OUIL502 Evaluation

Presentation slides

Creative Report: final report

I have gotten so much out of this talk with Laura. I feel really excited about my future practice, but I also feel I know a lot more about my plans and my practice now. I know that I don't want to confine my practice to just one niche subject in illustration, I want to tackle lots of areas with focus on product and print making. I also know that I want to aim towards having my own design studio and possibly doing a masters in something similar to printed textiles as to broaden my knowledge and practice.

Life's a Pitch: presentation & script

MEG:

• Hi, this is our Pitch for Life’s a Pitch, I’m assuming you all already know, but my name is Meg, Marnie, Annie, Kieran, Charlotte, Ruby, Jenny & Emma. Together we are the beanbag collective.
• We decided to name our group Bean Bag collective, as we wanted to make a fun brand, which is comfortable and based around bright primary colours. Our work tends to be colourful and shape driven, so we adopted the idea of a bean bag which has a friendly and accessible vibe. 

MARNIE:

• Current work combines traditional print, collage, and a mix of traditional and digital methods. Mainly our work focuses on print and shape based imagery. 
• We all tend to think quite carefully about our colour palettes and composition, and how the colours will work together as a whole image, especially when printing. 
• Something else we all work towards is a more light-hearted tone of voice, we feel it appeals more to our target which is young professionals with an interest in illustration. 

ANNIE:

• We are each moving towards our own individual practices, But collectively we would all like to start creating 3D work and sellable crafts - as that is what we are interested in buying and owning ourselves
• We all really enjoy hand crafting and creating tactile objects that have long lasting worth and treasure-like quality

JENNY: 

• (speech about our audience)

KIERAN:

• Since there’s a large group of us we decided to split the specific tasks between us 
• Management - orchestrating the group and deciding what direction to go with
  Promotion - posters, online presence, type, logo, instagram/twitter etc.
  Finance - costs, budgeting, finding out what is feasible for the group financially
  Communication -involved with organising and going out to potential venues/zine fairs
• Since we’re all students it’s important to be able to divide costs evenly and figure out what’s financially viable for the group. We’ve also realised for illustration fairs that take place over the course of a weekend or a few days, to divide time spent at the location, so we can avoid having to pay for expenses such as overnight accommodation.

EMMA:

• One of the possible places we would like to sell our work would be the DIY Art Market in London. We visited last year, and Ed Cheverton, Day Job, Nick White, Lucy Kirk and William Edmonds have all exhibited there. It moves venue across London, and sells varied crafts from rings and badges to stickers and prints, all at affordable prices, which ensures the work is accessible to everyone.
• At the DIY Art Market, there’s a real emphasis on 3D work and more craft based goods, which, as Annie said earlier, is the direction in which we want our work to head. And since a table is only £35 for a day, it would be extremely cost effective for us, as it would cost less than £5 each, and we would assume to make up costs from sales of our work.

RUBY:

• As well as selling our individual work at art markets, we are also proposing a collective zine and here are some mock-ups of the possible aesthetic. The idea is to have a different primary colour as the theme for each issue.
• We want this zine to be a lighthearted and playful platform to showcase our practices individually and with collaborative pieces as well. Again because colour and shape is really important to our individual practices we found this general theme to successfully capture what we’re about. 
• This will obviously be a great way for us to network and get our names out there, but it will also be a great reason for us to keep pushing our practices forward through making something in quick succession. It will also be a great project to keep us motivated and making post graduation. 
• As we want our zine to be as widely accessible as possible, it will be cheaply produced, possibly through risograph printing.

CHARLOTTE:

• Footprint Leeds website - 100 copies of a 36 page zine, black ink, cost about £129. This would work out at £1.29 per zine, so if we sold it for £5 (wide audience) and sold all of them it would work out at a £371 profit - but that’s not considering other outgoing costs. 
• Other places we could produce work with outside uni would be leeds print workshop, which costs £45 per year to be a member of + £3 per session. As well as this we would have to buy paper and inks - vary in price.
• Galleries such as colours may vary , they have worked with groups from uni before and they are approachable friendly people.
• Other partners we thought if we held an exhibition of some kind other collectives and creatives. Opening night music djs performers.

