PPP: Lifting Tower Project

I was selected along a few other students to create a 3 minute animation for LUMEN (an audio visual collective) for the Lifting Tower in Leeds. I'm writing this a summary for the project, it was one of the longest I have worked on spanning 1.5 months and my first paid project.
The first few weeks were about creating proposals for LUMEN to look at so they had an idea of our capabilities. I  chose to stick to limited colour palettes on my proposals. Obviously these were short 30 second proposals as the 3 minute animation itself was to be composed of a selection of entries.



The one that was taken forward by LUMEN was "seasonal spirit" they liked the limited colour palette and the emotion behind the idea.

After this was selected, we were taken into a room and asked to decide whether we were all in or wanted to leave this project (as they had liked everyones ideas, some people weren't keen on working in groups and a result left the project). I decided to group up with my housemate and 3 animators she had previously worked with. This was a risky move on my part because they say to never work with people you are close with, to some degree this paid off for me.
Working on this project really helped me establish myself, I am definetly more of a creative mind behind projects as I had a lot of input at the start of the project but very little of the physical result was illustrated by myself.  In our group I proposed we limit our colour palette to red green and white so that it was more distinctly our work when it was being projected, as well as this I was the main person to sort out the Google Drive contact point. As the graphic designers are very used to using it as a way of communicating it seemed like a good thing to introduce to the group and it worked well mostly.
My illustrative contribution to the group was relatively small, I made a collection of GIF's from the proposed "seasonal spirit" as originally LUMEN had said they would like them as stills, but I went back and proposed GIF's which they were equally happy with.

We didn't have a great deal of input from LUMEN as we met with the client maybe 3/4 times over the duration, however this wasn't a negative thing. The brief was very clear, the creative decisions made were mostly our own (only occasionally presenting the progress would we get feedback to change aspects). My overall contribution was far greater than my illustration contribution was, as lots of the ideas that went into the final animation were one's from myself that the animators and the graphic designer split between them (such as the couple star gazing, snow angels and a giant christmas themed snake game as well as others). I was happy with the arrangement at first but looking back I wish I had stepped up and asked for more creative contribution as some of the final illustrations were very stiff (the animators having focused more on the movements of the characters, over their design themselves).

I was pleased overall with the project, I feel like my input was important to our overall success, plus it was nice being paid for once as it felt like I had actually been treated like a professional over being a student illustrator. 

PPP: Mike Mignola Talk

Here are the notes taken from the Mike Mignola talk (apologies if they seem a little brief but the dude can talk FAST). I loved hearing Mike speak, it felt very honest. He spoke of his successes but he spoke of his failures too and I always think that makes for a great artist (a great person really who can talk about failings). He had such passion for fun and drawing, he seemed to have love most of the work he had done which was really refreshing. His love for drawing was something that came through, sometimes you'll have a talk with someone who just loves colour or just likes to draw other things that they saw like a cult movie or whatever but with Mike you could just FEEL how much he loved to be immersed in his world, in his ideas and to just draw for the love of drawing.

10 years of professional comic book making
started as an inker - I'm not good enough to draw comics so i'll become an inker
most of my career was me trying not to embarrass myself
**Gotham Gaslight**
**Frank Miller**

If im going to do my own thinking.. I need to do something that is made entirely of the things I like.
On my deathbed at least I'll have made something that's "me".
**Mike Richardson Head of Dark Horse**

Im doing my own comics just because I like them.
Ive been working 7 day weeks for as long as I can remember.
Normally I have 3/4 ideas in my head at a time.
Everything I've done is for "ooh that looks like it could be fun"
*Did a 40 page alien story right before hellboy*

There's a lesson right there -- dont make things just for money.

I was asked to do a drawing I'd drawn a monster for fun. I remember thinking 'that was fun'. it was this barbarian monster thing. A couple years later I kept drawing him.
Maybe because I did him just for fun, maybe I would enjoying drawing him. I just knew I'd get bored drawing regular guys.

I knew as an artist..  I knew how to draw stuff. I never set out to be a writer, the idea's are just bits and pieces. I feel like I'm just throwing them over my shoulder and someone is trying to piece them all together.
I have a big library, i did some research into it. The man in the back something in the back of the brain putting stuff together.

