OUIL602 - Kaylan Presents

As I will be part of Thought Bubble festival, I was invited by Kalyan Presents to take part in a live comic drawing evening at LS6 Clock Cafe. 

The event itself, although only small scale, was very fun, and I got to talk to some really nice people. I took part in both live comic and portrait drawing, everyone was really pleased with the portraits we did, I handed out a few business cards and met some other artists who were also exhibiting at Thought Bubble. 

OUIL602 - Testimonials

Dear John,

Following on from the portfolio surgery with Patrick, I decided to ask a few people that I've worked with in the past to write me a short testimonial, just something along the lines of why they like my work and what it was like working with me. I've got one response already from a girl called Hildur who I've worked with a few times:

"Becky is an absolutely brilliant artist with so many good and fun ideas! She is flexible, easy to collaborate with and very thorough. I'd recommend her to anyone and everyone who wants something designed. I'm very drawn to her work (pun intended)." - Hildur Hoglind - Musician

"Becky's ability to put ideas onto paper is faultless, she is a versatile designer who can always produce exactly what you ask of her, and still exceed expectation! She did artwork for my recent tour and the merch sold incredibly well, simply due to her wonderful illustrations!" Sam Lyon - Musician

I fell in love with Becky's art as soon as she showed me. I played a house show and she did a doodle in my touring book which ended up turning into Merch designs and now she is my go-to-person for all designs. What a legend! - Tom George - Musician

OUIL602 - I have a domain name

Dear John,

This afternoon I took the plunge and spent my money on a domain name. www.pigeonsaresick.co.uk is now registered to me, and I'm going to start building the site after Thought Bubble is out the way.

I hope you are proud of me.

Becky

x

OUIL602 - Rami Kim

Dear John,

Whilst browsing pinterest once again, I cam across another artist that works with cermaics. Rami Kim.

Here's is slightly less abstract and more figurative than the last illustrator I blogged about, but I love how she combines character with her clay work to create cute little objects.

Definitely gives me ideas.

Becky

x

OUIL602 - Mina Perhonen

Dear John,

I found an illustrator who perfectly shows what I want my practice to be about.

Mina Perhonen designs patterns for clothing, and has her own fashion range. Obviously my work would look different from this, but I love the colours she uses, and how she combines illustration with fashion design.

OUIL602 - Ruan Hoffman

Dear John,

Whilst I was browsing Pinterest, as I do so often when I'm procrastinating, I came across this artist, who makes ceramics.

These are super nice, I like how they aren't all uniform shape, and are more like a canvas then a bowl or anything like that.

It makes me want to only do ceramics from now on.

Becky

x

OUIL602 - I spoke to someone I love

Dear John,

I think I am a funny person, and funny people inspire me too, I like funny people.
One of the funniest people/persons I know is Ethan and Hila Klein, YouTube comedians and husband and wife. Hila is also an artist, and does some pretty funky art work. 

I found her on Facebook and messaged, telling her how much I love them both and asking if we could maybe do an art swap. Low and behold... I got a reply!

V EXCITING.

I am very very happy.

Becky

x

OUIL602 - I did some contacting!

Dear John.

You always inspire me, so after I chat this morning I took the plunge and contacted a couple of people.
First off, the studio who made Song of the Sea, Cartoon Saloon.

And then, one of my favourite illustrators, Joan Cornella, who resonates with me on a spiritual level.

If Cartoon Saloon don't reply, I found their address on the website, so I'll hand write them a letter and draw a little picture of a dog for them, probably.

OUIL602 - Song Of The Sea

Dear John,

I watched a film last night called Song of the Sea, it was a beautiful animation about a young lass who is a seal.

I've honestly never seen something so beautiful in my entire life. It really inspired me to draw more and go back to using analogue ways of working then finishing them off digitally.

I tried to find the actual person who illustrated it but I couldn't. I did find the name of the company who illustrated and animated it though:

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/

They're an animation studio based in Ireland. Maybe I could go work for them.

OUIL602 - My promotional pack.

Dear John,

I need to start thinking of how I can improve/develop my promotional pack. I really liked the one I made last year, and I think I should continue with the pigeon theme, but maybe include more 3D stuff.
I want to get my pack developed and made as soon as possible so I can send it out to some companies.
I'll start doing some sketches and then mess around with the layout and stuff.
The pigeon theme will go well with the children's book illustration side of my practice, and I want to develop my narrative skills anyway.

Thank you for listening,

Becky

OUIL602 - Some nice textile design illustrators.

