Portfolio Visit with Chris Madden: Good Egg

Taken from robotmafia.com

I remember my first day at Stockport College, feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed, full of hope and clutching sharp new pencils. The first thing I saw walking down the corridor to my new studio was the image above...'Fireworks' by Chris Madden. Three years later and I've met some wonderful people, successful in every weight of the word, including Chris Madden who I had the pleasure to meet at Draw North West; a Manchester-based creative meet-up, that he coincidentally runs.

Now although Chris may not be a potential client, I trust that he knows Illustration inside out and surrounds himself with more creative people on a daily basis than you could shake a stick at. I've had a hard time trying to contact agents of agents of illustrators and even worse experiences being told I have no direction by self-inflated baffoons who feel they've made it if they've got a couple of ten pound notes to rub together. However, it's no secret that Stockport fledglings tend to have a quality that sets them apart, kindness. Taking time out of a busy schedule to do something for nothing and the courage to be honest without breaking someones heart is rare in such a competitive industry. I'm sure I've been looking in all the wrong places elsewhere, but Manchester, Leeds and York exude such a beautiful attitude via their young creatives that I didn't really need to.

Anyway, getting back to the subject. I emailed Madden in the hopes I would catch him when he would have the time to talk to little ol' me, I wasn't dissapointed. In response to all the material I sent him I received a wonderful response again reinforcing successfully balancing my black and white drawings alongside colour, maintaining loose drawings in contrast to detailed images and using the simple, clean layout of my website/portfolio to harness the style of the drawings.

I asked him specifically about branding as it's one element I've always been unsure about. Mentioning the banner on my website in particular Madden suggested that I used the icon of the bat to tie my work together instead of one small logo i.e using the bat on the banner, on products, at the forefront of my portfolio etc. Considering this I would probably use the colour version of my banner illustration as it highlights the merging of watercolour and fineline drawing, my preferred media. At the same time, I would have to be cautious not to exhaust imagery, try and keep my portfolio and website varied so that clients have fresh illustration to look at across the board and I'm not constantly repeating myself. Another reason why I connect my Tumblr account to my website, Tumblr is an easier way to update regularly without the pressure of all the pieces being finalised. The connection between viewer and artist becomes more personal as they can see you process, read as much or as little about you and intertwine your personality with you work.

As a final thought; "Overall, you are on the right track and are doing more things right than you are giving yourself credit for! If you need anything else over the next few weeks (or ever really) i’m more than happy to give advice/critique etc.

just give me a bell - Looking forward to seeing your work at the degree show!" (Madden, conversation via email)

Eternal thanks to Chris Madden for being an excellent role model and all round nice guy!

Lucky Break.

My personalised portfolio, front cover.

Ta-Dah! My portfolio's finally finished, well the vessel anyway. But first impressions and all that eh.
After much research into the world of highly expensive portfolios, I decided that in order to best represent my work I would either have to fork out for a leather bound portfolio or customise a wooden one. I found this A4, refillable, book-style portfolio on Etsy after Lorgie was recommended to me via social networking site Tumblr. Run by a lady called Kamma and based in Fremantle, Australia, Lorgie makes all custom folio's out of 'satin-eco-varnish' covered pine, fixed with faux leather bindings and nickel screw posts. Although the price of the portfolio includes a typographical customisation I chose to order mine as blank, I'd already hatched plans for both covers. The quality exceeded the price in my opinion and it arrived in good time, and perfect condition with no extra shipping charges.

Now, earlier on in the year I took part in a workshop at a local Laser studio where I met Cai, the brawn, brains and beauty behind LaserLea. I've mentioned previously on my blog how beneficial the experience so I jumped at the chance to get a really personal piece crafted with the help of Cai. After getting in contact with her I hand-drew my designs ready to be bit-mapped and checked. The Wishbone is very symbolic to me; representing luck, tradition and a strong bonds. I have a full and broken wishbone tattooed on each arm to signify hope and closure, wishing for better times and the realisation that I no longer needed 'luck' to get where I wanted to be. So, my portfolio physically represents me and the work inside projects me mentally.

