anna violet

AOI Images 36 Annual

2012-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here are two of my Anansi images that have been selected for publication in the forthcoming AOI Images 36 Annual. I'm really chuffed!

Blk Art Group exhibition

2012-01-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

On a recent visit to Sheffield, I called into The Graves Gallery to find a fascinating exhibition up from the Blk Group, featuring the work of Donald Rodney, Keith Piper, Claudette Johnson and Marlene Smith.

This radical group of young black artists came together in the 1980s to make ‘defiant and thought-provoking’ work . Donald Rodney (1961-98) suffered from sickle cell anemia, and used x-rays to make up his images and examine the social/political ills of British society. Below is his image from The Britannia Hospital Series (1988). Keith Piper’s powerful Black Assassin Saints (1984) challenged Britain’s business links with South Africa at the time of apartheid. Claudette Johnson painted strong dignified women in images such as And I have My Own Business (1982).

The image that stays with me, though, is Do. Please. A Happy Ending 1987, by Marlene Smith. It is based on a family wedding photo and made up of papers, ink, gouache and pencil in black and white, where the women are especially highlighted with more white. It has a very fragile and yet fairytale quality to it that is very haunting.

Well worth a visit.

http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/graves-gallery/exhibitions/current/the-blk-art-group

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50013

Local scenes

2011-12-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

Chorlton Green (with and without xmas tree) and Beech Road park, Chorlton, Manchester, just finished.

Some of my limited edition colour prints of Lychgate, Chorlton Green, are for sale at Everyman Art Gallery on Beech Road

http://www.everymanartgallery.com/

Jungle Book b&w

2011-12-28T02:25:00.000-08:00

And some more of my black and white! Jungle Book images, including Mowgli as a toddler (being hunted by Shere Khan and found by Father Wolf), Shere Khan challenging the lone wolf (Akele), and Mowgli aged 12, fighting Shere Khan.

Alice In Wonderland b&w

2011-12-28T02:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my b&w Alice in Wonderland images.

Alice in Wonderland exhibition

2011-12-28T02:03:00.000-08:00

Have just been to see a fascinating exhibition at Tate Liverpool on Alice in Wonderland. http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/aliceinwonderland/

Lots of surrealist stuff by Dali (including his short film collaboration with Walt Disney, called 'Destino'), Max Ernst, Paul Nash and John Armstrong. The British Surrealist Group in 1936 was also dubbed 'The Children of Alice'. A series of screenprints by Peter Blake (1970) had some jazzy touches of colour. There was a great selection of Alice in Wonderland publications, including illustrated versions by Tove Jansson (1960), Ralph Steadman (1972), Andrei Martynov (1993), Lisbeth Zwerger (1999) and Deloss McGraw (2001). My favourite images were 2 large and slightly unsettling intaglio prints by Kiki Smith, 'Pool of Tears' (2000) and 'Come Away from Her' (2003). These are based on Lewis Carroll/Frank Dobson's own sketches. Plenty of inspiration!

Chutney labels

2011-12-28T01:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas & New Year

2011-12-28T01:39:00.000-08:00

Sketch-o-matic

2011-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is what the booth looked like at the Cornerhouse. Some very fast sketching going on, too at 5 mins/go and up to 3 people sitting in the booth together for a portrait... the portraits were variable! The one-way glass took a bit of getting used to - I could see the sitter close up, but they couldn't see me. Then, when I saw people I'd sketched later on in the gallery, I felt I knew them, but they didn't know me. Very strange, but great fun, too!

Cornerhouse Sketch-O-Matic

2011-11-23T05:47:00.001-08:00

I am really excited to be taking part in the Cornerhouse sketch-o-matic event starting later this week.
http://www.cornerhouse.org/art/art-events/sketch-o-matic-2
I'll be hidden in a booth doing 5 min portraits for an hour on Sat 25th Nov and an hour on Mon 28th Nov, taking turns with other artists. Come and get your portrait if you dare!

Sketch-O-Matic

Café / Bar

Thu 24 Nov 2011 – Sun 4 Dec 2011

Open daily, including evenings - see booth for timings

£1 donation per sitter to artist

In an age of buy to invest instead of buy what you like, the making of art has been torn from human hands as mass-multiple prints flood the high street, while the buying of art is seen as rarefied and reserved for a wealthy few. Sketch-O-Matic is a full size photo booth situated in our busy café-bar, but where the machinery should be is a tiny, fully equipped artist’s studio. You, the public, are invited to sit inside as if for a photograph and make a donation to the artist through a slot for a self- portrait. Wait five minutes (give or take) and the image will appear. It may be a pencil drawing, doodle, cartoon, collage or even word-poem. Take it, frame it, consider it. Now you are both patron and muse!

Image: Nick Hamilton

Sketch-O-Matic will feature micro residencies with the following artists and poets: Paul Mayers, Simon Misra, Mary Naylor, Lauren Lucie, Anne Wilkins, James Clayton, John Allison, Mandi Caine, eight bit, Kate Dunstone, Amy Marsh, Jimmy Lee, John Powell-Jones, Tasha Whittle, Lyndsey Winnington, Nick Hamilton, Jilly Cooper, Mark Aspin, David Bailey, Bethan Hamilton, Gemma Parker, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Ross Phillips, Leanne Bridgewater, Kay Williamson, Steph Pike, Jonathan Edwards, James Condon, Radu Andriuta, Len Horsey, Pascal Little, Paul Loudon, Sue Shaw and Anna Violet.

scbwi conference badges

2011-11-23T05:36:00.001-08:00

I was runner up in a badges competition and was pleased to see them being bought and worn by loads of delegates last weekend. Here they are!
The conference was great, with inspirational speakers including Chris Riddell and Karin Littlewood. Will post some notes up when I get the chance.

Manchester & Salford Illustrated

2011-10-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

I'm really chuffed that my work has been selected to be part of an exhibition in Manchester starting this week.
This is the first Manchester and Salford Illustrated exhibition (#MASI) at 52 Princess Street, Manchester 27th October – 10th November
http://www.manchesterandsalfordillustrated.co.uk/
30 local illustrators will be showing their work under the banner of "What Manchester means to Me." Prints will be available for sale to raise money for the Manchester-based charity, the Wood Street Mission.
Here's a peek of my submission!

This is the thinking behind it:-

What Does Manchester Mean to Me?
I am awestruck by Castlefield's viaducts and bridges. Castlefield was the heart of Manchester's industrial revolution and remains an iconic symbol of the making of Manchester to me. Here we have the terminus of the world's first industrial canal and also the world's first passenger railway. The Bridgewater and Rochdale canals join at this canal basin, which is crossed by four enormous Victorian viaducts and an elegant modern footbridge, Merchants Bridge. Two of the viaducts are still used by trains and metrolink uses another.
Castlefield is also the site of the Roman fort, Mamucium. This is the origin of the name of Manchester. The fort appears to have inspired some of the amazing castellations and towers on one of the viaducts, too. I often wonder what the soldiers based at Mamucium would make of this area today.
My image illustrates this part of Castlefield with the viaducts, canal basin, leisure boats, trains and metrolink. The soldiers at the fort, Mamucium, look over the scene.

How Anansi Got His Stories now published!

2011-09-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited seeing the book in print at last. I finished the illustrations in early spring, and they have reproduced really well, with all the colours just as I'd hoped. Oxford University Press have chosen and arranged the type, including the cut-out typeface on the cover, which I think looks great. Here is a selection from the 32 page book.

My children used to bring the Oxford Reading Tree books back from primary school to read at home, as part of their homework. So I felt really chuffed to be involved in illustrating one of them - my homework this time! The story is a great one, too, about a trickster spider, which has been retold in a fun way by Trish Cooke.

How Anansi Got His Stories

2011-08-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

How Anansi Got His Stories will be published next month by Oxford University Press, and I'm very excited because I did the illustrations for it.

Here are some links from Oxford University Press:-

http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/oxfordreadingtree/traditional_tales/more_information/

http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/oxed/primary/ort/traditional_tales/traditional_tales_leaflet.pdf
Some of my illustrations are up too on this leaflet - the leopard and Anansi the spider.

It's now listed on Amazon and Pickabook has this information up on:-
http://www.pickabook.co.uk/0198339771.aspx

The Oxford Reading Tree Traditional Tales series is a collection of some of the best known stories from around the world carefully adapted for children to read themselves. Anansi is a character who appears in many African and Caribbean tales, and will do anything to become King of Stories.

