Question Time

10 questions that I want to find the answers to as part of my degree:

1. How does publishing work?
I want to know more about the process of publication and the internal workings of a publishing company. I think that this would improve my illustrations as I would know the distribution and printing process that they will venture through, post production. I think working within publishing could also be a potential career opportunity. I'd love to actually visit a publishing house or speak to a publisher as part of my professional practice in order to answer this question.

2. How do I approach a publisher?
I've read books, articles and online resources telling me 'what the publisher wants', but they all have different answers. I will speak to illustrators and attend Big Heads talks in search of answers. I will approach the publishers myself and find out. A process of trial and error may be the only way to find out for myself, learning which publishers appreciate my work and which publishers I would like to work with.

3. How do I make decisions?
I really struggle to make decisions and when I do, I feel drowned in regret and anxiety as I worry that I've made the wrong choice. I need to learn this basic life skill and quickly. This is more of a personal goal but it continuously affects my studies, so I hope to find a solution before the end of this course. I expect to find an answer through practicing different methods and strategies. I expect this again to be a case of trial-and-error as I find what works best for me and I learn from my own mistakes.

4. How do I get my work 'out there'?
We've discussed the downfalls of social media in the self-obsessed, trend-obsessed, consumerist age. This has left me feeling a little lost. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get my work seen if I don't post it on the internet. I suppose the answer is about controlled social networking and a professional online presence. I have a website in progress, but I don't know whether to aim it at my audience or my clients. I need to conduct further research into the professional practice of other illustrators to find out the best way to expand the reach of my work.

5. How can I gain confidence in my work?
I am confident in speaking, but I am not confident about my work. I am always worried that I could have done more and therefore don't think my work is good enough. How do I stop thinking of my peers as competition? I think that the solution is to loosen up and enjoy myself on this course. I will only find confidence once I have stopped worrying and that requires a much lower level of anxiety. Much easier said than done, but that's something I am always working on. I am my own work in progress.

6. What is the relationship between illustrator and author?
I want to tell stories through both of these roles. Should I focus singularly on being an illustrator within this course? Can I be both at the same time? The answer, I suppose, is in my own mind. I can be whatever I want to be and this course is what I make of it, but I think that speaking to students in Level 5/6 will help me to understand what the course has made of them and how they have collaborated with other artists.

7. Can I survive as a freelance illustrator alone? Do I need an agent?
This is a personal decision that I think will grant different answers depending on who I ask. This question asks more about how I work best. Although speaking to professional illustrators will inform my choice, It may take some self-reflection to conclude this decision for myself. This isn't a matter of priority right now and is something to think about later in my career.

8. I would like to go into FE/HE teaching. How do I get there?
Speak to your tutors! They are doing just what you're thinking about. Ask them and you'll find their answer, but your career path doesn't necessarily have to follow the exact same route. There are always different ways around the block, but you are heading for the same destination so they are the ideal people to speak to.

9. WHAT IS TAX? I DON'T UNDERSTAND.
I'm a child and I never want to grow up. I need to learn about tax, invoices, payments etc. I hope that the PPP section of this course will guide me in some way, teaching me about these formalities, but there are also plenty of online resources and library books explaining these terms. I think that professional illustrators might be able to help too because they will have experienced these struggles before.

10. How can I manage my time more efficiently?
There are various ways of managing time and this is another question that goes back to WHAT WORKS FOR ME. It may be a trial and error system until I find the 'right' method for me, but there are plenty of resources online documenting effective ways of managing time. I can always speak to Student Advice if I need additional support with this. I can make timetables and continue using my diary to plan my time.

Blog Group - Our Opinions

Monday's PPP session required us to split into our blog groups and discuss the answers we had come up with in response to 'why we chose the course' and 'why we chose LCA'.

We do not just share similarities in that we chose the same course.

We live in the same city, we have something to say, we all want to study, we all got out of bed today to be here.

It was interesting to discover that many of our answers were similar. We'd all completed the blog task independently, answering personal questions as to why we'd chosen this course, but upon sharing our ideas we found that these unique reasons were the same as the people sat right next to us. We're not as different as we think.
We're not snowflakes, but we are pretty cool.
The majority of our group chose illustration because we LOVE TO DRAW!
Of course, we each had our own experiences and opinions behind these points and they stem from different lives altogether, but it's so warming to feel connected to these people, these strangers, because of our love for illustration.

Lots of worries were unanymous

A worry shared is a worry halved, or so the saying goes...

I am not alone. You are not alone.
Most of the group had some feelings of doubt about going to uni, about being independent and about their work being good enough.
So it's not a bad thing to think about those things. It's not unusual to feel low or anxious, it's human. Look around you, all these people you think are better than you are probably thinking the same thing about you. They're probably scared too!

BIG HEADS - Kyle T Webster

The Illustration course here at LCA hosts an interview channel with illustrators all over the world in an event called 'Big Heads'. I've watched videos of these interviews online, but I was really excited to finally get behind the camera today and speak to a REAL LIFE ILLUSTRATOR as part of the in-studio student audience.

