LAUIL504: Studio Brief 1 - Research what and why?

• Looking at the ILO's (individual learning outcomes) of this module, I need to be looking at informed research of clearly identified creative concerns

• Applied illustration

• Problem solving and reflective practice within a social, cultural, technological / ethical context and concern

• Discipline specific skills of Exploring ideas, concepts to creative intentions and applied illustration   

Content:

• What is your brief about?

• Historical research: What can you fid out about the history / origins of

• Critical writing: What have theorists said about it? Find multiple viewpoints and challenging opinions

• Have other creatives responded to a similar content? If so how, why ad with what?

LAUIL504: Studio Brief 1 - Research and Beginnings

For the Show and Tell session with my peers, I need to have a 100 word statement of intent about which live brief I will be working on and all the work I have carried out so far including some sketchbook work (research, sketches, thumbnailing, roughs) and contextual research. I'll use this post to plan out the beginnings of this project now I now which brief I have selected and now that I have Jeanne Willis' story to begin selecting a spread of to make 3 outcomes of.

Rainforest Sounds and Sketchbook Responses

Bird of Paradise

screenshots from video of movement:

• Majority of species are found in New Guinea and Eastern Australia
• Known for the plumage of the males of the sexually dimorphic species (the majority) - highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from its beak, wings, tail and head.
• Rainforest habitat
• Diet dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent, arthropods (insects, arachnids, crustaceans)
• In most species the tail is larger and longer than the female
• Wings are rounded
• Many species have generally black plumage with varying amounts of blue and green iridescence.
• Females are typically drab to blend in with habitat.

100 Word Proposal

For LAUIL504 Studio Brief 1, I have chosen to work on the Carmelite Prize 2020 live brief illustrating Jeanne Willis' picture book text One and Only about a lonely Bird of Paradise in search of a friend. I have selected to use the 250 x 250 mm dimensions and to create 3 outcomes of spread 2 as it provides a lot of content with the passing of time, the building a leafy home amongst scenery of flowers in a rainforest. Listening to rainforest sounds and animals while making marks, taking photographs and sketches of the foliage around my accommodation, and finding clues in the text and using basic cut paper shapes for character development really helped the beginnings of this project so far.

LAUIL504: Studio Brief 1 - Carmelite Prize 2020 Registration

I have now completed registration to the Carmelite Prize 2020 competition (in order to receive the One and Only text to begin work for the brief) and received these extra bits of information for submission:

Thank you for registering for the Carmelite Prize 2020. Please find below a link to the text you will be working with:

One and Only

Please note ALL entries must be submitted by 11.59pm GMT on 3rd April 2020 and winners will be announced on 1st May 2020. 

Digital submissions should be emailed to carmeliteprize@hachettechildrens.co.uk at any time during the Entry Period. Physical artwork should be delivered, by safe and secure means (i.e. by hand or courier) between 9.30am-5.00pm between 1 April and 3 April 2020 (inclusive) to: Carmelite Prize, Hachette Children’s Group, Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ. The Company is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to entries during delivery. Any entries received outside these specified times and dates will not be eligible for entry into the competition.

For any questions you may have regarding the prize, please do not hesitate to email carmeliteprize@hachettechildrens.co.uk.

Finally, we’d like to wish you the best of luck from all of us here at Hachette Children’s Group and we look forward to receiving your entry.

One and Only
By Jeanne Willis

Spread 1
In a dreamy, steamy forest,
In a tree that smelt of spice,
There lived a one and only
Lonely Bird of Paradise.

Where he lived was heavenly,
It should have made him glad,
But he had no friend to share it;
No one special – which was sad.

Spread 2
So, he built a leafy home,
Among the orchid flowers,
And waited for a friend to come
For hours . . .
and hours . . .
and hours.

Spread 3
At last, a little bird came by.
She looked inside his nest
Then cocked her head as if to say,
“I’m really not impressed.”

“I think orchids stink!” she said.
“They always make me sneeze.
And you need to preen your feathers . . .
Are those fruit pips on your knees?”

Spread 4
The lonely Bird of Paradise,
He prayed that she would stay.
But she simply turned her beak up
And then . . . she flew away.
   
No one came and so he sang
A cheerful welcome song
That ended with a whistle,
Which was very loud and . . .

Spread 6
. . . looooooooooooooooooooooooong!

He tossed his glossy head back
And he clacked his curvy beak,
And trilled, “Tra-la-la-la-la la!
Whoop . . . Squawk . . . Shriek!”

