OUGD602  STUDIO BRIEF 1 |

DUST

On the 20th March I attended the opening night of Drew Millward's new exhibition at Colours May Vary. 

I have been following Drew's work for the past couple of years and absolutely love it. He has such a unique style and is probably one of the most notable illustrators in Leeds. 

 

Hey look its me 

It was crazy to see how well a turn out Drew got, and the fact people were queuing outside the door to buy his work must have meant he went home a very happy little man. 

The event inspired me so much and has made me really really want to do something similar of my own one day - obviously when my practice has improved and I have gained somewhat of a following - but one day it will happen. One day! 

Unfortunately I did not get chance to chat with Drew as I think every other person there was trying to as well, but I did get introduced to the Hungry Sandwich Club, the up an coming duo who graduated from our course last year. 

I found it really good to have a talk with Andy and Martin, partly because they had just come from being in the same shoes I am in now, and also because it turns out they are not as confident as you'd expect. I have always had problems with confidence, especially when it comes to this industry and being a 'professional'. Meeting these guys who have their own business/are working in the industry, and realising they aren't on that much of a higher level than me, made me feel much better and relaxed about the whole situation and the future. It was kind of a confidence booster in itself. 

I also saw one of the guys from 'Design Something More', who had recently set a live brief for us at college, and it was nice to know that they couldn't give two shits about talking to you when they are not getting payed for it. 

 OUGD602  STUDIO BRIEF 1 |

Leeds Print Festival 2015

Kind of a bit of a spur of the moment thing, I decided to produce some work to sell from the Leeds College of Art stand at Leeds Print Festival. 

It had dawned on me that after being told at the start of the year my presentation was disappointing and then that I wasn't engaging enough, maybe Amber was right and I do just need to get off my arse and do things. I absolutely loved the idea of screen printing/traditional print processes and always had, yet in the entire time I had been at the college I had used the facilities once. 

I just thought what the fuck am I doing, got a pen out, did some designs and went and made it happen. 

These were the final prints I produced - 

Admittedly they were pretty rushed as I am not a confident screen printer/literally had one afternoon to produce them, and I wasn't sure how well they'd go down alongside the amazing work from the other stalls at the festival, but it was a good feeling to know that i'd just got up, done something that I wouldn't normally do and actually had fun. 

Another reason I wanted to take part in the festival was to try and get myself and my work out there - to be noticed outside of college as an illustrator and designer. The only way i am going to achieve this is by going out and doing things so I felt this was a good starting opportunity. 

Unfortunately it turned out there wasn't a 'Leeds College of Art' stall, just a bit of room on the end of a Nathan Bolten's table, so I kind of felt like I wasn't supposed to be there. Stupidly, I hadn't actually contacted Amber about being involved in the print stall, I had just asked her second hand man Harrison and turned up on the day, so I didn't really know what was going on. This is a mistake I will learn from. 

I only managed to sell one piece of work in the end, which was pretty disappointing - I knew the prints weren't going to appeal to most but I kind of did expect more than one person to like them. Nevertheless it was a great experience and the start of many I hope. Its also cool to know that a piece of my work is up in someones house or wherever - unless they got back, realised it was shit and but it in the bin. 

Although I don't feel this sort of work is going to make me a living (as much as i'd like it to) its defiantly going to be someone that I will continue to pursue on the side. I love illustration and character design and I always have - it makes me happy and keeps me alive so no matter what its not something I will give up on. 

 OUGD602  STUDIO BRIEF 1 |

IAxM Exhibition 

poop