'thank god that this stuff sells'
when i've got a beginning and the end and a couple of good bits in the middle then i start thumbnailing the story.
Things sort of happen, but ive got these markers I have got to get too. Sometimes Im scripting as i go, if you see original versions there will be 3/6 lines of other dialogue there too.

I just want to draw for fun but what is that? will that feel like a job? how can I make stuff for me?
Atlantis - the disney film thing was weird. How did anyone there even see my work!?  for whatever reason they wanted my style.
For comics you get paid by the page but they pay you by the hour there! I could have milked that thing for alot longer really!!

How do I split up my hours? I get up and go to the studio and Im there til dinner. Sometimes Id go back home for dinner and go back to work. 2 days a week I go to the gym.

Creating Landscape closeups. because I got really into designing my pages, i got into the habit of just adding things to build up any kind of tension. you have to come up with a different language to create an atmosphere.

What are your influences?
Im influenced by a lot of things, frank rosetta, bernie rights, how are you going to solve a problem? mostly inspired by painters. These lines make along im coming up with my own way. I dont wear my influences on my sleeves.

Illustrators starting art --- your style finds you. You can sit down and say 'this is my style' but could you sustain that? you just have to do your own kind of work. Certain tendancies in your work, things you seem to naturally do. Some guys they hit the ground running. Drawing is evolution. Ive never had a day where Ive sat down and thought oh hey i know what im doing.

I just knew what my stories were meant to feel like. Part of the style thing is embracing the squishiness of things. try to keep SOME things the same (not all) but i try to keep my things fluid.
I dont know what it is about monster, i read draqula when i was 13 and thats all i wanted to do.

(on stopping writing/creating hellboy) I lost my ability to make choices, i couldnt settle on one things. I could write for somebody else but when youre drawing your own thing and theres nothing to stop you thinking this or that. I got swamped by too many choices.

I love to draw writing is good to a certain point but i love to draw.

PPP: Vulpine Ursine

During PPP we are always asked about things we are passionate about and how they influence our practice. I think for me music is a real motivator in my artwork, I always listen to songs that are influencing a certain emotion I want to capture.  As a creative, I think that music motivates the kind of work I make, now i've realised this I have created over 10 spotify playlists that relate to different emotions. PPP for me is all about defining what it is that I like and what I listen to is definitely an influence. 

I realised this the other day when I was listening to a song by Ursine Vulpine "Do You Realize" that is the trailer song for the new Transformers trailer. It is a cover of the Flaming Lips song which is originally a very happy song but I love that the cover Ursine Vulpine did is emotional and dark.  Although I'm not a massive Transformers fan, this piece of music that accompanied it really really made me want to watch it. It's very emotive and when I listen to it I can really envision things and it evokes a feeling inside. 

I wanted to look closer into the band itself and soon discovered that Ursine Vulpine is a person, a moniker for the artist whose actual name is Frederick Lloyd, not only that he does film trailer soundtracks (some of them I did not realise at all were his, but I enjoy them too) but also that he is a really big creative in the film industry! He is an award winning film director and composer, having made over 10 songs used in big mainstream films (such as Hunger Games) and having produced/directed a series of short films that won prestigious awards or were nominated for them. He is now officially on my list of people to contact, as I am very curious how someone goes from composing music to being so sought after in hollywood as well as having the creative ability to direct. 

PPP: Thoughtbubble 2016 EDIT WORDS

This year I wasn't involved in Thoughtbubble due to other commitments, but I still made sure I booked the time off work to go and visit.

I was very dubious about letting go of my £15 entry fee, as TB2015 had been somewhat of a disappointment for me, it had felt like a gathering of fan art work which I could have easily spent an evening on Etsy buying instead of attending the convention. 

As I handed over my entry fee and handed over my arm to be given the band that would allow me anywhere around the event, I admit it, I thought i might be blowing my money up the wall. 

Gladly for me I was proven wrong, this year the event organisers had achieved a higher level of people applying to the festival which meant that they could tailor the festival to what they wanted. I was impressed at the breadth of skills that were there this year and I ended up spending ALOT. 

My favourite purchase of the day was a screenprint 1/14 of Fantastic Mr Fox by 

It's a gorgeous screen print with multiple colours, I was astounded at the technical competence

 but when I spoke to the artist he told me about how he makes the work and sends it to a team called **** who do all of the screenprinting for them. This was really good for me to find out because that might help in the future (as I am really not gifted in any way with screenprinting). 

