Thursday 24 November 2011

D&AD Education Event at UCLAN

Last week D&AD came to Preston with an all day education event.
An introduction to the work and philosophy of the organisation by Rhiannon James was followed by a brilliant talk by Creative Director Jack Renwick who was at The Partners until recently setting up her own agency. She showcased some great design thinking, and gave students valuable advice on placement etiquette amongst other things.
After the lectures students took part in a workshop looking at how to crack the D&AD student awards briefs with creative directors and designers from the industry talking about how they would tackle the briefs.
Design agency Thoughtful took a workshop looking at how to get into the industry. Alongside these informative sessions a number of agencies held a portfolio surgery for students from across the North West to show their work - several illustration students had an opportunity to show their portfolio to an industry insider for the first time in many cases. Students from Stockport, Bolton, Edgehill, MMU, and of course our own Graphic Design, Advertising and Illustration students gained valuable insight from this opportunity. Thanks to representatives of MusicBecause Studio, Cheetham Bell JWT, Dorothy, The Chase, jp74, and Uniform  and all the industry contacts for giving up their valuable time for this event.
In the evening the New Continental pub in Preston hosted a D&AD North talk by Gary Aspden collaboration consultant for Adidas.
Best wishes to the D&AD team for organising it - We would love to host it again!








Wednesday 9 November 2011

V&A Illustration Awards 2012


Student Category: Student Illustrator Award 2012

Supported by the Enid Linder Foundation
Entry into the Awards is free
Student Illustrator of the Year entries are encouraged from anyone who has attended an illustration course at any time during 2010 or 2011. The brief is open. Students may submit material set as coursework by their tutors or they may define their own brief.

The Prize

The Student Illustrator of the Year will receive £2,000 and a trophy. The runner up will receive £1,000.

How to enter

Entry into all categories of the V&A Illustration Awards is via the . Entrants may submit up to three images of their work.
Closing date for all categories: 15 December 2011

Friday 4 November 2011

Marian Bantjes: Intricate beauty by design | Video on TED.com

Marian Bantjes: Intricate beauty by design | Video on TED.com

I have shown this video to a few of the Third year students already this week and it is quite inspirational (if you can overlook the U.S. intonation), it is a truism that if you enjoy your work and your work is personal it too could become mystifyingly popular...

"In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams."

I like the sugar drawings and the idea of making Valentines cards as self promotion.

House of Illustration Folio Society Competition

The House of Illustration / Folio society invite entries to illustrate; The Bloody Chamber and other stories by Angela Carter. A series of short stories based loosely upon Perrault's Fairy Tales. The closing date for entries is Tuesday 10th January 2012 and the entry fee for students is £15 (£25 for everyone else) anyone can enter (over the age of 18).

The first prize is a £4000 commission to provide seven images to illustrate the book for the Folio Society.



Last year's competition was to illustrate "The Outsider" and the competition was won by Matthew Richardson.
The Outsider

Mervyn Peake Centenary exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery Newcastle

Mervyn Peake was an writer and illustrator most famous for the Gormenghast trilogy of books first published in 1946 - a Gothic fantasy.

He regarded himself as a painter and draughtsman, having studied at Croydon School of Art in the late twenties and going onto the Royal Academy shortly after that. When asked to illustrate the Hunting of the Snark in 1941 he studied the illustrations of Hogarth, Cruickshank, Durer, Blake, Dore, and Goya. His respect for these masters of illustrative technique led to his trademark of closely cross hatched drawings using mapping pens and Indian ink.






















Peake died in 1968 having illustrated many classic novels, he had a fellow writer's feeling for character and atmosphere. The exhibition at the Laing in Newcastle is part of the celebrations to mark the centenary of Peake's birth. There is an excellent webite devoted to his life and work here:

http://www.mervynpeake.org/

The exhibition of his work "Lines of Flight" is on at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle until January 2012 follow the link for further information.