Ralph Steadman Talk

The talk with Ralph Steadman left me feeling utterly inspired. Although my work is aesthetically very different to his, his words taught me that mistakes are okay and should not be erased. 

Steadman used a lot of ink and brush flicks in his work, which might seem a little slap-dash to some, but his movements are controlled and practiced, which is something I've started to consider more. I have stopped planning all of my work with a pencil and erasing all of my mistakes and started to embrace them instead.

For my Context of Practice sketchbook work, I chose to switch my drawing tools up and use a brush and ink straight onto the paper without any pencil lines beforehand. It really helped to improve my line confidence and encourage me to draw things over and over again so that I can see my progress.

The most important thing I learnt from Steadmans' talk is to have fun with your work, be naughty and that there is no such thing as a mistake. 

Creative Practice - What Next?

What are your goals? 

Short term:

• To produce work that I am proud of  - I don't feel that I've done this for any work so far, so it's really important to me that I improve. 
• Be more disciplined with my schedule for work - stay behind at uni more often so it doesn't eat into my personal time and leave me feeling exhausted all the time.
• Be more exhaustive with my drawing - draw things over and over again until I am really satisfied with how something looks
• Learn how to use Adobe Illustrator and get comfortable with creating work with it.

Long term:

• Be more aware of other creative practitioners and keep up to date with other people's work. 
• Have a good career in the creative industry - even if it's not necessarily illustration, I am open to new practices or returning to old ones (photography). 

What are your expectations?

• To pass this degree knowing that I tried my hardest to get whatever grade I come out with
• To experiment with other practices and bring them into my work (collage, photography, installation etc)
• To be proud of my work

How will you achieve this?

• Be exhaustive with my drawing
• Look for influences outside of illustration - let my favorite films, tv-shows, animations, music and even food inform my work.
• Try not to be afraid of failure - Avoid working in pencil so I can't rub mistakes out, just embrace them instead
• Learn about the world around me. Read things and see new places.

How will you judge your successes?

• Compare work from today with work from last year
• Compare what my life is like now with how it was a year ago
• Ask myself if I am happy with what I am doing and if it makes me proud

What will you do when it goes wrong?

• Try not to dwell and keep moving forward

Ceri Williams

Found here

What intrigued me most about this work were the colours and the detailed lines. As you look closer at each section, more detail can be seen which suggests a lot of time and craft has been put into the pictures. 

I really like that this isn't a typical illustration project (such as an editorial for a magazine) and that Williams actually studied Architecture. 

The illustrations are for a game, Morphopolis, which would be very new ground for an Architecture graduate. However I really like the merging of different professions and think it's really important to work with people and subjects outside of our field of knowledge. 

What is illustration for? Vector based illustration examples

Vector based illustration covers a huge range of things from product design, promotion and characters. Previously,  I hadn't realised that vectors were so important when converting illustrations to different formats and scales. 

I've always been really interested in packaging illustration because in my eyes, it makes a product feel much more special. 

(Above) Chrissy Lau

What struck me about Lau's work is how intricate it is, which isn't usually associated with vectors. This really opened my eyes to the potential of working with vectors.

(Above) James Grover

Jongmee

Creating patterns with illustration is another area that I'm really interested in. This is why I originally considered pursuing illustration in the first place and I'm really eager to see what I can produce in our illustrator workshops. 

Muxxi

Sara Hingle

Tobias Goebel

Victoria Scott

Product/packaging illustration is just one area that vectors can be used for. With practically unlimited scaling, vectors are perfect for transferring designs onto other packaging, posters and wrapping paper etc. This kind of illustration is usually mass-produced and exists on all sorts of products. 

Study Task 4 - Where am I now?

10 things that you have learned about yourself as an individual and as learner: 

1. I am more organised than I thought but I struggle to keep going when I don't have any goals/deadlines
2. I spend a lot of time doing domestic chores and work so I don't get a lot of time to relax
3. I stress a lot - possibly because I plan most of my time around my workload
4. Although I like to set myself deadlines for work, I am rubbish at sticking to a timetable
5. I need 'down time' every so often to keep my sanity
6. Living independently for the first time and budgeting my money is difficult but I am enjoying it
7. I find it hard to adjust on new courses and make new friends because I am a bit of an introvert but I think I am gradually finding my feet
8. I've learnt to cook properly and found I actually enjoy experimenting with new dishes
9. Drawing, reading and watching films takes up most of my time
10. I like routine

10 things that you have learned about yourself as an illustrator:

1. I'm not very good at humorous illustration
2. I don't experiment with different media with uni work, but my personal work is slightly more ranged
3. I have tried many different 'styles' since the start of this course 
4. The quality of my work is gradually improving with each project I do
5. I still have no idea what kind of illustrator I want to be and what I am good at drawing
6. I don't feel as though I have really connected with any of the briefs we have been set so far and looking back, I don't really like any of my outcomes so I aim to improve on this each time
7. I am usually a slow worker 
8. I really enjoy drawing pattern and being very meticulous with my work however I haven't been able to work this into the projects I've done so far
9. I find it easier to work during the afternoon and in the evening
10. I prefer to work with minimal colour or monochrome

Compared with where I was last year, my understanding of illustration and my general lifestyle, this task has really highlighted how much has changed for me. Last year I thought I had a drawing 'style' that I was comfortable with but in reality, I've found that it is important to be flexible and explore different ways of making images before creating your own 'identity'. I am slowly working out what it means to be an illustrator for me and where my place is in the world. I am proud that I've learnt so much in such a short space of time and my practise will be something I am constantly developing and exploring.