Finished. Deadline Day.

So, another unit down, in the bag! (hopefully) 

Very happy and pleased with everything I've done for this project, both parts 1 (social awareness) and 2 (Parkinsons Equip) 

Essay submitted, all work on desk ready to be graded, just self assessment remaining… don't even know where to begin with that! 

But for now, a collection of my favourite pieces from this unit…

Movie/Soundtrack Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

Ok, so this would normally seem like a very odd choice for a review, but in truth it very much relates to this whole project, how? do let me explain...

The motion poicture soundtrack limited edition vinyl cover

Not only is this a fantastic film, film of 2014 even! 

Possibly the best and most visually stunning offering from Marvel studios yet, it jumps from its illustrated comics to the big screen perfectly.

It is its soundtrack that has touched us all, many low unmotivated days in the studio have been easily cured by this truly perfect movie soundtrack!

Every track is a motivational masterpiece from the 80s, so often were we ALL singing along, having a little jig...

OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
 OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
 OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
 OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
 OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
 OOOGA-OOOGA-OOOGA-CHACKA
.....

Hard at work with deadline appraching!

We`re not always having endless brews and toasties!! Back up people! Real works going down sometimes!!

Obviously ignore the coffee, bread and HUGE tub of sweets in view! theres work there too!!

Happy Birthday to Leigh...

Im sure we wont celebrate every birthday in the class, infact this is the first i can remember like this! but it was a great lift with deadline fast appraching! And just shows how much we`re all bonding as a group...

Parkinsons Equip Online Publication

So with deadline day fast approaching, the publication is pretty much done! so on the side I have been meeting with college publisist David Scanlon. He has kindly jumped right on board with this whole project and produced a great online publication piece about this whole project, Big thank you to Dave for this, please check it out and share far and wide...

http://www.stockport.ac.uk/parkinsons-charity-set-illustrators-an-inspirational-brief/

August Sander... Again!

So last year, I was handed the works of August Sander to write an esay on, an essay I ended up very much enjoying writting, and a man I enjoyed researching.

But less than a years later I find myself face to face with the man once again, and his work, People of the 20th century, a magificent body of work I might add!

But it this time the views of John Berger, a writer I was aware of but unfamiliar with, so at first it did seem like I had the upper hand when it came to writing this fresh essay, or maybe my previous knowledge would cloud my views!? either way, I took it upon myself top choose this man again, for better or worse, its been submitted now! time to hold my breath!

The Wasp Factory, Book Review

So during the summer break, we were set a brief, to read and imagine a book, from a list, i chose   `The Wasp Factory`

Published in 1984 and written by Iain Banks.

Something about this book stood out to me, was an easy choice to have picked, it had been a while since I had read a book so, I dived straight in..

This will not be a spoiler review, if you have not read it, do so, it will be worth your while.

The 'Wasp Factory' of the title is a huge clock face encased in a glass box and salvaged from the local dump. Behind each of the 12 numerals is a trap which leads to a different ritual death for the wasp, the death chosen by the wasp predicts something about the future.
Set on a remote island, this is a string story of family, isolation and self torment. Its very dark subject matter, often alot to take in, but very much worth your time and attention.

Spoiler Alert
What a twist of an ending!! 

Amazing Ethical Illustration Based Story...

This is a recent story I read online and it truly is amazing!

Art and illustration comes in so many forms and helps people in so many ways that we dont even see infront of us every single day.

Suzy Barry and Jason Ward of Hamilton, New Zealand, have developed a heartwarming Friday afternoon ritual. Barry, who has Down Syndrome, has a temporary tattoo applied to her arm by Ward, a professional tattoo artist. Ward treats her the way he would any other client: he wears gloves, uses a spray gun, and stencils on her skin. 

Except he does it for free.

The story received unprecedented amounts of attention after gaining traction on Facebook

Suzie says that the way Jason applies her fake tattoos – the same way he applies real ones – makes her feel “equal.”