Another really great purchase was 2 copies of S! magazine. This is an international collaborative who create works around a theme, I brought one about Japan and Cats. (INSERT PHOTOS). I liked the idea of having it in a book rather than a zine because it allowed the artists to experiment with their medium more knowing it had been printed on solid 200GSM paper. 

There were a few other bits and bobs I picked up but Thoughtbubble this year for me was far more about talking and meeting with professionals. Some were students as well such as EVACHII (find photos) who stuck to fan art for conventions because its a good seller, others were Sad Ghost Club who me and Ellie complimented and talked to them about their work (which I will pop in another blog post after this). Another artist I met was Jontofski, his advice to me was to carry a sketchbook at all times, he is primarily a watercolour artist but if he doesn't have time to watercolour the scene, he will rough it out, take photos and then take it back to the studio to later watercolour it. 

Another professional I spoke to was AJ, he was there with a comic of his own and spotted me staring at it (Im not very bold to go over and start talking) so he came over to talk to me instead (so I slowly edged closer to his stand). AJ was perhaps the best part of thoughtbubble, in the fact that his story gave me a lot of confidence that things will work out. He never attended college, instead starting lower down in the nickelodeon techy department working on his art at the same time and learning the ins and out of the studio before progressing upwards to become a freelance artist for them for 13 years. Although it was freelance he was paid most of the time to stay on there, which was interesting because I wasn't sure how that kind of thing worked. He then made the jump to disney interactive to work in their creative department whilst spending time working on his own comic book with friends. It was refreshing to meet someone who didn't do so well in an academic atmosphere but still found a way of getting into the sector he wanted to work in. 

Overall I really enjoyed thoughtbubble this year and hope that next year stays to same calibre. I will be applying to thoughtbubble for next year and hopefully will be exhibiting there.  

PPP: Business Cards and Why I need to now make some

I  N E E D  T O  M A K E  B U S I N E S S   C A R D S 

This weekend I went to Thoughtbubble (which I will blog about my experience soon.. probably after this actually.) and I was expecting to have a few conversations with other creatives but what I quickly found is that they were so interested in what I was talking about and doing with my practice that they wanted to keep in touch.  One professional in particular had contacts at both Nickelodeon and Disney and was really interested in getting young artists into the industry. I didn't have a business card to give him and oh boy did i feel like a fool, luckily for me he persevered and followed me on instagram and told me to follow him on LinkedIn. Although all was not lost and plans were made to meet up and show him my portfolio in the future, it really hit home to me that he could be a potential client and I really have to be on the ball with this! 

Thoughtbubble is a great place to have a look at what people are doing, so naturally I took every business card I could get my hands on. I wanted to see the different styles and shapes and decide from there what I liked most!

I'd started rough working on a business card before the weekend, it uses my cat from level 5 that was a particular favourite piece of work of mine. After seeing the cards that other creatives have I really need to decide is how to come across. As a professional illustrator I'm serious about getting work but I would define my art style is playful and thoughtful.  At the moment I'm trying to get across both of these things but I'm not sure how much of myself to put on there (so to say). I am an illustrator and I am a film enthusiast (which I feel really influences my work at times, especially when it comes to perspectives and composition) but I also really love garlic bread (and making people laugh) so I added that on there too! I think this might have to be one of the things I ask a tutor or other colleagues about. I like it, but does it send the right tone of voice??? 



Another thing I'm having illustrator life problems with is that currently there is another company with a very similar name. Now up until a few weeks ago this was never a problem, they are in a different country and they had a fairly poor social media approach but they must have invested in someone good or something because now when I google for my name, instead of coming up with my social media things as it did before, google now presumes I've typed in wrong and suggests this other company and they have lots of social media now. 


The big question is, do I change my illustrator name now? Before I start becoming a professional? Or do I stand and fight and become a stronger presence? I've gone under the name Sugarcombe since I was around 15, it was a completely made up name (and 'sugarcomb' is also a made up word too). It came as a fusion of who I feel I am as a person (sugar - because my life revolves around it and combe - came from my love of finding things 'to comb' but with the name sugarcomb already been taken on a few formats I added the E because I felt it was more aesthetically pleasing).  