MEG:

• Thank you for listening, does anyone have any questions?

Creative Presence: following up on print stuff

I haven't heard anything back from the studios and people I met at Print Stuff so I decided to follow a few leads up and ask about future possibilities. I got in touch with Ding Ding Things asking about possible work experience or internships seeing as we have had small conversations over Instagram. Unfortunately I haven't heard anything back yet, however I know the studio is based in Nottingham so this again is something I can pursue over summer.

I also emailed the Archipelago studio enquiring about having a general conversation for advice about how their creative collaborations come about and if they have any advice for young practitioners starting out. We had originally arranged to meet this week, however it's been pushed back till after the deadline due to their busy schedule. It's a shame that I won't be able to discuss anything that comes up in the presentation however I'm still making connections and getting stuck in. I feel it also gives me more time to get a few things sorted, for example I could piece together some business card designs or starter pack for them to look through. 

Creative Presence: illustration & fashion

As my 505 project goes on I've been thinking more and more about where my practice is going and where I want my illustrations to be applied. Fashion is something I am extremely keen in moving towards and doing some research has definitely shown me that there is a place for illustration within in fashion. I don't think my practice will move towards high-end fashion, however much more accessible products with an individual feel to them. 

A L E X    M U L L I N S

W A L T E R   V A N    B E I R E N D O N C K

F E N D I

Creative Presence- print stuff

On Saturday myself, kieran & Megan O represented Leeds College of Art illustration and hosted a stall selling work from people over all three years. I was lucky enough to sell a print and a bag tag and have my name taken by a few studios and other designers. 

CONTACTS MADE:

DING DING THINGS:

Ding Ding studio is an independent handmade, screen printed stationery and home wares brand featuring graphic and geometric patterns in a mid-century colour palette. She purchased one of my wooden painted tags and later followed and chatted to me over my instagram account.

SET THE CONTROLS:

Set the controls, is a not for profit contemporary art gallery that supports emerging artists through its public programme and private studios. For the last 2 years set the controls has been developing a series of limited edition contemporary artists prints that are sold to raise money for the organisation and allow the general public to collect contemporary art at an affordable price. Set the controls purchased one of my prints and took down my information and explained a bit about opening a second gallery space in hull and wanted to feature work that was fun and exciting with focus on young practitioners starting out. They explained they were interested in my work and would be in contact.

THE ARCHIPELAGO/ THE PLANT ROOM:

The Archipelago are a design studio based in Leeds. Alongside client work they have established two studio projects, The Plant Room and The Archipelago Press in both cases working collaboratively with other creatives on exhibitions, products, publications and events. I was recognised by one of their representatives at their stall and said that they already were following my work on instagram and liked it, which was extremely humbling as I love their work. We discussed their recent collaborations and explained that they are looking for more young creatives to work with and suggested that I drop them an email or come and visit their studio for a chat.

NEXT STEPS:

This experience has been so valuable to my practice. It's opened me up to lots of opportunities and has also offered a great confidence boost in that my work is being well received. Print and craft fairs are something I need to keep doing. I'd really like to possibly create enough work to host my own stall and really promote myself as a professional. I'm going to follow up on the discussion with The Plant Room over summer when I have lots of time to dedicate to a possible project if they don't get in contact with me before hand. 

Professional Practice Presentation- planning

At this point in the year I think it's good to start re-capping everything that I've learnt so far and getting down key points that I want to discuss in my presentation. I actually feel that I have learnt a great deal and have a lot to talk about:

Printed Pictures- 

• Understanding that traditional print processes, shape and colour are where my strengths lie and where I want to take my future practice. 
• My outcomes are strongest through extensive trial and error, development and process

Responsive- 

• Roald Dahl: learnt a great deal about composition, character design, colour & technical screen printing. 
• Batsford: learnt a lot about zine production and the importance of creating low budget outcomes, as well as learning more a bout photoshop and digital techniques. 
• Secret 12": learnt a lot about producing fast pace work and using paint and more analogue processes. 
• Collab: learnt a lot about team work and the importance of time management and communication. Also found confidence in talking about my own work and talking to other practitioners from different backgrounds. 
• Overall presentation of myself thorugh design board.