Spread 7
He waited for an answer,
And he waited . . . No reply!
But then another little bird
Came swooping through the sky.

She landed on a mossy branch
But when she heard him sing . . .

Spread 8
She covered up her ear holes
With her head beneath her wing!

“Don’t you like my voice?” he said.
“Don’t you like my song?”
“It’s rather . . . noisy,” she replied.
“The rhythm is all wrong!”

Spread 9
“Please stay!” he cried. “Don’t go,”
He sighed. “I’ll sing a lullaby.”
“No, no!” she said. “My ears hurt.”
   
“I’m sorry, I must fly . . .”

Spread 10
The One and Only lonely bird
Was all alone once more.
He left his perch and fluttered
Down onto the forest floor.

He shook his head in sorrow
And he shed a tear and frowned.
“I’ll never have a friend,” he sobbed
And stamped upon the ground.

 Spread 11
Left!
Right!
 Left!
Right!

He stamped and stamped again.
He shimmied, fanning out his tail
To waft away the rain.

He shook his purple plumage
And he leapt into the air,
Singing, “No one’s looking,
Not a soul and . . . maybe I don’t care!”

BUT . . .

Spread 12
A little bird was watching him.
She tweeted, “Hey, hello!
I really like your dance moves
And the fancy shapes you throw.

“I like your song, I love your style,
You’ve made the perfect nest . . .

Spread 13
“Will you be my friend?” she asked.
“I think you are the best!”

The lonely bird stood still and bowed.
“I’d love a friend like you!”
He said, “We make a perfect match –
Your knees have fruit pips too!”

Spread 14
Now Paradise is twice as nice
For he’s no longer lonely.
In the end, he found a friend
And she’s his. . .

One and Only!

LAUIL504: Studio Brief 1 - Carmelite Prize 2020 Contextual Research

Carmelite Prize 2020

https://www.hachettechildrens.co.uk/imprint/hcgdivision/page/the-carmelite-prize-2020/

The Carmelite Prize is an exciting award created to recognise excellence in children's book illustration, with the aim of encouraging and inspiring the next generation of illustrators for children's stories.

"We are excited to announce Jeanne Willis as this year's author with her new and original picture book text called One and Only. We are inviting students, aged 18 and over, who are studying illustration and design at a further or higher education institution in the UK to submit their illustration ideas for this book. Entires will be judged by a panel of industry professionals, including Jeanne Willis, and the Creative Director of Hachette Children's Group.

The competition winner will receive £1000 and may be selected to work with Hodder Children's Books (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd and part of Hachette Children's Group) on the final illustrations for One and Only. The winner's course tutor will receive £500 donation towards their students final year show. 

There are also two runner up prizes of £500 and £250 respectively and, in addition to this, the top 5 entries (including the winner and the two runners up) will be invited to show their illustration portfolios to Art Directors from Hachette Children's Group for advice and feedback.

The competition will run from 28th October 2019 to 3rd April 2020 (inclusive). Winners will be announced 1st May 2020. 

My thoughts: From all of the competition briefs, the Carmelite Prize greatly interests and excites me the most! I am a great lover of children's book illustration, their messages, lessons, morals and their magic so this best suits my practice and area of interests. The prizes are great even as a runner up to be able to receive feedback from actual art directors in the industry, an incredibly invaluable opportunity! It's a shame I coudn't have started on this earlier but I will do me best to get as much done as I can in the timeframe available.

How to Enter: The Brief

• Entrants must submit illustrations for Jeanne Willis' book, 'One and Only'

Synopsis

• In a dreamy, steamy forest lives a lonely bird of paradise. He longs to have a friend - but none of the other birds likes his raucous songs, his messy feathers or his overpowering orchid-scented nest. It seems the one and only lonely bird has no choice but to accept his fate - alone. Until, one day, a little bird comes by, who feels very differently from the rest...

What the judges are looking for?

• The judges are looking for a series of original and outstanding illustrations demonstrating competency and creativity in visual storytelling for children. The illustrations should show characterisation, continuity and progression, plus a range and pace appropriate to the text. Originality is key as is the consideration for text placement and page design.

Specifications

• The full text is split over 14 spreads and entrants are required to submit roughs for 10 spreads and final artwork for 4 spreads. The text, with suggest page breaks, can be accessed on completion of the registration form.

• LAUIL504 Studio Brief 1 only requires 3 outcomes of 3 ideas for this brief using he same dimensions. 

