Guru Night!

Mentor - Rosie Wilman

Rosie has just recently Graduated from Stockport college with a 2:1 in Illustration that she has been studying for three years which is what I am in the process of as I'm in my third year now. Rosie loves producing illustrations for children and hopes to be a children's book illustrator .

Here is a link to see her website:        Rosie Wilman

Rosie gave me lots of advice and an insight into what working with an agent is all about.She has had many agents some nicer than others sometimes they make you work to a shorter deadline so have to work faster but this might mean the outcome of your work may look great. Rosie has created a few children's books that I think look great!
Sometimes your agent might change things and might print out differently - in some cases you may have to stand your ground and in the end your agent might like the choices you made!

Here are some of Rosie's work;

Another tip she gave me is that if you raise money for DND and agencies will help get you known by fundraising.

Rosie also gave me a few other artists to look at that might help me throughout my practise and influences throughout my art ethic of collage and mark making, such as Holly Mcloughlin whom creates fairy collages.

Here are a few images of Holly's Work;

Her work is so spine - tingling its fantastic it fills me with such Joy and an emotion of admiration, the composition's she creates are so imaginative, I can see the great connection this would have with children.

Here is a link to her website:           Holly Mcloughlin


Another artist Rosie suggested is an artist and illustrator called Sara Fanelli, she works with collage, typography and  playing around with layout exploring interweaving different objects with a variety of items she might use. Her work is very playful consisting of other various formats she may use throughout her work like etching, drawing, printmaking, cutting up things and finding various marks or making her own to project throughout her work. I have bought her book ' Sometimes I think, sometimes I am' it has a lot of fantastic unusual quotes referenced by various artists which most of them link to each different composition on the page giving the image more meaning. This book has helped me in the way I perceive the materials I use and to find similar mark makings to help me throughout my own practise.

Here are some electrifying compositions that I just think are outstanding;

This image I feel is very similar to Holly Mcloughlin.

Here is a link to a fabulous website about her:            Sara Fanelli

Lecture with Ian Whadcock!

Ian Whadcock is an illustrator, designer and educator he has worked in many things such as, magazines, politics, financial advertisements etc.

                                                          This is Ian Whadcock

Here are some examples of his work!

Ian talked about commissions he has done and gave a lot of great tips and advice for instance;

• you need to feel confident in making the right decisions for the right reasons.
• you have to be open to receive criticism 
• Be diverse don't keep to the same style as it might weigh you down, you can have a vast range of styles that you like to work with such as drawing, collaging, painting etc. 
• your career when you leave uni can change throughout the years taking different paths, dipping in and out of commissions and maybe ending up going into teaching. 
• Don't be frightened of taking risks as sometimes you need to take them to learn more. .Be open to the idea of change and being someone else. 
• The only tool that is ever relevant is a pencil once you put pencil to paper your off, but if you don't jot down your ideas then your not going to get very far. 
• If you get commissioned to illustrate a dull text don't reject it turn it into something beautiful. For instance; even though some projects might not seem exciting lots of people may see the work you've produced or buy it and the pay may be great. 
• 'Drawing with scissors' is great for escaping traps you may fall into. (This quote also relates to Henri Matisse.) get to be curious! 
• Quote by Ian Whadcock; ' Doodles can help be a great way for patterns or ideas and there not there for you to be playing with the materials but because the materials want you to play with them'. 
• At times you have to be brave and stand up for yourself .There are times when you need influences but sometimes you just need to DO! .things that are dull maybe the best source of inspiration. 
• photograph everything 
• be always collecting , researching keeping an archive .have random likes 
• be proud of what you do! .document your own journeys for fun you never know what may happen with them. 
• Rewarding work that you could do is throughout volunteering it gives you a sense of achievement. Quote by Ian Whadcock; ' The Only thing Unique is YOU!........make your own world ...........be playful....' 

I'm hopefully going to take some of these pointers on board!

Hopes, Fears and Opportunities!

During a group discussion my tutors spoke to me and my peers about what we might expect for the future and to help us when we leave college, reflecting on our hopes and fears.
They gave us some really good pieces of advice, for example;
- you need to have Inner confidence especially when getting in touch with agencies and contacting people in the outside world.
- Try and have a structure, make sure you keep in touch with friends whom are also illustrators and are in the same position as you when they leave Uni.
- Stop worrying about marks , just relax and DO WORK!

I have quite a lot of hopes for the future, one of them is to succeed third year with a substantial amount of work that gives the WOW factor, something that makes people stop and actually take in what's going on throughout my images. I hope I can archive a 2:1 for my degree so I can maybe consider taking a teacher course as I love working with children observing them creating images throughout there free, playful innocent nature, learning more from them. One of the key things I would love to do is to create a children's book and maybe more. All this came from the inspiration and joy from my younger sibling Crystal whom is seven years old. Another hope I would like to grow and connect with is my inner confidence, as I am quite a shy person especially when it comes to presentations and interviews.

My fears for the future surround the capability of me not achieving my hopes for instance, failing my course in illustration, not having enough confidence to contact people especially talking to people in the industry. another one of my fears is messing up my twenty minute presentation for third year reflecting my progression of work and key influences represented throughout my Journal, as I'm always mega nervous. Another fear I have is being a unsuccessful illustrator and if ever chosen by an agent will be unable to make the deadline, I hope this will never happen and I will always meet the deadline but it does make me feel quite anxious.

I have been very lucky to come across some great opportunities in my life during my degree at Stockport college, as I got to have the experience of meeting people in the industry. For example meeting Rosie Wilman at Guru night. I also have opportunities in going to lectures of those who are in the art industry and are out there making a success of themselves exploring the challenges they have faced throughout their career's. Another opportunity I have had is learning about myself more and investigating what I am capable of throughout my own practise learning new skills and techniques and learning more about my inner child that is portrayed throughout the reflection of my journal.

My aims for the future is to engage with more people in the industry, to find out about more lectures and events that are happening, I also aim to be more academic when doing my writing trying to be more professional. Another aim I wish to achieve is to maybe share a studio with other illustrators or graphic designers when I leave Stockport college and experience working together on different projects we may come across or just helping each other out.

Objectives

My objectives are to hopefully attend all seven lectures by different speakers this semester at Stockport College. Also to attend a few more events that are happening outside of college. Another objective is to research and find out how much studios cost and how much prionters, photo-shop,  illustrator and indesign costs. Maybe once I've found a good group of people to work with we could split the cost between us for computers  and printers.

My Plan of Action

• Email and contact people in the industry.
• Research and explore key events and be more involved.
• Research, plan and be optimistic.
• Try and save as much money as I can for the future.

Timetable of Action

Key lectures

Monday 1st July - Owt Creative, David Baily, Malcolm Garrett, Craig Oldham

Tuesday 24th September - Speaker Ian Whadcock

Tuesday 29th October - Illustrator Holly Wales

Tuesday 3rd December - Founder of Dwelle, Ric Frankland

Tuesday 14th January - Design/culture writer, Robert Urquhart

Tuesday 28th January - Manchester Holden and sons studio

Tuesday 18th February - Morton Newspaper printers, Steve Scott

Tuesday 25th March - Paper passionist, Deborah Wigglesworth