Synopsis:

How Anansi Got His Stories is a tale of a familiar character from many African and Caribbean tales. Anansi the trickster wants everyone to listen to his stories, but he will have to complete three challenges before he is proved worthy of the title King of Stories...This humorous story written by Trish Cooke and vividly illustrated by Anna Violet will capture your child's imagination! It has been sensitively rewritten to enable your child to read it with confidence whilst capturing the magic of the original tale. There are useful tips for parents and an engaging story map inside the book to help you and your child retell the story together. The Oxford Reading Tree Traditional Tales series includes 40 of the best known stories from all over the world, which have been passed down for generations. They are a perfect introduction to different cultures, traditions and morals. All the stories are carefully levelled to Oxford Reading Tree stages and matched to the phonic progression in Letters and Sounds enabling your children to read the stories independently...

Amy Winehouse tribute

2011-08-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

I am sad about the death of Amy Winehouse. Her songs were amazing. Here is my tribute portrait of her.

Portrait in newsprint

2011-07-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

Rebekah Brooks portrait, constructed from torn up newsprint apologies from News International. I think the black & white version is the most dramatic.

Portraits

2011-07-07T03:03:00.000-07:00

Guess who they are!

Yet more black and white

2011-07-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

More black and white

2011-06-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

Maps and plans: Chorlton Open Gardens June 2011

2011-06-28T02:51:00.000-07:00

Images I did for Wildlife Watch Garden at Chorlton Open Gardens, Manchester, June 19th 2011.

Featured illustrator British SCBWI

2011-05-31T01:32:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to be the featured illustrator for Society Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, June-Aug. This is because I won the illustrator's competition at SCBWI in Winchester last November. here is the link:
http://britishscbwi.jimdo.com/featured-artist/

Puddle tea party in black and white

2011-05-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

Puddle tea party

2011-05-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

Gossiping prawns drinking puddle tea. Some characters for my story, The Magic Puddle.

Anne Wilson - Gold prize-winner Serco London Transport

2011-05-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is so eye-catching! I have a storybook that Anne Wilson illustrated that has inspired me over the years, called 'Growing Good' - with wonderful colours, textures and perspectives.

Here is something from her website:-

Anne has practiced illustration for over 15 years and has completed an MA with a distinction in illustration at Central St Martins College of Art, London.

She enjoys investigating narrative, communicating ideas and themes through colourful collages and layers of pattern and texture.

She constructs her images in layers, rolling out backgrounds with printing inks, onto which she combines more layers of stencils, intricately cut and mono printed papers, acrylic washes, painted details and drawing. Some of her images are refined further in Photoshop.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/AnneWilson/gallery/55

Jillian Tamaki - embroidered book covers

2011-05-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

These are so gorgeous - taken from Jillian's website:-

Penguin THREADS Classics
Client: Penguin USA

These three book covers were embroidered by hand over the course of 2 months. Three books were a lot to pull off, but I am such a sucker for classic literature and book illustration... how could I say no? The covers will be sculptural-embossed and are full wraparound images with french flaps (click the small picture to enlarge). They will be available for sale in October, 2011.

http://www.jilliantamaki.com/embroidery/penguin-thread

More black & white

2011-05-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

I just love the way ink dries. Sometimes it works so well, but I've got to get the dilution, angle of the board and drying time just right - as in these leaves.

Fast sketching - shoppers

2011-05-16T01:21:00.000-07:00

Some fast-sketching around Chorlton precinct.

Open the book

2011-03-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Foxy books

2011-03-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

Chasing the news

2011-03-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

The Outsider by Camus

2011-01-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

"For a while nobody moved; it was all sunlight and silence, except for the tinkle of the stream and those three little lonely sounds."

"...he was staring hard at me, as if he had been waiting for me to wake..."

"What these people were looking for in me wasn't anything to laugh at, but signs of criminality..."

Merry Christmas

2010-12-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

Chorlton refurb

2010-12-16T03:19:00.000-08:00

Images I did last month for Chorlton Refurbishment Group leaflets and website.

SCBWI winner

2010-11-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

I won the scbwi (Society Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators) Undiscovered Voices Tribute Competition at the annual conference in Winchester last weekend, and I'm chuffed to bits! Tim Truong (Stripes Publishing) said it had the most competent sense of design, use of colour and understanding of the role of a cover. Wow!

John Shelley, from scbwi, has also set up an on-line gallery for the illustrator's exhibition set up at the conference. You can view this on http://www.wix.com/scbwibi/winchester

scbwi conference illustration exhibition

2010-11-05T04:38:00.000-07:00

The scbwi (society children's writers and illustrators) annual conference is in Winchester, 13th-14th November. There will be an exhibition of children's book illustrations. I'm really pleased my hare & tortoisehas been selected to go up.

Chutney labels

2010-11-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

For the mountains of apple chutney we made last August.

Black and white

2010-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some b&w ink drawings of children for the educational market.

SCBWI Illustration Competition

2010-11-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of images I have produced for SCBWI (Society Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)
Illustration Competition: Undiscovered Voices Tribute Challenge.
The first illustration is a cover for Adele (by Anne M Leone). This is about a young teenager who spends a summer holiday in Michigan with her aunt. When a ghostly face appears in the window, the girl discovers the house hides a dark history of slavery.

The other illustration is a cover for The Truth About Celia Frost (by Paula Rawsthorne). The main character has a disorder that leaves her in constant fear of bleeding to death. Then she is the victim of a knife attack...

AOI Images 34 show

2010-09-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

AOI Images 34 show last week in London last week.

My fox is now in the AOI Images 34 annual, so I'm

really chuffed.

Aesops characters: The lion and the mouse

2010-09-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Aesops characters: The fox and the stork

2010-09-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Aesops characters: The hare and the tortoise

2010-09-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Wedding card

2010-09-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Decorative Map

2010-06-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely commission last month to produce a decorative map for the National Trust. This was published on their leaflets to promote one of their Welsh sites during the Radio One Big Weekend. A tight schedule but fun to do. The site looks gorgeous in their photos and hope to get around to visiting one day.

London Transport Competition

2010-05-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

Image to promote London's new cycle superhighways. With a nod to Saul Steinberg!

Andy Perez

2010-05-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Some gorgeous collages.http://andytheillustrator.com/blog
This one is Grow Your Own Food.

New paintings

2010-05-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

Last month I got back into doing original paintings of local areas, but from a very different angle, and using collage too. Exhibited at green Walk arts and Crafts open weekend (1st and 2nd May) and got some good feedback. Here is one of them - the lychgate at Chorlton Green.

Chris Ofili exhibition

2010-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Impressive exhibition at Tate Britain of Manchester-born artist who won Turner prize in 1998. Uses variety of media, including decorated balls of elephant dung. My favourites were his beautiful liquid small-scale watercolours, Afromuses (1995-2005) with areas of intense colour within the varying shades of brown.

Alan Fletcher exhibition

2010-03-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

An impressive exhibition of Alan Fletcher's work at The Cube, Manchester.

The Fox the Crow and the Smelly Old Cheese

2010-03-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

A new colour palette.

Enormous crocodile

2010-03-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

Another spread where crocodile trying to disguise himself as a coconut palm.

Didn't See It Coming

2010-02-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

This book has been on sale in Magma bookshop, Manchester, since last year. It is a collaboration between Stockport & Kingston college illustration students, with images based on the consequences idea of interchangeable heads, bodies and legs. My colander-head features in it.

I also did a project a couple of years ago, set by the 'Leonard Cheshire Disability', which used the idea of consequences for a set of beermats (showing 6 interchangeable characters).

Crocodile character development and sketches

2010-02-26T04:33:00.000-08:00

Jousty Mouse character development and sketches

2010-02-26T04:28:00.000-08:00

Nobrow competition

2010-02-26T04:19:00.000-08:00

People I have never met and conversations I have never had.

Brighter colours for Jousty Mouse

2010-02-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

The brighter colours give a completely different feel and appeal to a younger age group, too.

Eye Candy Illustration Agency

2010-01-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

I've been noticing illustrator's work from Eye Candy quite a bit lately - Luciano Lozano (1st 3 images), Ned Joliffe and Sophie Joyce(last image). Some gorgeous textures. Eye Candy has been going since 2002 and has base in London and NY.