Dear John,

I've started to find a few textile illustrators, they're all quite samey I've found, and quite cute looking, so maybe I could do something a bit more exciting and bold to stand out.

http://www.rebeccastoner.co.uk/portfolio/

She also has an Etsy store.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RebeccaStonerDesigns

A place in London that sells designer fabrics

http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/departmenthome/dept/fabrics

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Bespokehomeinteriors?ref=l2-shopheader-name

http://petronellahall.co.uk/bespoke.html

http://hackneyandco.com/

http://www.coritarose.com/index.php

OUIL602 - Dear John

Dear John,

I found the tutorial VERY useful today, it really inspired me to get researching and contacting people and I intend on starting my contact list tonight.
I'm still a bit confused as to what I want to do when I leave uni, I've got plenty of ideas, I just need to focus them into a manageable ambition, Although I do want to aim high!

Yours Sincerely,

Becky.

OUIL602 - Business plans

During Johns briefing I had an idea for a business idea.
Buying old and worn down furniture and revamping it with illustrated fabrics and paint.
I'll have to do some research into business's like this that exist already and platforms to sell them on. I'd also have to find my own printing methods if I were to do this after uni is over, because I couldn't take a chair into uni and take it down to screenprinting.
I'd also probably have to look into learning how to re-upholster, it's all good knowing how to print onto the fabric but then I'd ALSO need to put the fabric back on the furniture, which could be difficult.

OUIL602 - My Etsy shop

To make some money over the coming year, seeing as I quit my Tesco job, I want to put a bigger focus on my Etsy store, especially making more 3D work like clay and crafty printed fabrics. I'm hoping I can combine this with my OUIL603 work so it doesn't distract me too much from uni work.
I want to start making more badges, stuff with clay, like bowls and dishes, and then combining that with patterns and character designs.

OUIL602 - I want to try out more print methods.

I love the idea of making hand printed things, but screen printing is so stressful! I haven't done any other types of printing, so I definitely want to try that out, maybe etching? I don't know how well that would work with furniture but I definitely want to give it a try.
I think that looking into different printing methods would benefit me after university ends because I'd want to have my own print set up, but screen printing set ups are big and expensive, and I will have a lack of money and a lack of space.

OUIL602 - I've decided that I want to make patterns for furniture.

I really want to start designing furniture and homeware, like stuff for the kitchen. I could buy old furniture and revamp it by screen printing designs onto fabric. I don't know if this is a proper business idea, but I definitely think there's a market for it.

Then I could take the designs to homeware places like Ikea and John Lewis and force them to hire me. A lot of designs that I've seen are pretty poop and could definitely do with an illustrators point of view on the design front. 

OUIL602 - I want to get a book published

After thinking about my COP roject and what I want to make for the practical side, I've decided I really want to get a children's book published.

I've already emailed a few naturey places, like Yorkshire Wildlife Park, asking if they want to put my activity pack in their gift shops when I'm finished, but I'd really like to show it to publishers too.

I also had an idea for a range of stupid children's books, I don't have any exact ideas yet, but one of my ideas was something like 'fun things to do to dog poo'

Even if I don't get any replies from my emails, I'd still like to take the books to publishers, once I'm happy with the way they turned out. I was looking at some publishers, because I'm a bit sure what kind of publisher would like my book. 

OUIL602 - I applied for a real job.

I recently applied for a job via The Guardian, it was for a position at a graphic design studio in the humour range of business card designs. I've been thinking about what kind of job I want after I leave, and I feel like this would be one of my dream jobs, getting paid to be funny.

I also applied for another job through the Guardian, working in the design department of George for Asda. Even though I probably won't get these jobs yet, I think I may as well apply because it gives me experience of what it's like to go through that process, and to get me thinking about where I want to work after Uni is over.

The illustrations on these cushions are a bit meh, I definitely think I could come up with something better than that.

OUIL602 - What will I do in Level 6

UUUUuuuuuuuughhhh
I'm scared.
So I think I know what interests me and what I want to build on throughout Level 6.

Throughout the summer I quit my job at Tesco so I can focus more on developing myself and putting things I'd made online to sell.

I really enjoy this, even though I've not made much money from it yet, it's fun to just make cute little craft items that I think people will like, I've especially been getting into combining my illustration with materials like lace and fabric.

I really want to start making my own clothes too. Pattern is something I'm really interested in, I think over Level 6 I want to try applying it to physical objects like clothes, homeware and crafty based things.

