Work Experience

First Story - Live Brief Project: Illustration Covers

Part 1 - Ideas and Design

This will be the first live brief I will be participating and looking forward to, as it will help me to concentrate to put more effort into my ideas and to showcase my abilities as an illustrator to reveal what I can do for this short project that allows me to have a chance to get my work published to the public.

Looking at the four titles for this brief, only three of the four caught my interest, and they are “My Voice as a Shy Tiger”, “I can’t imagine…” and “Journeys”. I immediately come up with some ideas for each one, and so I had played around with a few very quick drafts, until I settled with a rough idea for each of the covers. The small text that was provided for each title does help out a bit in order for me to try to make each illustration cover somewhat tie in with the text as well as the main title so it can draw up some relevance.

Rough draft for “My Voice as a Shy Tiger”

Rough draft for “I can’t imagine…”

Rough draft for “Journeys”

At the moment these are the drafts I have for each of the covers, they’re not final as there might be some changes. These do feel slightly polished then a draft and the reason behind that is because I wanted to express as clearly as possible what these covers would turn out when it comes to the final cover, however these covers are not the final thing, as there could be some changes if these were to be chosen from the presentation. 

Part 2 - Presenting and Pitching Cover Ideas to Schools

In this segment of the live brief project, we were to present/pitch our cover ideas in groups, with each cover presenting to different schools. The presentations for each cover design were informal and more direct in terms of discussions and interactions, it was all approached in a friendly manner and the overall experience is relaxing and somewhat enjoyable.

I didn’t want to think too much as to what I want to say in a structural order about my design so I decide to approach it simply by explaining the reasons behind the illustration such as the use of shapes/design, colour and discussing the ideas that draw some relevance between the title and illustration I had designed.

The overall experience was not so bad than I thought. I had managed to get some discussions stirred up from some of the groups to hear about their opinions and suggestions which was nice to hear and to have that small interaction between me and the students, which I think it is important when it comes to present the work.

After the presentations we then meet to applause to all those who were involved with the live brief project, and to see the selected covers for each title that were short listed by the students for further improvements/changes, which afterwards will then be put forward to the school to finally choose the 1 cover from the shortlisted few for each title.

I was surprised that my cover for the “I Can’t Imagine…” title, was shortlisted, which I find it unexpected, as I personally believe it is the ‘worse’ or should I say, the least favourite cover I had produced compared to the other two covers for the other titles. Things like this where the one design you don’t like gets shortlisted compared to the ones that I consider ‘better’ is something I shouldn’t really, well, complain, since these types of situations are common in the professional practice. If the students believe it is good, then it’s good.

We were given 1 week to make the changes that was requested by the students, and these changes shouldn’t really take that long so I should be able to make and complete these patches and to slightly polish the cover within a day or two to a more professional standard. 

The final version of the cover with the requested adjustments. 

Seller at a Comic Convention - The True Believers Comic Festival (06/02/2016) 

One of the things that I would like to potentially be doing in relation to my career and interests was to be a seller at a convention, particularly in events that are of popular culture and entertainment, such as the Movie Comic Media Expo, the London Comic Convention and Hyper Japan. All of these events are similar to each other as they only focus on interests of people who are into things such as Japanese pop culture, comic books and gaming. I have been attending to all of these events, the first one being the Movie Comic Media Expo all the way back in 2009. Now 7 years later I wouldn’t have thought that I will be in the shoes of a seller and artist to sell original and fan art prints to the public, as part of work experience at a small comic convention known as the True Believers Comic Festival.

Over the years I had gathered knowledge from my attendance to these conventions to look into what the artists sell at their tables. Of course the goal is to sell original prints and to expose your art to the public, and it’s not only just the original work, there are those who sell fan art of popular TV shows or games in the means to attract particular audiences who knew of them, things like Pokémon, League of Legends, Studio Ghibli films, The Legend of Zelda, for example. It’s not just prints they are selling, some can be of badges, cards,and hand-made products.

Considering this will be my first ever convention as a seller to sell original prints, there are a few goals that I want to achieve, firstly is to enjoy the experience. It’s not about making money to be honest, as I really wanted to experience what it’s like as an artist to sell prints and to be around those who are aspiring to become better as an artist. Secondly is to at least break even with the investment I had put in for getting a table, printing and buying the necessary equipment for the table. As long as I gained enough money from selling to break even then that’s fine. I’m not that really fussed if I don’t because this will be my first convention as an exhibitor and I’m keeping my expectations low at the moment. If I ever do gain profit after breaking even, then I would say it’s a bonus thing.

Before I started university I was planning to use this for work experience, which I had got a place, and had been producing both original work and fanart over time until the day of the Convention comes. I had managed to get a few works produce between my studies and aiming to get 10 different prints, both original art and fan art together, to the least. I can produce more work, however that depends on the time available I have between my studies and preparation for the event.

Here are a few examples of prints that I will be selling at the event, the majority are of fan arts of Pokémon and a few are original work. There’s a reason why there are generally more fan art than my original work and I know the main goal really is to expose more original content, but there’s a few points that I would want to share about some of the decisions I am willing to take.

Reason why there are generally more fan art here is because I am trying to aim at particular audiences/consumers at the event. Most of these customers are very familiar with these characters, which in turn will help to expose my original content to the customers as well.

Customers were approachable and I managed to initiate a few conversations regarding the popular characters I had produced for prints, and was successful to get some prints being purchased. The prints being sold was mostly fanart, while I have not sold a single original print. This was as expected, considering I’m not an artist who is known by many, as I’m starting out.

After a very long day at the end of the event it was enjoyable to be honest. Whilst I have not break even with the money I had earned (£47), I would say I did well, with the overall budget/investment into this event at £65, which I’m not too far off from.

