It was fun to play around with an idea that didn’t take itself too seriously, and Izzie loved the final piece.
Warren Records; Adelphi Gig The Brief Create a gig poster for Warren Record's organised gig at Adelphi. Stylistically analogue with DIY feel (similar to La Bete) and with a focus on Canshaker Pi’s album artwork as inspiration for the image.
The Rationale After the success of my La Bete poster, doing another gig poster was something I felt happy to try and take on board. I was pretty busy at the time with COP work, but found the time to fit this brief in. The piece was for a record label I've known for quite a few years now, it was also a piece of live paid client work. It was great to finally be commissioned by Stew and the team to do some work for them. Evaluation As there was a lot of changing with the line up, and given the last minute drop out by Canshaker Pi, this brief felt a little all over the place. I was also struggling to balance this brief will all my COP work, and as a result parts of the final poster felt very rushed. Looking back I wish I’d had more time to craft the image and play around with composition. There are elements that could have definitely done with re-doing (those awful hands), but the brief still supplied experience in dealing with a record label, and the client was happy with the final image.
La Bete Blooms; Low Hummer Single Cover The Brief To produce a square format RBG file to be used online as the single artwork for La Bete Blooms upcoming single 'Low Hummer‘. Take inspiration from J-Cole '4 your eyez only' artwork cover. Use one of the photographs provided in La Bete's promo shoot as focus for image. The Rationale Though I thought this brief would perhaps be more design focused than illustration, I agreed to do it for the boys anyway. They wanted to keep with the photo focus theme (like their EP cover) but with elements of collage. A relatively quick turn around brief that would show my artwork on an international global platform when used in spaces like Spotify and SoundCloud. Evaluation This brief was as expected. Very quick turn around and probably more design based than illustration. In a way, I’m thankful for the more design based briefs I’ve been given this year as it’s forced me to step outside the boundaries of pure ‘illustrator’. La Bete Blooms were very pleased with the final product as were able to use it immediately on online platforms.
Independent Leeds; Female Zine Scene The Brief To write and illustrate a piece for Independent Leeds on the female zine community within the city. The piece was to be displayed as a double page spread, and I was asked to create between 4-7 images for the article. Independent Leeds would chose the ones they felt worked most effectively. The Rationale This brief appealed to me for a number of reasons. Being featured within the publication was one of them, as they're distributed around the area for free and in the thousands. I would be fully credited for my work, so having my name promoted to a regional audience in such a way really appealed to me. David was also super great to get along with, sharing a lot of the same ideas I felt this was a company my work would sit nicely with. Being allowed to write and illustrate this feature was also a huge thing for me. Though I‘d just finished writing a dissertation (that I didn't particularly enjoy) I do enjoy writing in my own time. Evaluation Working on this brief showed me that reportage illustration is something I would definitely consider doing in the future. I quite enjoy research on my own terms, and being able to write the article as well as illustrate it was a huge thing for me. Since the publication was printed, I’ve also had a huge positive response from both the public and other creators. It was ace seeing my work printed in an editorial setting too; I was pretty proud of this one.
La Bete Blooms; T-shirt Design The Brief Manipulate previously contructed Adelphi gig poster into a t-shirt design. Change the text of the speech bubbles and thicken the linework so it could be easily screen printed. Contain the title of the EP ‘I Know It’s Nothing’. The Rationale I was a real fan of the work I created for La Bete Blooms Adelphi gig poster, so being asked to manipulate the image so it could be used as a t-shirt design was something I felt happy to do. It would also allow me to see my work in another real world context, and I got a free tshirt out of it.
Evaluation This brief was relatively easy to complete, and though I had to redraw the whole image using a thicker pen, I still feel as though it had a very similar look and appeal to the original design. Being able to see and feel the t-shirt recently was also a huge plus.
