Buttercrumble - OUGD502

Buttercrumble told me they would be more than happy to speak further on social media so I got in contact. I reiterated what I told them after their talk about the fact that I would like to get illustration back into my work. They were very supportive of this I even asked for some help on one of my projects. They gave me feedback on some illustrations and helped me with character development this was amazing help, they got me to refine my ideas so that the submission would be a strong one. This was a simple step in making connections and becoming more of a confident person and designer but it has really pushed my practice making it much easier to contact people in the future.

Presentation Points - OUGD502

PPP Presentation:

where you were at last year and where you wanted to head towards:

• aspiring graphic designer out of higher education
• very digital based but wanting to explore outside of that
• very limiting and not great with time management
• wanting to become more organised more outgoing and more experimental within other disciplines

new experiences that have inspired you this year:

• thought bubble new designers, mike mignola, berlin, other studio visits and new practices

chatting to professionals:

• YCN 
• Butter crumble
• Mike Mignola
• Evan Eckard
• Craig Cunningham
• People at thought bubble and other creatives that have come in

making new friends or reconnecting with old friends within other disciplines:

• illustration
• photography
• graphics students from other unis
• Ryan Upton

Working more illustratively

• greetings cards
• comic

where I am now and where I am looking towards being:

• Still not very organised but getting there ( I have a diary/planner now) 
• Not spreading myself so thin
• carry on within illustration and other creative fields to push practice further
• starting to create a professional network and build relationships
• become a stronger more confident person within my work and myself

Dan Saul Pilgrim

• Minimalist
• 
  
• Interned while at uni
• 
  
• Leeds University
• 
  
• Left Eye Blind
• 
  
• Got scholarship at uni set up website and Yorkshire Boast
• 
  
• Collaborated with photographer Justin Slee, set up kickstarter for The Coffee Shop Project.
• Coffee Shop North book collaboration between, photographer, designer, illustrators and writers.
• 
  
• Uses type to influence projects and design.
• 
  
• Contact people.

These are a few notes I took away from Dan's talk. Not long out of university and he already seems to be well on the way to having a happy life within design whilst still pushing himself within his own practice. What Dan creates isn't something that I am drawn to for my own work but it is very interesting and he seemed very passionate about it, even if I am not interested in what someone does for myself if they can show their passion for it I am more than happy to learn. Although the work Dan produces isn't something I could see myself doing, the way he goes about it is inspirational. The amount of people he contacted to produce his book and how involved he got in a project even if it was a self initiated one is absolutely amazing. I think if you can be passionate about something and find within a project something that you can enjoy the project will go a lot smoother and come out the other side with a really strong final result.

Nest Launch - OUGD502

The Nest launch was a complete success, Erin managed to put together and organise an amazing event, the turnout was amazing and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Now that we have the editor and chief of Nest in our class willing to put so much effort into it the potential incredible. Nights like this are so good to bring together a group of creatives in a way that they may never have before meaning new contacts can be made and work can be shown off. Overall the night was enjoyable everyone seem to have a great time and it brought together a community.

YCN + Thirsty Planet - OUGD502

YCN -

YCN showed  brief understanding of the company, I didn't personally know much about what YCN offer outside the student awards. They help out clients; research briefs, help clients get the best they can from who they work with and set up events for clients plus more. I asked if the company had ever thought about creating some sort of creative network or community for creatives everywhere. They seemed to like the question and wanted to engage further I spoke about how I find inspiration or talk to people through events and how could this lead to some sort of community to help build confidence and work. Both speakers left their emails for me to contact them about the idea further so I am looking forward to starting a conversation with this organisation.

Thirsty Planet -

Harrogate water is the longest running bottled water and spa in the UK, they have a very low carbon footprint with no landfill waste. In 2007 they wanted to give back to the world even more, so they set up the charity Thirsty Planet with fixed donations, a charity that is trustworthy (Pump Aid) and with a sustainable vision for the future. The insight into the company was quite helpful to see the client's side of rebranding a product and to give an insight into what could be expected from some of the companies in YCN.

Studio 12 + Buttercrumble Talk - OUGD502

Studio 12 -

Studio 12 seem to be an organisation that has been set up to help creatives of all shapes and sizes. Situated in the centre of Leeds it means the studio is easily accessible for all the creatives within our university. I have worked with organisations similar to this in the past such as YPS and the Red Rose Community Centre but it was never on this scale. Giving young creatives a chance like this is something I really admire and would love to get involved myself using some of the facilities that are offered.

