Corvus

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 v...

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 ...

  Sandra de la Prada is a Barcelona based illustrator, who studied Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona, completed her training with several courses related to design and illustration at Escola Massana, Escola de la Dona (both in Barcelona) and Fabbrica delle Favole (Macerata, Italy). She humorously adds in her bio that she works along with her two dogs, Chicho and Rudo, who help her in everything they can and they are the reason for all kinds of animals in her illustrations: cats, dogs, monkeys, elephants, birds. To see her works visit her website - http://www.sandradelaprada.com/ She has created illustrations for children's and youth publishing principally, although she had also designed various posters. Among her clients are the publishing houses Estrella Polar, Timun Mas, Cruïlla, SM, Barcanova, Planeta, Edicions Salòria, OQO Editora, Pintar-Pintar Editorial, El Terrat de Produccions; The studios Escletxa, Bräva Büro and Tucan, the magazine Barçakids, t...

The past few weeks have been rather hectic, with cleaning, room changes and small projects on the side. In the previous post I have mentioned that I am working on a book. It is a book for children, ideally for 8-10 year olds. The book tells a story about Mr. Telescope who is searching throughout the city of Warsaw for his lost cat, Filka. Right now, the story is finished and went through most of the corrections, therefore I have decided that I am going to start the work on planning the pages and creating a simple dummy book for it. Here are some sneak peaks into it:     Start of the planning Close up into few pages All done The front cover That's it for the update. What do you think?

Janusz Stanny Born in 1932, Stanny is described as one of the most known and one of the greatest illustrators and graphic artists of polish posters, drawings and books. In 1952-56, he studied the posters under Henryk Tomaszewski. Stanny took on graphic design and animation. '' To get an idea of the geography of my students' thinking, at the beginning I've asked them to answer with a  drawing to my question - 'Why doesn't this cat fish the mice?' - It was a good test - you had to switch to thinking with the picture.'' - Janusz Stanny Three gentlemen in a boat (and a dog)  A lot of his work included humour and strong lines and blocks of colours, while at the same time, showing appreciation for the negative space. Janusz Stanny is the author of over 200 book covers, which include those for: ''Pan Tadeusz''; ''Don Kichot''; Andersen's 'Fairytales'';  ''O malarzu r...

This post is about the three pieces of advice that stuck with me. 1. From Ben Jones: (BJ) '' I would say two bits of advice. One From Gary  (Gary Spicer - context tutor) that is to always retain your integrity when making works. The other would be from The illustrator Paul Davis he told me to just draw, draw, draw. I think as long as you are true to yourself, work hard and enjoy what you are doing then it shows in your works.''        It is easy to get lost in the work and loose the interest and enjoyment in the process, which is rather sad as we are able to make a living off what we love. We love to create, to draw, to make and yet we sometimes detach our being from the feeling and enjoyment of the work. 2. From a book by Paul Arden (It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be): ''We are always waiting for the perfect brief from the perfect client. It almost never happens [...] Whatever is on your...