One could perhaps say that having an illustrator for a Grandmother was what set me on the path to where I am today. I remember long evenings spent in her company, scribbling out fairly incomprehensible drawings and being told that they were beautiful. She encouraged me to explore my imagination and celebrated the artistic results with me throughout my childhood, and as well as putting me on the path that would eventually lead me to undertake a degree in Illustration, I believe that this is what kick-started my interest in imagination as a theme of my work. I love the ambiguousness of the imagined; it cannot be certain, and is unique to every person. Narratives in which you cannot tell whether a character or events are real and truly happening, or a figment of another character’s imagination have always appealed to me, and I’ve found that my illustrative work often focuses on such concepts. I believe children’s books and narratives for adults alike should encourage the audience not only to explore their imaginations as my Grandmother did with me, but to retain it into adulthood. To me, it is not a thing that one should ‘grow out of’. Having said all that I think it’s fairly clear that I enjoy working with narratives. Whether it be my own story or someone else’s, I love to visually develop them, create characters within them and put my own spin on the text. But I wouldn’t say that narratives are all I like to do- in fact, my practice is very varied, as I don’t want to limit myself to only one sector of illustration. Some might say that it is a bad thing that I don’t specialise in just one thing, but I believe that my adaptability and the fact that I enjoy so many aspects of illustration could make me more desirable to clients and easier to hire.
Over the last three years of my degree I’ve come to realise that I’ve truly discovered what it is I want to do in life, and I’m very content with this realisation. Although I know illustration is extremely competitive and it will not be easy to make a career of it, I know that if I were to succeed (I.e.- be able to sustain and finance myself through illustration) it would all be worth it.
Over the course of the last year at university my methodology and way of creating imagery has developed a lot. I’m much happier with the way I work now than I was when I started the course, and even when I started Level 6. Unlike many of my peers, I don’t feel that I’ve always had a set style or approach to illustrating. This has always been something that in the past has been a great cause of stress to me, as I feel that in order to be successful as an illustrator you must have a fairly consistent and recognisable style; something that draws clients to you, that makes you stand out and memorable. However, I think that the freedom to choose my own projects and work on mini briefs over the last year at university has really helped me to discover just how it is I like to illustrate, and find a unique style within my practice that I’m happy with (although there is always room for improvement!) Like most people, my illustrations start with an idea, and from there it’s just a question of how to get it on paper and looking as good as it can. This idea can develop through pointless doodling, something I’ve come across that’s inspired me, or can simply pop into my brain. Unfortunately, I find that the end result of my efforts rarely looks how it did it my head, but I don’t think this is always a bad thingmaybe sometimes it even looks better than I had imagined it. After the initial idea formulates, I normally fill a couple of sketchbook pages with some incredibly messy thumbnail sketches that only I can understand, to help me pinpoint the composition and what exactly it is I want to draw.
The versatility of such a simple drawing implement as the pencil is something that has made the tool central to my practice over the last year. The textures and tones it can create are impressive, and there is something very appealing to me in the almost childlike feel of the pencil, and the fact that is such a widespread, commonly used tool. I tend to draw out all my illustrations using this wonderful little implement, before scanning them in and cleaning them up, and ultimately colouring them digitally. The combination of expressive, slightly messy pencil drawings and the precision and cleanliness of digitally added colour helps to make my imagery stand out and keeps it playful. I’ve found that limiting my colour palette really helps to tie it all together, set the mood and make it ‘pop’.
For me, inspiration can come from almost anything, but there are certain things that can inspire me over and over again. I know most creative people will probably say this, but I’ve always loved and will never be bored of books, music and films. The inspiration offered to me from the narratives (and most other aspects of good books, music and films) has proved to be priceless as I’ve developed both personally and as an illustrator. Recently my interest in comic books and graphic novels has blossomed, and this is reflected in both my Pre-Major Project and my Major Project. As well as all that, in these modern times the internet has also been a very useful tool in getting inspired. It’s so easy to discover amazing illustrators and artists online, which can be both insanely depressing and incredibly motivational and inspiring. Having spent most of my childhood in Denmark (and with half my family being Danish) I’ve also found my childhood memories of and frequent visits to Scandinavia, the culture, landscape and folklore of the place have influenced my practice, and can often be found referenced somewhere in my work.
