Wednesday 22 December 2010

pdp list.

Tigerprint.

Paper & Cloth

The Edge Gallery, Lancaster LA1 1JY 01524 66029

Emma Langley, Phoenix Yard, 65 Kings Cross Road London WC1X 9LW

Walker Books, 87 Vauxhall Walk London SW1V 2SA

Red Fox Books

Hutchinson Books

Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, Great Russell St. London.

The White Gallery, Bollington, Macclesfield. Fiona Bayley

The Drawing Room Gallery.

Macmillan
20 New Wharf Rd London, N19RR, Tel 0207 014 6000.

Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

Lucy Schofield, artist, bookbinder.

Firecatcher Books.

Hot Bed Press

Scholastic Childrens Books, Euston House, 24 Eversholt St. London NW1 1DB

Tuesday 21 December 2010

pdp products


Canvas Messenger Bag Design 1



Jigsaw



Purse with my design


Canvas Messenger Bag Design 2


Limited edition pink hoody


Porcelain Mug



Black Hoody


Red Limited Edition T-shirt


Black Limited Edition T-Shirt


Badges

I had some badges made from one of my drawings, just to see what it would look like. I think they have turned out quite well.

cristina sitja rubio




I have written to Cristina Sitja Rubio to ask her questions about her practice, and she has replied to say she will be writing, but so far I have not heard. I sent her details of my blog so she could see my work. I like her work, which I hope she won't mind my taking off her blog, just for the purposes of the set pdp brief. Anyway, I hope to hear from her soon.

Carnival by Janet Kershaw

Collaborative animation work



This was a collaborative work between myself, Oriana Jane, and Bev Gartside, to illustrate and animate a short story by Angie Holden, a student on the MMU Creative Writing degree course, and Manchester Literature Festival.

Thursday 16 December 2010

The Outsider by Albert Camus/Folio Society Competition




The above two illustrations are about the character Salamano, in The Outsider, and his dog.

Negotiated Personal Project


Wednesday 15 December 2010

Still playing ... this time at setting up 3d with 2d images.


Playing ... at museums in transit, I think.



Bear Animation Projection.



This is the working process for the animation and filmed projection into the static bear that I made. I decided to do this, as so much of the "Preservation" story by Hannah Tinti was about how humans project their emotions onto animals, so actually using projecting as a means to portray this intrinsically within the medium seemed a good choice. I did lots of pencil drawings of a bear in movement and projected this onto the static bear as a contrast, I wanted to make it come to life, to come alive and move around, as it does in the story, and I think it has achieved this, really.

Olaf Hajek and Martin Haake studio visit, Berlin.





We were very fortunate to visit the studio of Olaf Hajek and Martin Haake whilst in Berlin. Olaf studied graphic design in Dusseldorf, Amsterdam and then settled in Berlin. His inspiration, amongst other things, comes from travelling to New York a few times a year, and also to Africa. 1960's Cuban poster art, South American imagery, Frida Kahlo, American Folk Art painting, and in particular, the American Folk Museum in New York could be counted amongst his influences on his work. A champion of the haptic sensibilities of actual paint, and paper and brushes, his work, which I think is beautiful, holds it's ground in the commercial market amongst all the digital art that is out there, and in effect, as he stated in conversation to us, "it is his brand", in a way. He discussed the pro's and con's with us of how he works with art directors in the industry, in that, his work cannot be easily changed, as is the case with digital work, so this is something to be understood when working with him. His lovely work is in high demand across the board of the art industry, extending from book covers for Taschen, to exhibiting in fine art galleries across the world.

Martin Haake was kind enough to show us his general working process, where he starts with drawings and paints, and cutting out and sticking, collage etc. building up his images digitally from his extensive image library of hand drawn and found imagery.

It's Raining Elephants! Studio visit, Berlin.




Whilst in Berlin I visited the studio of Evelyne Laube and Nina Wehrle of It's Raining Elephants illustration duo, and friends, all of whom occupy a lovely old building in east Berlin called The Heikonaut. The Heikonaut is also studio space to other artists, graphic designers, fashion designers, and illustrators. It used to be a former children's nursery, the present nursery has moved next door, and so The Heikonaut comes with lots of room, and outdoor garden space in which to grow vegetables, and to either work or play in, as well.

I was given a warm welcome by Evelyne, I had missed Nina the day before as she had to leave for Amsterdam, and immediately we got talking and found we had lots to talk about. I had brought portfolio samples of the work I have done in college so far, and she was really interested to see it, and liked it a lot. Evelyne has done many beautiful etchings, and she told me about a lovely print studio in Berlin called Bethanie. They have a print studio in the basement at the Heikonaut, where they can do proper hands-on printmaking, silkscreening etc. Evelyne and Nina take on many different types of projects, and seem to approach them all open-mindedly, so that their work is exciting and varied and vibrant, you can see their work here. Evelyne and Nina studied together in Lucerne, and they both did a year of exchange study in Prague and Leipzig respectively, before deciding to work together and open up a studio together. Now they work between Lucerne and Berlin. I loved the animation that they have done, Der Kleinere Raum, in collaboration with Cristobal Leon, which I think was shown at Illustrative 09 exhibition in Berlin. I was introduced to other artists as Evelyne showed me around, and she was kind enough to invite me for lunch, a friendly communal event in their cosy kitchen, which was lovely. It was all in all a good experience for me, so three cheers for It's Raining Elephants!

