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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 5 years ago

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Pearls of Wisdom from Mike Perry - March NY Trip

Notes from a visit to the Mike Perry Studio.

Find your space. What set up works best for you? Do you pour everything into a sketchbook or need an entire studio space to spread out?

It’s all about work ethic and asking for help.

Collaborate! No one works in a bubble.

Set yourself a design challenge, like only using recycled materials.

You are going to be an artist everyday for the rest of your life. Dedicate yourself to is absolutely.

Be economic. This is a business so run it like one.

Look up Jim Stone.

When given a brief look through personal work and sketchbooks. You’ve probably already tackled something like this before!

Decide what your definition of success it? Have you reached it? What will it take?

“I don’t read”

What do you want your own work to look like?

https://www.mikeperrystudio.com/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 5 years ago

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Alex Grigg - March 3rd

Alex Grigg, Born in a Void, 2016

I chose this image to represent Grigg’s work because at our talk he spoke about the mental roadblocks he went through while creating Born in a Void and I found his advice on dealing with anxiety and loosening up in the process very helpful. I related to a lot of what he mentioned about putting too much pressure on yourself to create a perfect/successful piece, and in doing that destroying something essential about it. The pressure and self doubt crushes the experimental wild element that breathes life into any good artwork. The key to overcoming this is to relax, and experiment. Grigg mentioned that that is exactly how he came up with the look of Born in a Void. It was only through idle doodling on his iPad and scrapping his first idea that he landed on something he was satisfied with.

I also related to Grigg’s need to have a starting point and some sort of context for a creative work. “...not a blank canvas sort of person, I need something to work with.”. I often struggle with the overwhelming amount of options for creating a piece. Placing rules on the process, either created by you or by a client, can take away all that uncertainty. Basically, it was just nice to see how someone with a similar personality type to me deals with the unique pressures of being a creative person.

I wish I had asked Grigg about how important it is to learn 3D software/animation to work in a commercial studio. A job like that is my current career goal and I don’t know if I need to be teaching myself about new softwares in my spare time of if what the course covers is sufficient. I think I will learn some in my spare time, if only because it genuinely interests me and I would love to see how I could apply it to my work.

Alex’s Advice :^)

Your peers at university will become your most important professional network.

Find a way to balance commercial/class work with personal work. It’s important to have something for yourself and personal work allows you the freedom to experiment and to explore new ideas.

The pressure you put on yourself to make something perfect is often what kills it.

How to deal with that anxiety! Give yourself an hour break to just play around and experiment. This will provide much more interesting results.

The idea needs to feel fun. Make it so that even you don’t know what’s going to happen.

Don’t share your sketchbook with people, or have a separate one that’s just for you. It needs to be a safe space where you can put everything.

“Most of my ideas are super dumb”

Learn some 3D software. Animate CC is good. Can combine with After effects. TV Paint is good but expensive.

Website: http://www.alexgrigg.com/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 5 years ago

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Viviane Schwarz - Feb 18h

Viviane Schwarz, The Treasure Maze

Schwarz’s work focuses on interactivity, how her audience can interact and play with her artwork. An effective calibrated interaction should be like a good magic trick, you shouldn’t even notice that someone is tricking you. All the focus is on the joy of the trick and the spectacle. Schwarz pulls this off perfectly in her book, There are Cats in this Book, where a trio of cats asks the reader to help them out with simple tasks and speak directly to the reader. The cats ask the reader to do things that the reader already would of done, actions like turning the page and opening up flaps. This way if the reader closes the book it does not break the magic of the story. The joy comes from the snippets of dialogue that each action uncovers. The book allows you to become friends with the cats with a gentle build up of actions. Theses actions have been carefully calibrated by Schwarz to gain the reader’s trust and belief in the magic of the book, but to the reader all that work is invisible. It feels natural and effortless, these cats really do want to be your friends!

What I found interesting was Schwarz’s discussion on the purpose of a children’s picture book. In western societies a picture book is usually used by an adult reading to a child. This adult is putting on a performance of the story to the child. The role of a children’s book author is to make this performance as easy as possible for the adult, and as entertaining as possible to the child. The way the text is written on the page in Schwarz’s books immediately cues the reader to how it should be pronounced, where the emphasis should be placed.

