The Corridor Gallery

The Corridor Gallery is located just outside the Foundation Diploma studios on level 4. Jerome Ince-Mitchell and Ross Braun exhibited their work there some weeks ago. Shown here is Jerome's work: two T-shirts presented as if worn by Ross and Abi. This was all he displayed and the simplicity worked. The T-shirts were screenprinted and hand painted; the precision of the print contrasting with the spontaneity of the hand painted brush marks. The subject matter comes from a body of work which celebrates young people and their futures. This show formed a small part of Jerome's and Ross's work experience.

Hello there, my name is Abi and I’m an illustrator. My work is unashamedly decorative, and created to play and interact with the spaces in which people live. I aspire to create surreal and quirky imagery that incorporates into people’s every day life.

The images I create are intended to make light of life and make people smile, to create reactions that in some way perk up a bad day.

I have now got two blogs, please visit them www.abioverland.tumblr.com and www.abioverland.blogspot.com

Tips on creating an Etsy shop

I have created an Etsy shop in order to sell my products, however it does take some work to get the listings viewed. In order to keep the views up, there are several ways of promoting your shop/listings. What I have found to be the most consistently successful is purchasing ‘Etsy search ads’ which cost $5 a week and basically keep your items close to the top. I have also showcased my items once, this puts your listings on the main page of the website, this however is only for a day and costs $7; I did not find this was the best way of promotion and cost more than it was worth.

In addition try and post a link to your shop in as many places as possible, such as Facebook, twitter, blogs etc. Twitter can be a very useful tool to get specific people to view your work. In order to get people to follow you on twitter, I find there are several key factors that will make your profile stand out. Firstly, the things that people see when going through listings to see who to follow is the paragraph you write about yourself, keep it short and sweet but try and add a playful twist to make you stand out, maybe use an illustration as your profile picture and lastly, have a link to your blog/etsy shop/website in this paragraph so as to make it as easily accessible as possible for others to view what you want them to. And finally, follow as many people on twitter as you can (not just anyone, but people you would like to follow you) as usually once you follow them, they will start to follow you, also by following more people your profile will be more accessible to more people. Please visit my shop www.etsy.com/shop/abioverland

My Work Experience

I have recently done some work experience with Deborah Bowness, the wallpaper designer. Whilst working there and assisting her, she provided me with some insight into how she came to do wallpaper design, as has been said by all working illustrators we have met, she also advised not to get a full time job if you are really keen to pursue illustration. Sometimes things can be tough but it is persistence and being proactive that gets you there in the end. She mentioned applying to organizations such as the prince Charles trust, doing trade shows, and also doing a lot of things for free purely for the purposes of promoting your work (she did a lot of wallpapering for free in places such as pubs etc) and from there she got more exposure. Please see her website http://www.deborahbowness.com/

The Serco Prize for Illustration: Call for entries

Deadline for entries: 17.00, Friday 6 April 2012 Exhibition: Tuesday 13 November to Monday 10 December 2012 London Transport Museum, in partnership with the Association of Illustrators (AOI), is delighted to announce that submissions are now welcome for the 2012 Serco Prize for Illustration. This year the theme is Secret London. Entrants are asked to create an illustration that explores a hidden side to the city. Entries can depict little known or unusual aspects of the Capital’s history, culture, characters and communities - past or present. This is an exciting challenge for artists to celebrate a vibrant, multi-layered London in a way it has never been seen before. The competition is open to students and illustrators throughout the world. The top 50 entries selected by a panel of judges will be displayed in an exhibition at London Transport Museum that will open Tuesday 13 November and run until Monday 10 December 2012. The winners will be announced at a private award ceremony on the evening of Monday 12 November 2012. Prizes will be awarded in three levels: First prize: £2000 Second prize: £1000 Third prize: £750 The winning entry will appear on Transport for London services as a poster. For further information please visit http://www.theaoi.com/serco2012

Melanie Smith

Melanie is studying the FdA Graphic Communication and has produced this piece of work for the Zine in response to the theme of 15. Just a simple reference to the periodic table of elements but the glow makes the difference.

Urdy

Laura Burton and Frances Uleph are together called Urdy. They graduated from the BA top-up last June. Both specialise in graphic design with a little cross over into illustration. Generally their work is witty, humorous, sometimes edgy.

For the arts trail they covered four public benches creating a witty visual transformation into a comfy sofa. They felt that once sitting comfortably the world would look different. It would be transformed though perhaps not turned upside down as the theme of the trail required. Playfully taking what we are used to seeing inside and placing it outside was a wonderfully simple but dramatic twist.

They had a great deal to get right. The work was printed at Links on PVC. They photographed sofas at close range and then tiled up these pieces to ensure the correct resolution. They had also to consider the way which these pieces were tied on.

All of these works were sponsored by businesses in Battle. To do this someone from Battle Arts literally spoke to shop owners and asked them if they would pay the £100 or so that each of these cost. To advertise the sponsor Laura and Frances made small furniture labels which explained the thoughts which underpinned the work and combined this with the sponsors logo.