When I started my Pre-Major Project at the beginning of Level 6, I was at odds with myself and confused about how it was I most enjoyed working. I did not have a consistent style- instead, I enjoyed illustrating both realistically and, for lack of a better word, unrealistically. I couldn’t decide which style of illustration I preferred creating, or which was ultimately the most successful. I decided that, instead of beginning a huge project that would carry me through to the end of the unit, I would break my Pre-Major Project into several smaller briefs, thus allowing me to experiment and fully explore different types of illustration. I worked on collaborative projects, competition entries, authorial projects, and live briefs, and I feel that this was absolutely the right decision for me. Both the experience of working on lots of different projects and the feedback I received from my tutors and my peers helped me to realise, not only did I enjoy working on the ‘unrealistic’ pieces and briefs more than the realistic ones, but the results of the first were undoubtedly more successful than the latter. One of the mini briefs I worked on as part of my Pre-Major Project was a collaborative effort between myself and six other students in my class. Together we created a narrative called ‘Umbrella’, which we turned into a series of 30 limited edition, hand bound zines. The narrative was created by one person having 24 hours to draw a double page spread of a comic, before passing it on to the next person in line, and so on. There was a set colour palette and everyone had to use pencils to create their pages , but otherwise we were free to illustrate how we wanted and take the story where we wanted it to go. I think that collaborating with other illustrators is a great way to get inspired and improve by feeding off of
others and bouncing ideas back and forth. Not only did this project inspire me to take part in more collaborations in the future, it also allowed me to discover how much I enjoy working with comic format narratives, which is something that had a big influence on the direction of my Major Project.
Inspired by the collaborative project I worked on in my Pre-Major Project, I decided that as well as entering various competitions and working on another collaborative narrative, I wanted to create my own comic for the Major Project. I think that a comic can be a very interesting and effective way to convey a narrative, and I had a lot of fun working in comic format for ‘Umbrella’. Instead of the mini comics I’d worked on before, I felt that the large time scale of the Major Project was more suited to a longer story, and it would be a good opportunity to create something worthwhile that would exhibit well at the end of year show and make a valuable asset to my portfolio. Larger authorial projects can be a good way to show potential clients your personality as an illustrator and just what it is you like to do. I wanted my comic to be longer than what I had previously worked on, something that could be presented as a finished book by the end of the project. I also knew I wanted my narrative to be aimed at children, and to make it more accessible for younger readers I chose to make the panelling fairly simple and use a square format. I feel that although children’s comics are rising in popularity at the moment, there is still a lot of space in the market for really beautiful ones that parents want to buy their children. After reading the brief for the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize I decided to aim to create a 32 page book that would fit their brief, so that I could submit it for consideration within the competition.
Creating my own narrative for such a large scale project was new to me, and although I found it challenging I’ve enjoyed the process and feel that it makes the finished product a better asset to my portfolio. Tutorials with Sam Arthur from Nobrow and Alice V. Lickens of Zombie Collective really helped me with the development of the visuals in the book as well as the narrative, which centres around a girl and her imaginary friend called Mikkel. By the end of the book the girl (and hopefully the reader of the book) realises that, although she does not need to stop having an imaginary friend or imaginary adventures, as she gets older she won’t be happy with only her imagination, and so Mikkel helps her to make some human friends. Both the story and the subtleties of the comic format are more suitable for slightly older children, perhaps between the ages of about 8 and 11, and I feel the moral at the end of the book is especially useful for children of this transitionary age. Being conscious of the intended audience and specific contexts of illustrative work while it is created is something that I’ve discovered to be very useful during my time at university, and I think having some sort of a moral or lesson within children’s books is very useful in helping them sell, as although they’re fun things for kids to read they’re also valuable tools to use in teaching children.
