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!

Abram Games.

'Maximum Meaning Minimum Means.'    - Abram Games

Taken from postalheritage.org.uk

Taken from creativereview.co.uk

Abram Games (born Abraham Gamse, on the day World War 1 began) belonged to the Golden Age of British graphic design where commercial artists produced hand crafted concepts and combined traditional techniques to create innovative styles. Games worked for an astonishing range of clients in his day inlcuding; Shell, London Transport, Guiness, The Times and The Financial Times. Abram Games' reputation as a graphic designer is based on his ability to weave together layers of ideas with a great economy of means. He realised that if you combine several images in one iconic design, the result involves the spectator in a visual game to unravel the layers of meaning within. Games explained, "A poster with a measure of intrigue engages the mind of the spectator and he looks again. You have to take him along with you so he follows your line of thought. The best way I can describe what happens is to say that as the designer you wind the spring, and it is released in the mind of the viewer." (Artyfactory.com and estate of Abram Games.)

During our trip to London we had the real pleasure of visiting Noami Games in her lovely home situated near Kilburn. Noami Games is the daughter of the late Abram Games, keeper and co-ordinator of all his outstanding work. I cannot express how wonderfully inviting she was to a group of complete strangers waltzing excitedly into her home and entrusting us with precious originals. We even sampled coffee from an early Cona model (if you don't know what the hell one of these wondrous inventions is you can take a look here ) that Games designed, not only a Graphic designer but his inventive mind came in handy for functional objects too. The coffee was delicious if you're wondering, and that's coming from someone who's made coffee for a living for 5 years now. Noami's reasoning behind being so open and welcoming to was simple, it's what Abram would have wanted. His work was made to be seen, to inspire and educate as many people as possible and a lot of the delicate drawings and developmental paintings never get shown to the public, which is a real shame since they're usually the most interesting and raw. 

Photographs I took, with permission from Noami, of two original pieces by Games.

It was overwhelming the amount of work she had filed for us to look at, since half of the finished pieces and inventions are included in various shows, a real eye-opener into a true designer's thought process and methods of working. Noami shared some beautiful stories of Paul Rand (a family friend) being incredibly fussy at dinner, how Abram would always ask her as a child, whether she understood his work...if she didn't he would scrap it and start again because if a child didn't understand it, it wasn't simple enough and chances are nobody else would understand it. He made work for the companies he believed in, on topics he felt passionately about. They hold an undeniably strong message yet delivered through simple design. Something that gets lost very easily in today's overly critical and mistakenly complex generation.

One of the greatest experiences of the year, thankyou so much to Noami Games, what an honor.

Conspiracy Theories

Taken from dominiquebyron.com.

 

Dom Byron, ex-stockport college student and current employee of the infamous Stan Chow has a new show up at Kosmonaut called Conspiracy Theories. As the name suggests, each print displayed suggests a particular conspiracy still shrouded in much doubt but illustrated boldly and beautifully. As an image, my personal favourite has to be the one featured above. I don't know much about American football but the cleverness of the poster gave me clear idea of the theory under-pining the design, communicates the conflict and stands striking without existing knowledge. Many other posters line the wall and  feature Area 51, the Bermuda Triangle and the mysterious honeybee disappearance.

I really enjoyed the night, such a good turn out of and a great opportunity to speak to Dom and meet local artists. Having an exhibition in a key location such as Kosmonaut draws in a more unusual and varied crowd than a specific art orientated event would, ensuring the work will never fall short of views.

Well done Dom!

Portfolio Visit Numero Tres.

I had my final portfolio visit of the year this afternoon with Alan Dalby at his cute studio in Hotspur House, near Oxford Road Station.

Sourced from Hotspur House facebook

Alan's room is right next to LaserLea, who I visited earlier in the year, and in such a unique building right in the heart of Manchester. I was excited just to be back there and to visit his studio which was super cosy and very inviting.