Buttercrumble -

Buttercumble, twins that have gone about their creative journey together using their combined talents. The girls work a lot with illustration as well as graphic design meaning that both disciplines can be brought together to create their final outcomes. This to me seems so inspirational because it is what I would like to get out of design. I so much prefer to work with illustration, so being able to combine the practices would be great. After speaking with both the girls they explained  that my process seemed to be similar to theirs and that it is a good thing that I am sticking with graphic design because a lot of the time illustrators may not be taught the theory behind design. If I keep my illustration up and use both together I could create a very strong portfolio. The discussion I felt didn't seem to be over so asked if I could drop a message over twitter to the girls and they said that they would love to hear from me they followed be back over twitter so that I could message them directly.

Change of Heart - OUGD502

Often my design practice has been digital and solely this, because it is a quick method, it's cheaper and for me easier. Over the past few years I have felt almost like I can't branch out for these reasons and that I am a digital designer full stop. This year I have decided to experiment more, to do things that may scare me and to go back to a more traditional way of designing. After making more contacts and friends outside of the graphic design community and outside of our studio I have managed to do these things, going to talk and visits I wouldn't usually do or taking on more ambitious projects without shooting them down or going at them half heartedly. I have decided to start illustrating more, using traditional print methods and maybe doing more time consuming projects that will just mean I have to organise myself better. Already I feel that I have become more relaxed with projects and at the same time more excited to try more and do more. This has helped both inside and outside my design work which eventually comes back round full circle meaning I have more inspirations, more contacts and more skills to push my practice to it's full potential and them some.

Illustrative Report - OUGD502, Studio Brief 02

Initially the idea was to create a comic that could go alongside the interview conducted with Mike Mignola. A comic book would suit the project completely and really link towards Mike's practice but the way in which the interview has been conducted does not suit comic books. There is too much writing to squeeze into such a small amount of space without making the book too lengthy and boring.
Sticking with the comic book style illustrations created in this way would still be suited but using them in a different way. Instead of creating a visual to tell the story all the way through small illustrations to some up each question could create a really strong publication.

The original idea was to use Mikes character, Hellboy and my character, The TimeKeeper walking along as Mike passes the information onto me as if he were imparting wisdom. The idea is still strong just not completely relevant for this situation. The new idea has had some deliberation on whether the characters should be completely there from the start as themselves or myself and Mike sitting with the characters as silhouettes behind. Sketches will be drawn up to decide the stronger idea but, Hellboy as a character can bring a real sense of almost dark humour around so an idea to consider is having the character briefly discussing what was meant by Mikes well thought out ideas into a small brief sentence. Each question would be supported by an illustration whilst the interview itself would either accompany the illustrations side by side or would be all together in the back of the publication.

Presentation Exercise - OUGD502

Below are the notes for the presentation exercise. I tried to make the presentation friendly as if it were just me telling a friend about a film to keep the whole thing relaxed and boost my confidence.

Film title

Sarah the main protagonist is left home alone to babysit her little brother Toby. There’s a lot of foreshadowing and easter eggs throughout.

Thing is Toby won’t stop crying.

So Sarah reads him a story from her book, unintentionally she summons the goblin king played by this guy (Bowie)

The were other actors consider to play the role.

but obviously their crotch bulges weren’t up to standard.

Anyway Jareth (the goblin king) takes her brother to his castle in a labyrinth.

He explains to Sarah that she has till midnight to rescue him or he’ll be turned into a goblin forever, she doesn’t think that’s fair.

Jareth sets loads of traps and puzzles for Sarah 

So she makes some friends to help her get through them.

Just as you would expect, Bowie sings a good few times.

lot’s of other weird stuff goes on like seriously how could this film not freak out a child like the part that almost scared me with some creepy bag lady.

Then Sarah finds some magic words to cast Jareth away and she saves her brother 

There’s a big moral and realisation when sarah learns her lesson 

(don’t summon the the goblin king to take your brother away and then think everything isn’t fair cos let’s face it that’s life) 

and just as you think Sarah is sane again all the creatures she met on her journey say goodbye they have a party and the film ends.