Talk to me!

2010-01-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

January water detox

2010-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Owen Goldersleeve

2009-12-31T01:33:00.000-08:00

I love this - found it on Nate Williams blog - postcard by Owen Goldersleeve of Collective Evening Tweed.

Ethical wood?

2009-12-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last year the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a report claiming that up up 30% of the wood we use comes from illegal sources, with the UK the second-biggest imported in Europe. So how can you be sure that when you buy bark, fencing panels and garden furniture, you're not contributing to deforestation, climate change & environmental damage...

With a look of "hello, where is everyone", the baby slid into my arms...

2009-12-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

The unexpected delivery of a baby at home by the father.

Seasons Greetings!

2009-12-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

Lots of snow!

Crab apple or nettle wine - which is it to be?

2009-12-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Our England is a garden full of stately views...and avenues...peacocks strutting by...

2009-11-30T05:22:00.000-08:00

This image is inspired by Alan Titchmarsh's comment page at the back of BBC Gardener's World magazine! He has used quotes from Kipling to expand on his love of avenues of beech trees. I loved the idea of morphing peacocks and beech trees.

AOI Images34 book

2009-11-30T05:16:00.000-08:00

I was thrilled to find my fox image has been accepted for publication in the AOI Images 34 book next year. Here is the image.

Mousey and the Red-Eyed Monster

2009-11-30T05:08:00.000-08:00

I have been reworking my Mousey And the Scary Climate Monster story in the light of comments from others at SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers And Illustrators) - which has been very helpful. Here is the revised storyboard. The monster is less literal and more is left to the imagination with him. Also, there is more about Mousey at the beginning.

The Enormous Crocodile

2009-11-30T04:23:00.000-08:00

Another double-page spread completed! Also more tweakings to mugglewump and background.

I have re-vamped my website, too, using iweb. This is very user-friendly, although the options are fewer than those in Dreamweaver, and the download time is longer than my previous website (although this may also be because I've put in larger images this time!).

The Fox the Crow & the Smelly Old Cheese

2009-11-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a storyboard based on one of Aesop's Fables and have completed a colour double-page spread.

The Enormous Crocodile

2009-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest revision. Croc is less scarey, Mugglewump is swinging from a branch and the log has been merged into the background a bit more. I'm going to leave this for a week or so and come back with fresher eyes...I'm not sure now whether to tone down Mugglewump's colour...

Plum Pudding childrens book agent

2009-10-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

I joined Plum Pudding in August and am now up on their website at http://www.plumpuddingillustration.com/.

I am currently making some other images to go on their website, using text from Roahl Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile. Here are a couple of them. I am pleased with the movement in them & also the colour pallette. I prefer the one with the textured background and my children prefer it too, because it has more depth and interest. However, there is a voice in my head that keeps saying, 'less is more', but I think too little can be sterile, in a children's book. I need to work on the monkey, Mugglewump, and make the croc a little less scary. I have been looking at the textures in Eric Carle's and Catherine Rayner's (Augustus and His Smile) work, and combining ink and tissue.

Zaha Hadid

2009-09-10T04:03:00.000-07:00

Amazing architectural acoustic installation at City art gallery where audience wrapped in what seemed like a very large ribbon.

MMU show June 09

2009-09-10T03:30:00.000-07:00

I was impressed by a lot of the illustrations in the MMU show - especially Gemma Wood's textured inkwork.

The Magic Puddle

2009-06-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

Here is an image I made last year for my story idea, The Magic Puddle. The collage and ink is very similar to the fairy image in the last post, although it is combined with tissue paper rubbings rather than plant material.

Freddie and the Fairy

2009-06-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

I entered the Waterstones competition last month in a hurry, since it was due in a week after the major hand-in. I used a lot of found plant material which I combined with images I had already made. It was fun to do and here are some of the results. I need to rework some of them so they gell together a bit more. I am pleased with the fairy and the mouse.

Mousey and the Scary Climate Change Monster

2009-06-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the updated images for Mousey and the Scary Climate Change Monster. The animals seem to work a lot better when they go across the double page spread. Now I need to work on the monster a bit more to make it more scary and more original.

Here is the storyboard too, in b&w.

My Website

2009-06-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

My website is up and running on www.annaviolet.co.uk

Mousey and the Scary Climate Change Monster

2009-04-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

These are some of my images for my major project, using inks and collage.

Green Walk Open House

2009-04-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

I will be at no 12 this w/e. Not a good time, I know, the w/e before the hand-in, but please come & visit if you can! Several houses will be open & there is a good atmostphere.

Big Orange Studio collective

2009-04-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Talk from Andy Pavitt 22/04/-9

Andrew Pavitt came to talk to us about the Big Orange Studio collective in Shoreditch, London. Big Orange can offer an internship for a Stockport College student this summer for one week, which would be a good opportunity to make contacts and get a feel for what a collective is like. Last year, Dan & Martin from Stockport were involved with an AOI poster which got mailed out with the magazine - & they were able to take 500 copies of the poster away with them.

The studio collective was started 15-16 years ago by RCA students including Andy Lovell and Darrell Rees. Peepshow, Container and Le Gun are all collectives, too. Big Orange currently has 8 illustrators and shares studio space with AOI, which has anywhere between 4-12 people, depending on any internships (AOI also take on illustration graduates – recently from RCA, Kingston, London).

Andy talked about the many advantages of a collective – pooling resources, sharing rent (£200/month each), phones, photocopier, computer network. Maybe the biggest advantage is the support network to keep you going at illustration. If you work on your own you need to be very well organised, good at promotion and not prone to loneliness. He feels they have a good mix of skills and personalities at the studio. They even share contacts, although this can be a problem at times if someone has spent a lot of time building up a contact. The Editorial contacts are maybe less precious, though. They do occasionally work together, although they have not done so recently. Paul Davis is the illustration editor for The Drawbridge paper, a good promo magazine & platform for illustration (comes out once/2 months).

The studio is open 24 hours/day, and this is really important in order to meet deadlines, especially for editorials with daily papers and work in America, where there are different time zones. Toby Morison sometimes comes in at 5am to meet a deadline, and then takes a kip in the studio!

The disadvantage to a collective? You need to fit with others and their music tastes. The dynamics change with the mix of people, and personality clashes could be a problem, although it has not really been an issue at Big Orange.

I had thought I would prefer to work as an illustrator from the comfort of home, but I can now see the numerous advantages in working as part of a collective and pooling resources and support. It would be a lot more expensive, though, and the pressure to find work would be more intense in order to pay the studio rent.

Comparison between 2 practitioners

2009-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have chosen to compare and contrast Chris Corr and Otto Dettmer as practitioners. I visited Chris in London and listened to Otto's talk last month. They are very different in their processes and practices; they operate in different markets, with few overlaps. What can I learn from this that I can apply to my work?

Chris Corr is an fine artist as well as an illustrator. He trained at the Royal College of Art and won a drawing prize to study in America. This perhaps enabled him to get started on his path as an illustrator in the travel market. He has managed to translate his talent for observational drawing and painting into successful contemporary illustrations. He also taught drawing one day/week when he was establishing himself. His colouful gouache illustrations have a clear and unmistakeable style. They are warm and tactile with a folk art feel. He only uses the computer to scan his work in.

Apart from travel illustrations, Chris’s market includes editorials, children’s books, adult fiction and world map canvases. His clients are wide-ranging and include Qantas, Windstar Cruises, Royal Mail, Folio Society, Sherbet, BBC, Barefoot Books and Habitat. His agent, Illustration Web, gets him 1/3^rd of commissions. For promotion, he sends emails, contacts ADs and has exhibitions of original works. After a trip to India, he came back with a one-person show, ‘Wel-come to India’, which was followed by a book and a short BBCTV film. Royal Mail sent him to Bosnia to paint the peace-keeping troops. Although Chris works on his own, he does team up sometimes with Brian Grimwood to do work for resturants and magazines.

Chris’s influences include folk art, primitive art, the Contructivists, Le Corbusier, Paul Klee, Ben Nicholson and Max Beckham. His passions appear to include travel, observation and painting.

