Personal Practice Statement of Intent

My Main aim for this module is to make the jump from education into the real world as smooth as possible. I want to utilise my time in this creative environment as much as possible whilst I still have it. I suppose the aim with any illustrator is to put their name out there and get commissioned, ultimately to make money. That is a big focus for me but at the moment I am more concerned about developing my practical skills and making professional looking illustrations that I am happy to show to people.
For the past two years my practice has been bit all over the place really, it seems that every piece I make is completely different and I don't really know what I am trying to communicate with my work and what its trying to say. I realise I am still a student and that is the whole point, experimentation. But I feel like now is the time to really start developing my visual signature so people can recognise my work without my name put next to it.
I often struggle with self confidence, especially in my work, so another goal is to start believing in myself and my ability. This might sound minor and simple but its quite a challenge for me. I look at other artists work and admire how good it is and then look at my own and feel rubbish. So I'm going to try and stop looking so much about what other people are doing and concentrate on developing my own practice

Self Evaluation

End of Module Student Evaluation

BA (Hons) Illustration

Module Code: OUIL502 PPP

Name: Joe Baker

Student ID:JB259571

Please identify where the evidence for each of the learning outcomes is within your submission and how well you feel you have met the learning outcomes. Please also grade yourself in relation to the learning outcomes using terms: poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent (Note - This is so that the team have an understanding of how well you feel you have done. It is not an indication of the actual grade you may receive.)

Learning Outcome	Evidenced where? Blog, Visual Journal, Roughs, Final Illustrations, Storyboards, Development Sheets etc.  (No more than 75 words)	Your grade Using words: > poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent
5A3: Demonstrate an informed understanding of professional context of their practice within the creative industries and cultural environment. (Knowledge & Understanding - Research and Critical Awareness)	This is evidenced on my blog, where I have investigated other artists work and where in the creative industry it lies, also how it could possibly inform my own own	satisfactory
5B2: Identify and analyse the challenges and opportunities offered by future developments within individually appropriate areas of creative practice. (Cognitive Skills - Problem Analysis, Problem Solving)	Evidenced on my blog, Where I have shown interest in other artists work and the journey they have taken to become a professional in the creative industries, this was done through interviews and by researching them	good
5C2: Develop a body of work in response to a defined brief that effectively demonstrates professional working practices in research, planning and communications. (Practical Skills - Visual Quality and Conceptual Development)	Demonstrated on my blog, I haven’t done any practical briefs for this particular module but I did work for short competitions and a commission for other modules, which have informed my personal practice greatly	Satisfactory
5D2:Employ a range of appropriate professional communication methods to record and present their own creative practice, concerns and ambitions. (Key Transferable Skills, Organisation, Communication and Evaluation)	Evidenced on my blog, where I have successfully communicated with a professional artist and received information which will inform my own practice and creative journey	Good

Summative Evaluation (See Evaluation Guidance on next page for more information)

You are required to write a 750 word Summative Evaluation of this module.

Please type up your Summative Evaluation in the box below. Make a PDF of the document and post the PDF as your final post on your OUIL503 blog. Also, please cut and paste the text from this box into the final page(s) of your OUIL502 Project Report.