• There is a choice of two formats for the finished book: 245mm x 245mm OR 275mm (high) x 250 mm (wide). Please choose the format most suited to your style.

 • Artwork must be created at 100% size, or up to 30% larger, allowing at leaving 5mm extra (after reduction) for any images that bleed. 

• Any medium may be used, but final artwork must be flat so it can be scanned. Illustrations with novelty elements or 3D structures will not be eligible. (my own notes: no pop-ups, if using 3D or sculpture, how to photograph this in a professional manner)

• Artwork can be supplied digitally but should be supplied as one low res pdf, file size to be no larger than 10MB. Please ensure file is labelled with your full name as follows: firstname_lastname.pdf. Note, original files should be created in high res - and retained as such - should your entry be successful and selected for print. 

• Text should be shown in black either typed or handwritten, and should be removable (ie: supplied as a transparent or trace overlay). For digital entries, flattened text on PDF is acceptable, but original high res files should place text on a separate layer. 

Previous Winners

• From the previous competition winners it is obvious that the panel of judges prefer a digital approach to illustration though there is no preference between illustrator or freehand with Photoshop brushes using a tablet as both have been chosen in this seelction.

• With this in mind, I will need to book a refresher workshop in Photoshop brushes as well as have a one-to-one in using the Cintiq.

• I have my own Wacom tablet (Intuos Art) that I have had for 5 years but it is nowhere near as professional as what the Cintuq offers with drawing straight onto the digital surface. This will be a great transferrable skill to have for university and my practice.

Terms and Conditions

• This competition is being organised by Hodder & Stoughton Limited (on behalf of Hodder Children’s Books, an imprint of Hachette Children’s Group) of Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ (the “Company”).

• This is a competition to illustrate a children’s picture book text called “One and Only” by Jeanne Willis in accordance with the competition brief.

• The competition will be judged by a panel of judges including the author, Jeanne Willis, the Hachette Children’s Group CEO, the Hachette Children’s Group Creative Director, the Hachette Children’s Group Picture Book Publisher, the Hachette Children’s Group Picture Book Art Director and at least one other figure from the field of children’s book publishing. The judging panel’s decisions will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

• The top five entries will be selected by the judging panel from all entries properly submitted and received in accordance with these terms and conditions and will be judged based on the criteria set out in the competition brief. The winner and two runners up will then be selected from the top five entries by the judging panel and will receive the following prizes:

Winner – £1000 plus £500 will be donated to the winner’s end of year/degree show or, if the winner is a Pathways mentee, £500 will be donated to their Bologna 2021 show

First runner up – £500

Second runner up – £250

The top five entrants will be invited to show their portfolio of work to Art Directors from Hachette Children’s Group for feedback and advice. This does not form part of the selection process for the competition.

• The Company may (at its sole discretion) offer the winner a publishing contract in respect of illustrating the full text of “One and Only” (or any other book agreed between the Company and the winner). For the avoidance of doubt, the Company shall have no obligation to offer the winner a publishing contract.

• The competition is open to: (i) all students, who are aged 18 or over on 3 April 2020, who are studying illustration and design in the UK in further or higher education during the academic year 2019/2020; and (ii) all current Pathways mentees, except employees of any company in the Hachette UK group, their families, or anyone professionally connected to the competition either themselves or through their families.

• Only one entry per person allowed. Second or subsequent entries will be disqualified. Entries will not be accepted via agents, third parties or in bulk.

• There is no purchase necessary to enter the competition.

• The competition opens at 12:01am GMT on 28 October 2019 and closes at 11:59pm GMT on 3 April 2020 (the “Entry Period”). Digital submissions should be emailed to carmeliteprize@hachettechildrens.co.uk at any time during the Entry Period. Physical artwork should be delivered, by safe and secure means (i.e. by hand or courier) between 9.30am-5.00pm between 1 April and 3 April 2020 (inclusive) to: Carmelite Prize, Hachette Children’s Group, Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ. The Company is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to entries during delivery. Any entries received outside these specified times and dates will not be eligible for entry into the competition.

• All work should be clearly labelled with entrant’s full name, contact details including email address and telephone number. The Company is not responsible for contacting or forwarding prizes to entrants who provide unclear or incomplete information or for entries lost, misdirected, delayed or destroyed.

• All work should be clearly labelled with entrant’s full name, contact details including email address and telephone number. The Company is not responsible for contacting or forwarding prizes to entrants who provide unclear or incomplete information or for entries lost, misdirected, delayed or destroyed.