Otto Dettmer, on the other hand, is a conceptual illustrator who largely specialises in editorials. He started off on a graphics course in Bristol, and followed this with an MA in screen-printing at Kingston. His commercial work is a mixture of photography, found images and flat shapes worked up together on the computer. He also makes screen-printed books for bookfairs. He is also fascinated by consumerism and consumer culture. His editorial work is conceptual, clever and pared-down with a simple message, but it is not always instantly-recognisable as Otto’s work.

Otto’s illustration market is mainly confined to editorial work, although he has done 2 big advertising jobs, which he didn’t enjoy. His editorial clients include the Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, Times Supplement, Economist and Time Out. His market does extend into Europe, with work for Le Monde and Freitag. He was unable to get an agent, which he thinks is because the editorial market is not very lucrative and his style is not always clear. He is very much a lone wolf who certainly doesn’t want to work with other illustrators. He is very persistent in his marketing approach, and used to travel to London once/week with 7 appointments/day, seeing ADs and agents. He doesn’t think his early work was very good and he often didn’t get further commissions from the client, but his persistence and practice has paid off. He regularly sends out promotional materials, often original and screen-printed. He finds that getting his work into daily national papers is also very good self-promotion. He also resells his work wherever possible, and advertises this on his website.

Otto’s influences include Polish poster designers, film (especially Hitchcock & Lang), Russian constructivists, Renaissance painters, neo-classical painters and sculptures, photography and found imagery. His passions appear to include screen-printing books and bookfairs.

Otto has had to embrace computer technology and compile an extensive library of images (over 1000) to enable him to meet tight editorial deadlines, where he may only have a few hours to prepare and send off the image. Chris has built up a lot of observational studies during his travels, which he is able to translate into his illustrations. Chris has a more traditional, fine-art approach than Otto, but also has more time to develop his illustrations as paintings, which he can supplement with exhibitions of original paintings. Otto, on the other hand, is in a less lucrative market and has to resell his editorial images.

What lessons can I learn from the way these 2 practitioners work? To make it in illustration you have to make striking images that communicate well, like both Chris and Otto do. I would need to work on this! I can do the observational studies, but have difficulty translating these into successful contemporary illustrations. You also have to be persistent, determined, professional, efficient, good at networking and lucky. I need to develop my networking and efficiency. I would personally prefer Chris’s broader market to Otto’s, because I think it is more interesting and varied. You can also spend more time away from the computer and not be faced with constant tight deadlines. I also prefer making and drawing to spending lots of time on the computer, but I find the computer is very useful for tweaking and adapting images. However, I think editorial work is a good way to get started, because there is so much of it (unfortunately, along with thousands of illustrators chasing it!). Also, I was hoping to do some b&w children’s illustrations for the educational market, which is apparently abundant (AOI Children’s seminar 2007), if you can draw children okay. I will also approach gardening and baby/children’s magazines. I do also occasionally exhibit my paintings and take commissions to sketch children’s portraits, and I could expand this some more with a more contemporary edge. I like the idea of having an agent who can not only bring you work, but also get your work in front of particular clients, such as Scholastic Educational Publishing. However, I need to have had some work published first and done a fair bit of promotion on my own. I also realise that finding the right agent can be difficult.

My passions include our environment, books and making images. I adore textures and materials and love working in ink, collage, clay and tissue paper. I also enjoy drawing from observation, especially people. I therefore also intend to target editorials with famous faces/climate change issues, and I aim to develop this in the final stages of my major project.

Agents Who Needs Them

2009-04-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

Does an illustrator need this middleman in the creative process? What do agents do for their percentage? Can they enhance or hinder your career or creativity? What methods have new illustrators used to promote themselves in the past and what methods do I intend to use?

An agent isn’t for everyone, and agents can be quite choosey who they take on. Also, they rarely represent new graduates. The main problem is finding the right agent for you and the right mutual agreement. The AOI’s The Illustrator’s Guide to Law and Business Practice (Simon Stern 2008), the AOI's Survive (2001) and Darrel Rees’s How To Be An Illustrator (2008) have loads of advice on this. A lot will depend on how much self-promotion you want to keep on doing and whether you are keen to have direct contact with your clients. Also, illustrators can be keen to get an agent because they think doing so can give them security and employment, when this is not necessarily the case. Darrel Rees points out that having an agent can actually end up feeling like a prison sentence!

The Society of Artists' Agents (SAA) was formed in 1992, and this works with the AOI with the broad aim of improving the working practices between illustrators, agents and clients. The AOI lists agents who are members of the SAA on their website. The AOI also has a chatroom where many illustrators post up their experiences of agencies.

What do agents do for their percentage of 20-30%? The agent can offer experience and professional advice, use the reputation of the whole agency to promote you, give you access to a particular pool of clients and negotiate the larger more complex jobs on your behalf (Rees 2008). They also take portfolios to clients, keep portfolios updated and fresh, do invoicing and paperwork and act as a buffer between the illustrator and the client (Stern 2008) Joy Monkhouse, the design manager from Scholastic Educational Publishing, said (at AOI Children’s Book seminar 2007) that they always go through agencies to get illustrators, rather than respond to individual illustrators.

You have to find the right agent who deals with your kind of work. Darrel Rees points out that by using an agent, you may lose the chance to start learning from your own experience and to establish your own client base. Some agents are happy to let the illustrator deal with editorial work, while they concentrate on the higher-paid work (advertising and design group). The AD for Gardeners World told me he tended to deal directly with illustrators rather than agencies (although he did use Inkshed agency), perhaps for this reason. Ian Pollock told me (telephone interview 2007) that his agent (Inkshed) was there for the big job. Jill Calder had a UK agent (Eastwing) for a short while, but then decided she would rather do her own promotion in the UK, but she let another agent, Friends and Johnson, promote her in America and negotiate any big jobs in Europe, such as advertising campaigns. Jill reckons agents can earn you more money for a job, if you have the right one. This is because they are a step removed from your artwork, so they can be very good a telling you where and when you need to market your work, but not all agents are this good (email interview 2009). Andy Martin finds that his agent (Heart) gets him plenty of work and is good at negotiating high fees on his behalf, and this make his hefty monthly promotion payment to the agency worthwhile. Andy has an agent because he got fed up going out and getting work. Andrew Pavitt has had a couple of agents, but they did not work out for him. Illustration Web gets Chris Corr about one third of his work. In other agreements, the agent finds all the work, but this can be a problem if this isn’t enough or the right type. Therefore, it is very important that both the illustrator and the agent are clear on what they expect from each other from the outset.

Stern (2008) suggests that this agreement should include the following:

*Area and market.

*Ratio of agency staff : illustrators (much more than 1:8 could mean not enough work is coming in)

*Amount of work. *Commission (currently 25-30% basic commissions, 20% editorials, 40% for work outside UK).

*Promotional expenses (who pays for what).

*Terms and conditions (copyright & artwork ownership)

*Invoicing procedures

*Accounting (how & when illustrator paid & right to inspect accounts)

*Agency liability (insurance against loss of artwork)

*Parting company (when does payment of commission cease?).

Darrel Rees also suggests that you should find out how the agency gets commissions, what clients they have and how they deal with client contracts and disputes. Also, it may help to find out what driving force led to the agency becoming set up.

Otto Dettmer told us, in his talk at Stockport, that he had tried but failed to get an agent, because agents weren’t interested in getting editorial work and needed a clear style, rather than a conceptual one.

How do graduates promote themselves? Otto Dettmer used to go to London once/week with 7 appointments for the day, seeing ADs and agents. His editorials in the daily papers now act as good promotion, which he supplements with mail-outs of screen-printed promo work to ADs. Gillian Blease followed AOI advice and did mock-ups for papers which she mailed out and it has taken her 10-15 years to get to this point, and she still does regular mail-outs. Chris Corr won a drawing prize which started him on his travels and ultimately into the travel market. Jill Calder took her portfolio to lots of ADs, listened to their advice, lightened up her style and did lots of networking. She had a style that was flexible without being Jack-of-all-trades. Jill reckons it took her a year to get known in Scotland and a few more years to get known in the UK, when she got work with The Guardian & The Telegraph & also got taken on by an agent. She believes you really have to really be in love with illustration, so no other job will tempt you away, and be prepared to do some jobs as freebies and to do some really crappy jobs too. She suggests you should take advantage of free folio websites and networking events and make as many contacts as possible...be patient, be proactive, organise exhibitions, stalls at festivals, invite loads of designers, and spend money to make money. Jill uses her blog, The ispot, Flickr, 741 Illustration Collective and her website for marketing, and she has links with other websites and blogs, too. She emails out too, and sometimes sends postcards, but she believes nothing beats a visit with a folio and word of mouth networking.