I chose this image to encapsulate Schwarz’s work because it is of an installation game piece she made called The Treasure Maze. It is a 200m of coiled corrugated cardboard. The game involves six players, two of which are the “sharks”. The sharks walk around with silly fin hats on trying to locate the other players who are crawling in the cardboard ocean looking for gold coins. If a player is caught by the shark they have to stand up and throw their gold coins into the air. The winner is the player with the most gold coins, or the successful sharks. This game allows all players to have fun even when they’re losing. It is simple and incredibly effective. Another one of my favourite installation works by Schwarz is her Restless Spirit Projector. I hope she brings it to Kingston so we can play it!

I wish I had asked Schwarz about how illustrators can get involved in game design. Anything from character design, background illustration, reskinning, or video game development. I’m more interested in the visual side of things but I’ve also been enjoying the actual game design we’ve been doing in class.

Viv’s Advice:

Make the type of work you want to see in the world (ex: making a 200m cardboard game just because you think it’s a good idea, not necessarily to make money)

Games should leave everyone feeling happy, even when they’re losing.

You should document all versions of what you make. Try and capture the feeling of playing the game, not just the appearance.

Further Research:

Now Play This - games festival at Somerset House

Website: https://www.vivianeschwarz.co.uk/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 5 years ago

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Daniel Murtha and Alex Widdowson - Jan 28th

Alex Widdowson, Music & Clowns, 2018

Unfortunately I wan’t able to go to this Tuesday Talk as I was in London for the Cabinets of Curiosity project and by the time I made it up to River House it was already over. It’s a shame because I am very interested in making animated documentaries and want to know as much about them as possible. Instead I have done some research online into Widdowson, Murtha and the Factual Animation Film Festival.

I started off my research by watching Widdowson’s short film Music & Clowns which I found on the New York Times website. The film is a collection of short interviews with Widdowson’s parents in which they discuss his brother Jamie, and adult living with Down syndrome. He asks both parents to explain how they think Jamie views them and the world, what he’s like, what it was like when he was born and their plans for the future with him. Through these snippets of conversation with his parents and with Jamie the viewer is given a well rounded understanding of Jamie’s personality and the affect that Down syndrome has had on their family. In the synopsis under the video trailer on Widdowson’s Vimeo page he states.

“Despite being close to nonverbal my brother is funny, charming and perceptive. I discuss with my parents what it was like raising a child with Down syndrome. Our speculations about his inner life reveal as much about our own subjectivity as they do his. There is a critical underrepresentation of the ordinary and diverse lives of people with Down syndrome. As prenatal testing advances I feel an urgency to provide insight for people making a life changing decision.”

The message that comes across from the video is a very positive one, that Jamie being born with Down syndrome is something that enhances their lives and makes him who he is. It encourages prospective parents to rethink how they view Down’s syndrome in light of the new options in prenatal testing. I loved how Widdowson combined what appears to be rotoscoped shots with crayon drawing and abstract pieces. They layering of styles helps to pull together how the interview jumps around between speakers and topics. It is charming, direct and empathetic. I chose this image because it captures the idea of us the viewer, Widdowson and his parents looking in on Jamie’s life.

What I’m most interested in is both Murtha and Widdowson’s work with the FAFF. The Factual Animation Film Festival is the only festival to celebrate factual and documentary animation. Widdowson is the festival producer and Murtha is the festival director. It has been going for the last 6 years. I can’t find much else about it online. I’ve gone through their facebook page watching past entries. I was happy to see Mm-hmm by Martha Halliday and Hannah McNally as they are both graduates from the course. I’m definitely attending FAFF next year.

I would of loved to ask both Murtha and Widdowson for tips on interviewing. I am interested in recording interviews with some older relatives in my family but I don’t even know where to begin. Also did they both study animation? What got them into animated documentaries?