In this day and age, having an online presence can be key to success as an illustrator. Putting your work and your professional self on the internet is a great way to become accessible to potential clients as well as other creatives you may wish to connect with. I started building my online presence in the first year of university with a simple blog for my illustrative exploits, and a year later I made a website and a twitter. Over the last year of Level 6 I’ve spread myself across even more corners of the internet, and really started to get it all together. My full name is Maia Fjord Kjaersgaard Weatherley but I feel that my middle name ‘Fjord’ is far more catchy, stands out and is easier to remember than Weatherley. For these reasons I’ve decided to market myself as Maia Fjord instead of Maia Weatherley. This also creates a divide between my professional persona and my personal self, so when people type ‘Maia Fjord’ into Google they’ll only find results to do with my illustrations, instead of pictures with friends (or anything that could potentially be unprofessional!)
WEBSITE My website links up to all my other profiles across the internet, and features a simple, clean layout, as I believe that it should showcase my work effectively without drawing too much attention to itself. However, above all else it functions as an online portfolio, as it is a really easy and efficient way for potential clients to see my work. I update it regularly, adding new projects and removing old work that is no longer relevant to my practice or up to scratch. This ensures that it is always a good representation of myself, and prevents it from becoming too large. I think that it’s important to keep my online portfolio fairly small and to be selective and remove anything that I feel is sub-par, as I know clients won’t spend too long flicking through my illustrations and I wouldn’t want the one thing they happen to click on to be something I don’t feel represents me as an illustrator well.
BLOG I use Tumblr as a blog to showcase both finished pieces and more developmental stages of illustrations. I like Tumblr as I feel that it is very easy for people to share your work (and thus get it seen by more people) on the site. I think keeping a blog is a really worthwhile thing for me to do as an illustrator, as it allows people to see a more personal side to me and my work. I keep the visuals of my blog similar to those of my website, so that it’s easy for people to identify that they fit together. My blog also links up to all my other profiles online.
FACEBOOK I use Facebook in much the same way that I use my Tumblr, and feel that it is just another great tool for connecting with people online. Although I feel that you’re more likely to connect with a broader audience on Tumblr, I think connecting with a more local audience on Facebook has its merits, and hopefully as my practice improves I’ll find a bigger audience on the site.
TWITTER For me, Twitter is a great networking tool- it has been one of the best and most useful ways of connecting with people online. It’s a great place to discover competitions to enter, potential projects to work on and other opportunities. It’s also a very easy way to talk to professionals in the industry (and in doing so maybe they’ll click on your profile and have a look at your website) and other illustrators. Due to the site’s casual nature, I think it’s also a great place to post photos of developmental work, sneak peeks of illustrations and work-in-progress shots, thus getting people excited to see the finished thing.
INSTAGRAM I only created an Instagram profile recently, but so far it has been almost as good as twitter for connecting with people online, and I’ve received some great feedback on the site. Because it’s an image based site, it’s a great place to share both finished illustrations and photographs of unfinished pieces as you work on them- perhaps it’s an even better tool for doing this that Twitter is.
BEHANCE I’ve been told by a couple of people who are currently working in the industry (including Gina Cross) that Behance can be a great place to get work seen. Previously I’ve shied away from Behance as I’ve never liked the aesthetics of the site, but having one can’t hurt- it’s another place on the internet for people to see your portfolio, after all.
As well as keeping an updated portfolio online, I feel that it’s important to also have a physical one that can be taken to meetings and interviews, as seeing my illustrations in print feels completely different (and in many cases, more impressive) than seeing them on a screen. Much like with my website layout, I think a good portfolio should serve as a neat, professional way to present work to a client without drawing attention to itself, making the images look good and letting them speak for themselves. I’m just as selective about what goes into my physical portfolio as my digital one in order to achieve a good representation of myself as an illustrator, and I keep the layout within the physical portfolio clean, simple and attractive, so it can showcase my images quietly and effectively. I’ve chosen to purchase an A3 display book type portfolio, as I think that the feel of turning the pages like a book suits the narrative aspects of my work well. I also like that pages can be easily added or removed, meaning hopefully it should last me a long time as my portfolio develops. I’ve taken the paper my portfolio is printed onto into consideration as well, opting for a fairly hick, uncoated, slightly off white paper that I feel suits my illustrations. As well as this A3 display book I’m planning on bringing a well made, nicely bound copy of the children’s comic I’ve created for my Major Project with me to appropriate interviews, as viewing it as an actual book is far more impressive than skimming over a few double page spreads in my portfolio.