This Big Head chat was with Kyle T Webster, most famous for his Photoshop custom brushes. Being fairly new to Photoshop and digital art, I'll admit that I'd never heard of Kyle T Webster before and I felt a little intimidated entering the conversation without knowing his work, so I researched it. I looked at his website and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't all digital, hifi graphics as I'd expected, but a great range of well crafted characters and artwork.

[Source: http://41.media.tumblr.com/4c7f4dd71a46dcaac74ffab70cb3fe36/tumblr_n2fvicnaXv1qkq1vfo1_500.jpg]

Kyle talked to us about his background in graphic design and his move into illustration. It was really interesting to hear how he makes money from his art and how he has worked as both a freelance artist and as part of a company.

[Source: http://41.media.tumblr.com/1b75912914d046f7859289f2730cc0d9/tumblr_n7ouhtsjdw1qkq1vfo1_500.jpg]

[Source: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55ea20e6e4b0be5bebc69c63/55ea26a5e4b0be5bebc6b380/55eb3ac7e4b049db23dcc927/1441479367518/nprSmallWeb.jpg?format=500w]

We asked Kyle about how he felt his brushes should be used and he talked to us a little bit about wacom drawing tablets/syntiques. Kyle was honest in discussing that the artist should know how to draw before even beginning to think about drawing digitally.
I became really intrigued by the quality of his brushes and the engineering that had gone into replicating the natural stroke of analogue brushes. So intrigued that I'm going to purchase one of his brush sets myself.

[Source: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55ea20e6e4b0be5bebc69c63/55ea26a5e4b0be5bebc6b380/55eb53c7e4b02a8ac1bd0705/1441485768320/leBooTinySample_900.jpg?format=500w]

Speaking to Kyle FACE TO FACE (or as close as you can get when the artist is over 5,000 miles away) was an incredible opportunity and a truly worthwhile experience. Seeing his face as he spoke about his PASSION, seeing his studio through the eyes of his screen and having the chance to put forward any queries we had of our own.

I look forward to the next Big Heads session.

Noel Fielding Art Exhibition

On Sunday the 11th of October, Harrogate Theatre hosted an exhibition of Noel Fielding's paintings as part of Harrogate Comedy Festival.

[Source: http://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/exhibition-by-mighty-boosh-s-noel-fielding-at-harrogate-comedy-festival-1-7504047]

Being a huge fan of Noel Fielding's writing, costume design and acting as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, I had already encountered his brilliant artwork before and was very excited to see it in the flesh. Fielding is a man of many hats and a master of all things creative, my favourite of his works being the costume designs and short animations he produced for The Mighty Boosh.

[Source: https://youtu.be/xu6Vuwgu724]

The above clip is a short animation from The Mighty Boosh, featuring Noel's abstract characters and whacky stories. A fictional children's book within a tv show for alternative teenagers and young adults, 'Charlie' both haunts and inspires me. It's nonsensical, it's memorable.

I was expecting the exhibition to reflect this style and be some kind of interactive, comical feat, similarly to Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy Live that I went to see in Hull earlier this year. I expected costumes, props and the world of his mind to be encapsulated within the exhibition.

[Photo taken by James Paylor]

I was a little disappointed by the exhibition. Noel Fielding is known for his eccentricity and his loud, vibrant characters but in the classy and 'posh' theatre of Harrogate, his paintings were mounted in gold frames and hidden in the theatre bar. I don't think this suited his work and for me it really drove away from what makes his work so brilliant. In this context they just seemed out of place.

The exhibition was really just selling the paintings, which I think are less of a commercial prospect and more of a form of entertainment. I doubt that the population of Harrogate, and those who would visit the theatre bar, are really the type of people who would appreciate a painting of a naked unicorn.

I might be wrong, he may have fans in the area, but I doubt that they would purchase his artwork in this form.

Noel's actual audience would probably prefer t-shirts adorned with his bizarre 

characters than purchasing a gold plated painting for a couple of thousand pounds.

Art in Education

I was asked by a local primary school to work with the children in their Reception class in their art lessons. I knew that I didn't have much time to donate to them because of the intensity of this course, but I also hoped that having access to a focus group of children may prove helpful later on in the course when I require feedback from my intended audience.

I have visited the Ripon Cathedral Primary school twice since starting this course. I have used two Wednesday afternoons of Studio Development time to work with the children and help them to develop their own image making skills. My role is a mentor and I've really enjoyed seeing how these children interact with materials. I may have taught them about colour and texture, but they have taught me a lot about playful practice and imaginative construction.

The class's current topic is about nature and wildlife. They went on a trip to Hackfall woods and showed me photographs of the day. I had completely free reign over what I wanted to do with the children in my arty afternoon, but I decided to work with this topic and focus on nature.

