Virgin Media Box Exhibition

Smiley Happy Me

Ruth, who has organised the majority of the Headingley Residents Association's Virgin Media box work, invited me and the other artists to a one night exhibition to celebrate the work we'd all done. This project, although long, was super fun and a fantastic experience. I learnt so much from the process about live-painting in general, and about myself as a practitioner. Even on those cold, bitter, rainy winter days I was resilient in my box painting! Being able to meet Ruth and some of the others involved in the boxes has also been a great experience, and it's just genuinely been a lovely community project.

Photographs of our boxes were taken by a volunteer student, and printed out for the exhibition. We got to keep these after the show which I thought was a lovely gesture. It was nice to see everyone's smiley faces (and the photographer from Leeds unipol who took this photo told me mine was her favourite). All in all a super great night looking at a job well done.

Lou Bones from A.O.I.

Notes

After Thoughts

- Very useful as it was last year; Lou Bones gives me hope that I can make money from this!!!
- Inspirational to hear tales about other illustrators being paid fairly and how they went about this
- Need to treat my art as a business!! Be serious about my own worth!
- Points about licensing, copyright etc was all VERY useful!!
- Do I want an agent or not? Both Lou and Gerry have said that an agent isn't necessary to do well in illustration. Don't really know much about what an agent does? Will they take my copyright/ a right over my licensing? Hoping that talk with Ben Cox will clarify a lot of these questions!
- I like the idea of going out as a freelance artist on my own, but unsure where to start with getting big clients who will pay me good money? Could an agent help or hinder this? How much of a cut would they take?

Independent Leeds

Independent Leeds

In December David from Independent Leeds contacted me through my instagram after I tagged their page in a photo of my Virgin Media Communications Box. He asked if I would be interested in meeting up for a coffee and discussing whether or not I'd be interested in illustrating something for one of their upcoming issues. I replied promptly and we actually met up the next day to discuss the possibilities! I really enjoy meeting people face to face rather than over email / phone.

Meeting David was great, the more we spoke the more we realised we had in common, and I felt confident going forward with the project. He gave me pretty free reign on the entire thing, I told him about my dissertation topic of female zine culture and he seemed more than happy to let me write and illustrate a piece on that (but Leeds focused).

This brief was great as it taught me a lot of things;

- Communication between commissioner / client and myself

- Self initiated research and direction (reportage)

- To work to specifications

- Alter work in regards to feedback (though this was actually only applicable to adding a few things into the writing)

Seeing it in the flesh

I got a hold of the copy from David himself when we were both attending a one night exhibition of the Virgin Media communication boxes in Headingley. Both him and John were over the moon with the piece as a whole, and I've already received some great feedback via instagram from collectives and studios that read the piece. It was really great to see the piece in print too, and I feel rather accomplished. It's good to know that I can still do work that I'm passionate about, even in the commercial realm of illustration. It also got me thinking about doing more reportage / editorial pieces going forward? Reportage is something that I really enjoy, but feel I haven't really had the time to do this year. I'd love to do more going forward.

New Statesman Notes

Notes from Gerry Brakus Talk

- Comission 3 to 4 illustrations a month
- Slightly left wing magazine
- Illustration to draw people in
- People who find a different way (not email) to contact get a better response
- Small throwaway things don't work
- Editorial work is very fast paced
- Send in work that is relevant
- Check the names, job titles, spelling etc in emails or post before sending
- Art directors talk to each other; name can be passed on, they've always got their eye out
- Have a focus and strength in one genre
- Be aware of the content and context of where you're sending your work
- Be open to collaborate and change images
- Kill fee; if work doesn't fit
- Templated magazine; dimensions stay very similar
- Cover stays very similar too; needs to attract new readers and establish brand identity
- Small budget; no backups
- Build up repore with commissioner; keep badgering people
- Keep practice open
- Make use of social media to get your work out there
- Don't have to get an agent
- Be aware of audience, genre etc. Do your research before reaching out
- Big money jobs to pay for passion projects
- Consider illustrations can be re-bought
- Whole process is communicative
- Keep passion going, if not passionate then don't do it
- Remain independent in your view, keep personal standpoints seperate from work

After Thought Notes

- Brakus talk was very informative about the business side of commissioning an editorial piece.
- Made me think about my work in an editorial format
- Don't have an interest in political illustration but other editorial work may be of interest?
- Can work relatively quickly so perhaps a possible option for my work?
- When she discussed researching where you're sending your work and emails made me think about WHERE AM I SENDING MY WORK? I enjoy music illustration but I'm unsure where to send my illustrations in order to get this kind of work?? I need to do some more research!!