Self-promotion is another thing that is key to finding success as an illustrator. You need to be proactive in contacting new clients and really selling your work to them- in such a competitive industry and as a recent graduate, you can’t expect them to come to you. Having unified branding across all areas of online sites and promotional materials helps to make you come across as professional, and makes your ‘brand’ recognisable. I’m in the process of compiling a list of clients who I’d like to work for and of illustration agencies who I will want to contact and hopefully develop a working relationship with.
BUSINESS CARDS I recently ordered a batch of 50 business cards, featuring various crops of some of my newer illustrations on one side, and my logo and contact details on the other. I ordered a small amount to begin with to test which designs work the best before ordering a larger batch to distribute at the degree show. Business cards are a really useful way to pass on your details to potential clients and a very helpful networking tool, and a well designed card could be the difference between being contacted about a possible job or not.
LIMITED EDITION PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS I think sending unique, promotional materials that showcase your work to clients can be a far more powerful tool in getting jobs than simply sending a link to my website in an email. It’s likely to make a bigger impact, and if your promotional materials are nice enough the client might keep them around instead of discarding them or forgetting about them. I’m planning to create a set of limited edition postcards to send out to clients, perhaps featuring a pop-up character or environment. I feel that having a pop-up is a bit more special than a regular postcard, and might make it more likely that the client will hang onto them or display them somewhere. I love to create strange little characters and I feel like this could be a good way to showcase some of them, and some of what I like to do. Postcards are easy to send out to a lot of people and shouldn’t be too expensive to produce, but for the most important clients I also plan to send out a small booklet, a mini-portfolio of sorts, featuring examples of my work. I may hand bind these booklets, making them even more precious, and so more likely to be kept.
STATIONARY I’ve created a personalised invoice and am in the process of creating personalised contracts, all with a custom header and logo. This helps to unify my branding across all platforms. I’ve also created a custom stamp featuring my logo and website to use on letters and to stamp on bags or packages when selling items.
THE AOI I’m considering joining the Association of Illustrators for at least a year after graduating. This will allow me to access a lot of business advice that, as a start up illustrator who’s pretty new to the world of business, will be very helpful. Advice on things like how to price my time and my work and what to include in a contract will be particularly useful to someone as inexperienced as myself. Becoming a member of the AOI will also entitle me to discounted prices for various helpful events, and I will be able to add the AOI logo to my website, thus letting clients know that I’m well informed on the business side of things.
Over the last few years at university I’ve entered several competitions. I made a point of entering several within my Pre-Major Project and my Major Project, as I think that they make for nice mini briefs, and provide good practice in working to a brief and coming up with a unique idea that might appeal to the client. I also think that entering competitions is a great way to get seen by people you might want to work with, and attending Elissa Elwick’s lecture earlier this year assured me that even if you don’t win anything, you never know who might have seen your work and liked it. In my first year of university I entered a competition to illustrate the full 30 page brochure to accompany the events that are part of The Sting in The Tale, a storytelling festival aimed predominantly at families. Illustrating this brochure provided me with some incredibly valuable experience in dealing with a real client and real deadlines, as every page needed an illustration and every illustration had a pretty fast turnaround time! I also won one of the competitions I entered as part of my Major Project. It was run by Crowd and the brief was to create a design to go on a skateboard that was based around one of five possible words that they felt described the essence of their company. My design for the word ‘International’ won, and so I faced the challenge of transferring the design onto an actual skateboard. I think entering and winning this competition provided me with valuable experience in dealing with an actual client, as well as supplying me with what I feel is a strong, and a little bit different, asset to my portfolio.