PPP: Thoughts on building a website and My graphic designer friends laughing at me

T h o u g h t s   o n   b u i l d i n g    a   w e b s i t e 

SO I made a list of things I really would like 

from my future website!  It needs to be: 

• Easy to access on mobile devices and computers (because so many people use their phones now, it can't be having a slow loading time). 
•  Easy to edit, I don't want to be hassling people to help me every time I want to add a new post. 
• Linkable to my other social media's (linked in and instagram as it is). 
• Be able to have a domain name/ an address that isn't ridiculously long 
• Something that I can blog on
• Something I can link a shop too 

Now this seems like an easy list but it's been an absolute nightmare. I already own 'sugarcombe' as a domain on tumblr but I'm not really sure whether Tumblr is the best thing to have as your website, I'm also very confused on how to get a domain name on Tumblr. 

I thought about using WIX as John mentioned it in one of his talks in the previous weeks however upon mentioning it to my graphic designer friends I was laughed out the room and told that clients wouldn't take anyone seriously if they used that as a website builder. I asked why? Apparently WIX is commonly used by young teens and it's somewhat of a running joke within the graphic design world. So I guess that means I'm not using WIX then... 

Moving on from that I asked them what I could use? SquareSpace and Weebly were the ones that were used within their client circles as they are easy to edit, but they do have a cost to retain a domain name. SquareSpace you can't use without paying for, but Weebly you can (if you don't want to pay it ends up looking like  - www.thisismyusername.weebly.com) which is bareable I thought.  

So far I've had a go with Weebly, I'm not finding it the easiest thing in the world if im honest, theres a lot of snapping things to things and although it's created to be basic, it's actually overthinking basic (which no undo button, it leaves you trying to backtrack when you mess anything up). 

I'm going to try to persevere with it, just for the sheer fact I feel like it looks more professional than tumblr (honestly i'm probably going to end up having it on tumblr). 

PPP: Who are you now, what are your plans for your future practice.

 W H O   A M   I   N O W 

I filled out this sheet at the beginning of September, after a month and a half back at Uni and working on my practice every day I still have the same feelings about who I am now as an illustrator. I'm still very interested in colour palettes, so have started looking for illustrators that are working with limited ones. Whilst doing COP research I found a really great website - moviesincolor.com which showcases iconic cinema shots with a colour palette underneath.  It's something I enjoy looking at in my own personal time. 

I'm also taking more of an interest in concept work and character design, I've been following more accounts on Instagram that focus on this area. Some of the people I've followed are concept artists for Disney, Cartoon Network and Dreamworks. It's interesting to see how their practice works, they often don't post a lot of what they're actually working on in their studios (for obvious reasons) but instead they are being constantly creative and engaging with their instagram audience. Many of them draw on the way home or make their own comics in their own time. 

W H E R E   A M   I   G O I N G ? 

I've begun to email a person a week (as I feel like thats a small amount of progress to start with) about their practice or about going to visit them. Last week I emailed someone from West Yorkshire Playhouse about volunteering, as it's a busy time of year for them they had most of their spots taken but I have been put on a waiting list so hopefully by January I will be able to go up there and see how their costume department works (which is something I found interesting and wanted to know more about how they got their jobs and how the costumes are designed and sourced). 

Personal goals I'm setting myself are to keep drawing as much as possible and draw more small comics from what is going on around me. I'm also still experimenting with media as much as I can, I want to stay away from getting too good at one thing. Last month (october)  I've been focusing on digital drawing and getting better with a wacom, but November I want to focus on lino cutting (partly because it's a great way to make xmas presents) but also because it's something I never really explored in second year but spend a lot of time looking at online (watching lino cutting before bed is so soothing). 

One of the other students showed me a book (and dammit I can't remember the name, I'm totally going to find it and put it on here though..) but it looked like it had been screenprinted when actually it was produced digitally and had layers of texture to make it look as if it had been screen printed. She also said that she could see my work working well in this style so that's something I will also be investigating into. 

PPP: Fred Aldous Visit

At first you don't succeed.. try again! Fred Aldous had a weekend event for their 1st Birthday In Leeds, I awoke on the saturday an early bird ready to get my hands on some delicious free art goodies, when me and Becky got down there at a modest 9:20am, a line had already began to wind itself around the shop. We joined it regardless, hoping that we would be numbers 49 and 50 (first 50 to spend over £10 got a goodie bag filled with over £60 worth). As we madly scrambled to buy something and join the queue I began to realise that it was going to be close, in the end I was number 51. We left disheartened but not defeated!
We went back the next morning earlier and with less people getting up early on a sunday morning meant we had more time to browse and each got a box.