A few customers had asked for a business card, which is surprising to be honest. I don’t think I’m ready at the moment to be making business cards to establish myself as an artist just yet, but from this experience I will take this into account in the future and will produce a business card once I produce more work to be made as prints as well as establishing a greater web presence online. All of this will take time and patient.  

A 'Thank You' card and the Exhibitor Pass I was given to wear at the event.

The community was friendly and all sellers around the event was approachable, and it feels like home. I will be definitely be booking a table for next year’s event in 2017 during my third year of study, and from now until then will give me the time to produce more works, both personal and fanart pieces, investing into better table equipment, and to produce a business card. I will set the bar slightly higher than this year, though keeping it at low expectations. I will use the experience I have from this year and will improve it for next year’s True Believer’s event. 

Framing Prints for Exhibition - The Impress'16 Printmaking Festival

I had volunteered to help with the framing of the works that were selected to be displayed for the Impress’ 16 Print Making Festival. Originally, a classmate was in charge and volunteered to put the prints in the frames, but due to time constraints and the effort to display all the chosen prints led me to step in to speed up the progress to get the prints framed and ready for pick up in a few days by the organisers. 

 Leaflet for the event.

The progress was sped up and we were half way in framing the delicate pieces of print work from other students in our course and it was going really well, we both had made various decisions to try and make each piece stand out, such as giving the prints borders using card paper and make a cut out square for the print to be placed inside to give it a neat presentation. Some worked for a few, while some were best to be left it as it is, it is something that me and Chris wanted to do to bring out as much as we can in terms of presentation.

Collection of prints that were chosen to be displayed.

The next day we aimed to finish framing the remaining prints, however due to the absence of Chris who has to attend an event someplace else for the day I was left in charge to frame the rest. Cleaning the glass and the frames as much as possible was not a difficult task, the only time consuming part was to ensure the print is well placed within the frame, and to erase any possible marks that would make the piece look slightly dirty or unprofessional. I am a keen person when it comes to presenting the works, as I usually have the habit to try and make things look professional and presentable for the viewers. There were some slight marks that cannot be further removed on one or two pieces of the prints, and that is something we cannot do about, I hoped for the best that the print is at least presentable. These slight marks does not affect the print itself.

During the day of continuing to frame the prints it just dawned on me that I have a piece of Gum Arabic print that I could potentially add to the collection. The T-Rex skeleton piece which I had done in my first year was considered the best print I have so far, and I thought it would be a great addition to get it exhibit at the Print Making Festival along with the others. 

My Gum Arabic Print of a T - Rex skeleton sketch, ready to be framed.

The print is framed and polished. 

Other pieces of prints ready to be collected.

After polishing the glass and ensure each print is properly and securely framed, the prints are all ready to get picked up by the organisers of the festival. Despite spending a little over a day framing these works and spending most of the time on my own to continue the progress with the absence of Chris, we both handled the job pretty well. We are both somewhat cautious to try and get everything right, which I assume that is what took us more than a day to get everything as perfect and as presentable in terms of cleanness. I’m glad that I had stepped in to help Chris with the volunteering of framing the prints, otherwise, things would have been rushed if one person was to do all the framing and putting the prints in by them self.

Live Commission in Rome – Portrait Drawing (3rd March 2016)

During the visit of the national museum in Rome (3rd March 2016) I had a strange encounter which led to a live commission. As I was minding my own business doing some drawing studies, a lone passer-by, who is of an elderly man, took notice of my drawings. At first he was just admiring my sketches, until I looked up towards him as he was standing there for some time. He said to me “Draw face.” At first I didn’t quite get what he meant, until I realised he was asking me to do a live portrait of him!

At first I tried to reject him, but our language barrier is proving to be in the way, and so I gave in and accepted his request. He quoted “20 Euros” which I believe he is willing to pay me for the commission! It took some time to actually understand each other, most of the time I tried to simplify what I am trying to say using basic words and hand movements to communicate the most simplest of words. In the end, he sat down as I prepare myself for my first ever first live commission!

At first glance I didn’t know what to do, this was all too sudden and out of nowhere and it is one of those things I do not expect during my visit. I was slightly nervous as I tried to concentrate, knowing fully well that I must do the best as I can to produce the artwork in order to satisfy the customer, as well as myself.

I’m not exactly confident in drawing faces at the moment, as I tend to struggle with consistency (such as the eyes) and the shading. The elderly man sat still in front of me as I draw the portrait.

My portrait of the man. To be honest I am not satisfied with how it turned out, mostly because I was nervous and was a little paranoid about the results of the piece, which kind of hindered me slightly, as well as being not as confident in drawing faces.

In the end the man is satisfied with the result, which is ok for me to the very least! As long as the customer is happy, I am fine about it. He had asked me to date and sign the drawing too! I gave him the original piece after tearing it out of my sketchbook and thanked him for his time and patience. Afterwards he pay me 20 Euros that he promised for the live portrait commission. He had also asked if I have a Facebook page of my work, though unfortunately I do not have one.

The whole session went over time for me to meet up with the tutors to leave the gallery together and I quickly rushed down before I get left behind, and told them about my experience! Unfortunately I did not took a photograph of the man, after realising it was the perfect opportunity to show what he actually looks like compared to the drawing. I kind of regret for not taking a photo, since this is my very first live commission.

It was a very strange experience to have someone from the public to actually ask me to draw them a portrait and I wasn’t sure if the man thought I was some sort of a professional, but I had told him I am a student from the UK.

Overall it was such a nervous experience, I was a little shaky at the start but managed to get it done in a timeframe I had set myself to do. It was fun, but to be honest I don’t think I am ready to take on such a task to draw a live portrait for a customer, but at least I got some experience out of it that will help to boost my confidence to produce work for a customer in a public environment!