For him, it’s simple. “I take five minutes out of my day to keep her smiling.
There are people in the community that you can do this for. It’s great that people want to do something for Suzie, but they could look a little closer to home. If you just do one thing for one person everyday that makes them smile, then that’s your day. If everybody does that then everybody’s smiling.”

Read more at http://thechive.com/2014/12/13/this-tattoo-artists-act-of-kindness-is-leaving-a-permanent-mark-7-photos/#ycOE3zgwzT4kBpJA.99

The Wall!!

Our studio space finally looks kick ass! 

Who wants to work infront of a plain wall!?

Somebody with a boring job... not us!

Leigh and Holly`s Discussion Forum.

So thursday 11th was the turn of Holly aand Leigh to give there discussion forum, there given topic was the world of the moving illustration, over to them...

Naturally from the start we all thought that this would be a debate about cartoons! which wouldnt have lasted long because who doesnt like cartoons!? But no, it was mostly the world of the GIF, a slight moving animation done on a computer in no time at all that has taken the online world by storm, used by almost every major news outlet on there websites seen by millions every single day.

Many questions lead to, are we, the old fashioned illustrators still needed or relavant in this digital age!? 

Will these moving animations take over? or will the good old fashioned hand drawn image always win? the truth is there is no way of knowing and this debate could and will go on for some time! In my opinion, the old fashioned by hand approach will always win, but only if your willing to throw in a bit of modern, keep up with the times.

Great discussion forum guys.

My (Successful) Trip To Printed By Mono.

So after the mix up of last time, I tried again, and he was there this time! 

So I dropped off the paper, gave John a little ass kicking then it was into Printed by Mono..

No idea what I was expecting, but its much smaller than I imagined, but cosy, comfortable work space for sure.

Hopefully in the next few days I will be back with a few more from class to be here whilt the publication is being printed! Exciting times!

Sure, the mix up last sunday sucked! but, I gave him my stern face, back to work..

Tuesday Club Lecture 9th Dec 2014 - Vaughan Oliver

So todays tuesday club was Vaughan Oliver, all anybody is saying is "dont miss it", "it will be so worth your time" and hot damn how right they were, I wont mince my words and wait until the end, this was Awesome! Best lecture to date, hands down, what a guy, what a talker and I suspect a part time stand up comedian!

So even before we start, he set us all a task, to de-face his picture! Daring guy, but once youve heard him speak and realise he has a sense of humour that will mix with anybody you know why.

He had so much to show us, such a long career of immense work with such bands as the pixies, really huge well known world wide stuff, but never was what he had to say boring or did it drag, he has such a way of talking that what was meant to be an hour talk crept to just shy of 2, and for once, I didnt care! I wanted more! 

Pixies Boxset

This piece really stood out to me, And he even brought it along, it was HUGE! Fantastic!

I really could write for just as long as he spoke but there really isnt enough high praise for this guy, a very very easy 10/10

A Day with Wraptious Art..

So I blogged a while back about the fantastic Wraptious.

A company I discovered at the Manchester print fair, and since then I have befriended owner and founder SimonWadsworth, and on Thursday 4th December (on a very cold winters day I might add!) I was lucky enough to spend a few hours on his stall at Stockport train station with him, picking his brain and being mezmerized by some of the great pieces he had on display.

He has been working on this business for just over 2 years now and it is definitely one on the rise! They offer massive opportunities for aspiring artists,

I will be hopefully helping out in future events for Simon, genuinely top guy, and just another finger in another pie for me! anybody reading this.. dont tell him I called his company a pie! cheers.

And if you get a chance, get your arses down to one of these dates..

http://www.wraptious.com/

My (Failed) visit to "Printed by Mono" - 7/12/14

So today, I had arranged to visit printed by mono, drop off the paper ready for printing, but alas! not every blog post is all sunshine and rainbows! 

Nobody was there, the doors all locked and john not answering his phone TUT TUT...

Gutted, pissed off! a waste of a good sunday! and i love doing nothing on my sundays!

