Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION
Level
06
OUIL603 Extended Practice
Credits
60
STUDIO PRACTICE Thomas O’Connor Statement of Intent Rationale • • • • • • •
Identify professional briefs to show I’m commercially viable. Conceptual skills to solve other people’s problems. Large body of personal work for exhibition to help me find the right balance. Create authentic work that’s easily attributed to me. Maintain humour and personality in my practice. Work can never be purely decorative, it’s needs to make a statement or tell a story. Not pigeon hole myself to a specific spectrum of illustration by creating a versatile process.
Themes / Subjects • • • • •
Funny. Clever. Thought-provoking Story-telling. Concept-driven.
Products / Methods of Distribution • • • • •
•
Public Artwork (Including projection mapped lighting and “graffiti” based projects) Exhibition Prints (Digital Vs. Screen-printed) Online store (Stocking prints, art-books and apparel from work produced) Local Art Fayres (Stocking prints, art-books and apparel from work produced) Local Independent Businesses (Pitch to Village & Colours May Vary) Basic Animation could lift flat 2D work and differentiate me (The best moving image is often simple, although still scope to collaborate)
Media / Format • • • •
Define my strengths through battling processes. Traditionally drawing with brush pen is my forte, captalise and build a practice around it. Entirely digital work is tedious, avoid it. Finishing artwork with bold digital block colours Vs. traditional methods that can generate texture (marker pen, watercolour, gouache spray paint, coloured pencil…etc) Vs. digitally tweaked layers utilised with the screen print process.
Brief 1: Leeds-Bid (Lifting Tower Brief)
Deadline
7th October 2016
Rationale: • Get me into the swing of things with really quick turn around. • Big budget clients involved. (Repeat work on other projects?) • Client wants something quite DIY that breaks the norm, suits my unconventional process. Brief 2: Virgin Media (Communication Boxes)
Deadline
20th October 2016
Rationale: • Chance to experiment with media (Spray-paint, posca-pens…etc) • Putting something back into the community. Make people smile and brighten up their day. • Exposure, people beyond my ordinary audience will see the work. Brief 3: Secret 7” (CD Cover)
Deadline
2nd March 2017
Rationale: • I regretted not submitting last year for the opportunity to appear in Somerset House with other professional illustrators I admire. (Good for reputation and networking) • Music Artist may like my representation and request further work. • Profits go to Amnesty International UK (a great cause!) Brief 4: Penguin Design Award
Deadline
9th March 2017
Rationale: • A good chance to test my versatility, establish whether my work also suited for other people’s publication. • A very common industry for illustrators “bread-and-butter” work. • Good for portfolio. Brief 5: YCN and/or D&AD Brief
Deadline
26th March 2017
Rationale: • Briefs are generally from desirable reputable clients, mirroring how I’ll need to work after graduation. • Allows me to refine my pitches / presentation boards. • Opportunity recognition as an emerging student. • Network at Awards Events. Brief 6: Not The Ship Comic
Deadline
19th May 2017
Rationale: • Create personal work to be exhibited that will keep the soul as a practitioner alive. • Body of work championing humour, displaying my personality / brand. • Type of work will feed back into work produced for clients with the megabucks. • Why rely on me solely selling my own product when clients have bulging pockets ready for my services.
ACTION PLAN Brief 1
What do you need to do? Submit lifting tower brief lighting ideas to Leeds-Bid.
Deadline 7th October 2016
If successful factor in subsequent deadlines. Submit designs for Virgin Media Communication Boxes.
20th October 2016
The remaining selected briefs seem to all briefs are all due around March
21st October 2016
2
Set deadlines earlier than the final brief deadline (potentially 26th March) 2017) Add to this list. 21st October 2016 Be more specific with deadlines in regards to allowing research time, ideas generation and process development.