            

Seven Stories

I visited Seven Stories, the National centre for children's books.

Seven Stories is located in Newcastle and, as the name suggests, features seven floors of children's literature and illustrations, from classics like Paddington Bear to shiny new talents like Benji Davies.

I saw an advert for Seven Stories online and realised that I'd never been, despite it being so close to home. I was visiting my brother in Newcastle that same week. I wanted to check this place out. 

I had my doubts about the museum, worrying that it would be entirely child focused and that we would find it boring, but Seven Stories really left an impression on me.

http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/

(Photo taken by James Paylor)

WHAT AN AMAZING PLACE! I had a fantastic time visiting Seven Stories. 

The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, they didn't judge us at all for having no child in-tow and we felt free to enjoy the building as we liked.

The entire building was beautifully curated and so visually stimulating. Illustrations lined the walls, scenes were set out at every story point. Visitors are encouraged to experience the books by reading them inside these artificial landscapes and performing as the characters in the inventive costumes dotted around the place.

I had lots of fun trying on costumes and exploring the stories. This sense of interaction is something that I felt was missing in Quentin Blake's House of Illustration, and something that sets Seven Stories apart from any other gallery or museum I have visited.

I think that it accurately reflects the magic of picture books. Not just art, hanging on a wall for viewers to look at, but a story for visitors to be a part of, as readers.

The museum brings stories to life in an interactive format that any child would enjoy, as well as some big kids like myself.

I'd love to contribute to Seven Stories; I'd like to read stories, curate the displays or even see my books in Seven Stories some day. This is what excites me about the future of picture books and about the artistic community that I am joining, we are creative and we are actively doing things to make this world a better place.

5 Photos Showing My Interest in Illustration

My interests in illustration mainly lie within the area of children's book illustration and visual narratives. I love illustrations that have a strong concept and an atmospheric aesthetic, setting the scene and creating a world within the frame.

My interests are changing all the time and since starting the course I have been exposed to an even wider range of illustrators and storytellers than I was aware of before. I have selected just five illustrators to quickly demonstrate my specific interest in children's book illustration.

For the sake of not blabbering on, I have not mentioned Tove Jansson this time. I don't wish to bore you again with my love for that woman and her work... I could talk for hours.

[Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEuvxuUu_qc3zqCFICZH64rZphb5VNmx5uHNfxiTXwXg9XeuhVkxjgDq92FLxCUmiUcl7XtwxfFsxoQOZPzmNET-pF3LuaoHRQdOvF6HMsGjiePWPx7UvI-MnQV8KLhyphenhyphenHjDeQa4r2qGJgN/s1600/Miss+Rumphius+Cottage.jpg]

Above: Barbara Cooney. When I think of fairytales, I do not think of the Brothers Grimm - I think of Barbara Cooney. The depth and detail of Cooney's work is what draws me in and tempts me to step inside the stories she illustrates. Her landscapes are beautiful and her scenes are composed to give away just enough of the narrative to keep the reader guessing.
This illustration gives something that words can't. The illustration suggests a sense of place and firmly embeds Cooney's authorship within the book. If her voice is not apparent in the words then it can be found in the visual signature of her idyllic scenes.

[Source: http://100scopenotes.com/files/2015/05/9781909263437_1_4ea01.jpg]

Above: Emily Hughes. An illustrator whose curiosity feeds her stories. Through the construction of her innocent characters, she is given the chance to explore and join the adventure on the page. Hughes has an affinity with the child's mind and manages to craft images that both relate to and inspire her young readers. Charming character design that always leaves me reaching for that friend.

[Source: http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/foxsgarden_camcam1.jpg]
Above: Camille Garoche. Garoche constructs these intricate papercut dioramas as living and breathing pages. The depth she creates is not an illusion, it is real. She really does make a world of her own with these layered trees that characters can literally get lost in. She uses light to cast shadows and illuminate the image.

[Source: http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo4jzlKGXH1qlem2bo1_1280.jpg]

Above: Brian Froud's beautiful conceptual illustrations for the major motion picture 'Labyrinth'. Labyrinth is my all-time favourite film. It features incredible puppets designed by the Jim Henson creature shop, but these drawings are the heart and soul of the characters in the fantastical narrative.

[Source: https://coyote.imgix.net/076-oliver-jeffers/this-moose-belongs-to-me-oliver-jeffers.jpg?w=700]

Above: Oliver Jeffers. Jeffers is an extremely talented painter. He is immensely skilled in painting realistic landscapes, yet he uses these in conjunction with his lo-fi hand-written script and scribbly linework. Perhaps this is how his audience of young children perceive the world, perhaps Jeffers intends to be ironic in his clashing aesthetics. I think that this technique is truly unique and definitely interesting. The juxtaposition of visual dialect in these two approaches to representation gives humour and a subtle naivety to the images. I think that Jeffers is a very clever individual and uses his talents to transform the world around him, merging imagination and reality into one.