Wednesday 29 February 2012

Tricia Newell

Some amazing wood burnings by Tricia Newell. Each tiny drawer has a different detailed illustration burnt into the wood. Pyrography is a recent discovery for me, I love the aesthetic and texture created within the illustration.








Tricia Newell on etsy



Tuesday 28 February 2012

Hannah Waldron

Hannah Waldron works with a variety of different mediums such as printmaking, weaving, and ink. I really like her approach to each material and process, it interests me as a big part of my interest and practice lies with combining illustration and making by using different processes and materials.

I have previously blogged about her publication Rain Day, which I really like and feel is relevant to look now as I want to create my own stories/books/zines. It is interesting that there is no text within Rain Day and feels appropriate as the illustrations speak for themselves. This is something that I need to think about when developing my work, thinking about text and whether it is needed or not dependent on the focus of subject.






Some of her weaving, I have never before tried my hand at weaving, I really like the aesthetic!



Hannah Waldron's blog and website

Where am I?

I have been struggling with gaining momentum with the project, I want to head in so many different directions and explore ways to combine illustration and making and not having and specific subject to explore in depth has been an issue. I have been looking at lots and lots of work but its all too much for my brain. I feel excited but overwhelmed and it has held me back this week.

I feel I need to start with a more simple approach by concentrating on getting drawing and sketching ideas. I got really into the subject and illustration style I was using in Visual Language and I want to be able to find a subject I can really explore in depth, developing my illustrations and characters whatever they may be into a zine/book format.  I have had time to think more and I love book binding and really want to to it and become more skilled and improve. I feel that keeping it simple and concentrating on my illustrations first will propel my ideas and keep me more focused. I intend to make my work to sell in the form of zines/books start with. The characters/themes within the books could then be made into stuffed toys, prints onto paper or material, postcards, combining the illustrations with other mediums. I am open to where ever it takes me. However, I feel if I concentrate on the development of illustrations/stories/characters first then this will lead me to making crafts/work more appropriate to subject as it develops more naturally.

I am going to focus my ideas and theme with Nature and People as they are two of my great interests and I feel that having a subject to explore in depth will benefit me greatly and create continuity within my illustrations and developing ideas.

I am going to discuss this with Marianne at the tutorial tomorrow and hopefully I will have a better week this week!

Friday 24 February 2012

Brian Dettmer

I cannot get my head around the patience and steady hand needed to create these hand carved books, crafted one page at a time using surgical tools. All of the pieces cut out are removed to build up the 3D works/images within the work. Dettmer uses old encyclopedias, medical books, dictionaries, illustration books. He manipulates the pages and spines of the book to create a sculptural work. My mind is boggled, they are beautiful.







' "My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says.

"The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge" '

More of his work can be found here

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Live Project Tutorial

22/02/12

I had my tutorial with Marianne Springham today and I brought all my thoughts and ideas to discuss with her. I was really pleased with her response and she helped fuel my ideas and get me thinking about what to do next. I went in with my initial Proposal which outlined my ideas.


Live Project

Name-
Emily Reid

What Client / Competition / Practice briefs are you proposing to do?
Please outline your briefs / projects. Are you collaborating with other people?
What are the deadlines for these briefs? Are they all the same scale – are you going to work on some more than others? How are these projects live?

I am proposing to create good quality crafts to sell. I am undecided on my specific audience as of yet but I know I want to combine illustration making and I am interested in using a variety of materials. I will be working on my own and my intention is to create soft toys using felt, material, buttons, embroidery, stitching. I want there to be a theme within the products such as animals, nature or food. The audience response and need will dictate the way I create the work. I thought it may be good to create a mini illustrated zine/story/prints within the theme of the toys. The brief will be Live as I intend to set up an etsy and sell what I make and research into craft stalls. Throughout the project I intend to get in touch with people and see if there is an interest in making for a specific person with specific requirements of what they want. A tailor made gift for a friend/relative made more personal. This means I will be working to their ideas as will have to meet the customer needs.


What is your rationale for undertaking these briefs?
What do you want to learn, what experiences do you want to gain, etc

I want to learn about what it takes to create quality products/images/illustrations to sell to an audience. How much should I sell them for, taking into consideration cost of material, time, profits, and how much people will pay for what I am creating. I want to gain experience (good and bad) of creating something for a specific person, meeting certain requirements. I want see how much interest there is in what I am proposing to make. I want to experience setting up an online shop and experiment with what materials I should be working with to make good quality work.

What’s next?
What do you need to do next? How are you going to structure your time between now and the deadline? What research do you need to undertake?
I need to research into materials, what I need and cost. I need to sketch and illustrate some ideas for what I will be making. I need to spend some time illustrating ideas for characters/zines/prints dependant on my theme. I need to decide on a theme from my research. Look into ways people market themselves and how they make and sell their work. Is there anyone selling similar crafts to me? Look at artists, decide on the ways I’m going to work combining illustration and making, decide what materials and ways of working will be relevant. What facilities and equipment are available for me to use? I want to come out with a great deal of knowledge of what it takes to create a sellable piece of work to a high quality.


I am really interested in combining illustration and making in relevant ways to the subject. I discussed with Marianne about how I would like there to be a theme within my work. At first I thought about food, nature and animals. However, I am really interest in people, history, character and biographies so the idea of creating stuffed toy people/characters made using different materials, giving them a name, a label with a short story/biography, it could be comical. As I am still unsure of my audience then my making may dictate this rather than the other way around. I am really excited about this idea of combining my illustrations and interest in people and bringing them to life using materials. I draw my inspiration from people around me, surroundings, and reading lots of articles/interesting stories about experiences.

I thoroughly enjoyed Visual Language, where I read and researched about people who are 100 years old and tried to capture their character and personality in my illustrations. Although for these characters they would not be based on real people necessarily, they will be influenced by people around me, observations and the illustrations/stories I create.

Marianne also really liked the idea of creating a zine/prints/story to accompany the toy characters. How can I tie all of this together? This is why I think a theme within my work is essential.

So this week I basically need to...

  • Research into Folksy, Etsy, methods of selling. Also look into gallery shops.  
  • Look at whats out there, artists/craft makers.
  • Are there any methods/skills I need to learn to get my work to a high quality to sell.
  • Sketch/illustrate some initial ideas for characters to make, ways to make them.
  • Look into what materials I want to use, what I already have and would need. 
  • Bring all of this to show Marianne, along with some other examples of my work such as illustrations from Visual Language and stuffed toys I have made previously. 

Alison Deegan

I really love this Lino Print by Alison Deegan. The blue colour is really atmospheric especially as it contrasts between bold and faded blue. The grain of the colour makes the image lively and the use of one colour prevents over complicating the image and lets you concentrate on the illustration within it.





 Alison Deegan on Folksy. As I am looking into selling my work online on sites such as Folksy and Etsy for the Live Project there are many aspects I need to research and look into such as pricing and postage. Alison Deegan does not frame her prints to prevent costs mounting, although she does do it up on request. She also states she likes to re use materials to pack and post the work to customers. This is something I would like to consider down the line, re using materials and packaging is good in cutting down costs and is eco friendly!