La Bete Blooms; Tour Poster The Brief To create a new tour poster for band La Bete Blooms. Will feature a range of tour dates, locations, prices and details. Style; not specified. Size; A4. For digital promotion only so RGB format.
The Rationale I really enjoyed doing La Betes previous gig poster, and so when this opportunity came along I saw it as a great chance to try that way of working again. I also think the hand rendered work suits their sound a lot more than the digital stuff, and they really let me go with my gut tone of voice with these posters which is great. Evaluation I really liked doing this brief and I’m glad we went for the hand rendered illustration again. By this point in the year I’d consider La Bete Blooms to have become a regular client and close friends. I trust them to work with me on a professional level, and I admire that they largely let me go with my gut on these gig posters. This brief was also another great opportunity to play and explore line a little more too.
CMV; Out of Order The Brief Create a print or publication around the theme ‘Out of Order’ to be exhibited at Colours May Vary from the beginning to the end of March. The Rationale I hadn’t really had much time for self initiated projects this year, so I saw this brief as an opportunity to have a bit of fun and create something for myself. I’m unsure as to whether or not my work fits in CMV’s gallery and shop, so I wasn’t too worried about making something ‘sellable’, just something that I felt proud of. Evaluation This brief warmed me back up to the notion of digital illustration. Working purely through digital means is something I’ve avoided for quite a while, as I think the end product can often look quite flat. This brief however allowed me to try out a few new tricks and apply what I’d learnt through my year so far working primarily analogue to the realm of digital art. I was actually very pleased with the end image, and working in this way lead me to complete another live brief (not blogged for uni) using photoshop as my primary tool
TedxHull The Brief I’m part of the team that organise TEDxHull, a day of TED talks at Hull Truck theatre. At the breaks in between the talks we like to have some things going on in the foyer to keep people entertained. (30 mins in the morning, 30 in the afternoon and 45 at lunch). We've had artists each year doing live art and wondered if you’d like to do it this year? The whole event is ran not for profit, so I’m afraid as with the speakers and the organisers ourselves there’s no money in it. But we’ve happy to put a small amount towards materials if required. – Joe Cox via email The Rationale This event offered a good opportunity for networking and coverage. I love taking part in live art events (this was my fourth live art event in front of a crowd in less than two years) as the atmosphere always tends to be one of enjoyment and community spirit. Speaking to Joe I was also informed that we were welcome to sit in on any of the talks too, and that food and drink was also provided throughout the day. Evaluation Completing this brief felt really good. From a professional aspect, I was able to network with a couple of other Hull creatives that gave me some insight to places I could find commissioned work, and also opened up the opportunity for my work to be sold via the online print shop Form. Creating the image was a breath of fresh air. It was wonderful to be allowed a full six hours to do nothing but draw and craft one image. I didn’t have to worry about my blogging, or what other projects I hadn’t finished, or what I was going to eat for tea I just stood listening to my music and doing what I love.
FMP; Give ‘Em Hull The Brief To create a series of work that explored the Hull music scene, and reflected the attitudes and ethos of the people involved. Ending the brief with 4-6 narrative posters that reflected punk/DIY aesthetics, to be proposed as part of an exhibition of larger work. The Rationale This brief encompassed two of my favourite things; music and my home city, Hull. It was important to me too, I feel, that I completed a brief that I felt emotionally invested in. With all the live work this year, doing something for myself felt freeing, but a little daunting. Evaluation Completing this brief was definitely one of the hardest things I did this year. Despite it being my biggest brief to date, I felt I was constantly trying to find the time to fit it in; which is a little sad when I think about it. I really pushed myself to try and get this brief right, and to finish with something I’m proud of. I like the final images I created, but I’m not sure if they’re something that I’m in love with; this also makes me a little sad. I’d really like the time to finish this project to the level I’d have wanted it to be at post-uni. It was also difficult for me to emotionally involve myself in a project this vast when I felt so exhausted coming to the end of this degree. I hope the final pieces show a glimmer of what I intended them too.