What methods will I use? Firstly, I have to sort out that fantastic portfolio (could be a problem) and get my website working. Then I need to continue contacting ADs by phone, mail and email. I will target editorial work and publishing, enter competitions, approach environmental charities to do freebies and try and follow Jill’s advice wherever I can on networking. I may need to try and get a children’s book agent (such as Frances Mckay) in order to do b&w linework for children’s educational materials. I had hoped this would be my foot-on-the-ladder work, unless I can get access to this pool of clients directly without an agent.

Climate change

2009-04-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting animation on climate change that I came across in my research for my major project. It is animated by staff at Royal College of Art (2008), & Paul Davis is credited too. The graphics are great (largely white pencil lines & textures against & black) and the message is clear (written & directed by Leo Murray).

climate change for dummies in a video Wake up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip
http://wakeupfreako ut.org/film/ tipping.html

This is a link to Robert Newman's A History of Oil, shown on Channel 4 last year, which is laugh-aloud funny, but rather long.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5267640865741878159&ei=n8Z7Sb-2C4bCwgO1xr2uDQ&q=robert+newmans+history+of+oil

Robert Stewart

2009-04-11T03:01:00.001-07:00

Ian has suggested I look at Robert Stewart for inspiration, and I am very impressed with his work. He was an influential Scottish designer (1924-1995) who taught at the Glasgow School of Art 1949-84. He was a prolific designer-artist involved with printed textiles, tapestries, ceramics, fashion & graphics. He produced work for numerous companies, including the Edinburgh Tapestry Company and Liberties (1950s)

His style is based on human forms (skittle-shaped) or faces (moon, sun, masks) and there is hardly a truly straight line in sight. His main motifs are clover leaves, spirals, triangles and circles. He uses the idea of flight a lot, too. His interesting shapes appear to be cut-outs. His style looks quirky and fresh, even today. I like the way line & shape are put together to form a pattern, with a limited selection of colour.

I found a fascinating snippet in Liz Arthur's book, Robert Stewart Design 1946-95 (London 2003, p56), where he describes his selling spree of 1950. "I did my salesman bit, carrying my case around all the best London stores. I learnt a lot ... I was kept waiting for hours, then they wouldn't even look at my wares." In Liberties, the buyer told him to 'take that rubbish away', but Mr Stewart-Liberty himself then asked him to return.

Demetrios Psillos

2009-04-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have been noticing illustrations by Demetrios Psillos lately in the Saturday Guardian. He's had this clown-like character for a few weeks running, who is very eye-catching. Demetrios is based in London & does work for Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, New Yorker. Spectator, Sunday Times.. He also does lots of portraits. He uses paint & collage & has lots of wobbly lines. Website www.demetriospsillos.com/

Stockporticus Talk from Damian Gascoigne March 09

2009-03-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

We had a very entertaining talk from Damian Gascoigne last week. Damian teaches on the animation course at Kingston & has worked as a freelance animation director for the past 25 years. His commercial work fuels his personal projects.

Research
Damian stressed the importance of research for him. He’s always snooping around, doodling, snapping, collecting. He spoke of the joy of sketching on a weeks location in Lisbon with the students last year. He particularly loves observing awkward poses made by the students.

Influences
Japanese illustrator- ‘Ryohei – on ‘cartoon modern’ website. He did 1950s animation in America. Lewis Cook – ‘The Pierce Sisters’ – 3D work hand-rendered & fed back into computer. Also Alexander Calder.

Personal work
Recent projects ‘Compilation’ & ‘The Love Books”. He reckons you need to be obsessive to persue personal work. He kept a picture diary for years with the main theme of unrequited love. This amounted to 27 books! He exhibited part of this collection as ‘The Love Books’, by projecting some of the pages onto an enormous polystyrene book. Also projected animation of a woman rising up out of a table, like a ghost. Quite haunting.

Pitch Requiem
Damien pitched for 7 commercials last year, which he didn’t get. Luckily, his 8th attempt worked. This pitching amounted to 3 months solid work. Don’t get paid to pitch & very expensive & competitive. Toughest year so far for him was last year. Works within Picasso Pictures as a freelance animation director. He loves the work, but said you need nerves of steel in this business.

New Territory

Has started moving into 3D computer animation, but from a drawn animation background. He explains why this is important to him when describing his process for his animation, ‘Careful’ on his website (www.animateonline.org/films/careful/stills.html ), as follows:-

“Firstly I questioned the way in which the 3D line work objects are constructed, by putting together deliberately mismatching surfaces of objects, so that the final piece looked liked badly made flat pack furniture. This betrayed its origins as a series of drawings.
Secondly I left in all the rough by-products of my ink drawings, spatters and blobs, inconsistent line weights, accidental transfers from page to page. The exciting thing for me was that these elements began to exist in the space as well as the main objects, trailing around on their own strange orbits, as chairs and turntables twisted and turned.
Thirdly I decided to disconnect the objects from their ground and background, because somehow every time we connected them together to a camera, the whole thing just ended up looking like an arty computer game. To do this we separated layers of line work and set them on slightly offset paths and then created faked backgrounds that did not follow the same camera path at all, but moved in independent but sympathetic directions.
Fourthly I decided to leave some objects as 2D drawings and others as full 3D objects. Placing them in the same space we allowed the nature of drawing as suggestion of form to remain close to the surface.
The thinking underpinning these decisions came from a belief that the pursuit of ‘reality’ that dominates current thinking in 3D computer animation is a misguided and limited path. We don’t need to worry about how things really look. We can see them perfectly well. It is our job as artists to imagine them again.”

Storyboard is the biggest struggle. He loves working in a team, with animators, modelmakers, technical people – all with specialist skills. Got a modelmaker to build his character & then used combination of 3D animated shapes & drawn elements to flatten the image. He draws small – uses a reed pen & rough materials.

A very thought-provoking lecture, especially on the nature of observation, drawing and re-imagining.

Visit to Chris Corr’s studio in London

2009-03-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Rose & I visited Chris Corr in his studio on 4th March as part of our professional practice trip to London. Chris Corr was very welcoming and answered our questions helpfully and patiently. His studio was packed with shelves full of books, a stack of framed original paintings, colourful observational studies on the wall and a desk with work in progress. Not a computer in sight (he does use one to scan in his final work & send it off). I came away enthused & determined to do more work- even painting - without using the computer.

Influences
Chris had answered an enquiry for Liam a year or so ago about his influences and working methods, so we knew Chris’s influences included modern architecture, folk art, primitive art, the constructivists, Le Corbusier (a painter as well as an architect), Paul Klee, Ben Nicholson and Max Beckham. Chris talked enthusiastically about the current Le Corbusier exhibition at the Barbican and suggested that the British library was well worth a visit too.

Commissions
Colourful gouache paintings, noses often different colours (reflecting different surroundings). Colours influenced by travels - especially to India. Editorials, children’s books (Barefoot Books & others), adult fiction, colourful world map canvases for Habitat. His illustrations for Folio Books were amazing - Simone de Beauvoir’s The Mandarins had sumptuous full page illustrations, and yet it is an adult book. With children’s books, sometimes he teams up with a writer and other times he is teamed up with a writer. Likes to present several ideas for a job. Could see on his desk that his final painted image accurately followed a b&w line rough. His portfolio was full of his commissions.

Promotion
Chris emails stuff & rings ADs. Exhibitions of original painting too. Agent is Illustration Web, who gets him third of commissions.

Lone Wolf
Mainly works on own, but sometimes gets together with Brian Grimwood, who works quickly and uses lots computer imagery. Do work together for restaurants and magazines.

Getting started
Chris won a drawing prize at college which enabled him to live in America for 5 months. He also taught 1 day/week as a drawing tutor. His first commissions were for a newspaper to draw some jazz musicians, some architecture and some poems.

What makes the difference between success or failure as an illustrator?
Drawing, collecting, passion for your work.

What advice would you give to illustrators just starting out?
Be yourself, be organised, meet deadlines, make sure you communicate well.

