Nuria Aparicio

Another Illustrator I found on Lemonade Illustration Agency! Her work is also very character based and she works with books and animation. The pieces I've selected however, just seem to be stand alone pieces or 'fan art' type things.. They showcase her skill and ability to draw believable characters whilst also reflecting her personality/interests.
So far I've stayed away from producing 'fan art' because I didn't really think it would get me any jobs and it feels like a bit of a cop-out. However looking at other illustrators work it does seem to pop up quite a lot.. I think as long as I can show I can do other things too, there's no harm in basing some of my drawings on existing characters and it might give my website more personality?

Candy Bird

I've been having a bit of an internal crisis over where my work actually fits in the world. I seem to get it straight in my head for a couple of days and then I start questioning what I'm doing all over again.
I figured I needed to stop looking at my own work for a second and take a look at what else is out there that I can relate to. 

Over on Lemonade Illustration Agency, I came across Candy Bird! I'm really in love with her cute characters and I find it encouraging that they'd been able to form a practice based around that. It seems like their work is used for children's packaging as well as fashion and other design work. 
I think I need to just chill out a bit when it comes to defining my practice. I've been so worried about making it more design based that it's beginning to get boring and I haven't been making much that I'm proud of. 

What's my strength?!

I feel really confused about my work right now.. I just don't know where my practice fits in!
I've looked through some of my social media at recent drawings and stuff I was producing in the summer and I've noticed that the ones I enjoyed the most and were the most well received were my little characters/pin ups.

There are other aspects of my practice that I enjoy, like the brush lettering I'm working on in extended practice, but I really feel like I could somehow capitalise on my character work.

I'd like to do more projects like my Monster Grrl one for Extended Practice. My initial idea is to produce something like Tori Anne's Juicy Ink book (my post on her) (her website), which is just a compilation of her pretty drawings. This would not only fulfill my wish to draw cute characters, but it would also give me a product that I could sell at conventions, on my etsy or even send out to companies/people I'd like to work with? Yes, that's what I'll do.

I'm not going to add this to my list of things to do for Extended Practice so I'm just going to post it to here every now and again and just allow myself to enjoy making some work.

Conventions in 2016

I've been looking at some of the artists I really like and where their work exists and I realised that quite a few (such as Babs Tarr or Jen Bartel) take their work to conventions. Both of these practitioners kind of started out by selling their pin-ups and have both progressed into comics. At the moment I don't draw comics but I'd love to one day because I'm interested in the covers. 

Anyway, in my previous post I was fretting about not knowing how to get my work out there because I can't really identify with any agencies/studios that I've come across so far. I've spoken about wanting to sell my work at art markets or something so that I can make a bit of money and talk to people. I've always been interested in selling work at a comic convention but I wasn't planning on doing so until after I graduate (I don't know why!!). I've decided I'd really like to sell some stuff at a convention as soon as possible, so I've identified the ones I'd be able to travel to and started the application process!

• MCM Manchester Comic Con (emailed!)
• Yorkshire Cosplay Con (emailed!)
• Sheffield Film and Comic Con (emailed!)
• Nottingham Comic Convention (emailed!)
• Thought Bubble (waiting!)

I really hope I can get a table at some of the bigger conventions! I think it's exactly what I need so I feel like I'm actually working towards something.

Response from Hallmark

After emailing a couple of times previously and then finally deciding to send a chase-up email, I got a response! It wasn't the response I was looking for and I'm a little disappointed there aren't any placements at the moment but at least she said they'll keep my details on file. 

I'm really struggling to find places to contact that are relevant to my practice so now I don't really know what to do from here.. I just want to get my work out there but I have no idea how!

Organising Website

Previously I hadn't categorised any of the work up on my website, I simply had a section called 'Work'. After a the group tutorial yesterday I thought it would be best if I showed a few examples of work on the home-page with more specific links at the top. I think I ought to make the thumbnails underneath the main image slightly larger, but other than that I hope it makes my website a bit easier to navigate.

Self reflection & Anj Smith (artist)

Recently I've been so focused on trying to shape my work commercially that I think I'm on the brink of producing uninteresting, vapid images. Through Context of Practice this year I have already identified that I feel strongly about gender equality and gender identity but I've barely touched on the matter elsewhere. I have the opportunity to create some artwork that actually says something in 603 so before I produce anything else I'm not 100% pleased with, I'm going to do a little more research on how I can tackle issues that interest me.

