Sad Girls. Sad Girls is a zine compilled of Female Illustrators. I have found some of my favourite practitioners through this. Generally there is 10 girls contributing over 28 pages. “Sad Girls is a zine featuring work by girls who make things and have lots of feelings.” As this isn’t just one artist I can only talk about work/people that I have found through it. To name a few: Kaye Blegvad Rachel Levit Tallulah Fontaine Leah Reena
How does this work inspire me? How is it linked to my practice?
The work as stand alone, viewable online pieces are beautifully composed and considered, but when put together simply, with little text I think the viewer can see the work for what it is, with little to no background knowledge of the artist. The fact that I have found so many female illustrators that are making work that I aspire to make, such as ceramics, is enough inspiration alone. The fact that the work also makes me want to play more, be more textural and get better at anatomy is a big bonus. I think the concept of “Sad Girls” is simple and something that resonates with me and my ideas for this module. To create a relationship between prose and image.
How do they make work?
Most of the work is very textual and not overly digital, which I like. Each piece has a certain charm but they also work as a set.
How do they promote themselves?
I’ve found a lot of online presence for the publication as well as the artists included. Most of the contributors have copies for sale and it is featured in their portfolios. There is also an updated Tumblr and online store. I think because each seperate artist has their own following it reaches a bigger audience.
Tallulah Fontaine.
Tallulah Fontaine is someone I found through the Sad Girls Zine. I love her use of ink and watercolour to create quite simple black and white line work pieces that contrast with the tones of the ink. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s her amazing haircut that has made me love her slightly. I have also really enjoyed scrolling through her blog which is full of her influences and sketches which makes it more personal, I think sometimes artists you find on the internet can seem so far away, and what they do can seem very unattainable.
How does this work inspire me? How is it linked to my practice? I think that Fontaine’s work has a naivety to it through the simple compositions and small observational paintings she sometimes includes. Something I have been pushing in my own practice for a while is my use of wet media to add depth and texture, because working in pen started to feel stale. Fontaine manages to add detail whilst keeping is simple by using a lot of white space. Her work has also driven me to work with different colours, usually keeping my line work black, after finding her work I’ve realised that it’s not always appropriate, especially when trying to communicate mood and atmosphere. How does she make work? Usually with ink or watercolours and cleans them up digitally, she also does a lot of observational drawings from walks, so there is a lot of nature and landscapes. I’ve also noticed that certain images and logos will be taken and adapted from sketches, sometimes in different colours and simplified. How does she promote herself? She has a very up to date blog as well as portfolio. I found that she also draws tattoo commisions and has a seperate blog for that reason. As well as contributing to various zines that are well documented and advertised by all contributors she does editorial and even music videos.
Violeta Lopiz.
I found Violeta Lopiz through blog surfing. I originally found a beautiful animation of the illustrations she created for the book below. I love how layered everything is, as if she has painted onto lots of acetate sheets and fitted them together.
How does this work inspire me? How is it linked to my practice? Lopiz’s work is very textured, every media she uses you can see the marks created. Even in the backgrounds which I think creates a lot of depth. I also really enjoy the colour pallete of greys and soft tones coupled with bright oranges and yellows. This is something I want to push in my work, I’m starting to develop this digitally but I want to be able to do this by hand to create more depth to my compositions. How does she make work? Apart from obvious use of coloured pencil and paint, I’m unsure. It could be layered on Photoshop by changing the opacity of the layers. How does she promote herself? Most of the information online is in spanish, but she has been featured on websites and keeps her blog updated (and it’s interesting once I google translate it).
I found Lizzy Stewart through a Big Heads skype interview last year with Eleni Kalorkoti. I remember thinking immediately that I wanted to be where they were, and feeling envious that my work wasn’t as strong as theirs. After listening to them it made my degree and my practice feel more achievable because they were once like me.
Lizzy Stewart. How does this work inspire me? How is it linked to my practice? In her illustrated book “Minnows” she combines text and image really well, with double page spreads that include spot illustrations and hand written type, this is less sequential, which is good because that isn’t a path that I want to go down, I want to be able to communicate thoughts and feelings through single images and hopefully tell a story that way instead. How does she make work? Lizzy Stewart manages to create very detailed work in pencil, which I think creates lovely textures and interesting work. I’m really interested in how she then digitises this. I’m not as into her figurative work as I think it is too stylised for me, bordering on commercial. Though maybe I’m being too critical, the use of media is still something I would like to be able to do and will aim to try for myself. How does she promote herself? Stewart, like most of these practitioners keeps a personal blog, website and online store, as well as links to where you can buy her zines and books elsewhere.
Hell’O Monsters How does this work inspire me? How is it linked to my practice? I really love the use of colour and shape in these pieces. They are also quite surreal and playful. I think that I need to practice conveying concept in my work and I think this collective do it really well. The book that is pictured is called “Deaf, Dumb and Blind” and is an expansion of an exhibition they put on that included wall murals and 3D pieces. How do they make work? I think this varies, I know that they are a collective that seem to play to their own strengths as their work on their website looks very uniform. I think each person must contribute something to each. How do they promote themselves? They do a lot of work for clients but also through 3D and Installation they have a lot of exhibitons, I like this about the collective because I think sometimes Illustrators fall more towards fine art than commercial illustration, and it’s lovely to know that it’s a possibility, I can create work for myself and put on exhibitions and it’s a very real and achievable goal.
“They developed a unique graphic vocabulary that is complex and ambiguous, which they continue to expand in the course of their creative output, customising many recurrent elements, which they combine each time with new characters, or incorporate into unusual settings.”