Corvus

During our trip to Kraków, Poland, we have met an Armenian illustrator who currently lives and works in Kraków, Karina Manucharyan. You can find her website right here .   Although born and raised in Armenia, she finished her university in Moscow, Russia. She applied to be a designer, but she became enhanced by the illustrative part of the creative field. Though she admitted that it was hard to find a job in her field when she came back to Armenia, she was able to start a job at the Armenian Cosmopolitan, where she stayed for 3 years, during which she also created books, however, it turned stagnant, which prompted her to try new thing and experiment with her work and style.  That's how she found herself enchanted with botanical illustration.  Most of Karina Manucharyan's work comes from self-initiated projects and experimenting with various plants. She said that it's good when you have something to fall back on, like a day job, as it a

A few weeks ago, we were able to attend a portfolio review meeting at The Chase, a creative studio consultants based in Manchester. You can read more about them here.  I had the opportunity to talk to Reece Hacking, who is a Junior Designer at The Chase. Presenting him with my portfolio in a form of a booklet, he proceeded to ask me questions about certain pieces of work and where did they stem from.  For example, my cover is a part of a larger image, designed for the Hiii Contest, organized in Japan, but open to designers around the world.  He also asked about the logo at the front, which comes from my interest in Harry Potter, Latin and Sir Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven .  The name or the nickname Corvus is a Latin translation of raven, crow. Therefore I thought it's fitting that my logo represents a raven and the word Corvus.  It was a successful meeting and I hope to have the opportunity for more such occasions. Here are s

  Laura Carlin lives and works in London. She is a graduate from Buckinghamshire University and the Royal College of Art, where she received a Masters and won the Quentin Blake Award.   She was awarded the Uniqlo Fashion Illustration Award and a V&A Award and an honourable mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Award.   In November 2014 another Walker Books title illustrated by Laura ‘The Promise’ was selected by The New York Times as the best illustrated title of 2014.      An established illustrator, who's family thought that her career will mean painting photo realistic paintings of cats. During her university years, she was faced with the task of getting out of sketchbooks with her drawings, however she felt too close with them. One of the examples of her closeness to sketchbooks was a project with the Japanese Embassy. Carlin has approached several embassies with an idea, that she will document her 10 day travel in a city of a f

Due to the competitive field of creative industry, every artist, designer, illustrator must be able to sustain themselves in these times, meaning that for some, they have to be able to improve on their knowledge, skills and contacts. Here is my action plan for the next 6 months. It includes what I want to improve on and focus my efforts on.

Today we have met our new tutor, who will be taking over Monday sessions, providing some feedback and professional advice when needed. Barney Ibbotson is a Manchester based Illustrator and designer. He specialises in pattern, details and colour, with his works being inspired by art-deco and art nouveau. He works in marketing, publishing, branding and advertising, designing murals, album covers, animation and motion graphics, presentation graphics, children's books, icons, logos, leaflets, loyalty cards, flyers, menus, and posters. Ibbotson also exhibits his personal work and collaborates with other artists. Here are the examples of Barney Ibbotson's works: San Carlo mural   PopUp Bikes promo for their jumble sale: Barney talked to us about his experience (17 years of it) as a professional illustrator and designer, as well as some of the works that he did. He told us that he had temporary jobs to stay afloat and be able to pay the bills. While t

26th September During a recent tutorial with J. I have talked about my project (The Future Self) and the initial plans and ideas for it.  I have explained ti him that I am basing the project on a poem that I've written Heart vs Brain , which speaks of a feeling that many people encounter during the time, when their mind is overtaking by thoughts and they don't notice their surroundings. Zoning out is common, people have moments when they just 'disappear' in their own world. My poem is about a person, who experiences the zoning out and then is faced with a car that might drive into them. Their heart and brain are battling, one wants the person to be run over by the car, while the other organ wants the person to get back to safety. Therefore, my tutor looked through my images and plans for a concertina book and discussed with me the possibilities and various routes that the project might take me to or that I can explore in a more interesting way.  J. gave me few ex

 The first week back at university provided us with a challenge exhibition at The Kosmonaut Bar in Northern Quarters, Manchester.  Faced with limited colour palette, we were tasked to create a quality piece of work, developed from the summer project and refined to the best standards.  We rushed into the pace of work and dealt with it quite well, if I may say so, although we were stalled for a day due to the printer failure. Thankfully, our Managing Team (J, Y, C, and S) were up for it and able to find a professional printing service.                                        The exhibition 'Chrome' run from 22nd Sept to 26th Sept.                                    I think that while the experience was needed and useful, it also made us think of different venues, because the lighting and overall space was not designed to present the work effectively. Moreover the overall theme of a limited colour palette was not thought over in a more reflective and

Today we had a lecture from Emma Reynolds , an established illustrator and character designer, on possible careers available to illustrators. Okay, so what are the possibilities and what are the routes for us after we graduate from an Illustration course? Well, first of all: THERE IS NO SET PATH, THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS AVAILABLE AFTER UNIVERSITY Option 1. A steady, full time job provides you with a stable wage, job security and a set routine that can help you with your working method. Furthermore, if you choose to work full time in a studio, be it a gaming, graphics, printing studio, you are in a place where you can share and learn from others, you will gain industry experience, as well as gain the option of lecturing in your field. On the other hand though it is not as flexible, for example if you go into teaching you can end up working extra hours and not having enough spare time for your own practice. Option 2. You can get