Applied Illustration- 

• Understanding what contexts I want my illustrations to be applied to with focus on product and print for fashion and homewares. 
• Learnt the processes of fabric screen printing and using digital techniques to aid my design.

COP-

• Struggled with synthesising my practice to academic research but understand the importance of this process.
• Found research into COP3 to be much more beneficial, chosen to research and discuss the importance of abstraction in regards to communication. Finding something I'm excited about to be better and will help me understand more about my practice.

Creative Report-

• Really significant part of understanding my practice and where I want to take it.
• Importance of social media and self promotion. 
• Thinking about setting up a studio, further education and teaching.

Social Media Presence & Print Fairs-

• Life's a pitch proposal
• Print stuff print fair
• Instagram, big cartel, tumblr- wanting to make a website and online portfolio more professional.
• Pinterest is important
• Followers don't mean everything

Creative Report: conversation starters

I've jotted down some questions for Laura Slater as conversation starters, I want the conversation to flow and feel casual, but these are just ideas as starting points:

• How did setting up your studio come about?
• How long after graduating did that happen? and what did you do in-between?
• How did your John Lewis Kin collaboration come about?
• What have you found to be the best way of promoting your work and name?
• How does your pricing and contracts come about?
• Does not living in London ever effect your work?
• Do you feel teaching has influenced your practice?
• After graduating what was the best way to keep yourself motivated to keep working?
• Whats the best piece of advice given to you? and what is your advice to anyone starting out on their own?

After gauging how the conversation goes I may enquire about an internship/ emailing over my work for her to look at. I'm not going to take any work with me as I feel this may be presumptuous. But it's definitely something that could develop my practice.

Life's a Pitch: presentation planning

As a group we've decided that it'll be best for our current practices to put forward a collective to approach and sell work at art markets as we each have individual prints and products. We have also decided that on top of this proposal we are also going to put forward a monthly zine under our collective name. We all feel this is a really appropriate context for our individual practices as we are not only interested in prints but creating zines and products such as ceramics, cross-stitch, fabric printing, weaving, knit & crochet. I personally am pushing my practice towards printed fabrics, fashion and homeware, therefore feel this would be a really great platform for my work.

Individually we each push our work through process a lot and capitalise on playfulness and colour. Therefore we have named ourselves The Beanbag Collective as it relates heavily to fun and nostalgia. 

The zine plays with our existing work and new creations each under a set colour palette for each month, with focus to begin with on primary colours to really communicate our exciting work. Here are some mock-up front cover designs I have produced featuring my own work as well as Charlotte Bowie's, Annie Merrick's and Keiran Blakey's. The main focus behind the zine is to get our names out there and should be produced at a low cost making the product much more available as it is a cheaper product and universal to lots of audiences.

 

Creative Report: Laura Slater

Yay I heard back from Laura, the follow up email worked which I'm really happy about as I'm excited to learn more about printed textiles as a whole and her individual practice. Just need to brainstorm some questions now as we've arranged to meet next friday. 

I've decided not to get in touch with Jo Goodberry for now as I feel her work isn't that in touch with where I want to take my practice. For now I don't feel that it's too vital for my learning to be in touch with her. However this is something I can pursue over the summer break. 

Creative Report: drafting a message to Jo Goodberry

As I know Jo Goodberry on a personal level and have her phone number I think in order to get the best response I should send her a text message to arrange talking to her about her work and the industry.

Hi Jo. Just a quick message asking if we could possibly meet up during the Easter break to have a little chat about your work and advice in regards to agencies. I'm home from the 12th-17th April if you're free for ten minutes or so at any point that would be great. Thanks Jo. Ruby. 