Further Research:

Interview tactics used in documentary film making

Animation festivals for students

Website:

https://filmfreeway.com/FAFF

https://vimeo.com/275563645

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000006831435/music-and-clowns.html

https://vimeo.com/danielmurtha

https://hannahmcnally.co.uk/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 5 years ago

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Peter Millard - Jan 14th

Peter Millard, Six god alphabet Peter, 2017

I chose this image to encapsulate Pete’s work because it is from one of my favourite films of his, Six god alphabet Peter. The loose line work, bold colour and crazed expression on this face perfectly sums up the feeling of watching one of Pete’s films. I really enjoy Pete’s work and his approach to creating.

Pete’s talk focused on his artistic journey from his teen years up until today. Specifically the educational institutes he has attended and his artistic influences. This was mostly shown through watching his films, listening to music that inspires him and seeing old photos. A lot of the places he drew inspiration from had absolutely nothing to do with art. An example being those pig noise videos. I love this because I have a lot of interests outside of art and would love to incorporate those into my own work. A lot of Peter’s career successes have been through film festivals. This is a side to animation/filmaking that I have very little experience or knowledge of. I imagine it is a great place for networking.

What I love the most about Pete’s work is the sheer amount of joy that they exude. The content at times may be chaotic and strange to watch, but they leave you feeling like you are part of an inside joke between the artist and the viewer. He also seems to be genuinely in love with the process of creating artwork. It is admirable and something I aspire to.

I wish I had asked Pete whether he found doing an MA worth it (I think the answer is probably yes) and if he would recommend going straight into one after completing a BA. Also why does everyone from Kingston end up at the RCA? I’m also curious as to how long it takes him to create one film. Does he use keyframes when animating or just uses the straight ahead technique? How much planning goes into the films and how much is spontaneous? How does he work with musicians to find the right sound for his work (or does he create some of the sounds himself?)? How does he put so much joy and chaos into his work?

Pete’s Advice :^)

Listen to jazz music while you work.

It is worth it to rent a cheap studio, the connection you make there with other artists are really valuable.

Always be making work, even when it isn’t your day job. It has to be what you love doing anyways.

When you graduate do some residencies!

Inspire hate and delight in your audience.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Further Research:

John Lennon’s illustrations and poetry

Monster Road documentary

The Devil and Daniel Johnston documentary

Music (to work to)

Minutemen

Pink Floyd

Ornette Coleman

Website: http://www.hellopetermillard.com/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 6 years ago

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Jonny Hannah - Nov 12th

Jonny Hannah is an illustrator and educator currently working part time at Southampton University. His practice include a broad range of mediums and sizes, focusing on text and bold colour. The focus of much of his personal work is Darktown, an imaginary place and mental space where Hannah can play with character creation and storylines. I chose this image because it shows the wide range of work Hannah has produced (books, wallpaper, wood cutouts, etc.).

I was very impressed by Hannah’s work with book covers. Illustrating books is one of my dream jobs so it was wonderful to see how he approached it. I also really liked how confident his work felt. He isn’t afraid to make massive pieces (wooden characters) or create and entire street’s worth of pieces. His work feels like he had a lot of fun making it.

He started his own company called the Cakes & Ale Press, which is alive “in name only”. Apparently it wasn’t very profitable but I still find the idea of starting one’s own company very impressive. I loved being able to see an illustrator who is well into their career rather than a recent graduate (although they are amazing too) because it shows how one can build and maintain an illustration practice in the long term.

I wish I had asked about what type of paint he uses on found objects. I’ve been trying to work with just acrylics but they tend not to be opaque enough to cover the object. Maybe I’m just working with cheap paints or need to prime the objects first. I’ve tried using gesso and that helps a bit. Maybe enamel paints?

Jonny’s Advice :^)

Dress up and goof around, it’s good for you.

Your popular culture isn’t actually that popular.

Buy up cheap stuff from the charity shop and paint over it. Particularly record covers.

Paint on anything! Go large scale like with his Main Street show. Go really small like with his stamps for the Royal Mail.

Have a studio in your garden shed.

Have a mental space to put your creative ideas into (Darktown). Make work just for yourself outside of “work” work.