Left: Front Cover, Right: Back Cover.

Another thankyou to Cai at LaserLea, for being lovely as usual.

Out of Darkness

Main Editorial Image.

Looking back on previous project's always helps me when starting fresh. I find ordering my ideas and showing logical progression through development to be especially difficult now that there's so much pressure to produce a larger body of work. Before Christmas I successfully completed and exhibited the editorial project I'd struggled with. The final outcome of the piece had been turned on it's head after half a dozen mishaps, the plan never quite goes to plan, but resulted in a more organic piece and experimental development shown throughout my sketches and minds-eye.

The final piece for the main illustration 'Out of Darkness' was created using an old projector, as shown in the photograph above and my drawings translated onto acetate. I deliberately sought out a projector that didn't quite work as it should, so I knew the focus would be temperamental and the projection very rough, to create an effect similar to an old cinema screening. The tall figure is based around the character Nosferatu, I had to use various different resources to get the pose of each figure in proportion and taking inspiration from black and white films (where shadow and chiaroscuro were two important factors to create atmosphere) seemed appropriate to the whole aura of this piece.

Wall of fame.

I wasn't entirely sure how an editorial would look on the wall, especially since lack of time meant I had to photocopy my design's on print-out newspaper copies and hash them together as professionally as possible. However, even though nothing was framed or arranged artistically, the wall was significantly more interesting to look at than my midterm exhibition as the variety of work held up individually and collectively.

Photoshop hell.

Not only did the editorial push me to mess-up my sketchbooks and work in a overly logical manner, time-keep and recover faster when things when belly up but I had to constantly challenge myself technologically. Since I've only ever used photoshop when absolutely necessary it takes me triple the time to process information when editing elements together. I wanted to create an alternative piece out of photographic material (self-taken) using a cut-up method, William S. Burroughs inspired. I decided on the background as a corridor, a developmental synergy involving a handful of designs so I bought a cheap disposable camera and hung around the ground floor of the college waiting until it was dark and empty enough for me to take twenty seven photographs of the same corridor without looking like a total weirdo. After developing two sets of the practically the same photograph it took me the best part of eight hours cutting them up and arranging them into something that resembled the original corridor. the visual disjointedness of the composition represents the view of a corridor through the eyes of a terrified child, or victim in this case. The challenge I had lured myself into was then to edit two different types of photographic material, both dark in contrast and conflicting shapewise, together.

I think I did alright.

Let's Ring In The New Year

My 'Historic Buildings' design is featured on the front of the Age UK calendar for next year. It was an absolute pleasure working with everyone from the Stockport branch and I'm overjoyed to see my work being put to such good use.

 

Pen For Hire.

My business cards arrived! It feels very strange to have a business card promoting myself, but I'm really happy with how they turned out. I used two drawings from my portfolio that reflect my strongest technique and work well as stand alone images, the crow in particular has returned much positive feedback already. I wanted to keep them as simple as possible, so minimal information, plain backgrounds and an easy to read typeface. When it came to describing my skills I opted for 'Pen For Hire' in place of 'Illustrator' as I didn't want to box myself within that particular field. I'm still experimenting with context and like to think I have a variety of skills to take on a multitude of projects.

Fish Are Friends, Not Food.

  
Fishtank: 'Music' Brief Submission.

'Fishtank Cover Design' Biro, 2012.

So briefly, last year me and a recent Stockport College graduate Jadine collaborated when the opportunity arose to submit a design to the Fishtank installation, ran by a collaborative group called Music. Agreeing on a piece of music, Brand New's 'The Quiet Thing's That No-One Ever Knows' we began to formulate designs, delegate the workload and focus on suitable materials.

Brand New Fishtank: Alternative designs.