Half of the reason I decided to do this was because.. who doesn't love free stuff? but the second reason was getting to sample things that I had wanted to buy but couldnt afford was good. We got lots of things in the pack, the leuchturm was a really nice notepad that I currently use to plan my time in. We got 2 different notepads, both quality were quite nice (and I will be buying again). Some of the pens were really nice and smooth as well and made some good lines so I will buying more of those in the future!

M E G A C R I T

M E G A C R I T     F A V S 

I took way more than 3 photos of my favourite work in the megacrit, purely based on the fact there was so much there that I liked! The courses' quality of work was really high this summer and I was finally proud of myself at a megacrit (compared to last year where I hid my notebook and had 0 feedback as a result). This year I felt like I had used my summer well to broaden what I liked. 
As I walked around the megacrit, I was surprised at myself mostly because I noticed that what I like has broadened to more than just character design, but a lot of the photos I was taking and stuff I was enjoying was based on colour and shape. The work I picked out as my favall had very different things I liked about them, some of them were really character based (the third page) and some of them were really abstract (pg 2). 

I think my taste change comes down to what I looked at over summer - mainly collage artists as well as making my own collages I now have a bigger respect and enjoyment out of texture and pattern rather than the linework characters that I was so drawn too previously. 

PPP: Deliverable Presentation

SCRIPT

1. Intro 

2. Last year/ acorn metaphor 

3. Confidence 

4.  Don't put limits on yourself 

5. Get Out Of Your Head

6. Like What You Like 

7. Diamonds baby 

8. Don't be ruled by fear 

9. The end of Second Year 

10. Creative Presence In Progress 

11. This is where I'm going. 

PPP: Creative presence

PPP: Life's A Pitch - Pitching

  THE PITCH 

Our pitch actually went well in the end I felt.
As Jade and Hana had done a significant amount of work creating the presentation Jazz and Myself decided that we should do a majority of presenting (as Jade and Hana weren't too keen on it). Neither of us felt the need for a script, we put the main points on the slide and I held a few prompters in my hands as we were talking. There were very few gaps and for the most part I think people were entertained. 
I also feel like our tone of voice was well suited, by the end of the presentation people seemed to get it that we were environmentally conscious which is what we were going for. I think we could have perhaps had a little more excitement but generally I was pleased. 

THE RESPONSE 

People had only got a few questions for us including why we chose Matchboxx as a name      (the answer because matches were a traditional way to light candles and matchboxes always had fun individual pattern on them as well as being cooler than just your average lighter). 

Other comments we received were on the viability of our business, it's enhanced focus on bee welfare meant that bigger companies would be interested in us because it makes them look good. 
There were questions on why the focus on bee's, we said that the bee focus was something that naturally came out of the project. We considered a lot of different kinds of wax to make the candles but rather than have it all beeswax we split it so half of it would contribute to bees and the other half (made from soy) would be more appealing to a wide audience (vegans) and cheaper to buy too. 

COULD WE HAVE DONE BETTER? 

I think that after seeing everyones presentations, we could have had more visuals on screen particularly towards the end to keep peoples attention (such as pictures of bees or candle making). I think it might have been nice if we had made nets for our products and had those handed round. If we had more time I think it would have been good if we could have handed out our original idea of business cards (a single match in a matchbox with our cards). 

PPP: Running for Editorial Officer (creating a presence around LCA)

This year I decided to run for Editorial Officer for LCA.  This meant running a campaign for myself to encourage voters and make myself aware around the college. 

Although I didn't win I feel like my promotional material was really affective. 

INITIAL IDEAS 

When I came up with the initial ideas I was very stuck on the cream/navy/crimson colours. Mostly because I wanted a vintage-esque design to go along with my campaign and to be able to use a colour scheme throughout. 

This was my first go at making a poster.  I used an existing photo of myself and traced over it in photoshop for likeness. I wanted to keep it simple so I kept to 3 colours. 

I asked some other illustrators what they thought and most of them thought that the cream pulled it down and stopped it from popping out at them. 

Other comments were that it felt very safe and stiff and it needed loosening up, so I took this on board and started to progress with the design. 