So I remembered that one of my relatives is a really great artist and creates these beautiful layered oil paintings - the closer you get, the more you see. She uses a lot of symbolism in her work to challenge social issues such as gender identity, equality, beauty standards etc. Like I said earlier, because I've been so focused on making my work fit within commercial illustration, I'd kind of forgotten how I can use it to say something.
I found this really interesting interview with her and although I'm not a fine-artist as she might describe herself, I want to be able to discuss the meaning behind some of my work like that! I want to make interesting, challenging content!

Anj Smith interview | Hauser & Wirth London | 18 September 2015 from studio international on Vimeo.

I'm definitely going to contact her to speak about some of this stuff. I can't find an email or website so I'm actually relying on my mum to put us in touch!

Reply from Jen Bartel!

I finally got a reply from somebody! I'm really glad I reached out to Jen because she's definitely one of my heroes and she gave me such a thoughtful response to all of my questions!

I definitely feel a bit more encouraged to keep emailing other practitioners about their work. I've been a bit confused about which studios or agencies to contact because I don't see how my work fits with them yet.. I'm sure I'll figure it out with a bit more research. 

Visual Identity/Branding?

Since I printed off a new business card design (here) I thought I'd play around with how I could transfer that design onto other 'products' to make myself look more professional. I like the colour and lettering I've used so far, I'm just not sure about the shape? For a letterhead a circle works pretty well, but for a notebook a different frame might be more appropriate. 

I'd like to have a kind of logo I'm satisfied with by the end of the week so that I can put it at the bottom of emails and letters I want to send out. This will also inform how I put together my promo pack (ideas post here). I'll also aim to have it across my online presence by the end of the week too.

Albion Place Market

For a while now, Abby and I have been talking about finding some local markets to sell our work on. She found out about the Albion Place market coming up in April/May and we've decided to give it a go! We're in the process of filling out the forms/understanding what we need to do in order to get a stall but we got a bit stumped on the insurance bit - I didn't even know we needed insurance for a market!

After speaking to my parents, who have experience with market trade, they explained that we needed to get Public Liability Insurance. It's about £50 and we can get it from CMTIA, then we'd have it for a year so we could use it for other things too!

At the moment we're thinking of selling tote bags, prints, cards, key rings and mugs with our work on. This would probably be a really great opportunity to sell some of the work I produce in OUIL603 - especially since one of my briefs is based around illustrated products!

Jen Bartel

I told myself I'd email some illustrators I really look up to, so I finally wrote Jen Bartel! I've followed her work for quite a while and she seemed quite approachable/open to questions.

I felt like a bit of a fan girl when I was typing this out.. oh well! I really hope I get a response this time, I could really do with some advice from another illustrator.

Re-emailing!

I emailed someone at Hallmark a couple of weeks ago (here) but I've heard nothing back, which is pretty disappointing. I've decided to try again but to a more general email.. I'm sure it'll get forwarded to the right person eventually. 

I haven't heard anything back from anyone I've emailed so far so I'm starting to feel a little frustrated. Perhaps I'm just emailing the wrong kinds of people? I've thought about contacting agencies but I'm really not sure whether I'd need one..? Maybe I should just email and ask whether I'm the kind of illustrator they would represent?

On the plus side, I heard back from whoever organises the Leeds Print Fair! Even though it's not until November I can start preparing now.

(My initial email)

Re-designing Promo Pack

As part of re-thinking my visual identity, I want to make myself a new promo pack. In level 5 I just put together a little box/envelope with some work samples in and created fridge mangers, key rings and bookmarks. My work has changed since then however and I'm more confident in the kind of work I want to create.
I've gathered some ideas on Pinterest here:
               Follow Sophie's board Promo Pack Research on Pinterest.  

This picture stood out to me most. I really like the idea of producing a pack with a custom mug.. It's something that people will actually be able to uses they'd be more likely to remember me. It's also more appropriate to my practice because I'm really interested in product design/application.

Creating mugs with my illustrations on probably wouldn't be that expensive. I could find an external service to print them for me or I could use laser transfer paper, which although isn't dishwasher proof, it's cheap and easy.