Further Research:

The Man With the Beautiful Eyes - https://vimeo.com/19909066

Into the Valley by the Skids

Someday by The Tempest

La Dolce Vita

Designs for Today - http://www.designfortoday.co.uk/

House of Illustration

Allen Ginsberg

Best paints for found objects

Websites:

https://www.heartagency.com/artists/jonny-hannah/

https://hornseys.com/collections/jonny-hannah

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 6 years ago

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Bonus! Advice from Ollie McDonald Oulds and Charlotte Ager - Oct 25th

Ollie McDonald Oulds, Hopewell Jamaica

Ollie McDonald Oulds

Illustrator first, book seller second. Art must always be the priority in life. Choose a part time job that allows you to make work outside of it (or read art books on shift).

Draw all the time, find the small moments.

Be aware of what you call your style. Some of it may be trends picked up from other people. Although this isn’t bad, try drawing from the gut in a way that is uniquely you. This may produce more honest and interesting results.

I learned from Ollie to keep my art close to my chest. It is something you have to fight for and prioritize. It is the center of everything.

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/olliemacdonaldoulds/?hl=en

Charlotte Ager, Talking to your elders (for the New York Times)

Charlotte Ager

Understand why you are drawing. There needs to be an endpoint otherwise it will seem hopeless. What you make is important and has power.

Don’t have a style. Have a voice that comes out through doing more and more drawing.

Look at how people interest with each other (think faces in spaces project).

Sketches are how you remember things. Start drawing good moments/memories.

You can add purpose to a drawing after the fact. Sometimes it’s good to draw for the sake of drawing. Counter to the first point but both these ideas are essential.

Dutch art residencies are apparently really good.

Keep a silly sketchbook just for yourself. :^)

I learned from Charlotte that purpose in drawing is necessary to keep yourself going, but sometimes you can just draw for enjoyment.

Website: https://www.charlotteager.co.uk/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 6 years ago

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Laura Fitton - Oct 15th

Laura Fitton, Hartlepool Residency, May 2019

Laura Fitton is an reportage illustrator, educator and performer. As she put it in her presentation, she’s into drawing, teaching and musical nonsense. I chose these two images to encapsulate her Tuesday talk because they are a great example of her reportage work. Also because she made this piece on a residency in Hartlepool that I found to be fascinating. I had no idea there was opportunities like that for illustrators, and specifically for reportage work. The way she immersed herself in the community of Hartlepool and wasn’t afraid of talking to the locals and inserting herself into their events really showed me what reportage illustration is about. It’s about capturing a full impression of a place, and to do that you have to put yourself into uncomfortable situations. You have to talk to strangers and stand outside in the rain for hours on end drawing. Sometimes the more you struggle, the better the work can be. Her horoscope also has some pretty decent advice.

Laura’s work is very centered in the mundane moments of life. Life is absurd, every moment is fleeting and inherently hilarious. It is worth it to document even a snippet of it. There are endless interesting and fascinating stories just waiting out there for you to discover and record. Drawing has a lot of power and you can see that in how people reacted to Laura drawing them in Hartlepool, and even in how people reacted to us just drawing around Kingston.

From this talk and from drawing with Laura I now have a huge appreciation for reportage illustration. I hope to make it a large part of my own practice. The drawings I made during that week had so much more life to them than the stuff I usually make in my sketchbook. After the talk there were questions about materials and how to get a residency (Apply to everything, don’t be afraid of rejection). I wish I had asked her how she deals with finding purpose in drawing. Bit of a heavy question, but sometimes I struggle to find the value in what I’ve made at the end of a long day of drawing. I think that’s why I find the concept of reportage drawing so appealing, because it has the goal of documentation.

I’ve also learned that Tombow markers are amazing. I tried them out because I saw that’s what Laura uses while location drawing.

Laura’s Advice :^)

politics - visit and draw at things you are passionate about. There will always be great quotes and signs floating around at a protest. Try to find locations where people will gather to talk over opinions.

physical exercise - sports games and practices are great opportunities for location drawing. You can focus on the communication between the team members.

public transport - another great way to get some studies in. Low pressure situation.