I played around with the poster design for a while, the inspiration behind it was getting people involved (having them draw something surrounding a topic or theme) whilst waiting for their lessons. Encouraging them to be creative outside of their lessons and around the college. 

I changed the colour scheme a little, keeping the dark navy (rather than using ordinary black), choosing a lighter red and a brighter yellow and scraping the cream all together. 

At first I kept the font all the same but after showing it to some classmates, they all agreed they'd rather see the hand written type in there somewhere. So I decided to add it in but also keep the type for the intro pieces. 

FINAL POSTER 

Below is the final that I took to print and put up around the college! I think that it was successful because it did get people drawing, the fashion students contributed the most (the one placed outside their rooms was "what is your most treasured possession") as theirs was completely filled (but sadly taken down before I could photograph it). Animation also contributed some very interesting stories (their topic was "the most interesting thing to happen to you"). 

DEVELOPING THE POSTCARDS 

The postcard took a little more work, I eventually scrapped the square theme I had gone with  because after looking at it it seemed to deviate from the poster too much and printing square means that I would struggle to print more than everyone else. It also didn't look like something that I would want to keep or put up on my wall (who would want a pic of my face really) so I decided that if I were to keep my tiny silhouette face it was going on the back of the postcard.. for sure! 

I carried through the picture of my face because I wanted people to stop me around college (and they did) and I wanted there to be a face behind the message. 

This was the back of the postcard, I carried across the colours from the bunting on the poster onto the back of the postcard. It made it more playful and fun. 

I printed it on A6 so I could get more for my money and although they did come out smaller than other peoples postcard I think that they did interest people (and were picked up by students). 

For the back I used the same colours but just in a marbled background pattern. I used the picture of the pencil (which was scrapped from the final poster as it caused too much cluster) and repeated it. 

Although they don't look much on screen, when they were printed glossy they actually looked very professional and vibrant. So I was pleased with them! (even if they were tiny) 

STICKER BUSINESS 

With the stickers I went through the same process as the poster and the postcard. 

Again cream was not my friend in this and it felt too sloppy. When I spoke to classmates they also felt like it didn't tie in with the rest of it (although there was a positive reaction to the pencil). 

Once I had made the poster I think it gave the rest of the campaign a direction and colour scheme. I used the same writing from the poster but transferred it across to the stickers. I also picked out the fun colours from the bunting and used those. 

I test ran my stickers and they came out well however I decided not to use them because I had so many things already printed I wanted something more tangible for the students. 

PLAN B - GOODBYE STICKER HELLO BADGE 

Here is where my plan b came into action. I decided to create clay badges instead for my campaign as I already had so much material in the posters and postcards, I wanted something that felt more personable to add to the campaign.  

I shared on my instagram  nd Facebook page to tell people where to find them. Out of all my material  the badges were the most successful. 

I left them on the barriers at Vernon Street (all were taken) and I left them in the canteen at Blenheim (all taken) . I was then contacted by other students who did not have badges asking whether there would be more and if I sell them on any sites (I currently do not but now have plans too). After speaking to other students most of them said they would buy them for £2-£3 if available which has given me some thoughts for future exhibitions. 

The clay badges were time consuming but actually very cheap to make, ordering badge backs off eBay for £2.71 and buying the clay £4 I feel like I could make a good return off these if I sold them in the future. 

Sharing on social media definitely helped my votes and although I did not win the election I still feel like it was really worth taking part in the whole running for it.  I found out what worked/ got people interested  (badges and drawing things)  and what didn't / wasn't as interesting (postcards didn't have as much impact). 

It also left me with a lot of material to start building my creative CV with. I have seen for myself people enjoy the personal touch over the general one and can now start bringing that into my creative CV work. 

PPP: Creative Presence Meeting

Notes from meeting with Patrick 

(group, Naomi C, Amber, Dan, Ellie, Joe) 

Who are you/ Who you are? 

Where you want to work? 

What areas, creative fields do you want to be in? 

How are you going to get there? 

Continued Professional Development 

Wordpress is a good idea, 

Theme forest is a website with good templates for wordpress 

just needs to be responsive and work on mobiles 

people/places to contact

Film production companies 

Mark Holt 

Glyn Dillon 

Comics Studios 

Indépendant Directors 

Angles and Burman (huge costume designers) 

Behind the wardrobe leeds are people that do costumes there 

Peter Goes 

Joel Collins 

Be careful about agencies 

Think about paper stock you print your cv onto/ business cards onto 

British Library - Scholasticloan (look into) 

You can sign up to more than one production company agency. 