Competed In: - Macmillan Children’s Book Prize - YCN Student Awards Cath Kidston Brief - IdeasTap and Bird’s Eye View Film Festival poster design - The AOI’s Serco Prize for Illustration - Don’t Panic and Feel Good Drinks Competition
Won: - The Sting in the Tale festival brochure illustrations - UpRaw presents Current Collective - Crowd Skateboard Design Competiton
Ever since I first created my website in Level 5, I’ve made a point of emailing various people and sites that may be interested in running a feature on me and my work. This is something that has had some good results, and in turn I’ve been featured on quite a few creative blogs and websites. This is something that has helped me to get my name out there and provided me with some more traffic to my site. LIST OF FEATURES: This & That Collective’s ‘The Magazine’, Issue 1 - Soapbox Press - Crowd - Amelia’s Magazine - Off The Barrow - Central Station - White Coffee Magazine - Badpop Magazine, Issue 2 - Anorak Magazine’s Blog - UpRaw Magazine, Issue 2 - Design Juices - Business Boom - Ray Gun Press - Bumf Magazine, Issue 1
I’ve taken part in quite a few exhibitions whilst I’ve been at university. I think that they’re a great way to bring your work into the public eye and again, you never know who might see your work, like it and hire you. This year I tried my hand at fully curating and organising an exhibition with a small group of fellow illustrators from my class at SIX gallery in Boscombe. This was a great experience, and a taster into a completely different side of the creative world.
LIST OF EXHIBITIONS: ‘Explore’ at SIX Gallery, Bournemouth - ‘Undiscovered Talent’ at Havas Media, Covent Garden, London - ‘Grey Matter’ at the Drop Project Gallery, Bournemouth - ‘UpRaw presents Current Collective’ in BarSo, Bournemouth - ‘The Imaginarium’ at Cellar Door in Boscombe - ‘Words & Pictures - Illustrated Narratives’ Bournemouth International Centre - Open Space Gallery, Bournemouth - Pop Up Exhibition in Boscombe’s Sovereign Centre
This year I’ve taken quite a large part in helping to organise High Noon, our degree show. As a part of the fundraising committee I’ve helped to organise various sales and silent auctions, and am one of the people in charge of the Twitter and Facebook profiles for the event. I was also one of the two people who visited galleries in London to help discover where would be the best to host the exhibition, and have been one of those who’ve emailed sponsors and helped organise the branding and promotional materials. Doing all this has helped me to gain some more experience of curating exhibitions, and has also been a lot of fun! It’s inspired me to try and take part in, as well as organise more events after I graduate.
Visits to ELCAF and Pick Me Up over the last couple of years have been a big inspiration to me as well as a great way to discover new illustrators, and luckily enough this year I’m getting the opportunity to exhibit and sell my work at Alternative Press with a few of my peers. The event is held all day on May the 10th at the Bishopsgate Institute in London. As well as a number of high quality digital prints I’ve been making a lot of screen prints on T-shirts, tote bags and high quality paper to sell at the event, which I’ve had a lot of fun with and would like to continue to do after university. The T-shirts especially have received a really good response and I’ve sold a number of them already. I’ll also be selling a few hand bound copies of my comic and the collaborative zines I’ve worked on, and am in the process of making a simple 3D model of a character from my narrative to sell a few of. But even though I’m really excited to sell things at this event, I think it could be particularly good for networking and having people see my work, as the event is quite big and will have a lot of different exhibitors. I’ll be bringing my business cards to give to anyone who might be interested and using my custom stamp on bags when people purchase my items. I’m planning on setting up an Etsy page to sell anything I have leftover online. I think Etsy is a great place to sell things like prints and T-shirts, and am drawn to the site because of the passing trade you’re likely to get if you have a page there.