Homepage from alandalbyillustration.com

Alan is my 'guru' who I was paired up with by the tutors and I'm actually very thankful for their choice. Although his work is very different to mine and he uses mainly digital methods of working, we have similar interests and work pace. He's established his work, website and social media as a brand that all resonate on a professional and accessible level, something I've been very interested to pick up on. We had a lot to talk about as we've met a few times previous to the guru meeting and I felt comfortable telling him the problems I was having within my technique and issues with my portfolio.

After taking on board the feedback I'd received from my previous two portfolio visits, I'd refined my portfolio, taken the logo out of the equation, created an introductory page and created business cards, so I had a lot of finalised material to show Alan. I was still surprised at how positive he was though, he said he could barely flaw my layout and that I'd found a balance between my work and the surrounding space. The only criticism he had was to ensure that all the text was in line and flowed between every page, and to remove the dates I had affixed to each piece. He was impressed with my business cards and asked to keep one of each, which I of course allowed, the least I could do. He particularly liked the work I'd completed at the end of second year for Noise, Piece for Protest, of which I had included the series of three animals holding weapons. I asked him for any advice with improving the presentation of my drawn pieces and made it clear that I would be happy to spend time removing the backgrounds and completely re-facing them if that would help. In regards to the line drawings he said that was my best bet, to enhance the original drawings and stop gluing them onto scrappy bits of card (a horrible habit I created in second year for some bizarre reason.)

Alan's Tumblr Blog linked to his site.

Portfolio Visit Numero Dos.

This evening me and Dan Gatens met with Ben Jones, graduate from Stockport College, successful Illustrator and currently, multi-tasking teacher. I knew he had a busy schedule, especially before christmas, so I was extremely grateful that he agreed to spend an hour with us.

Sourced from benjonesillustration.com

After seeing Chris from the Media Octopus a week or so before, I'd updated my portfolio by removing a few pages and replacing them with images that flowed much more smoothly and placing each page in In-Design. The first thing Ben had to say was to minimise all of the descriptive text, leaving it just as a title and one line of context, and to remove the logo I had created to spot on each page. Using the space around the images would allow my work to breathe, speak for itself and attract the viewer with the quality of drawing instead.

After reviewing the rest of my portfolio he agreed with me that some of the pieces created with mixed media didn't fit in with the fine drawing and watercolour paintings and that towards the end of the year it'd be a nice idea to refine it further and invest in a quality portfolio, with removable pages.
I really value Ben's advice and was pleased with everything he had to say about my work whether it was critical or not. Unlike my meeting with Chris, the time spent with Ben was more focused around the layout and style of my actual portfolio and some tips toward an editorial I was working on. His advice for me personally was to keep up good habits, listen to my heart more rather than my head and get stuck in as soon as I finish uni. Apply for competitions (worthwhile ones), give every opportunity your all and never complain about being busy.

He's offered to look at my PDF portfolio early on next year and guide me with anything I need help with, which I couldn't be more thankful for.

Sourced from benjonesillustration.com

Website Research and Review.

Having just purchased my very own domain I realised I hadn't the foggiest what I wanted my website to look like. So...website envy commences! This was probably one of the easiest areas of PDP for me as ninety nine percent of my bookmarked pages online are artists websites or design pages. Websites are very easy to judge by sight and of course how easily you can navigate round them, but now I needed to look at them through a designers eyes, review elements I would carry onto my own site.

First port of call was to take a peek at some of my favourite illustrators and creative makers websites to see how they saw fit to execute them, I'll start with a front-runner; Dennis McNett, creator of Wolfbat and holder of wolfbat.com.

Wooden Carving by Dennis McNett of Wolfbat.

His love for narrative work has been translated into various different techniques, be it print, products, sculptures, intricate wood carvings or exuberant events, which means that his website must be equally as flexible without being over-complicated.