Creative CV (first go)

SUGARCOMBE 

is

A Second Year Illustrator at Leeds College Of Art / Graduate of

A creative illustrator who thinks on their feet and has a sense of humour

Someone who enjoys drawing and discovering new things everyday    

Who aspires to work in a fun creative environment with 

like minded individuals. 

Qualifications

A BA Hons Degree in Illustration from Leeds College Of Art 

English Literature A Level A 

Media Communication A 

Graphic Communication B

French AS Level C 

Experience 

??? 

(thought bubble table poss but don't think thats happening r/n) 

(etsy shop) 

(need to put my shit in more shows) 

(god help me) 

Skill set 

making cups of tea 

singing in the shower 

taking command 

positive outlook on life (that is a skill gained) 

quick to learn 

hard worker 

References on request. 

Creative Presence: first meet

Started talking about ourselves more today and where we want to go, mostly notes on our creative presence and how to get that across/ how to start thinking about it. 

Print based and Online presence

V I S U A L   I D E N T I T Y : letterheads, creative cv, business cards

Check the Domain Name: Email through the website?: Blog On website? 

For myself, Look at the top 10 game studios, Film Production companies. Get some contacts. 

Start making the contact now. 

CV needs to be unique. It needs to be tailored to who it's going too (the organisation). 

Flexible and showing your strengths. 

Standard CV INFO : 

Name/ Address 

Contact Details 

Portfolio: Website 

Telephone number 

Your profile (useful for us but not always necessary) 

3 or 4 lines. Talk about yourself in third person. Don't mention your name. 

What do you hope to achieve? 

What are you good at? 

Write it in your own voice. 

It doesn't need to be detailed, do mention you are a graduate. 

Header "your name" 

"your profile" 

"qualifications" degree (don't have to mention the level) could mention A levels if you wanted 

"employment and experience" 

(only illustrator relevance, thought bubble, exhibitions etc). 

"Skills" (if not loads put them into experience) 

"Additional info" - REFERENCE ON ReQUEST ALWAYS 

Association Of Illustrators Talk

AOI  NOTES 



Functional Simple Professional  Formed in 1973

• your Website, keep you blog up to date - don't keep a blog if it's slow
• DONT have a contact form, its a barrier
• Starting a collective is appealing for Art Directors, Commissioners.
• Try not to be too inspired by a certain style, do not emirate them. Create your own style.
• NURTURE personal projects, keep drawing, keep people interested.

• Answer your own dream brief (in your personal project sketchbook)
• If you're going to use a social media, twitter or instagram you need to be DEDICATED to it
• Don't post until you have permission, READ your contract

• Bechance is a project based portfolio site
• A5 or A6 physical mailers, people love getting tangible mail
• have it addressed to the art director, reference a piece of their existing art. Why do you want to work for them? a small handwritten note or doodle to make a connection with them.
• Follow up with an email 3 - illustration

How to find clients?
AOI client directories
Bikinilists.com

• do NOT blanket bomb (send out the same email to everyone)
• DO your research, who inspires you? Find their names? Who represents them?

Register your own business!

• For income tax within 3 months of starting
• retain ALL receipts
• Keep up to date accounts
• Keep paperwork with every job(so buy a folder or whatever)
• You can claim back money on many things
• Tax return once a year atm but by 2020 it will be four times a year!

COPYRIGHT

• your copyright is important over all
• lasts for 70 years after the creators death (but the whole creators lifetime also)
• It doesn't require a c or registration
• independent of your individual art work
• no copyright in a style or an idea 
• copying a substantial part of their work infringes their copyright 
• copying a key imaging from work no matter what the size could infringe. 

If you start to financially benefit from fan artwork you are infringing on a copyright. Photographers have copyrights too. 
copyright assignment is very rare definitely seek advice. They will own it. You can't put it in your portfolio. 

MORAL RIGHTS 

• right of paternity, to be identified as the creator of the work 
• right of integrate, no derogatory treatment of your work 
• Moral rights do not apply to newspapers or magazines. 