At the start of this module I was looking forward to it because I had enjoyed ppp last year as we got the freedom to make work that we wanted to make, for example the poster. Now that we are at the end I am a bit disappointed that I haven’t done much work outside of the college modules, however I feel that now we have the summer break in a couple of weeks and no college to think about it will let me be creative and practice making some work of my choice which I’ll enjoy.  Although I haven’t done much practical work for this particular module, I have actually learned a lot over the year in terms of my own practice and I’ve picked up some new skills along the way. For example, going out meeting someone about a commission, this was for the responsive module but it has benefitted me and given me the confidence to do it again as I know this will be a regular thing to have to do after I graduate. I also now know that I want to concentrate on editorial illustration, and have learned some new practical skills which will help me achieve my own visual signature, like scanning in gouache paintings and creating images made up of multiple layers. I have also realized that contacting professionals isn’t as scary and as big of a task as I thought it would be, even though most didn’t reply the ones who did seemed very nice and keen to answer my questions, I believe this is definitely a good way of making contacts in the creative industry. I also went to a couple of exhibitions I found out what a great source of inspiration this is, as I’ve not really been to any that interested me before this year. Something which went well was the creative report where we interviewed a professional, this is surprising because I kind of left it till last minute and started to panic that I wasn’t going to get anyone in time. But someone replied and was very swift to answer my questions, it was an exciting experience because I’ve looked at their works for a long time on Instagram and then to suddenly get a message from them was really weird. I wish had done more in terms of doing practical work other than college stuff, but to be honest I’ve been quite stressed for the whole year because of all the work so any free time I did have was spent doing uni work, never just randomly drawing/ painting or making personal stuff. Maybe I should have set myself a personal brief early on so I could have experimented and recorded all my steps on the blog. I also wish I didn’t let this presentation affect me so much, speaking in front of a class of people is a massive deal for me and I’ve found it very hard to cope with over the past few weeks. As its got closer all my other work has just seemed to grind to a holt and it takes me a long time to do any work related task because I spend most of it replaying how the presentation might go over and over in my head, I managed to do it last year but went though a similar sort of thing. Seeing as we don’t have any tuition on them I guess its something ill just have to deal with until I’ve finished the course. I am going to take forward my new found confidence in contacting people outside of the college about my work, for example the professional illustrator and the man who commissioned me to draw him some designs for a skateboard. I am also going to apply what I’ve found out about the importance of a visual signature to my work in level 6, this is actually my main aim. To start making work I actually like and to keep developing that style, because ultimately this is the only way im going to progress. I don’t want to end up making work I don’t like for a living, or even end up in a totally different job than illustration as a result of not finding any briefs. So the main thing I am going to apply to future modules/ projects is my awareness that graduation is looming so concentrate on making good quality work, whilst still experimenting as this is the only way to learn.

Presentation

The Pictures that are missing on the second page are in the final presentation, i messed up when doing the pdf. But they will be in the official one which i present to the class

The Pictures that are missing on the second page are in the final presentation, i messed up when doing the pdf. But they will be in the official one which i present to the class

Creative report

Creative Report

The first person I tried contacting was my favourite illustrator called Dadu Shin, he produces mainly editorial illustrations and has made work for a lot of major clients including the New York times. He posts pictures quite often and a lot of them seem to be for the New York times so I was a bit unsure he would reply, as he seems very busy and probably has more important things to think about.

I sent him a message via Instagram but unfortunately he did not reply. I was bit gutted because I was very curious to find outa bit about his process because I would love to make work like his, whether he would give this information away I dont know but it would have been interesting. 

So next I sent a similar message to another one of my favourite illustrators called Grace Helmer.

Although her work is brilliant, she is probably not as well known as Dadu so I was bit more hopeful for a reply

I tried writing a message that wouldn't make this interview seem like too much of a task for the illustrator as they are likely to be busy all the time.

I got a response the following day and was quite relieved because I was running out of time. Before I got the reply I was worried about how I was going to ask the questions, whether to ask them all in one big message or ask them one at a time in separate back and forth messages, but I knew that would be a slow process over Instagram message and would risk not getting a replies.

Fortunately she replied asking me to send all the questions to her email, which makes sense because I could then just bullet point a few things I wanted to find out and she could give me all the answers in one message which would be much more efficient and easier for her.

These were the questions I sent and now I'm waiting for a response. I was thinking maybe I should have asked something about her creative process, because I am interested to know if her work is 100% paint or whether she edits in on photoshop, but maybe she might not want to give anything like that away.



