Arlene Adams

I came across Arlene Adams on the Print and Pattern blog and immediately fell in love with her work. She uses Illustrator to create her designs and I really like how she used simple shapes to build up a detailed illustration. She uses colour really well and her work often has a Scandinavian feel. I also like her use of symmetry - which is something I have tried to do in my work. I think it gives the detailed designs a bit of balance and helps them sit better on the page. Looking at her website, Arlene's work appears to have changed drastically in style - for the better! I will definitely be keeping my eye on her to see what she does next.

Wellspring Project

For the Wellspring brief, the page I was allocated was titled "what is wellspring?". In the text I had been provided with, there were a lot of elements included such as 'schools', 'churches', 'food', 'toiletries' and 'clothing'. In the last brief for James and the Giant Peach I created elements that had featured in the book to form a pattern. As I had really enjoyed creating the book cover I decided to do a similar sort of thing with this brief. I thought about what I could encase the elements in and came up with four ideas: a hand, a dove, the wellspring building shape and a tin of soup. When I showed the compositions to the client, Jonathan Billings, he really liked the one in the shape of the building so that's the one I went with.

I created the elements in a similar way to JATGP - I found references for each component and then copied the basic shape in my sketchbook. I tried to use a minimal amount of lines and shapes as otherwise it would become too busy once all the elements were arranged in a pattern. Once I had finished the drawings I scanned them into Illustrator and traced them using the pen tool. As I find it really difficult to work in black and white, I decided to fill them in with colour and greyscale them later. After talking to Ian, I then removed the black outlines from the elements - they ended up looking a little less complicated and not so harsh.

I then thought about the composition of the pattern itself. Although I had used rows for JATGP, Ian and myself thought it would be better for this brief to try something different. I had recently come across an illustrator called Nicola Meiring whose work often involves elements arranged in a jigsaw style pattern. I really liked the effect of this, so set about trying to fit my elements together in the shape of the Wellspring building. It was actually quite fun attempting to fit everything together, for some reason I like fiddly things!

I decided just to use the outline of the building and not try to include the inside shapes like the windows and doors as I thought this would look too complicated. After a tutorial, I also inverted the text across the top of the building so it was sitting inside a shape. I think this gives a cleaner finish and doesn't attract attention away from the pattern.

I think the main strength of my design is the composition of the pattern. I think I've managed to get all the elements to fit together really well and nothing stands out as being out of place. I also think the elements themselves are fairly successful. There are a few in particular that I really like such as the shoe and toothpaste. However, I think ones such as the comb could be slightly improved. I really enjoyed this project and will definitely use the techniques I learnt in subsequent work.

Patrick Hruby - Contact Report

I emailed the wonderful Patrick Hruby but I didn't really expect an answer as he's a very busy man! However....he replied! He was so lovely and gave me some really good answers. It made my day and I was astonished he wanted to look at my work! Anyway, here's his email:

Hello Philippa,

I am really touched that you would reach out to me. I would be happy to answer your questions.

I understand you are currently based in Los Angeles, does living there have an impact on your work?

Living in LA has definitely influenced my work. It is a land of perpetual summer. Ironically I prefer the winter, but there are definitely a lot of bright colors in this vibrant city, not to mention we have Disneyland (my parents used to take me every few years for my birthday.)

What are your inspirations? Do any artists/illustrators inspire you?

Strictly speaking my inspiration comes from the place where nature meets mathematics, but also I grew up on fairytales and I try to get to that place of wonder and magic. Idols of mine are Charley Harper, Alexander Girard, Mary Blair, and Kay Neilson.

Are you ever stuck for ideas? If so, how do you overcome this?

I get stuck for ideas all the time. But I have learned that a lot of times I am just afraid to try an idea that might seem crazy at first. I try not to edit myself in the beginning.

Would you be able to tell me about your working process? How do you get started on a brief?

Even though all of my work involves software (mostly Adobe Illustrator) I will start with a pencil. Sometimes I try to resolve the design before I resolve the concept. Sometimes the concept is revealed to me as I work out the general composition is strict geometry. When I get a brief I usually just take a bit of time to daydream and imagine what the finished project will look like. I think about colors and composition then I start brainstorming ideas. I make a lot of lists. I put them away and come back to them after I have had some time to see it with fresh eyes. I try not to resolve everything in the beginning so that there is still a little room for surprise.

What media do you use in your work?

Like I said before, all of my work (except my paintings) are somehow rooted in digital media. Depending on what the final outcome of the work will be, I will either deliver purely digital files, or I will silkscreen the designs into a physical object, scan it and send that.

Have you always loved using bright colours in your work?

I have always loved bright colors, but I wasn't always brave enough to use them. When I began my studies at Art Center College of Design I was painting watercolors which were much more ethereal. As I grew more confident in color and design my work began to become more and more direct.

I notice you have created several alphabets. Where does this love of typography stem from?

I have always loved typography. It was a bit of a mystery to me, and I am ashamed to say so, but I didn't take very many graphic design classes in school. I thought that type had so many rules that I just steered clear of it. Then one day I just decided to start making alphabets as best I could just to demystify it for me. That began a new love for me.

Is there any advice you would give to an aspiring illustrator?