After graduation, life will probably be hard for a while. Illustration, like most of the creative industries, is a very competitive one, and you mostly get work through freelancing instead of getting a steady job. However, I feel secure in the knowledge that making a career out of illustration is something that I truly want to do with my life, so I will work as hard as I can and try to make it happen. I think some important things to bear in mind when trying to be successful as an illustrator are to be proactive, persistent, and not to give up. It’s unlikely that an opportunity will fall into my lap- I’m going to have to work hard to try and get somewhere, and work hard I will. As I find so many fields of illustration interesting, I’m going to try applying to as many things as possible in the hope that I might get something. I plan to send promotional packets to art directors of magazines and newspapers to see if any of them would think me suitable to do any editorial illustration for their publications. I’ll also be sending hand bound copies of my comic to publishing houses who I think might be interested, along with the promotional items, to see if they would be interested in working with me. I may even send a few copies of the comic round to different shops such as Gosh! Comics incase they’d like to stock it, as I feel any exposure is good exposure. I’ll also be sending the promotional items round to various advertising agencies and everyone else on my list of potential clients. I would love to be able to get a creative internship somewhere at the same time as doing all this, as I feel it would allow me to gain valuable experience within the industry, as well as present me with an opportunity to establish some contacts in the field. I’m keeping my eyes open for any internship positions that open up, and searching online for such opportunities. As for the book I’ve made as a part of my Major Project, following on from a suggestion from one of my tutors I plan to attempt to crowd fund the printing, binding and distribution of it through Kickstarter or Indiegogo. I’d like to do this as well as trying to find a publisher for it as that is something that may not happen, in which case I’d like to take matters into my own hands, be responsible for it and try to make sure
it finds its audience. Crowd funding sites can also be a good way for more people to discover your project and generate interest in it. Myself and a few of my classmates are also planning on forming a collective after graduating. The talk from Alice V. Lickens of Zombie Collective really inspired us to do so, and I think it would present us with a new way to market ourselves and hopefully gain some work. It’s also a great way to stay connected to other creative people, bounce ideas back and forth and ask for feedback- something that could otherwise be difficult when everyone moves across the country after university. My somewhat long-term goal is to become part of an illustration agency. The talks we’ve had over the years from guest lecturers has really sealed this idea in my brain- although I know an agency comes with its downsides, I think the pros would outweigh the cons. Feeling more secure in the fact that someone is looking for work for you and promoting you would be a great thing, even if they take a percentage of your profit. And I don’t mind being given jobs I may not absolutely love; as long as I can work with illustration I think I’ll be happy. However, I know most illustration agencies won’t accept graduates as they prefer those with industry experience, and so I’m not expecting to be able to join an agency any time soon. I’m compiling a list of potential agencies to send promotional packets to at the moment, but I may wait to do so until I’ve been working as an illustrator by myself for a while. Although the dream would be to graduate and immediately start supporting myself through illustration, I know that this is something that is very unlikely to happen. I plan to get some form of part-time job to support myself whilst I contact people and (hopefully) work as a freelance illustrator. Sad, but that’s how it is. But, nomatter what the part-time job is, I’ll keep working on illustration whenever I can. Even if I have no paid illustrative work I’ll work on personal projects- they may not earn me money, but they’re a great way to show potential clients what it is you’re all about. As long as I do my research and stay proactive, productive and persistant, I hope that it’ll work out for me in the end.
WEBSITE www.maiafjord.com
BLOG www.maiafjord.tumblr.com
FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/maiafjordillustration
TWITTER www.twitter.com/MaiaFjord
INSTAGRAM www.instagram.com/maiafjord
Quote on back cover from: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/340897-it-is-simply-thisdo-not-tire-never-lose-interest
FROM THE INSPIRATION SECTION, IN ORDER: 1. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0tA5dmNlUGY/TJi7qelFlMI/AAAAAAAAIEQ/ZxI36h-BU2M/s1600/toffle2.jpg 2. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BoZpCmcnM_s/0.jpg 3. http://nerdjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Blankets-1.jpg 4. http://lukepearson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/hil4.jpg 5. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KfEHwfEu8E/TyumLp4BXgI/AAAAAAAABjA/F-H2VJ2qiqU/s1600/ghostworld-comic.jpg 6. http://piaper.dk/postkortkunstnere/Postkortkunstnere/Karen_Kjaersgaard/Karen_Kjaersgaard5.jpg 7. http://sallylouvintage.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/la-science-des-reves-original.jpg 8. http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31200000/Screen-Caps-coraline-31286404-1324-768.jpg 9. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7247/7660380480_c7f0760fef_z.jpg 10. http://watchingmoviesforcredit.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/pans-labyrinth-wallpaper.jpg 11. http://mschan42.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/images-page-1.jpg 12. http://www.rabbledistro.com/images/blog/lost_in_translation.jpg 13. http://bigwol.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Illustration-emily_hughes_01-1024x865.jpg