*Edited*
Proof of response

Lifes a Pitch Collective brief

Over all I think this brief went okay, In terms of finding a group and getting the work done, it all went very well. One thing I kind of regret now is not talking during the presentation. I helped with the making of the powerpoint but I asked my group if it was alright for me to sit out on the speaking, which they kindly agreed. I took part in the 505 group presentation and forgot one or two of my lines which completely threw me and put me off doing this one. I would have probably done it if I didn't have loads of work to be doing for the D&AD deadline,  but it would have been on my mind to much and wouldn't have been able to get much work done. However I think the group did very well and hopefully we can make this exhibition a real thing

Responsive breifs

Penguin Design Awards
The Penguin Random House Student Design Award is an opportunity for students interested in pursuing a career in design to experience real cover design briefs first-hand.
To make the process even more similar to the way our designers work, once the judges have selected the shortlist, the Art Directors will give the shortlisted entrants feedback and further art direction on their submissions. Shortlisted entrants will then be invited to resubmit their work, taking on board all the comments, before the final round of judging.
The Penguin Random House Student Design Award is open to anyone studying on a Further Education or Higher Education course (part time or full time) in any subject and at any level. Our aim is to nurture and encourage anyone who is interested in following a career in design, which includes but is not exclusive to students on design courses. Entrants must be aged 18 or over by July 2017. The competition is open to amateur designers not currently or previously employed in the graphic design field.
Prize - £1000 and a work placement within the Penguin Random House design studios





 
The Book Illustration Comp.

The Book Illustration Competition is a unique partnership between House of Illustration and The Folio Society that seeks to identify and promote new talent in illustration. The annual international competition is open to illustrators over the age of 18, both student and professional, who have not been previously published by The Folio Society. Each year entrants are asked to submit three illustrations and a binding design for a book chosen by The Folio Society. The Book Illustration Competition was launched in 2011 and has received thousands of entries from over 44 countries. For more information on past competition winners go to the Previous Winners website. Copies of the books illustrated by previous winners are available to purchase from The Folio Society.

The Book Illustration Competition was launched in 2011 and has received thousands of entries from over 44 countries. For more information on past competition winners go to the Previous Winners website. Copies of the books illustrated by previous winners are available to purchase from The Folio Society.

Prize –
A highly sought-after commission, worth £5,000, to complete a total of nine illustrations and a binding design for the book, which is then published by The Folio Society. Five runners each receive £500 cash. Three prizes of the six are awarded to student entries.





 
D&AD Design Awards
A number of well-known brands issue their own creative briefs which you can entre, entrants must be over 18. Im not very interested in this one as the briefs aren’t necessarily related to illustration/ drawing. And I think it costs money to enter and even costs money to buy the prize, which is just a pencil shaped trophy thing. Although this is a very well-known competition so if you won or were even a runner up your work would be seen by a lot of people





 
Illustration Friday
A fairly popular competition where each week you are given a new word and you have to respond to this word with an illustration/ piece of art. This is one brief I will be taking part in as soon as I get time, there isn’t a prize but the winners design gets posted on the websites home page each week. I think this is a good way to get recognition and it restarts every week rather than being just one intense brief for the year like the other comps, obviously the recognition wont be the same level but its just abit of fun and if you don’t have any ideas for one of the briefs you only have to wait a week for the next one.









 

Hockney exhibition

Recently I went on a trip to London to visit some galleries, the main one I went to see was the David Hockney exhibition at the Tate Britain.

 

Ever since Matt showed me his drawings last year i have been obsessed with his work and find it incredible how he can work with such skill across a range of media that wide.

The exhibition was showing some of his most famous pieces of work over the past 60 years. Ive never really go to exhibitions and never have the desire to, however I was desperate to see this one before it finished.

I probably shouldn't have gone when I did because It was 2 days before the cop deadline and I still had loads to do but that was the only opportunity I had, that was kind of on my mind for the weekend but im still glad I went because it gave me some much needed inspiration.

Whilst I was in London I also visited the Tate modern, where I saw lots of nice stuff, my favorite was works from Picasso, Andy Warhole and Bridget Riley. Bridget Riley in particular, who I hadn't heard of prior to my trip. Her work is very mesmerizing to look at, very bright colors and bold lines and shapes put together to create giant optical illusions almost











 These are not my images, but they show just how great her work is. I have been getting into graphic design recently so that's probably why I like them so much. These pictures don't really do the paintings justice because they are massive in real life

First commission - Update

These are what the boards came out like, he is really pleased with them and said quite a few people have bought them already, unfortunately the t shirts haven't yet been printed so I don't have any pictures to show. I really wish it was some of my newer illustration work on the boards rather that a detailed animal portrait but I suppose its still getting my name out there. Someone looking for work could visit my Instagram page as a result and may prefer my newer stuff and commission me on that, which would be great.