I think this message is a good balance of professional and friendly and I like the fact that I have put forward dates that she can choose from which should make arranging to meet much easier. Now I just need to think of some important questions to ask Jo about the more professional side to being an illustrator as I don't take too much inspiration from her process as I feel my work is aimed much more at product & packaging with traditional print methods as a key part in my practice.

Creative Report: back up plan

Unfortunately I haven't heard back from Laura Slater which is really disappointing, however I'm going to try a follow up email to the same email address and to her contact email on her website which is different so maybe she checks that one more regularly? I'm also going to try emailing from my personal email which may look less like spam.

Hi Laura,

I'm Ruby Shelton a second year illustration student at Leeds College of Art. This is just a follow up email from the one I sent previously enquiring if it is at all possible to have a quick chat with you about your process and the printed textile industry.

I'm available in the college everyday so please let me know if you have a spare ten minutes. 

Thanks again,

Ruby Shelton. 

J O     G O O D B E R R Y 

As well as getting in contact with Laura Slater, as a back up plan I am going to contact Jo Goodberry a family friend and editorial illustrator. If I don't hear back from Laura it'll be really good to talk to someone who is in the industry and can advise me on pricing, copyrights, agencies and much more even though Jo's line of work isn't necessarily specific to my own. If I do hear back from Laura that'll be great, I think it'll still be prudent for me to talk to Jo anyway and just have an even more rounded understanding of illustration in the outside world.

Daily Mail Recipe- Asparagus 

Daily Mail Recipe- Linguine

Life's a Pitch: collective research

D A Y     J O B     C O L L E C T I V E:

A B O U T:

Day Job Studio collaborates on publications, murals, workshops, moving image and installations. We work with a range of media including print, textiles, ceramics, and moving image, all with an ethos of playfulness and a desire to encourage abstract thinking.

Day Job was founded in 2012 by 10 graduates from Camberwell College of Art: Joshua Checkley, Daniel Clarke, Grace Helmer, Katie Johnston, Charlene Man, Charlotte Mei, Ella McLean, Peter Rhodes, Victoria Willmott and Aaron ZIggy.

We have worked on a variety of projects for clients such as Somerset House, the V&A, Vitamin Water, Peckham Space, The Loop and Camberwell Press.

M Y    T H O U G H T S:

I think this collective is really exciting, they host exhibitions showing their individual work surrounded by a theme as well as creating zines and work for live briefs that incorporate the collective works together. I think working in a collective allows strength in numbers and starting out after university as a group means that as individuals you can be more confident in approaching gallery spaces and possible employers knowing that x many heads are better than one.

I think I would like to pitch a collective to create work for an exhibition as it means individually we can show already existing work and take the pressure off possibly creating a new work for a publication as this part of the year is so busy with other deadlines. It'll just be a case of finding an over arching theme that brings my work and other peoples work together.

Creative Report: drafting an email to Laura Slater

Hi Laura,

I'm a second year illustration student at LCA and was hoping to have a short chat with you about your work and setting up your studio after graduating. I'm really interested to understand more about the printed textile industry as I feel my process definitely overlaps the two fields and I think your work is really lovely. 

I'm in the College everyday if you have a spare ten minutes to talk at any point that would be great.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Ruby Shelton

I've drafted this email to send to Laura Slater, I thought about sending a card or letter however I understand from my friends on the printed textile course that she's a busy person so I think this is a good place to start. I'm going to send this email to her LCA email address as I know it will definitely reach her and feel much more casual. I just now need to come up with some questions to ask Laura that I really want to know about.