Screenshot of wolfbat.com homepage

His website does his work justice complimented by the excellent photography and organised sections. The homepage is broken into a triptych that flashes between two sets of images, each image a preview of the three main fields his work is devoted to, print, sculpture and installation. So straight of the bat you're getting a summary of the website and a taste for whats inside. The logo in the top left corner is beautiful up close; black and white inverted drawing of a wolf head with bat wings, it's just a shame it's so small. It has all the staples, contact page with a touch of 'about the artist' (maybe a little self-indulgent but interesting non-the less), an almost endless gallery of wonderfully presented work split over five sections (great organisation and for work of this caliber the sub-categories are a must), and link to well managed blog on tumblr. But the little extra that sets Wolfbat's site apart from others is the 'Happenings' link. Thanks to the nature of his Installation work and weird and wonderful mask making abilities, McNett and his dedicated team stage larger than life performances, parades and sculptural scenes that are filmed with accompanying annotations. These are found under the Happenings section and are outstanding to watch. In conclusion, Wolfbat.com is very well organised, straight to the point and really very simple which accentuates the work more in my opinion, his pieces speak for themselves and this site really lets them breathe.

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Moving on to another personal favourite, Caitlin Hackett. Her website was more disappointing as it isn't really a website at all. The homepage of caitlinhackett.com looks like it's barely been touched with just one image, no banner or even change of font and each link leading to different sites.

Homepage of Caitlinhackett.com

To view her work, you have to enter carbonmade site where her initial page is a lot more inviting and better thought out. In my opinion, the whole set up is an easy answer to a professionals problem. As a practicing designer you're expected to own and manage your own domain, site and email. Some agencies or directors just won't take you seriously without it, but in the real world not everybody is a technological genius or has the money to pay somebody who is, to do it for them. I think in Caitlin's case she recognises the need for her own URL but was happy with the carbonmade portfolio so didn't feel it was necessary to duplicate.

Homepage of Caitlin Hackett's Carbonmade Portfolio

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Next up is Jason Holley. Even though I haven't' looked at Holley in depth or known about him for a great deal of time, I find his work and process fascinating and his videos on vimeo incredibly witty.

'Slings and Arrows' by Jason Holley,

His website is very professional and although I'm not a huge fan of the homepage the links have an odd little twist. If you hover over them, the headings are transformed into quirky little anagrams, not really a great deal of function there but since the page isn't cluttered with logos or text it makes for a nice touch.

Homepage for jasonholley.com

In short, the best part of Holley's website isn't really the way it's presented (although in Archive and Illustration the neat square thumbnails are attractive) but the unusual amount of information you get about each piece. He comments on the intent and purpose of the piece, method used to create it and even a short evaluation containing his opinion. It's a window you don't usually get with artist's and especially not with their public displays of work.

Throughout my research I came across good and bad websites, as with everything and without being cruel and naming/shaming the bad ones I just took note of what to avoid. One of the most irritating traits a site can have is an automatic music player, I genuinely don't know why you would even do that, especially if you've got questionable taste in music. Another niggle is websites that are overloaded with flash files that take ten minutes to load, don't work properly and then crash your computer. It's true that less is usually more. The only other thing that really gets my goat is having the website mostly about the person rather than the work. It's fine to have 'working process' images and a little bit about yourself, even a self indulgent resume to fluff yourself up for all the world to see but there's nothing worse than the homepage or contact page being an essay of the artists life and interest. Nobody really cares that you've got three dogs and like a lie in on a Sunday.

So You Want To Be An Illustrator Huh?

Interview from jason holley on Vimeo.  
 

Vimeo isn't the most productive site on the planet, usually one more for procrastination in my opinion but then I came across Jason Holley's channel. Created for the Icon 6 conference, the video above named 'The Interview' along with several other videos are a collection of short, true stories replicating the life of a working illustrator. Not only are they a joy to watch but with such wit staining a very 'close-to-the-bone' topic for many aspiring illustrators and graphic designers alike, this series is a reassuring visual projection. You're not the only one terrified of the future, technology and art directors.

Franz Kafka, Carl Plackman and Me.