First Commission - Second image

This is the design that will be printed on the back of the t shirt, as I mentioned in another post I did suggest to him maybe something a bit more abstract but he didn't seem to keen. The picture he sent me first was a very zoomed out picture of the building from a very straight front on angle, I told him that this would be very hard to copy as there were so many small details, especially if its getting printed onto a t-shirt because I need to keep it bold with not to many faint marks.

I advised that if he didn't want anything abstract, then the next best option would be to have a more zoomed in, off centre angle. I believe this looks more compositionally appealing to the eye, which he agreed with. Also to add a box round it so its not just a floating building.

This was the final drawing, done first in pencil then gone over in brush and ink. This one took me a very long time, probably around 6/7 hours all together. I started rushing it a bit towards the bottom because it was taking far too tong and I had other modules which desperately needed working on, thats why the quality and precision diminishes towards the bottom.

This is the photoshop edited version ready to be printed on a t shirt, over all I am fairly pleased with it, although it is definitely not my favourite style of art. I don't really consider this illustration, more just a detailed copy of an image, its a shame that this had to be my first ever real brief but im just glad its over and done with, and that ive now got that experience to learn from.

He has said he is very pleased with both the drawings and may be wanted some more stuff doing in the future, but im going to say to him that I will probably only be doing more contemporary naive work from now on which is the work I like

Leeds print festival trip

 

The other day me and a group of people from graphic design attended the Leeds print festival. I made friends with them through the collaboration responsive brief and they already had tickets so persuaded me to get one. The day was quite fun in general but the fair wasn't what I was expecting at all, to be honest im not quite sure how they could call it a festival, it was just a day sitting in a lecture hall listening to guest speakers. It was at Leeds college of music so I was expecting to get there and there be stalls set up by different artist selling prints and other art works but there wasn't anything like that.

The talks however were quite interesting, there were guest speakers from its nice that, people of print, Dr me, and two other illustrators who I cant actually remember the names of, they gave some good advice in terms of what to do after uni and who to contact. This trip has given me some encouragement to just stick at it, work hard and don't stop being creative

First commission

I was recently contacted by a guy who owns a skate shop in Bolton. He said he'd seen some of my work on Instagram and asked if i could draw him a couple of pictures. One of his cat which will be getting printed underneath some skateboard decks, and the other of the town hall clock in Bolton which is a well known building in the center of Bolton.



Unfortunately the work of mine he said he liked was some stuff i did a few years ago which was very detailed and precise. I told him thats not really the syle of work i like to make any more but ill still do it for him. As i knew this experience would definitely be beneficial for me. when i was back in Bolton just after the 504 hand in, i decided to pop by the skate shop just to show him some sketches id done and get a better idea of what he wanted.

 I knew there was probably no point doing any roughs for the cat because he seemed pretty sure he just wanted me to copy a picture of it what he sent me. As for the town hall I thought it might be bit boring and weird just to have a plain building on the back of a t shirt, especially if it was aimed to be sold to the youth skate community. So I drew a few roughs incorporating different aspects of the centre of bolton surrounding the building

However when I showed him he didn't really seem very interested and said he would just prefer the building.

 I was a bit nervous about doing this because id never met him before and i didn't know if he was going to like what i had drawn. it was fine in the end, originally hed asked me just to do it in pencils but i advised him otherwise as it might not looked the best once scanned in, he took my word for it and i decided to do it with brush and ink.

For some reason it looks alot darker than it did on photoshop but when i look at it in the photo veiwer it seems to look okay. This definitely is not the sort of image i want to be doing alot of, its quite the opposite but i need the experience and hes paying me to do them.

He said he really likes this one so now im about to start the town hall drawing