If at first you dont succeed, kick his ass and maybe try again.

Printed by Mono.

So our Parkinsons 16 page publication will be "printed by mono"

We are lucky enough to have a tutor that is a master in risograph printing in the form of John Powell Jones, who runs the company Printed by Mono.

It is a very new printing process to us all in the class, so here is a quick look at the company and process before I visit there on sunday 7th to drop off the paper for printing..

All images and information are provided by https://twitter.com/printedbymono

 company logo

 Neat and tidy working environment!!

 A few test sheets

 Johns precious PINK!

 The Team

The respectable business side of things.

The Quake Goes on a Journey...

So as part of the Parkinsons brief, the picture I produced for for the poem "The Quake" ended up looking best in a black and white format, and will be published so, 

Even though this will be the final work printed, it is definitely not the end of the journey..

I give to you, the Quakes 3D adventure..

Nothing it would seem, Stops a defiant old man from getting to where hes going.

Ive grown to love this faceless old Bastard!

An Update From the Parkinsons Equip Team.

on Thursday 29th, Ray of Parkinsons Equip came to visit us all in college to see how we were getting on with our project and to say he was impressed would be an understatement! 

His reactions and imput to our work was such a huge help, we really couldnt ask for a nicer guy to be working with.

The pictures are almost finished, paper ordered and delivered, printing quotes sorted, online publication in the works and a cake sale next week you wont want to miss.

It was always going to be a tall order to beat the last collaboration project but hot damn! this one is hot on its heels!

Tuesday Club Lecture, 25th November - John Walters

Todays Tuesday club lecture was with John Walters, editor of EYE magazine.

http://www.eyemagazine.com/

This is a publication that has been running successfully for over 20 years now, it is not a mainstream magazine you would find in your local newsagents, more of an aquired read, a highly specific and intellectual magazine... or so thats how I persieved this.

John was a very good talker, had everybodys attention even after being late!! he speaks with a clear passion for what he does and definitely made me want to listen and learn more of what he has done in his long illustrious career.

http://www.eyemagazine.com/

This lecture was a good insight into the publication world, all be it in a very limited audience facility. It is always nice to here from an editor on what he expects from and how he finds illustrators of the world.

I definitely feel I learned from this, even if it wasnt aimed at anything I intend to pursue in my career but, you never know, so his input and knowledge was well recieved and welcome by me.

His biggest downfall was having so many years of knowledge and just an hour to talk, but he did great with what he had to work with. 6/10

8x8 Book Launch.

Wednesday 19th was finally the launch night of our 8x8 book, the much anticipated I might add! And what a night it was, great to meet some of the writers involved, such a shame Rebecca the writer of mine wasnt present.

During the night we were treated to reading from the authors, and a few of us illustrators answered questions about out published pieces, naturally I stepped forth to answer a question, that second glass of wine probably helped!

Yet another amazing night of memories made, and it really does lift you up so high seeing your own artwork getting published, a great and worthwhile project for any aspiring artist and writers to get involved in.

Mine and Andys discussion forum.

On tuesday 18th, myself and fellow discussion enthusiast Andy Peake held our very own infront of our fellow class mates to discuss "Ethics in a Digital World"

 

We touched upon many aspects of the artistic world, past, current and even future. This was our first solo outing for such a thing and speaking for Andy... we nailed it! I mean I feel sorry for the half of the class that wernt there! As for the ones that were, we thank you for getting involved and asking questions, general interaction throughout! 

As an intimidating guideline of 45 minutes, we were shocked to go over the hour mark, I mean anybody that knows myself and Andy, we could have gone on for 2 or 3 happily! As much as I loved being trusted to go first in the class, and cant wait to hear everybody elses in the coming months, im a little sad that we wont be doing another ourselves.

Thank you to all that attended, we hope it was both entertaining and interesting... over to the rest of you.

Tuesday Club Lecture 4/11/14 - Luke Artingstall

Todays lecture was presented by Like Artingststall

Generic Google search image!