Otto Dettmer talk 9th March 2009

2009-03-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Otto gave a fascinating talk at college last Monday. He combines making screen-printed books for bookfairs with commercial illustrator work, using photoshop. In 1991, he started on a graphics design course at Bristol & in 1995 he started an MA in screen-printing at Kingston.

Mails out A1 folded screeprint sheets promo material he showed us an example of collated images of work he’d done for The Guardian. Did 2 years work for Independent On Sat magazine. Finds that prices have largely remained the same over the last 20 years for illustration work – but can maybe work faster now with computers than before. He now finds the best self-promo is doing work for daily newspapers, because work gets seen so much. When he started, for every 10 clients he saw, 1 would give him work. Often just did one job, & then not invited again. He finds that ADs in Britain more ready to give new illustrators a try & then just as ready to stop commissioning them, whereas in France, he finds it’s more a question of who you know & the relationship becomes more personal. 6 months work for Le Monde. Telegraph magazine – AD Gary Cochran very good to work with. Times supplement. Sends 4-5 roughs, usually 2-3 ideas. Goes for defined block of illustration so paper finds it harder to mess about with. Currently doing weekly Guardian comment column – gets brief at 1pm & has to get it back for 6pm. He finds that the simpler the idea, the better – but cannot always come up with a simple idea in the given time. Allows 2 hours for rough & 2 hours for artwork.

Influenced by Polish designers, film (especially Hitchcock & Fritz Lang), Russian constructivists Litzitsky, Rodchenko, Majakovski (stencil printing), renaissance painters Pousin & Bregeul (for well-researched figures) & neo-classical sculptures. Used to collect found imagery too – but not so much now. Combines photography with flat shapes – that is why he thinks he is commissioned. Has enormous reference library with 1000s images.

Reuses his images if he can – resells at cheaper price or reuses & reworks. Important to keep the copyright so can resell. Reselling old illustrations to a magazine in Germany & other publications too.

With his books, he plays around with text & collected images. Often photocopies in b&w & then screen-prints over with another colour such as red. Interested in consumerism & consumer culture influences. New Testament parallels – temptation, greed etc. Makes work he enjoys & sells at book fairs – covers costs. No mortgage.

Has tried 2 advertising jobs. Last one over 5 years ago – Welsh campaign on healthy living to go on billboards. An unpleasant 2 weeks. Took AOI advice on bidding – ended up doing work for £8,000. Advertisers prefer to work with agencies. Getting the right picture of a swimming pool & a dog really hard.

Doesn’t take portfolio around anymore. Has website, but doesn’t get much commissioned work from web. Has his stock images on display. Debut Arts agency had been keen to have Otto’s stock, but Otto would have ended up with only 25% price & would have no control over who the images went to.

Prefers to work on own, & certainly not with other illustrators. Doesn’t have agent, although he had tried to get one. Finds agents not interested in getting editorial work. Also, they want a clear style, whereas Otto is more conceptual. He used to go to London once/week with 7 appointments/day seeing agents as well as ADs.

I was surprised that no agency had snapped Otto up, but Otto seems to do a good job promoting his work and doesn't seem keen to go after more lucrative work.

Le Corbusier Exhibition at Barbican (The Art of Architecture)

2009-03-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

I visited this exhibition last week.
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) shown as a ‘multi-faceted renaissance man’ – thinker, writer & artist. His paintings, tapestries & sculptures particularly fascinating & organic – was this the same man who started the trend for brutal high-rise architecture surrounded by dead featureless open spaces? His vision was far more optimistic. He was friends with Leger and influenced by Picasso. He wanted post-war painting to be ’precise, pure & in harmony with science & industry’ (brochure accompanying exhibition). He shifted his interest to organic forms for interiors in 1930s & also had a strong interest in ‘primitive’ cultures. His approach to painting became more semi-abstract – ‘characterised by his enthusiasm for organic forms & quest for structural composition’ (brochure blurb).

Ecobuild exhibition

2009-03-11T11:34:00.001-07:00

While in London, I visited the enormous Ecobuild & Futurebuild event at Earls Court – with companies showing the latest in sustainable & low carbon construction products. It was the Amazon Nails straw bales stall that impressed me the most with some amazing buildings. Also students from the Architectural Association had designed some amazing installations & sustainable research projects (see above - woven concrete, floodhouse & vascular mediations)– simulations of natural systems & their behaviours.

London Trip last week

2009-03-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ben Jones

2009-02-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

Ben Jones - a graduate from Stockport 2-3 years ago - was in college last week and I saw his wonderful portfolio with plenty of commissions in it. Very encouraging. These are some of his images on the Giant website.

Leonardo drawings- materials

2009-02-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

The City Art Gallery has an exhibition of 10 Leonardo da Vinci (1492-1519) drawings from Royal collection. I was surprised how small some of his sketches were -skulls drawn on A5 size pieces of paper. The paper may have lasted so long because it's made of pulped clothing, rather than wood pulp. Sometimes this paper was coated with ground bone, lead white and pigment, bound in a dilute glue - before scratching with metalpoint (silver stylus). He also used goose quill pens and iron gall ink - made from oak apples mixed with iron salts solution. He mixed his media - charcoal, chalk, pen & ink & lead white brushed on for highlights. Gorgeous stuff.

Editorial work

2009-02-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

Andy Martin spent 2 days in the studio with us earlier this month helping us develop a diary based on the Beaufort Windscale. It was a really fun project and Andy was inspirational. I had the month of October to illustrate, with a windscale of 10 (storm-force 48-55 knots, damage to circus tents & canopies).

Here is an editorial image from last year - a different style!

Rachel Goodyear

2009-02-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

I came across this artist at the exhibition at The Cornerhouse last month The Intertwining Line. Her pictures of animals are beautifully drawn but quite unsettling. I've posted Standing Dogs and Bats Roosting In the Underbelly of Dog. She has a solo exhibition currently running in Manchester (The International 3, Fairfield Street). Website www.rachelgoodyear.com.

"This collection of new drawings by Manchester-based artist Rachel Goodyear, presents captured moments in a world where social etiquette and boundaries no longer, or maybe never, applied.
Goodyear's drawings are suffused with a gentle menace, displaying a mass of ambiguous truths and blatant invention. They walk the line between playful curiosity and sadistic torment, revealing a place where the mundane and the spectacular, the blessed and the cursed, dwell in uneasy accord" (Cornerhouse blurb.)

Plenty of space around the images too!

Katherine Dunn

2009-02-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

I found this interview with American illustrator. Her work has a feel of 'Chagall' to it and animals are full of personality and character.

2009-02-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

I did a screen grab ( hold the control key, shift and number 4) of the page from Jill's Blog so that you have your own record of it. What a fantastic response.

E-mail interview with Jill Calder

2009-01-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

Jill Calder gave this wonderful response to my e-mail questions and has also posted this interview on her blog, along with my image of a fox! Blogs can be brilliant!

Getting Started

1. I note from your blog that you had your first commission in 1993 after leaving college. How did you persuade the art director to take on an unknown illustrator?
MMM, I DON;T THINK IT WAS A CASE OF ME PERSUADING THEM. I JUST WENT AROUND WITH MY FOLIO AND HOPED SOMEONE WOULD COMMISSION ME! NOT VERY BUSINESS-LIKE , I KNOW.
LUCKILY, I THINK I HAD A STYLE THAT WAS A BIT FLEXIBLE (WITHOUT BEING TOO JACK OF ALL TRADES) SO ART DIRECTOR'S LIKED THAT AND GAVE ME A CHANCE. IT GOT MY FOOT IN THE DOOR ANYWAY.

2. At the start, did you have to juggle being an illustrator with other unrelated paid employment, in order to survive?
OH YES INDEED! I WAS LUCKILY STAYING WITH MY SISTER WHO JUST MADE ME DO ALL THE COOKING WITH NO RENT TO PAY, BUT I HAD 2 PART TIME JOBS ASWELL...IT WAS ALL A BIT LIKE DUCKING AND DIVING TRYING TO MAKE ENDS MEET! I LOVED IT THOUGH AND NEVER REGRETTED BASING MYSELF IN EDINBURGH RATHER THAN HEADING TO LONDON.