“I am always trying to convey something that can’t be conveyed, to explain something which is inexplicable, to tell about something I have in my bones, something which can be expressed only in the bones.”

Written by German writer Franz Kafka, a quote to sum up the week, and basically the entirety of third year so far. Over summer I turned some corners, but it's definitely not enough. I've become more confident as a person and towards my work, I've focused on my weaknesses, took time to adapt my skills photographically and accessed new briefs outside of University. Yet, as I have been told on too many occasions, I still fail to connect what I say or write to my product. I don't attach meaning from the premise through development. I am not oblivious to this fact. It's incredibly frustrating for everyone involved and sounds horrendously cliche but I genuinely don't know how to express myself. I've suffered with severe anxiety for a number of years and always attempted to stop it affecting my life, of course constantly over-thinking mundane tasks is tiresome but it's never been a real problem until now. Feeling overwhelmed has stunted my productivity. I've come as far as to isolate what matters to me and what I have to say which I've struggled with for a long time now but I still feel paralyzed when it comes to taking the words and putting them into pictures. I'm beginning to doubt my ability in all areas of Illustration. I need to put the hours in, work out what needs to be said and what needs to be left alone and stop disappointing myself.

I know that success always comes after a struggle and I won't be beaten, but I'm terrified it'll take more than this year to achieve clarity. I've determined to move past this, and swiftly. Finding artist and photographer Carl Plackman has been a huge helping hand in understanding that awkwardness and feeling uncomfortable are not necessarily negative, that nothing is what it seems and what you find on the surface is usually related to something completely oppositional underneath. His works examines the communication and obstruction, using sham objects and animals as metaphor. 

Hung, Drawn and Quartered (1975)
Nine separate elements; Three drawings, three objects and three b/w photographic prints.

As he described: "No object in this world is neutral. In a sense they are embodiments of value systems which have been decided by others." So by each individual attaching meaning to the objects, a different narrative is written and projected through the drawings and installation. I want to be able to create with simplicity, for others to take something valuable from my work, or even just to spend ten minutes wondering after it.

Why Are Things The Way They Are?

Why are things the way they are? My mind is never satisfied and spending every day in a state of flux; awe, terror and wonderment, has left me frustrated this year. However, organising the rubble from the wealth, into a tangible alignment has helped an infinite amount. Level 4 helped me find my voice as an illustrator, developed my confidence when expressing ideas and honed my technique. Of course I knew from the beginning that the preceeding years would be the real test but entering second year I realised there was more to it than being taken out of my comfort zone or given briefs I had no real connection with. Struggles, successes and questions encountered over the course of Level Five have challenged me in ways I previously considered un-obstructive, being tested and pushed almost constantly has improved my time-scale awareness over time but ultimately left me frustrated, de-moralised and dis-satisfied. Coming to terms with my artistic flaws and inconsistant attendance has forced me to face lingering demons, personal and just downright stubborn. I feel the process of re-assessing my working method and attempting to climb out of my comfy little box has helped me to achieve clarity concerning the relationship between my influences and work.


Combining quotes and extracts (in my writing) from a handful of my favourite writers, poets and theorists highlights topics I feel most passionately about and reminded me what I have to give. Recognising my influences through either an overt or discreet lens strengthens the path between each element poured into content and captured image, placing any certified inspiration alongside my own work elevates confidence in not only my aspirations but my technical ability. The passion felt reading Bukowski or Keroauc is matched emotionally by viewing ‘Disaster’s of War’ by Laurie Lipton and ‘The Garden of Earthly Delight’s’ by Bosch, which breathes life into my pipe-dream of blending language and visual into something lasting, outside of my head. The majority of the questions and realisations I have voiced over the course of the year reflect this struggle, I know where I want to be and what I have to do to get there so now all I have to do is get on with it.