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Bear




Looking for imagery which suggests the story of "Preservation" by Hannah Tinti, which is a multi-layered short story, set in a museum, using the idea of diorama imitating life, preserving time, addressing the questions of how we preserve life-like qualities and suspend time in the act of taxidermy. There is also the question of how museums change according to changes in society, although this can happen slowly, and some museums can seem suspended in time in the way they display things. This can be viewed as stultifying out of date, or strangely calming in it's non-interactive state. In any case, this short story also deals with the impending death of the main character's father, whose fears and longings are projected onto a lifeless stuffed bear exhibit, which comes to life one evening as she is inside a diorama finished off painting the background scenes. It peers into the glass of the diorama and starts to jump up and down against it.

Sunday 24 October 2010

William Kentridge's sets for The Magic Flute.




Neozoon - Berlin.




Neozoon are street artists in Paris/Berlin recycling fur coats, and re-siting the animals in cities, where they might once roamed. These bears, being also the emblem of Berlin, have been sited close to what were the original heraldic dancing bear pits.

Looking for a white bear.




This is the bear that I made, using the downloaded pattern from www.papercraft.com, which has other lovely animals to make. It took me the best part of a week to do this, but I might speed up if I were to do another one. I painted it, and also squashed and pinched it up in various places, and gave it different facial features.

Anthropomorphism in needle-felt.




Anne Hutchinson, as featured in October edition of "Embroidery" magazine makes delightful animal characters using the technique of needle-felting. Her website is www.thelittlewrenhousefactory.com

Saturday 23 October 2010

Carnovsky wallpaper



"Color est e pluribus unus" is a famous Virgil phrase taken from his poem "Moretum" and describes the blending of colours into one. Having that in mind, Franscesco Rugi and Silvia Quintalilla, the names behind Milan based collective "Carnovsky", got inspired and created for Jannelli & Volpi, the famous Italian wallpaper brand, a very special series of wallpapers named RGB. First presented during Milan Design Week at Jannelli & Volpi store, RGB is a collection of wallpapers that surprising mutate and interact with different chromatic stimulus. It consists in the overlapping of three different patterns that results in unexpected and disorienting images. The colours mix up, the lines and shapes entwine becoming oneiric and completely clear. Through a filter (a coloured light or transparent material) it is possible to see clearly the layers in which the image is composed. Each one of the red, green and blue filters serve to reveal just one of the three patterns, hiding the other two. Pure magic!"

Johanssen Gallery, Berlin.

Studio Visits Berlin: It's Raining Elephants and Sonia Danowski






Sonja Danowski is an illustrator and analogue archivist from Regensburg, Berlin. On her work, she says "The human memory works in chronological order. Not surprising that much gets lost as elements are continually overlapped by presence and importance. Drawings are of an analogue structure which makes them available to any combination and opens access to any element. Drawn image worlds are timeless and available at any time." She works in mixed media (watercolour, ink, pencil and gouache on archival cardboard or sometimes bamboo/cotton archival paper, size 30 x 40 cm.

I have written to Sonja to see if I can pop in to see during my visit, but she can't make it as she is in the middle of a copious illustration project, but wrote back with some nice words of encouragement with the work I had sent to her. Maybe another time.

It's Raining Elephants are a collective of two illustrators, Evelyne Laube and Nina Wehrle who work together on a variety of exciting projects, and who seem to have a lot of fun in the process. I contacted them, and Evelyne wrote back straightaway with a warm welcome to "come and visit the elephant stall" when I am in Berlin, so that is great news. I love this black and white collage piece called "Wasserspiel" (Waterplay).

Kaatje Vermeire






Kaatje Vermeire (1981) is a Flemish illustrator whose work was exhibited at Bologna Ragazza 2010, together with that of Carll Cneut. They were both sponsored by the Flemish Fund for Literature. "De vrouw en het jongetje" in by Unicorn, text by Geert de Kockere, is also published in Spanish, "La Senora y el Nino", Barbara Fiore Editora. Vermeire studied Graphic Design and Advertising, followed by Printmaking at the Ghent Academy. She has an experimental approach to printmaking, using etching techniques together with found materials such as lace, string and wire, to obtain texture, putting them directly under the press, consequently reworking into the plate, and also into the print with pencil and paint, and finally scanning into Photoshop in layers, and bringing all the layers together into a final composition. Her work could just as easily sit in a gallery as well as in the pages of a book and attests to her ability to find subtle and delicate ways to communicate and portray difficult subject matter.
Website is http://www.kaatjevermeire.be/index.html