3. How long do you think it took you to become established in illustration? What do you think makes the difference between success and failure when trying to establish yourself as an illustrator?
GOOD QUESTION. I REALLY WORKED AT GOING TO SEE DESIGNERS UP HERE IN SCOTLAND, ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS THAT STILL STAND ME IN GOOD STEAD TODAY (16 YEARS LATER!!). I ALSO ENTERED COMPETITIONS LIKE IMAGES AND SUCH. I THINK IT TOOK ME ABOUT A YEAR AND A BIT TO GET KNOWN UP HERE IN SCOTLAND...UK-WISE IT WASN'T UNTIL 1997, BECAUSE I STARTED TO GET EDITORIAL COMMISSIONS FROM THE GUARDIAN, THE TELEGRAPH ETC AND THAT REALLY GOT MY WORK SEEN. I ALSO GOT A UK AGENT IN 1997 TOO AND THAT MADE A BIT OF A DIFFERENCE.

YOUR SECOND QUESTION IS ALSO GOOD - AND I WOULD SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO REALLY LOVE/ADORE/BE CRAZY IN LOVE WITH ILLUSTRATION AND PRINT AND DESIGN - BE REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT IT, SO NO OTHER JOB WILL TEMPT YOU AWAY! YOU HAVE TO BE DETERMINED TO SUCCEED (WHATEVER YOUR VERSION OF SUCCESS IS) AND BE AWARE THAT BEING A FREELANCE ILLUSTRATOR CAN BE A VERY UP AND DOWN CAREER - AND ACCEPT THAT TO SOME EXTENT. YOU SOON GET USED TO THE INSECURITY OF IT BUT LOVE THE FLEXIBILITY OF BEING FREELANCE TOO.
I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO GET OUT THERE AND MEET PEOPLE AND NETWORK AND MAYE DO SOME JOBS FOR FREEBIES OR WHATEVER. I THINK YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO DO SOME CRAPPY, NOT VERY CREATIVE OR INSPIRING WORK SOMETIMES TO GET BREAD AND BUTTER MONEY (AND REMEMBER THAT THE DESIGNER COMMISSIONING YOU IS PROBABLY THINKING THE SAME THING, BUT YOU MIGHT GET A JUICY JOB FROM THEM THE NEXT TIME ROUND!)
I ALSO THINK THAT YOU HAVE TO FOREGT YOUR DEGREE MARK - FIRST OR FAIL - AND JUST START AFRESH. NOBODY BUT NOBODY ASKS YOU WHAT DEGREE YOU GOT - IF THEY LIKE IT AND CAN USE YOUR WORK IN AN AD CAMPAIGN OR EDITORIAL, THEN THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS TO THEM.

4. Do you have any other advice to give a new graduate on how to get started?
JUST GET OUT THERE WITH A FANTASTIC FOLIO, SOME POSTCARDS OR OTHER PROMO MATERIAL WITH YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS CLEARLY WRITTEN/PRINTED ON THEM. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE FOLIO WEBSITES AND NETWORKING EVENTS AND MAKE AS MANY CONTACTS AS POSSIBLE. BE PATIENT, IGNORE YOUR PARENTS ASKING YOU WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO START EARNING PROPER MONEY.
BE PRO-ACTIVE: ORGANISE EXHIBITIONS, STALLS AT FESTIVALS ETC AND INVITE LOADS OF DESIGNERS - JUST DO IT, AS NIKE SAYS! OH AND YOU DO NEED TO SPEND MONEY TO MAKE MONEY TOO - IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALISE THAT, BUT SOMETIMES TAKING THE RISK OF HEADING OFF TO NEW YORK TO SEE SOME MUCH ADMIRED DESIGNERS CAN REALLY PAY OFF, WORKWISE - AND CONFIDENCE WISE TOO.

Agents

5. I understand you have been with Friends and Johnson for a few years. Do you think it is vital to have an agent to get into the illustration market abroad?
NOT VITAL BUT MAKES IT EASIER. FRIEND AND JOHNSON GET ME NORTH AMERICAN WORK AND ARE HAPPY TO NEGOTIATE ON MY BEHALF FOR ANY BIG JOBS IN EUROPE, SUCH AS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.
THE EUROPEAN ILLUSTRATION COMMUNITY IS VERY EXCITING AT THE MOMENT AND YOU JUST HAVE TO TAP INTO THAT TO GET YOUR WORK SEEN AND TO MEET THE RIGHT PEOPLE - THINGS LIKE FREISTIL, ILLUSTRATIVE BERLIN, EUROPEAN DESIGN AWARDS, BOLOGNA BOOK FAIR ETC ETC.

6. Have you found there are any other particular advantages to having an agent? Have you ever been represented by any other agents in the UK?
AGENTS CAN GET YOU MORE MONEY FOR A JOB, IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT ONE! THEY ARE A STEP REMOVED FROM YOUR ARTWORK SO CAN BE VERY GOOD AT TELLING YOU WHERE AND WHEN YOU NEED TO MARKET YOUR WORK.
SAYING THAT, THERE ARE SOME LESS ABLE AGENTS, WHO NEVER COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR ARTISTS AND JUST DON'T BRING THE WORK IN - JUST LOOK AT THE AOI DISCUSSION BOARD FOR EVIDENCE OF CONFUSED AND GRUMPY ILLUSTRATORS!
I WAS REPPED BY EASTWING IN THE UK FOR A WHILE, AND GOT SOME GOOD WORK FROM THEM BUT I WANTED TO DO MY OWN THING IN THE UK IN THE END. THEY ARE STILL A GOOD AGENT THOUGH.

Marketing

7. Have you found The ispot, Flickr, 741 Illustration Collective, your website and your blog to all be very important for marketing your illustrations?
ALL MARKETING IS GOOD! IT IS EXTREMELY VITAL TO HAVE A GOOD WEBSITE THOUGH - EASY TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO UPDATE YOURSELF (MINE NEEDS RE-DOING AGAIN - THAT SIDE OF THINGS NEVER ENDS)
I AM ON SEVERAL OTHER WEBSITES TOO AND AM LINKED TO BY OTHER BLOGS AND WEBSITES.
HAVING A STRONG WEB PRESENCE IS VERY IMPORTANT NOW - MAKE YOURSELF EASY TO FIND - GOOGLE YOUR OWN NAME AND SEE WHERE IT COMES IN THE LISTINGS - IT SHOULD BE TOP. YOU MIGHT SURPRISE YOURSELF TO SEE WHO ELSE IS TALKING ABOUT YOUR WORK ONLINE TOO! SO FAR MY WORK HAS BEEN BLOGGED IN ITALY, AUSTRALIA, FRANCE, USA, CANADA AND CZECH REPUBLIC!

8. What other marketing do you find particularly effective? Do you send out regular mailings too and who do you target?
EMAIL MARKETING - QUICK, EFFECTIVE AND CHEAPER THAN POST. YOU CAN TRACK WHO CLICKS THROUGH TO YOUR WEBSITE AND SEE WHERE THEY GO AND WHAT THEY LOOK AT TOO.
I DO SEND OUT POSTCARDS OR WEE HANDMADE THINGS OCCASSIONALLY - SHOULD DO IT MORE AND AM PLANNING ON IT THIS YEAR.
NOTHING BEATS A VISIT WITH THE FOLIO THOUGH AND WORD OF MOUTH - SO NETWORKING IS STILL IMPORTANT.

At Stockport College we each have an illustration blog. Would you be happy for me to post your responses on my blog for others to see? My blogspot is annavioletillustration.blogspot.com.
BUT OF COURSE.

Many thanks for your help and I look forward to your reply.

GOOD LUCK - AND DON'T LET THE RECESSION STOP YOU FROM BECOMING AN ILLUSTRATOR.

More from Jill Calder's blog on how she got started

2009-01-21T04:06:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
DPI Magazine,Taiwan interview with me...Issue 91

This interview and feature of my work appeared in November 2006 issue of DPI Magazine - it is a LUSH magazine, with loads of features and interviews and is highly appreciative of illustrators all over the globe. Many thanks to the lovely Lulu Tzeng, who has now moved on to pastures new - Hello Lulu!

I have also included some of the pages from the magazine when it was printed.

Interview with Jill Calder, Illustrator. DPI Magazine, Taiwan.