Luke is an archetectural lightings expert, instantly we all though, well, this isnt much to do with illustration, and the sad fact is, we were right.

Sure, it was an entertaining subject matter, and he does speak very well, but this was the first Tuesday club lecture I have attended were I genuinely thought "where is this going?"

He had some great images to show us... none of which were anything to do with him, or work he has done, it seemed as if it was a presentation full of images he had googled an hour previous to the lecture.

For anybody interested, he did speak well, and maybe this is your field, if so, I urge you to check out his web page - http://www.artinlight.co.uk/

I just wish he had spoke about some of his own work, he has the gift of the gab, he just doesnt use it to its fullest, what a shame.

Bejrudgingly, I give this Tuesday club lecture a 3/10

Tuesday Club Lecture 7/10/14 - Jim Williams

Tuesday club lecture was with Jim Williams

Author of the Book "Type Matters!"

This lecture, all be it not about art per say, was a fascinating listen, turns out, type really does matter! There is so much history with the subject, we all seem to take type for granted these days, but if it is a subject you do enjoy, this book is essentially your new bible! 

Most of us just live in the new word, with txt talk and god knows what fonts we have to choose from right on our laptop.

But this man brings it all back, some may call him a type dinosaur (maybe myself included) living in the past, but type like many other art forms, is never in fear of going out of fashion! 

Everything he had to say, was essentially how to do it, the right way, the way history intended it to be done.

this book is available at amazon, in several different languages! 

even if only a few things in it interest you, and I assure you they will, that alone is worth it, we society take type for granted these days, the rich history of it all is quite obvious yet brilliant.

Great first lecture of the year, he speaks well and I can imagine him to be a very stern but fair lecturer and employer. 7/10

Parkinson`s Equip Project - A Very Worthy Cause

As of yet, this new project hasnt even begun, but the charity of Parkinsons equip has been chosen, and I have met the founders of this great charity and I have nothing but good things to say already, I knew very little about this aweful disease but now cannot wait to put a helping hand in through the world of art.

www.parkinsonsequip.org.uk

Go and check this page out whenever you get a chance.

 "Parkinson's EQUIP will raise funds and make grants to individuals with Parkinson's to help them to improve their own lives as we wait for the cure, which it has to be said is a long time coming. It may be on the horizon, just over it or yet some distance away. We recognise that people's lives are being affected significantly now and we want to try to do something to help them to relieve that to some degree. This is no magic bullet, just a simple recognition that during the course of living with an incurable, degenerative, neurological disorder, many people come to a point where they want to fight and improve things for themselves. What we want to do is just to make that a little bit easier.

There is research that suggests that people with Parkinson's develop a creative side. Whilst not a treatment by any means, developing this can produce a sense of worth and improve self confidence, which is often lost following a diagnosis of Parkinson's."

They have already had a brush with the art world (pun-intended!) with an incredible book of poetry written by founder and Parkinsons sufferer Ray Wegrzyn, and is illustrated by Ghislaine Howard whos mother is a sufferer also. 

 A Book of Poetry and Art

This book is available from amazon.

It really is a unique and entertaining way of getting across a charitable message.

And I really cannot wait to start working with this incredible charity and even better people.

Highlight of the Manchester Print Fair - Wraptious Art.

So during my visit to manchester print fair, I was lucky enough to speak to a few stall owners and sign up to some newsletters and collect some business cards, some real good information for the future, but nothing there stood out more so than the WRAPTIOUS stall.

for anybody who hasnt yet, go check them out now - www.wraptious.com 

Some really incredible art work on display from so many different artists,

this is one print I actually purchased, by Robert Farkas

Bex Williams

Jasmine Hutchison

This really is just a small selection of what stood out to me, I would happily visit any shops the had and have spent many hours on there website just marvelling and browsing! 

They offer annual competitions to any aspiring artist to create work for them also, a great foot in the door perhaps!