Always ALWAYS carry your sketchbook with you. The best moments to capture always happen outside the studio when you least expect it. Bring it with you to all your pastimes (this includes clubbing). Don’t leave your sketchbooks on a bus.

Be a drawing robot. If it helps give yourself parameters to what you are drawing, little briefs and challenges.

Draw in places you find cool/interesting (ex: Museum of Scientology)

When it comes to reportage drawing, it’s quantity over quality. Don’t be too fussed about how polished the drawings look, it’s more important that you are capturing the feeling of the location.

Text is very important. I should pay more attention to it.

Reach out to people! Give it a go! There is nothing to lose in asking.

Prioritize creative stuff. This should be the most important thing always, that is how the best quality of work gets made.

Put all your work side by side at the end of the project. Sometimes pieces on really work together.

Document the wonderful moments in your life so you don’t forget them.

Further Research

Upset Stomach (her band)

Topolski Century

Paul Hogarth

Website: https://www.laurafitton.co.uk/

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bethstuesdaytalks-blog · 6 years ago

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Joey Yu - Oct 1st

Joey Yu, National Gallery

I chose this image to encapsulate Joey’s Tuesday talk because it is a perfect example of her reportage work, her use bright colours and materials.

I first learned about Joey Yu (and briefly met her) at the London Illustration Fair in 2018. I bought an A5 self portrait and asked her where she went to university. She was one of the deciding factors in me choosing Kingston. If I can come out of this degree making work as prolifically and confidently as Joey then I will feel a very successful artist.

Joey Yu’s practice is based in colourful reportage illustrations and animations. Her work focuses on travel, location and people. She works mainly with coloured pencils, gouache (in cake form), C pencils (?) and recommended using Caran d'Ache Neocolor II (A brand of water soluble crayons). My flatmate Nurul has a set and I’ve been experimenting with adding them into some of my own illustrations. They add a lovely rough quality and aliveness to a drawing. I’m planning on getting my own set. She presented her work by showing us her current projects and some of her work done here at Kingston. I loved seeing how she experimented while on this course and managed to flourish with the group projects. Until recently I kind of dreaded group projects but I’m beginning to see the advantages of them. There’s so much to be learned from my classmates and other artists. This course is also the perfect time to just go nuts with what you are making. To really push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

I was very interested by how she gets invited to corporate events to draw quick portraits. It’s inspiring in that its shows how the skills we learn on this course can be applied in an infinite amount of way. Joey has managed to create a practice within illustration that is very extroverted. Much of what I imagine illustration to be is a very isolated experience. It is freelancing from home or from a studio. From her I learned that illustration can be a way to connect with people, it can be centered around others. Illustration doesn’t always have to be so inward facing, it can be location drawing and reportage and a detailed look at the world around you.

A lot of questions were asked about what type of materials she uses, how she gets commissioned, how agents work and how she has managed to get this far in her career. One thing I had no previous knowledge on was agents. Joey has decided not to have representation as she is getting enough work without it and they could take up to 40% of her profit from any given job. It sounds like something that I may be interested in if I was struggling to get my work out there and with making industry connections. I wish I had asked her about how to deal with burnout. By the sounds of it she has a very busy schedule, that must be something she has to deal with.

I would like to further research into other reportage artists and start doing more of my own film studies. I have so much to learn from Joey’s work ethic and enthusiasm!

Joey Yu’s Advice :^)

Have a tough skin. You can’t take every rejection personally. Be able to stand up for your own artwork.

Learn on the job. Be Agile. There are a lot of resources online to teach yourself new programs.

Manifest the work you want (Ex: she started drawing at gigs, was then able to get paid work drawing at gigs). Gravitate towards what you really want to be doing. Don’t be afraid that it isn’t a common pathway.

Know your worth! Demand for more! Make sure you are getting paid well.

Tend to your creativity. Sometimes you have to give your mind a break. It helps to have hobbies outside of creating constantly.

Don’t try and find a style. This will probably just end up limiting you. You can’t force it.