Richard Hawley & Nick Rhodes Notes

Notes about illustrating music

- Listen to the music as a whole
- Sum it up as an album / vibes
- Starts with writing things down as opposed to drawing straight away
- Got to believe in what you do!

Look up: Hatchprint (Nashville), Bruno Record Coves

- Two or three colours, two or three icons
- To be a designer for music you have to be a FAN of music
- Your limitations become your assets
- Struggles to make a living being solely an illustrator in this country (teaches also)
- Hawley lets Rhodes chose the image "I'm not a designer, I chose to work with people who's design I admire."
- Relationship is built on trust

After Thoughts

- Good to know that well established musician trusts illustrator to make the work without being too constricting (similar to my personal experience working with musicians)
- Very helpful to hear how Rhodes goes about making imagery for the music; writing first then illustrating; treating the album as a whole / atmosphere
- Music illustration still something I'm very interested in, little worrying about what Rhodes said about not being able to make enough money being a full time illustrator in this country (???) Just his experience however?

Joining the Dots

My 'The Dots' Account Page

Today I joined The Dots, as suggested by Patrick. Although my profile is very basic as the moment, I'm enjoying The Dots a lot more than sites such as LinkedIn. I love how easy to navigate it is, and how easily you can find companies and jobs on here. It's something I'd definitely like to get into the habit of using regularly. I need to take some time and put some projects onto my profile too, as it's looking a little bare at the moment. At first glance though, I really like The Dots, and can definitely see the benifits a site such as this could have on my career.

Tutorial with Ben

Yesterday I had a tutorial with Ben about my practice and where I see it evolving into. I always get a little worried when I think about where my practice sits because I don't feel like my work fits into one specific box. I definitely have an interest in music illustration but I'm not sure if that's what I'd want to do forever. This tutorial with Ben was EXTREMELY helpful to me. And it put to rest a lot of the worries I'd been carrying around with me about my practice.

POINTS COVERED IN TUTORIAL

- Ben asked if I see myself as an illustrator or an image maker; I told him I felt like an image maker. He agreed and discussed this with me in further detail
- Image maker allows the content and context of the brief to drive the process of image making and practice, rather than a specific process being integral to my practice (hopefully that makes sense)
- I enjoy working in a variety of ways and get bored of using one process repetitively. I always thought this was a negative to my practice as I felt my work never glued together as a cohesive body of work. We spoke about how my tone of voice is driven through attitude and content rather than media.
- Showing me practitioners who's work is varied AND successful gave me a huge boost. I've felt down in the past about having to pick one thing and stick to it; knowing I have the freedom to still experience within my practice and have a varied career is super exciting!!!

MOVING FORWARD

- Look into practitioners similar to those Ben noted down for me; still have a cohesive body of work and strong tone of voice but have work that is varied in format, media etc
- Where does this kind of work sit? How far can I push it? What parts of it really interest me??
- Art collectives, agencies, businesses that do this kind of thing? DO MORE RESEARCH !!

Comic and Film Fair (Plaza Hotel)

My trusty mate sitting at the table with me / My Table display

This weekend I took part in my first 'comic fair' to date. I haven't taken part in such fairs before as I'm not sure my work fits in the context of these sorts of events? I think tailoring my online presence and online store would be a more efficient way of finding people who want to buy my work and BOYO WAS I RIGHT

I'm not saying these kind of fairs are useless to my practice, and the experience as a whole did teach me a few things as well as push me to sort out some of my works to sell. But I think if I were to take part in a fair such as this in the future, it would have to be something more tailored to my work. I don't have any fanart / traditional comic work for sale. Though I had a few zines, people didn't really want to touch anything or get close enough to engage in conversation. Two shy girls took my free contact cards, but that was all. I spent a large part of the day putting smiley face stickers on my table cloth with my pal Amy; watching people flock to the more fan-art focused stalls.

As said though, this event forced me to consider how I package my prints and present them. I'd like to do another stall type event, but perhaps in different context. Something more focused on femininity or music illustration would appeal to me; have to keep my eyes out in the future!