This probably sounds a bit dodgy, but my main motivator is money. I know that we're supposed to do things in life because they make us happy, illustration does make me happy, but I also want to make HELLA MONEY.

OUIL602 - 83 Weddings

I was recently approached by the lovely Robin, a photographer from Leeds who needed a new logo for his photography company, 83 Photography. He wanted a new logo that would help customers associate the wedding photography side of his business '83 Weddings' with his normal photography.

He saw my work on Instagram and liked the cartoony, bright colours I had used in some of my previous work. So this was the approach I took when designing his new logo.

OUIL602 - Places I could work

http://rabbithole.agency/
Bit graphic designy but, I could deal with it.

http://teabag.digital/about/

http://www.punch-creative.co.uk/

http://www.rushfirthcreative.co.uk/

http://www.robot-food.com/

http://studioraygun.co.uk/work/

http://www.bandwstudio.co.uk/

http://www.thearchipelago.eu/

http://www.elmwood.com/

OUL602 - I went to Turkey

So I went to Turkey for a week. It was the nicest possible thing and I made friends with a kitten. Or hotel was nice but we got made fun of for being vegetarian. People in Turkey are very pushy when trying to sell you things, I didn't like that.

There were lots of stray dogs and cats. That was the best part. My favourite one was a really scruffy black dog with lots of fur, he smelt a lot.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - PPP Presentation

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Final Promo Pack Outcome

Here is my final printed promo pack, including my business card, a pencil holder, a comic about myself and a zine of my work. Overall I was very pleased with the outcome although there were some things I would have liked to change. I think the paper quality looks nice, but the glossy finish gets damaged easily, and the corners have become quite scuffed, when I reprint these I will print onto matte paper instead to avoid this. The comics themselves were okay, but I would have liked to have made them longer, and spent more time developing a narrative and making it funnier. I would have wanted to make a bigger emphasis on my interests and made a few zines of things that make me laugh. I think my business cards are really well made and unique, however I didn't have time to give them a top coat, so they have got a little bit dirty and have a few marks on them.
The intend to create a series of children's books stemming from the pigeon character I created for the pack and may give these out along with it.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Evaluation

I found this module to be the most helpful and I feel like I have improved massively since Level 4. Improving on my self promotion skills has made me a lot more confident with using social media, and has shown me how useful it is to create an online presence for myself. The Life's A Pitch brief helped me consider myself within a professional context and taught me to think about how I see myself working within the industry in the future. I had not done many presentations in the past that were as successful as Life's A Pitch, so I feel like I have definitely improved in that area. The feedback that my team received was very positive as our presentation was clear and straight to the point. I feel like I have learnt the elements of a good presentation and am a lot more confident in presenting to an audience. Looking back on my previous PPP presentation from Level 4 I can see how far I've come. I feel like I have a much clearer vision of what I want to become and where my interests lay; I'm a lot more confident in myself and my work and think that this module has helped me develop my self evaluation skills also. One of the most valuable aspects of this module was definitely creating the promotional packs. I had never considered how to promote myself as a creative person, I have written CV's before, but never thought about how different a creative CV would be. 

I think the personal presence I have created for myself throughout this year has become very successful. My 'brand', I feel, is very unique and portrays my personality well. I can see a fluidity between the work I do for different modules as I become more confident in my interests and the paths that I want to take in regards to my practice. This has also spurred me on to branch out onto different websites to try and make some money from my work. Throughout the summer I intend to focus on building up a body of work on websites like Etsy to get myself more noticed.

The few commissions that I have done this year have been a definite strength, as I've learnt a lot from doing work for real people, rather than just following set briefs. Trying to please both myself and a client was difficult but also extremely rewarding, showing myself that someone would want to pay actual money for my services has given me a lot of confidence and made me excited for the future.

Blogging regularly could have been improved upon. I feel as though the massive amount of work we had for each different module made me put PPP to the back of my mind, seeing as the deadline was the last out of all of them. I wish that I had paid more attention to PPP at the beginning of the year, as I have really enjoyed it and feel as if I had spent more time on it, I would have gotten even more back. I found the PPP tasks of collecting different practitioners and blogging about them to be a bit forced, I find it hard to analyse illustration and put my thoughts down onto my blog. I have struggled with blogging from the start, and although I have improved, I still find it to be a laborious task. 

During Level 6 I want to really push myself to go out of my comfort zone, I feel like this year my stubborness has held me back a little; I have always refused to work with photography and 3D illustration because I thought that I didn't have an interest in it, but creating my promotional pack and having to think about how to make my work unique and interesting, has made me see that I do infact have an interest in broadening my practice into new areas.