1. Could you introduce yourself, including birthday, birthplace, and your educational background or other you think it’s important to you?
Answer: My name is Jill Calder and I was born in Dundee, Scotland (UK) and I am 36 years old! I attended school in Dundee and then at age 17 went to England to do a general Art course in Cumbria. I then was accepted into Edinburgh College of Art to do a Honours Degree in Design, where I specialized in Illustration and Animation. I quickly followed my Degree by going to Glasgow School of Art in 1992 to do a Post Graduate Diploma in Illustration. I officially became an illustrator in October 1993 when I received my first commission!

2. How did you get started in the illustration field? Who influenced you ?
Answer: All I knew from my time at college was that I had to go and see as many people who commissioned illustration as possible. I had a huge A1 folio that I would take on the train down to London (about 5 hours away on the train) and I would carry this heavy folio around to magazines such as Vogue and Esquire – I sold a piece of work to the Art Director of Esquire, but didn’t get any commissions! I think my folio of work was too violent then – it was all about cosmetic surgery and Martin Amis books. Too “fine art” as many would say. I quickly realized that I had to develop a more lighthearted approach if I was to get work. Looking back now, I think that my college work was perhaps a little pretentious and that my work now is much more honest and reflects my personality more.
I have many influences and heroes! They change all the time too, but the following people or styles have been pretty constant: Picasso for his drawing and ceramics, Howard Hodgkin for his colour and paint, the writer Annie Proulx, Ronald Searle, Javier Mariscal, Sarah Fanelli, Romaire Bearden, Geoff Grandfield, Velazquez, Alexander Calder for his whimsical wire sculptures, Japanese woodblock prints, the art of Huang Yongyu whose work I discovered when I visited Hong Kong, the city of Las Vegas, Jacobean and Elizabethan portraits from 16th Century England, Alan Kitching for his typography, Marshall Arisman, Auguste Rodin, David Hockney…the list goes on!
My first commission was for The Scotsman newspaper for an article about dyslexia (dyslexia.tif) and I was thrilled. I still like it. It is easy to get disheartened when you don’t get work, but you have to keep showing people what you do – and you have to keep developing your illustration and drawing alongside that.

3. What is your illustration style? How did you find it? Has it changed since you started?

Answer: Its really difficult to describe your own style! I LOVE drawing and colour and I suppose they are at the root of everything I do. I draw in sketchbooks or on the Mac and sometimes the line is very controlled and sometimes its sketchy, but I like to have a mixture of elements in my illustrations – more to surprise myself than anything else. An Illustrator’s style is like their handwriting, it is unique to them – though there are people who like your style so much they try to copy it. To me, you just need to have the confidence to develop your drawing and your interests and see where it goes, creatively. My work for the last year and a half has been mainly digital, because I started using a Wacom Tablet to draw with, so that has been a big change for me. I still love using ink and paint, but I have been perfecting my Wacom drawing technique and I think that has made my work more painterly again as I use it with Photoshop CS2 and it really brings all the brush palettes to life because of the pressure sensitivity, which I really like. The Wacom people liked it too and when we met up at MacExpo in London they asked me to do some case studies for their potential clients.

4. In your works, we can see many lines, colors and figures, what is the theme you love to create? Has any impressing or interesting story behind your illustration works?
Answer: I love drawing people, you are correct. The human figure and the human personality fascinate me and I love creating little narratives within my illustrations as I put them together. The thing that really interests me is the relationship between people – and so I use gestures and body language and facial expressions to show this. That is the best bit about interpreting a writer’s work, whether it is for a book, or a newspaper column because as an illustrator you get to add your voice to the piece, or at the very least, give the reader something else to consider. I do a lot of editorial work and one newspaper in London, The Guardian, asked me to illustrate a short story which was quite anti-war. There were 2 full page illustrations to do in colour, one to go on the cover of the tabloid section in which the story was featuring. The only snag was that I had to do both illustrations in 5 hours! I love a challenge like that and basically I just read the story and started drawing – it was a process of gut instinct about what would work, what characters to show and in what context. I loved every minute of those 5 hours and was really pleased with what I produced

5. What are your ideas to create diverse “spots”? How you present those works? Are they different from your illustration works?
ANSWER: those spot illustrations on my website are just really small illustrations I have done – mostly for horoscope features! They call tiny illustrations “spots” over here in the UK! I just treat them the same as normal illustrations, though you have to be careful how much detail you put in them. The more simple the spot the better it works on the page

6. What is your favorite assignment?
Answer: I STILL get excited when I get a new commission – I love the thrill of being asked to do illustrations for someone. SO, in a way, every assignment is my favorite. The ones I like best are where I work closely with the art director and we brainstorm together to get the best results. I get to stretch my creative muscle in jobs like that and the whole process is so much more satisfying than just being told exactly what to do.I am constantly amazed that some art directors these days can have so little imagination and have little experience of getting the best out of an illustrator.

7. Since you have been the illustrator, what was the biggest challenge you have met? How did you solve those problems and face next challenge?

Answer: The biggest challenge has been the business side to my job. I can do the creative bit, but all the marketing, pricing, licencing and keeping financial records has been difficult, though I have a good accountant now, which helps! When I left college I had some idea about how to run the business side of things, but when it came to putting it into practice, I was hopeless! I have learnt from experience-trial and error!- I am confident pricing my work and negotiating licences now, but it took a while. I teach illustration students now, and I am keen to see that they are more prepared than I was, as you really have to be alert and know how to protect your work through licences and contracts.

8. Did you ever find yourself with no inspiration on animations? At that time, how did you face the situation?

Answer: When I am truly STUCK for an idea, I either just start drawing anything other than what I am meant to be drawing. This makes me relax a bit and then an idea just sneaks up on me unexpectedly! OR I go away, leave my studio and do something completely different, like cook a meal or walk the dogs. A change of scene can do wonders for your imagination and usually you come back refreshed and motivated. The best advice I can give if you are really uninspired, is to go outside with your sketchbook and look at what other people or animals are doing and start to draw it – there is NOTHING like real life to inspire ideas.

9. What’s your future plan in three years?
ANSWER: Although I have been working as a professional illustrator for 15 years I am still keen to do more work outside the UK. I was invited to join Friend and Johnson in the USA 2 years ago and it has been fantastic so far. They are really good agents and I have had some great work through them. It takes a while to break into a new market, and I would say that it has taken the best part of that year for the F&J team to get my work noticed through extensive marketing and folio visits – it has been worth it though, as I am working for such clients as Neiman Marcus, Philip Morris and Harvard Business Review. I really want the next 3 years to be about consolidating that relationship and to get some really interesting and challenging projects, such as the New Yorker/ Mass Mutual job.

10. Do you feel contended present life? On some day, you have a long vacation, where do you want to go? Why?
ANSWER: YES! Life is pretty good just now. I got married earlier this year and my husband and I live in a delightful little fishing village near St Andrews in Scotland. I have achieved a good balance between working at home on my illustrations and teaching illustration students at Edinburgh College of Art which I do for 2 days a week. That’s not to say I don’t like going on holiday! My friends tease me about how many times I go abroad, but I love travelling. My husband’s brother lives in Hong Kong and we went there recently and I loved it – we visited Macau aswell, which I found really interesting. My favorite destinations are Australia, which I have visited 3 times now and Mexico [ see sketchbook pages, mexico1.tif and mexico2.tif] If I was to go anywhere new, I think I would like to visit the Antarctic, as I am intrigued by icy landscapes at the moment and I think it would be amazing to experience such a wilderness and make lots of drawings. I don’t think I could live abroad though – I just like to travel and then come home and then feed my experiences into my illustrations.
Posted by Jill Calder at 1:59 PM 0 comments
Labels: dpi magazine, illustration, interview

Agent: Friend & Johnson

2009-01-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

American agents who represent 8 illustrators ( including Jill Calder, Ann Field & Paul Wearing) & 12 photographers. Offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco & Texas. Jill Calder involved with advertising for entire New Yorker magazine in April 07.
"JILL CALDER'S WHIMSICAL ILLUSTRATION TAKES OVER THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINEThe April 16, 2007 issue of the New Yorker magazine featured Jill's work in a narrative series of ads. Annually, The New Yorker allows a client to take over all the advertising in the magazine. This year, it was Mass Mutual Financial Group. And although The New Yorker selected about 40 illustrators for this client and their ad agency (Mullen) to choose from, they eventually chose just one illustrator to get the entire job done and that is our very own Jill Calder!" (Friend & Johnson website Jan09)
http://www.friendandjohnson.com/