Life's a Pitch: presentation notes

From Patrick's presentation about presentations I made some key notes that I want to take into consideration for my long PPP presentation, Life's a Pitch & Collab pitch:

• Dress Appropriately
• Introduce yourself, smile & say hello
• Use pauses & speak clearly
• Practice timing
• Rehearse!!!!!!
• Distill down information to whats important
• Make eye contact
• Be expressive, animate your points
• Use humour, be relatable to the audience
• Use prompts but don't rely on a script
• Build in variety, don't let the audience get bored
• Speak with high energy, show you're excited about what you're talking about
• Take some risks?
• Prepare, prepare, prepare
• Don't rush
• Keep slides visually exciting, not too much writing/ academic information
• Show vulnerability, don't be cocky
• Don't take yourself too seriously
• Bring water
• Use WE as opposed to I
• Simple, Engaging, Relevant

Creative Presence: colours may vary talk

N O T E S   F R O M   T H E   T A L K:

• When setting up the shop they found it was important to make something that didn't already exist in the city. They wanted to create a hub for conversation and meeting creative people within the Leeds and surrounding area. They mentioned that this is also a way to think about creating work, they stock work that's individual and exciting, something that's not already been done.
• They discussed the how important the appropriateness of media and format used for each individual product. Just because it's screen printed or hand-made doesn't make it better. It's important to think about pricing and making it accessible for a particular market. The price should be appropriate to the project. 
• When approaching them or other businesses and agencies it's good to let them absorb what you've produced without pushing for a conversation. It might not be an appropriate time for them for example. A good way to go about approaching them is to leave something with them and forward them an email to allow them time to process and have a proper conversation about your work and how they would like to be involved. They also discussed that approaching them through social media doesn't feel personal, it feels very immediate and not thought out.
• When setting up exhibitions they discussed how meeting people means meeting more people and new opportunities. They can be great conversation starters for new projects and new people to get involved in.
• They also discussed that as stockists it really important for them to foresee change and encourage evolving their stock and suggested that as artists we should keep re-inventing ourselves to move with the environment around us. 
• They also discussed the importance of allowing ourselves time as young creatives to get experience and that going into self-employment straight away doesn't suit everyone especially if you're not well disciplined and completely confident within your abilities. Working for a company can allow a lot of learning about the industry
• They also discussed that it's important to evaluate social media presence and establish what you want future collaborators, employment and opportunities to understand about you and your work. Having a personal Instagram and a studio Instagram is a good way to go.  

 

In the talk they discussed that when deciding what to stock within their store it was really important to them that the products have a really nice finish and feel to the work. They discussed how important paper quality and application of media is. I picked up these two books as the tactile qualities, colour, media, binding and compositions were really lovely and exciting to flick through.  

Creative Report: study task 3

my current process:

I feel my current process is heavily driven by shape, traditional printing methods, ambiguity, collage and the social discussion of femininity. I want to start moving these strengths in my work towards textiles and products for fashion and homewares in cohesion with print making.

practitioners and their influences:

I'm really inspired by practitioners whom work with bold shapes, colours, ambiguity and print methods in the application of products, prints and zines, such as Anna Kovecses, Laura Slater, Atelier Bingo, Charlotte Mei, Monica Garza, Kevin Umana & Palefroi. 

who do I want to interview?

I'm hoping to interview Laura Slater as I understand she's collaborated with several people and companies since graduating such as a women's wear collection for John Lewis, Wrap Magazine, Nottingham Contemporary, Heals, Harvey Nichols and Pick Me Up. I feel it will be really insightful to understand how these collaborations and opportunities have come about as well as how teaching on the printed textiles course has impacted on her work and career. 

Creative Report: identifying 10 contacts

Laura Slater

I found Laura Slater's work through talking to my housemates on the printed textiles course here at LCA. I'm really interested in the application of illustration to pattern, textiles, fashion and homewares and have been identifying this within my process since the start of second year and will be doing more so during the 505 module. I understand she's collaborated with several people and companies since graduating such as a women's wear collection for John Lewis, Wrap Magazine, Nottingham Contemporary, Heals, Harvey Nichols and Pick Me Up. I feel it will be really insightful to understand how these collaborations and opportunities have come about as well as how teaching on the printed textiles course has impacted on her work and career. 

Anna Kovecses

I've been a big fan of Anna Kovecses since looking at her work in first year as inspiration for minimalism, shape and colour. I understand she's a self taught designer and is represented by YCN Talent Agency, as well as creating work for the BBC, The New York Times, Secret 7", Milk X magazine and clothing brand Lazzari. Even though her work is mainly focused on editorial and publishing I'm really interested in her pattern designs for clothing and products and her personal zine work. I think it will be great to understand how she came to be presented by YCN and how living in Cyprus inspires her work.