I am very excited about Level 6 and seeing how much I will progress through next year. I intend to blog more regularly and become much more organised by finding a way that really works for me. I want to explore more into 3D illustration and character and narrative by expanding my personal presence into a range of children's books. I know that I need to not slack off towards the end of a module, even if I get fed up of it, which tends to happen. I will set myself stricter deadlines in order to spur me on to get the work finished to a high standard. Focussing on the end product as well as development, I feel, will help me figure out how I like to work and the proccesses I most enjoy, I want to explore more printing techniques, as I feel like this will be a large portion of my practice when I leave university. 

OUIL505 - Studio Brief 3 - Final Promo Pack Images

I tried a more simplistic approach by just using this pigeon character, he made me laugh a lot and thought that it would create a connection with whoever was looking at it. However even though it was cute and funny, I didn't think it made as much of a visual impact as the other designs, so I decided to use an older design and add the pigeon character in, so I can make him a running theme within my promotional work.

I intend to make some childrens comics/books based on him throughout Level 6.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Birdy Promo Pack

I tried something different from the simple line style that I'd been using in my other tests, and spent more time making detailed bird drawings. I thought that this would add a nice pop of colour against the pale background, but I didn't think the style that I was working with went well with the simple business card. I asked a few people and they said that the other designs reflected me much better.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Promo Pack Comics

I was struggling to design the front of the comics and get it to go well with the aesthetic of the backing image, I decided I wanted to use pens rather than digitally as I feel it's easier to get the textures that I want. I originally wanted to include the pigeon design on the front, but it looked too cluttered with the detailed background, so I decided to just use texture and hand drawn type.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Business Card

After playing around with some designs in my sketchbook, I decided that I wanted to make my business card out of polymer clay, because the final design was just a simple shape, I thought it could be quite interesting to make it out of a different material, rather than just card.

Eleanor suggested that in the future I could try lazer cutting the business cards out of plastic or wood, which I would love to try, I just don't have the time at the moment. 

I wanted to make an extra keep sake to put in my promo pack, after the tutorial with John I came up with the idea to make a pencil holder, that was a pigeons bum (because I like crude humour like that) 

After hand in I intend to make better versions of these, because due to time restrictions, I cant at the moment. 

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Promo Pack Development

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 3 - Promo Pack Mock Up

After making my business cards I started to mock up my promo pack, I came up with this idea and found that it worked straight away.

I wanted to create a tree scene so that it gave my business card a context, and I thought it looked quite cute and charming.

I had been thinking about how I would include everything in the pack that I wanted without making it too bulky. I came up with the idea of making two small comics, one called This Is Me, just explaining a bit about myself and one called I Did These, which would be a small zine of some of my other work. I want the narrative within the comics to be blunt and straight to the point, kind of like the humour in children's books. 

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Paula Greif

Paula Greif's work is more about shape than complex detail, I would say, which works well with recognisable, bold shapes, like leaves and cats.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Andrew Ludick

More ceramic illustration from Andrew Ludick. Obviously the jugs a way high above my skill level, but I could see myself making simple bowls and plates which I paint character or patterns onto. I think it would be successful combining my love of pattern making with my new found interest in ceramics.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Charlotte Mei

I think Charlotte Mei's ceramic work is possibly my favourite, especially the cat ring. They look pretty simple to make, and I think they also work with simple line detail. After some practice I'd like to branch out into more unique designs like rings and jewellery.

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Neiko Art

I find Neiko Art's work really charming and cute, she inspires me to create purely cute work and things that make me happy. I've had the idea for a while of doing pet portraits, and I can imagine doing them in this sort of neive style.

OUL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Makoto Kagoshima

Some simpler designs, again featuring animals, this seems to be popular in the ceramic art world. Makoto's work is different from the other artist's I have looked at, as he uses much duller colour schemes, which I like. 

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Laura Carlin

I am in love with wonky shaped animal pottery, I have discovered, I find them irresistibly cute. I think this would work really well with my Pigeon brand and it's something I want to look into more next year. I like the way Laura Carlin incorporates pattern and ceramics, and they are both beautiful to look at and functional. 

OUIL502 - Studio Brief 1 - Julie Van Wezemael

I found Julie Van Wezemael's work on pinterest when I was looking for illustrated ceramics while making my business cards. I've realised that I want to start expanding my practice into the 3D market, I think this will really benefit me, especially now I'm looking more into children's book illustration, because as I start looking more into character design, I can transfer my characters across different platforms to expand the range.