Concerning my work, themes circling animal form, behaviour and prevention of cruelty are contained within many of my drawings, which has been twisted over the last few years and mutated into the preservation and collection of the anatomy when mortality prevents the preservation of the living spirit. This, along with philosophical ideas of mimesis connected with anthropology and the more politically charged argument of excessive reproduction vs. the hideously expensive fine art industry will be developed through a Dissertation process later on in the year.






(Adapted from my Critical Perspectives Summary.)

I Wish I'd Done This

'Disasters Of War' by Laurie Lipton, 2003.

Charcoal/pencil on paper, 49 x 59cm.

London based New Yorker, Laurie Lipton has lived and had her work exhibited all over the world. Inspired by the religious painters of the Flemish school and 16th century Dutch Masters, direct and unafraid, Lipton learnt through trial and error that she could never match up to her influences so took to her self-taught, insanely time-consuming drawing technique. Her drawings take longer to complete than most of the paintings she idolised, but the luminosity and detail captures the aching atmosphere connected to her chosen subject matter perfectly.

Although i'm fond of every piece she's created to date, for different reasons, 'Disaster's of War' is the one i wish I'd done. Drawn from the viewer's perspective makes it near impossible to abstain being pulled into the work, the scene is almost too familiar and the singular, intentional use of colour drags the eye past the cleverly placed Guernica to the focus of the piece, the televsion. The disturbing imagery is strangely comforting to me, although whether this should alarm me I'm not entirely sure, is it a reflection on my life...even the lives of every one around me? We see acts of unkindness, hurt, disaster, even terror every single day, around us, on the box or projected onto a politically innacurate plinth by the media. Which has resulted in a numbing, dare i say it, apathetic opinon of war. It would appear the phrase 'seeing is believing' has hit another level. Seeing someone getting blown apart on a screen while we're chowing down on a saturated, 2-minute microwave burger won't touch your appetite, it has next to no effect. Nowadays you have to be stood mid-battlefield, spattered in someone elses blood, waiting to have your own limbs torn from your body at any second...to get a rise. Lipton condemns the viewing public guilty as charged in 'Disasters...', combining the aching black and tone drawing, subtle wit and the symbolicl mockery encapsulated in Picasso's mug o' tea. The powerful political content; clever without being complex whilst retaining such technical prowess and aesthetic structure is what I yearn for in my work. The darkest corners of her mind are revealed and the vengeful streak that flows through each individual piece has me hooked.

Mighty Mr Move

Canis Lupis: Cult Cinema, Scott Move.

My first contact with industry is the lovely Scott Move, an illustrator and tattooist from London. He currently works and The Circle tattoo shop situated in the heart of Soho, London which is where me and Dan went to pester information and advice out of him. Since then I've met with him a second time, this time in Manchester at Rain City tattoo shop.

Initial conversation arranging a visit with Mr Move via email.

He specialises in hand-rendered black illustrations, beautifully symbolic and eye-catching, the reason why I found interest in him a few years ago. Delving into everything from commercial design (t-shirts, posters, music merchandise) to collaborative book publication and now tattooing at a high level.

Unfortunately I don't have the conversation's containing the questions asked and advice given in writing, as the visit's with him have been very informal, although I do plan to use him as part of the 1,2,3 post.

He's an extremely friendly and well-mannered gent with strong opinions and a well rounded outlook on the industry. Unknown to many, he studied Graphic Design to a degree level but decided it wasn't for him, the politics and work ethics of the course clashed with his morals and in the end he just wanted to draw wolves with knives through them and buildings that don't logically make sense.
He had some valuable knowledge to give on the subject of reproductive, hand-craft and stereotyping the art of tattooing too. The fact that when you tattoo a specific design on a indivual, the design either dictated by them or the tattooist, they put a high level of trust in you. Obviously you can't just wash it off once it's done, but 90 percent of the time it has some meaning or resonating emotion behind it, very sensitive matters. Not only this but it completely opposes the idea of reproduction, the aura of the drawing is held because once the tattoo is fixed, it cannot (easily) be removed, it cannot be sold, stolen or taken away from that person.