Alice in Wonderland

Alice Larkin completed the FdA Ilustration last June and is now pursuing the top-up. Her interpretation of the theme 'The World Turned Upside-Down" for the Battle Arts Trail was to paint scenes of Battle in the future, a world of space ships and robots. The scenes were painted on mirror and parts of the mirrors were left unpainted so that children of various heights could see their reflection as part of this future.

There were real practical difficulties with this piece. For health and safety reasons the mirror had to be acrylic and they couldn't be fixed with anything which would make holes in the wall. Alice had to source the materials and then keep her fingers crossed.

Silent Voices

Michael Collins gave a voice to inanimate objects throughout the town. If doors, bins and flowers could speak the world would, indeed, have turned upside-down.

These stickers were printed at Links Printers. They're quite cheap: approximately £25 for 1300mm x 1000mm. They can be cut in whatever shape you choose.

Tuition Fee Protest

The increase in student fees, it could be argued, will turn many people's world upside down. At least this was Andrew Youthed's interpretation of the Art Trail brief. He chose to use a gritty urban style which would contrast with the cosy semi rural Battle. His proposal was such a contrast to others that it stood out and just had to be selected.

He produced a very large poster; it was about 1500mm in height. It was posted on a beautiful brick wall looking over fields. In addition, he had printed lots of smaller stickers which were stuck in various places over the town.

Interestingly it was favored by the local Tory MP and was removed by someone unknown. It's difficult to predict people's response....

Urban Fairies

Rowena O'Reilly turned the convention of a fairy on its head as her response to the Battle Arts Trail theme of 'The World Turned Upside Down'. Rather than charming delightful creatures Rowena's 'Urban Fairies' are more dark and mischievous. They created an impressive swarm.

She made two hundred of these fairies from wire, refuse sacks and copies of the Financial Times. They were purposely sited on the skateboard ramp. Now you can see them exhibited in college.

Becky Mann's Dot to Dot

Becky Mann produced a Dot to Dot 0f the Bayeaux Tapestry as her contribution to the arts trail. Her paintings marked the way along a narrow path which runs parallel to the High Street and which leads to the local primary school, Battle and Langton. Becky worked as Artist-in Residence at the school producing two larger dot to dot pieces. The school children completed the dot to dot ... in rather faster time than Becky had envisaged!

When Becky had an idea for developing the monster colouring book which she has posted about earlier on this blog it was to her newly found contacts at Battle and Langton she turned. Again she worked with the school, interviewing schoolchildren to learn about 'their monster'. She will be returning soon with the colouring books and ideas for large monster stickers for their classroom display.

Becky is interested in working in schools more in the future. This work experience has not only built up experience but contacts and with a bit more resourcefulness will no doubt result in further projects.

To see more of Becky's work take a look at her blog

http://beckymann-illustrator.blogspot.com/

Battle Arts Trail

The Battle Arts Trail took place last September with a number of students from the FdA Illustration course taking part. The theme of the trail was 'The World Turned Upside Down". The idea was that for one week only this medieval market town would be transformed in a variety of ways; ways which were playful and quirky, which invited the people who live there as well as visitors to see the environment in a fresh and new way, to perhaps notice things that they hadn't done before.

It was organised by Battle Arts whose aim is to promote the arts. Approximately £25,000, including a £9300 Arts Council grant, was raised to support the event. Armed with all this cash and good will professional artists were commissioned, community groups were supported in making artworks, Radiator Arts ( of which Peter Quinnell is a member) worked in two primary schools and a secondary school to create artworks for the town and students were supported in making their artworks.

Becky Mann, Rowena O'Reilly, Michael Collins, Andrew Youthed and Alice Larkin were all supported in making artworks. This formed a major part of their work experience which is a key part of the course in year 2. Working on the trail meant that they had to develop a proposal, be flexible about how they realised it within the context of the trail, be highly professional in the way thir work was realised and liase with members of Battle Arts.

Illustrators can work in a variety of ways and working on public arts events can be an important way of exhibiting your work and advertising your abilities. It can be funded through the local council's arts development officers but also through the Ats Council. There are also other funding bodies such as the Co-Op or even local businesses. It is an opportunity and it can be a rewarding one. To see more about the trail and about Battle Arts
http://battlearts.co.uk/

The Colouring Book of Imaginary Friends

I have recently created, 'The Colouring Book of Imaginary Friends' which is currently on display just inside the main entrance to the college. Feel free to take a look! 

As some advice for the first year students in Illustration looking for work experience, if you are at all interested in working with children or illustrating for children, do visit a local primary school and ask to create an art workshop with some children that will help to feed your own work. You will be surprised as to how enthusiastic primary schools are! Children love being creative and it is a real insight to how they see and think. I would never have come up with the illustrations I did for this book if it weren't for working directly with children. Do make sure you get a CRB check if you are to work in the same school for 3 consecutive days. Otherwise enjoy it and have fun!

Rebecca Louise, Fda Illustration, Year 2

Penguin Design Award 2012

Design a Penguin adult or Puffin children's cover and you could win yourself a placement within the Penguin or Puffin studio as well as £1000 prize money!


To find out more:

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/index.php