Chris Harrison & Polly Glass

I've been a follower of Wrap Magazine for several years and really like the fact that it presents contemporary illustration, products and printed designs in a wholesome way with talking genuinely to practitioners whilst providing them an opportunity to make new work for each issue. Harrison & Glass are the founders of the magazine which came about after the pair wanted a place to showcase their product designs. I'm really interested in how the idea of Wrap magazine came about, how they set the idea into action, how they've got to where they are from their original practices and, more importantly, how they communicate with practitioners and what I need to do to get my work out there. 

Lisa Gorman

Gorman is the founder of Gorman Clothing based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm really interested in the companies general aesthetic, however I'm really excited by their collaborations with freelance designers and collectives such as Atelier Bingo. I would really like to understand how these collaborations come about and how the company started and what changes have been made since 1999 to with stand changing trends.

Charlotte Mei

After the Big Heads talk in first year I was really inspired by Mei's work ethic and a bit overwhelmed by all the information we were given. I'm really interested to talk to Mei about her practice since graduating and how she's managed to keep afloat in London. I'm mainly interested in how her collective came about and how the process of creating the exhibitions she's been part of works. I understand she's also had work with Lazy Oaf so I'd like to understand how she got her foot in the door with that company, and I'd also like to know how important her ceramic product making is to her practice; whether it's just a way for her to make money and keep doing her other pieces or whether she see's that as an important focus of her practice. 

Maxime Prou & Adèle Favreau

Prou and Favreau are the founders of Atelier Bingo an illustration and pattern design collective that create textiles products, ceramics, screen prints, zines and publications. Their practice is very driven by traditional printing techniques such as screen printing and mono printing abstract shapes and patterns. I'm really interested in understanding their creative process, their production of exhibitions and collaborations with other freelance practitioners and textile companies.

Kate Moross

I'm really interested in talking to Kate Moross as I'm excited by how many different contexts she applies her illustration and graphic design too. I think I'm most interested in her mural and art direction work, and would really like to understand how her creative process progressed into large scale and 3 dimensional work. 

Danielle Pender

Pender is a co-founder of Riposte magazine "A Smart Magazine for Women." The magazine is a curator of contemporary art, illustration, design, music, innovation, food and wellbeing in regards to women. I understand that Pender isn't necessarily a creative, however I think the discussions found in the magazine are really important and I feel very strongly that my current work and my work for the future really focuses on femininity, equality and the presentation of women in the modern world. I think discussing the work she is inspired by and the theories she lives  by will be really inspiring and insightful to my practice. Pender is also the founder of KK Outlet a leading contemporary exhibition space in London so it would be really interesting to talk to her about setting up that space and how creatives get to exhibit their work. 

Nicolas Burrows

I'm a massive fan of Burrows' abstract shapes and immediacy in his work. However I'm most interested to talk to him about his innovative processes of using machines to draw. I'm also really interested in his collaborative projects with Nous Vous, I'd really like to understand how they implement ideas together and who takes what responsibilities.

Emily Forgot

Emily Forgot is a graphic designer come art director working a lot in 3D for murals, shop windows and exhibitions. I'm really interested to find out how her collaborations for MTV, Paul Smith, the BBC and Selfridges Co. came about and how she transitioned from digital to woodwork and other 3D processes. 

Creative Presence: Kevin Umana

Really really taken by these painted works by Kevin Umana. It has a sense of modernism and Matisse to the work but I really like the contemporary and graphic feel to the compositions as well. I think the colour, shape and pattern are the most important elements to the work. It feels very ambiguous but sits well with me as the shapes are so bold and have a nostalgic tone too. This is really great inspiration for making my Secret 12" pieces as I've been a bit stuck. This has given me the confidence to just work with simple shapes and colours through painting as opposed to adding screen print or digital tools in to the production.