RIGHTS ONLINE 

• Protect your work online so you can always be identified as the author 
• low resolution 72 dpi and name in the file name 
• use the c symbol on every page/blog/social media 
• No watermarking 
• Read Terms and Conditions of the website 

CONTRACTS 
Every right to ask questions from clients. have confidence. Contracts are a huge deal. 

WHO is going to do WHAT by WHEN and for HOW MUCH. 
Instantly ask for a contract. Basic T+C's. Cancellation fees. 

Show professionalism be wary of clients, and start up businesses. 

Acceptance of commission 

• Normally a year for small companies
• Exclusive to the company unless otherwise stated
• Area covered by license is important

Even something little = contract 
You don't have to sign it, the last contact sent via email is the legal biding. 

Watch out for: copyright assignments, moral rights waiver, irrevocable licenses. 

CRUCIAL CLAUSE : rejection, sub-licensing (BIG NO), cancellation, termination. 

DO NOT WORK FOR FREE

1. Price accurately 
2. know the details 
3. are they uk based? 
4. How many workers? 
5. Usage (editorial, OOH (billboards) etc.) 
6. Who is the company/ clientele. 
7. License duration 
8. Look how they are visually communicating right now 

DO NOT work on a DAY RATE 
"below the line" - flyers, internet document, newsletters. 

Self Publishers are risk clients. 
buyout - all media licenses 
no copyright assignment 

always confirm that its a time specific license and not assignment. 
Sign up to AOI for student (£55) poss in third year. 



- Bernstein and Angelie?

Anorak Talk Notes

ANORAK MAGAZINE

Anorak is an illustrated kids magazine found by Kathy Olmedillas in 2006. She visited the studio for a talk to us. 
She told us that she started Anorak in 2006 when she had got children for herself she found that finding an appropriate gender neutral magazine was practically impossible. The market was flooded by a strictly pink and blue divide  of zines with a sense of easily throw-away-ability to them (and nasty plastic toys). She saw a gap in the market for something fun and imaginative that could appeal to children in general (and parents who were sick of the cheesy magazines out there). 

She pitched to various publishers and received a resounding no from all of them, all quoting that a gender neutral magazine simply wouldn't sell in this day and age. Kathy then decided to fund the first issue herself and found that parents were buying it and enjoying it. 
She mentioned that when she was younger she enjoyed buying annuals and that there was no boy or girl specific zines back then really, she wanted Anorak to be focus on reading but discovering other things also. 

She often commissions different illustrators for every issue to do cover art and a feature, she decided that for each issue she wanted it to be a theme so often she will send the theme to the illustrator and let them create something themselves around that theme. 

I found her talk interesting, I like publishing but I am not particularly interested in childrens books but I liked learning about how she went about fixing a problem she saw in the children's market. 

PPP: Big Heads Glynn Dillon

 Big Heads Glyn Dillon

BIG HEADS GLYN DILLON 

This week we got to meet Glyn Dillon as part of our big heads series that happens at the college on regular tuesdays. I don't often go to Big Heads but I had actually heard of Glyn Dillon from his work on the Nao Brown book he finished a few years ago. 
I didn't realise that he was actually a concept art/ costume designer for star wars and so that made it extra exciting that we got to talk to him and listen to his life. 

During the talk he told us how he started off as a comic book artist, wiring with his brother (who ran DEADLINE magazine and who first run Tank Girl). He got to meet the Gorrilas and work with them for awhile. 

NOTES 

• Never set off to be a costume designer but fell into it being a concept designer 
• Just keep drawing no matter what
• Comics is a very solitary thing 
• Concept art felt like he was contributing to something , communicating with the crew, part of something bigger
• POSTURE is important 
• Worked with people who went on to become Harry Potter concept artists 
• Get yourself out there, let people know who you are
• It is not down to talent, there will always be someone more talented than you but you can always be the most persistent. Determination will get you further than talent. 
• Essential to storyboarding: be fast, clear and know how to tell a story. 
• Storyboarding, know the rules of filming (180 degree rule?) film makers don't always know when they're asking you if it will work
• What to show in your portfolio? > keep it specific if you're interviewing with movie types, money is time and they are only interested in seeing the important stuff. 
• Never presume they have a computer, keep it backed up. 

I really loved hearing about Glyn Dillon's practice because I think he has had a big range of work, from comic's (which I'm not so interested in.. only web comics) to storyboarding/concept art down to costume design. I like that his work isn't hyper realistic but he still manages to get his point across.