Corvus

We had an amazing opportunity just these past few days to exhibit our work at the annual Degree Show Exhibition.  Following the success of last year Seniors, our year was able to, through pop-up sales, Christmas cards and cookie sales, raise money and secure a place for the show at one of the local restaurants in Manchester, the LEAF on Portland Street. The preparations to the exhibition were wild and chaotic, but thankfully they went over rather quickly, allowing us for some peace before the preview night. I had to print the work, buy frames, put the work in frames, get mirror plates, fix them to the frame, transport everything (glad that the uni was able to hire a van for transport), unload everything and fix it to the show board. Never mind that I nearly fell off the ladder twice, haha. The preview night was a relaxing atmosphere, unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for long due to some other work that I was meant to do. My mom was available a...

A week ago I took part in a portfoio review at The Emperor, a creative agency, in their Manchester studio.  My group, consisting of E. and S. were preparing for this meeting, for the past week, when we finally settled on the date of the review with Mrs. O'Brien, the Creative Director of Emperors' Manchester studio. Here is a summary of the good and improvement points from my review. Good points: + A plus for including contact page, as the introduction to the portfolio (email, phone, website, blog) + A plus for presenting the works that make me proud + A plus for including the commissioned and self-initiated projects along with the briefs set by others + A plus for bringing in final outcomes (books and booklets) Improvement points: + Need to think more about which pieces you present, don't overcrowd it with one project + Need to re-shoot some of the photographs to get a good light + Need to add some journey spreads (two pages of work from start to finish) ...

Potential Client - Dwie Siostry    Dwie Siostry is a publishing company based in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 2005 by three friends: Joanna Rzyska, Jadwiga Jędras and Ewa Stiasny.  The publishers specialises in children's literature and puts pressure on the graphic design of the book. Books published by the company include:  Babcia na jabłoni ,  Mira Lobe  with illustrations of  Mirosław Pokor a, series about a detective, Ture Sventon by  Åke Holmberg , children's poems  Stanisław Jachowicz ,  Julian Tuwim  and  Aleksander Fredr a. At the Bologne Children's Book Fair 2018, the company received the award for the Best European Children's Publishers of the Year.  source  Many of the books from my own library come from this publisher. I think that the challenge of producing collage and ink illustrations for the publishers would be very informative and refle...

This seems a little overdue, but I have finally found the time to write it up. Few months ago, we held a Q&A panel for some of the graduates of our Illustration course. The invited guests were: Rose Lloyd , Beth Mills and Chris Howker . Be sure to check out their amazing work. Q. How do you manage your time? C.H: Poorly, it is a rather difficult thing to do, but I enjoy having time for myself. B.M: I like the normal hours, as in the office job. 12 hours on week days. Make sure to never do enything, if you are not getting paid for it. R.L: I work nearly every day, even weekends, because I work from home and try to do everything right for the deadline. I do try to not get sick with it, I don't want to over do it. It's good to be disciplined. Q. How did you know, that you want to do art? C.H: I knew since primary school, often I was called the artsy kid. I did a photography course, but then moved to illustration and sticked with it. B.M: I decided in the last...

 In one of the 'It's Nice That' profiles, he was described as the man who changed British illustration. Varoom cover - Exciting the eyeballs, unpublished cover - source  He is the founder of the CIA – Central Illustration Agency. You can find his website right here and his Instagram profile up here . Educated at the Bromley Technical School, he studied Art & Design. (A little sneaky info on the side, he was a year below David Bowie, while there.) His style emerged in 1960's with an expressive visual presence and strong ideas, that make him recognizable. At the beginning of his career, he did mostly magazine covers, sometimes 6 in a week, which at the time was amazing.  For example, his Radio Times covers, which he is proud of were seen by up to 10 million people a week. Radio Times cover - light music festival - source Grimwood often plays around with conceptual works, not always retaining the primal version of what it looks...

I was invited to produce a piece of work for a competition for the local company, who wanted to create an attractive space for their employees.  Working on this project enabled me to use my skills in a different illustration technique, as well as to keep myself on a tight schedule to bring a piece to life which I’m extremely proud of. In the end, the piece evolved into a triptych.   Rowlinson is big on their three main characteristics, which are: CARE, TRUST and BE BETTER. Therefore, I have decided to use these three elements within my work. However, I had no idea where to start, so I decided to go through the Rowlinson Charter.  It nudged me into the direction of their biggest clientele. Schools. A lot of Rowlinson business comes from the direct links with schools, for which the company provides a range of sweaters, jumpers, hoodies, sports kits etc., all high quality. I planned to create one piece, merged from the three key points of the compa...

Starting your Illustration Business- Registering as Self-Employed Becoming a 'Freelance illustrator' means starting your own business. This means that you have to register and fill an annual self-employment tax return form available at the government's website. First thing first - let the government know you have a business. Then each year pay the income tax. If you don't pay the tax it can be considered as tax evasion. This could lead to a jail sentence. Good news is that you can be employed (part-time job) and self-employed at the same time. The employer wage pays your tax and NI (national insurance-state pension) contributions automatically. When you become self-employed you have to do it yourself. You should register within 3 months of your first commission. The forms are available at the HMRC website - clearly and fully fill in the information and details. Income tax - is payable after you start earning 11,000 pounds in earnings. NIC - National in...