One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome was the mock up of potential designs. As the end result would be so large, proportion and detail were two big considerations. To visualise the positive and negative space appropriately we painted the chosen design (photograph above, top split) onto a window with glass-friendly watercolour paint.

Fishtank Design on our living room window. Complete with miniature installation props.

Love letter origami crane.

Unfortunately after submitting our design (and ruining our living room window) we didn't hear back from Music as they were in the process of moving their house-sized glass tank between buildings. I'm not one for holding grudges, so maybe next year?

One year later...

Me and my companion Daniel have decided to have a go this time around. Deciding on a feline theme, we chose Love Cats by The Cure. It's incredibly catchy and will no doubt allow us to anthropomorphisise a whole cast of catty characters. After some rough sketches have been expanded on, the next step will be figuring out how to project a rolling narrative across the glass.

Manchester Print Fair 2013.

Yesterday was one of Manchester's key bi-annual events, Manchester Print Fair, held at NQ2022, Dale Street. It's a fantastic opportunity for local designers, illustrators or anybody interested by print design to get together in a friendly environment to sell, buy and browse.

Flyer sourced from manchesterprintfair.co.uk.

 You can keep up-to-date and learn more about the independent event on their well managed blog; http://manchesterprintfair.tumblr.com/.

I went along about midday and the venue was absolutely packed, obviously a great thing to see so many people on both sides of the stalls, although did make it difficult to manoeuvre without breaking a sweat. If there's a bit of advice I could give to people intending on paying a visit to the net print fair it would be; take minimal baggage, easily removable outer-wear and triple the money you think you will spend. The array of prints, products, trinkets and postcards was amazing and all for very reasonable prices!

Intentionally I was visiting to lend a hand with my other half and good pals collective stall, Foursight. Three very talented individuals banded together with a passion for illustration and strengths is all corners of design. Dom and Kris were manning the ropes as Jord was previously engaged, which ended up being a better for everyone involved as there was barely room for one person behind the stall, let alone three.

Selection of tasty prints for sale individually or bundled at Foursight's stall.

Other than Foursight, Lyndsey Green and Alex Frazer were two illustrators that really stood out for me. Their products were exceptionally unique, well branded and at the best prices aswell. I bought myself two of Alex's prints for £5 each, hand pulled and based on songs by two of my favourite bands.

All in all, the day was a huge success and a massive eye-opener. There's some serious competition in Manchester alone but with the event growing every year there's chance for everyone to get a slice of the action. Keep your eyes peeled for the next event in 2014.

Wind Int' Willows.

Final design for 'Wind In The Willows' Puffin book cover.

Above is my final edit for the brief outlining the creation of a new cover for Puffin Books: Wind In The Willows. Although it is shown here without the official template, I have left sufficient space and indication boxes where the blurb, author's name, caption and logo would be situated. Originally drawn on tracing paper with biro and fineliner, the layered drawing was compiled on photoshop, edited and then placed on a hand-painted background, designed to look like an old, worn bound book.

The red paint-like marks on the back cover, overlapping the gas-lamp (furthest left) was an accident after using a rather abused scanner, but instead of erasing it in Photoshop I left it in the final design. Whether it works or not is probably relative to personal opinion although the nature of the dusty red insinuates the fire in the lamp subtly. After compiling the images, the front and back cover were disjointed and only worked as seperate images. To adjust this I purposefully shaped the smoke to flow between the covers and over the spine, encorporating it into the front cover as much as possible by framing Toad and wrapping it around the crystal ball. I do still feel the boldness of lines and quality of typography on the spine could be further improved and with hindsight I would have worked more colours or at least another tone into the scheme.

Intitial character design page featuring main character of my cover, Toad.

I didn't develop as much of a connection with this brief as I'd hoped, seeing as it was a favourite story of mine as a child, but as far as the outcome of the work goes I'm relatively happy with the aesthetics and slight symbolism hidden in the elements. My sketchbook for this project reflects a more expanded working process as I produced far more potential outcomes and variations that usual.

Previous cover design, typography and a bit of boring desk.