The best advice I can give you is not to limit yourself by what you think an illustrator should or would do. Think of your work in every application you can imagine, don't be afraid to discover that you may be a completely different sort of artist that you imagined you would be. Above all, protect the quality of your work.

I hope that helped. I would love to see some of your work if you have a site or if you would like to send me some work.

Good luck in your studies!

Patrick

Merijn Hos

I came across Merijn whilst flicking through a blog I had come across and was instantly struck by one of his pieces. Although his style is not at all similar to mine and it's something I will probably never aspire to do - I couldn't help being amazed by it. I looked on his website and there is so much stuff on it! His work is really diverse and he experiments with lots of different media. On one page there is a beautiful watercolour, on the next a colourful collage and on the next a gigantic installation. But what really caught my eye were his series of China ink drawings. The detail in them is astounding and the content is so playful. I love the use of pattern and although they are black and white you can tell they would be bright and dazzling if they were in colour. They're so quirky and fascinating I just had to put them on here for you to see!

Nicola Meiring

Following on from the presentation by The Chase, I had a look around the internet at some of the design agencies they had mentioned. I was having a mooch around Folio's website when I came across Nicole Meiring's page. She is originally from South Africa but recently moved to England. Her work is really amazing and certain elements really remind me of my own work at the moment. Nicole obviously uses Illustrator to create her pieces and they have a clean graphic feel to them. In several of her designs she has used elements built up in a pattern to form a shape; which is what I'm trying to do with this current brief! I love the style of her work - there are clear influences from Scandinavian design and she has a passion for iconography. She has a great sense of colour and works with an array of tones and shades. Nicole has worked for a wide variety of clients and she is in frequent demand. Her work is really inspirational to me so it may be that I'll contact her to find out more about how she works.

The Chase

Today we were given a presentation by Lise Brian and Mika Shephard from a design agency called The Chase. They came to Stockport primarily to talk the third years about their portfolios but very kindly agreed to talk to us as well. They gave us some excellent advice on approaching design agencies and how we should prepare our portfolios.

They had contacted several agencies for us and asked them what they look for in new designers; their responses were as follows:

- CIA (Central Illustration Agency) - look for originality, good communication skills and a positive professional attitude.

- Heart Agency - look for someone who is different from anything they've seen before.

- Lemonade Illustration Agency - treat illustration as a real business.

- Folio Illustration Agency - know what illustration the agency works with.

Lise also gave us her own advice on how to approach an agency:

- Make sure you spell the person's name right.

- Don't attach too many files in an email.

- Follow up with a call.

- Be nice to receptionists.

- Try not to be too nervous on an interview.

- Know something about where you're going.

- Be enthusiastic.

- No job? Ask about a brief.

- Turn up unannounced.

- Can you help with anything?

Finally they gave some advice on preparing your portfolio:

- Take work out you don't like.

- Have a good mix of work.

- Keep your folder spotless.

- Treat it like any other layout job.

- Seeing the original piece is lovely.

- Don't put foam board in your folder.

- How much time have you got?

- Given advice? Don't take it all to heart.

- Practice talking about your work.

- Start and finish with your strongest work.

Lise and Mika had some excellent tips and I found the presentation really useful. Some of the points were quite obvious but it's amazing how you can easily forget about them. When I graduate I will contact as many agencies as I can to try and get representation. They have access to major clients that you couldn't reach on your own and they will scout out work to fit your style - they're well worth the effort!

'James and the Giant Peach' book cover

For the past four weeks I have been working on creating a new book cover for the story of 'James and the Giant Peach'. We were given a selection of competition briefs to choose from, all from various publishers and organisations. I chose the Puffin competition as I had loved 'James and the Giant Peach' when I was younger and thought it was something I could really sink my teeth into!

Any Roald Dahl book is automatically associated with Quentin Blake and whilst I love his work it was a challenge to move away from his iconic illustrations. I wanted to do something completely different and inject my love of colour into the design. I had initially decided to have a large circle representing the peach sitting on top of a patterned background. I spoke to Ian about this and he suggested that rather than just having random shapes, why not use elements from the book to create the pattern. I really loved this idea so set about drawing different components from the book. Some had quite a major part to play in the story, like the seagulls, whilst others were less significant, like the rhino. I tried to make them as simple as possible to compensate for the colour overload and decided to use Illustrator to create a clean slick line.

Symmetry played an important role in the cover; all the elements were symmetrical when possible. Also, the circle on the front is balanced by a square of the same height and width on the back.

Regarding the typography, I opted to design a bubble-writing style type to highlight that this is primarily a children's book. For the back I chose a sans serif font that looked 'child friendly' but I would really like to make my own typeface for when I send it off to Puffin in April. I also wanted the text to be a part of the pattern not just an afterthought so incorporated it into the design, e.g. the worm is normal on the back but forms 'Quentin Blake' on the front.

When finishing the cover I decided to limit the palette to six colours, which were the basis of the rainbow. I added pink to the worm but other than that I didn't want to overload it with lots of colour.

Overall I'm really pleased with my cover, its everything I wanted it to be - colourful, eye-catching and unusual. There are a couple of things I need to tweak before I send it off but this is the version as it stands at the moment.