• All entrants must complete and submit the registration form found on the competition’s website at: https://www.hachettechildrens.co.uk/imprint/hcgdivision/page/the-carmelite-prize-2020/how-to-enter/

• The entrants with the top five entries will be contacted directly by email or phone (as specified on the registration form) by 14 April 2020 to invite them to the announcement party to be held at the Company’s offices at Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ on 30 April 2020, where the winner and two runners up will be announced. The winner and runners up will also be announced on the competition’s website (https://carmeliteprize.co.uk/) on 1 May 2020. The winner and runners up may also see their names posted on Hachette Children’s Group’s website and social media accounts and in “The Bookseller” magazine and other trade press.

• The Company will make available the name of the winner and runners up to any one who requests this information by writing to the Company at the address shown above.

• Entrants will be able to collect physical artwork between 9.30am-5.00pm GMT between 4 and 7 May 2020 (inclusive). Alternatively, if requested, the Company will return physical artwork to entrants’ colleges by courier (at the Company’s cost).

• The Company reserves the right to alter the prizes or cancel the competition without notice but will try to avoid creating any undue disappointment. If a top five entrant, runner up or the winner cannot be contacted, the Company reserves the right to select another entrant in his/her place. If the winner or either runner up cannot attend the announcement party on 30 April 2020 for any reason, the Company will ensure that he/she receives his/her prize.

• By submitting your entry, you agree and warrant that (i) your entry is your own original work; and (ii) nothing in your entry is defamatory, private or an infringement of copyright or other intellectual property right or in any way a breach of another’s right. Any entry in breach of this clause will be disqualified from participating in the competition and from winning any prize.

• By entering the competition, you hereby grant to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty free, worldwide and for all languages, licence to copy, adapt, edit, distribute, publish, sublicense, and in any and all other ways use your entry in connection with the competition, in any manner and in all media now known or hereinafter devised. For the avoidance of doubt, the Company is under no obligation to make any use of your entry and the Company shall make no payment to you for any use of your entry.

• The Company reserves the right to use all the submissions received on its websites, its Facebook pages and on its other social networking sites. The Company will use reasonable endeavours to include your name in connection with any use of your competition entry wherever practicable but you acknowledge that this may not always be possible.

• The Company is the data controller of Personal Data that it collects in the course of running the competition and will use the Personal Data in accordance with the Hachette Children’s Group Privacy Notice. The Company will use such Personal Data for the purposes of running the competition and delivering any prize(s) and will delete it after a reasonable period from the end of the competition. “Personal Data” means names of entrants and other details provided by them (e.g. email addresses, telephone numbers) for the competition. The Company will not share such Personal Data with any third parties except for the purpose of delivering the prize(s) and announcing the names of the winner and runners up in “The Bookseller” and other trade press.

• By entering the competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

• These terms and conditions and any disputes or claims (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of these terms and conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England, whose courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

LAUIL504: Studio Brief 1 - Aims for 504

Reflecting on the previous module, the outcomes produced and my behaviours towards it, I would like to produce a set of aims for LAUIL504 to motivate me, inspire me, and provide me with a set of goals to work towards to better myself, my mental health and my output as both a student and an illustrator. 

• Better time management; This is something I struggle with quite a lot and comes down to a number of factors - suffering with bad mental health and anxiety, feeling like I'm not good enough as a disabled student so constantly walking around with and harbouring a lot of self-doubt, bad body image and negative thoughts due to a number of terrible experiences in my life recently, not enjoying the studio space as it's often cold in temperature, noisy and distracting so often going home, and with taking care of a guide dog who is often displeased with said cold temperature, noise and distractions... it isn't easy!

I'm working on a number of these issues with therapy and antidepressants to tell myself I absolutely deserve to be here and deserve to be a student doing work. I plan ahead with to-do lists and can do this all I want, the fact remains that work won't get done in my studio flat either as I get distracted there and just want to depression nap. I physically need to be at uni to motivate myself to work. I have found that booking out a study room in the library helps a lot. A private room for Tami and I that is warmer, quieter and carpeted where I can work quietly and independently and motivate myself to get tasks done is such a help, and I will continue to do this as well as other workarounds this module when creating physical pieces.

• Work more in the sketchbook to produce roughs, thumbnails, and experiments; I identified rather quickly in 503 that I am more of a "do-er" and prefer just to get on the computer and start making to see what happens, building foundations of compositions that I can then refine and hone to improve what I'm trying to communicate. Taking screenshots of the process become my roughs and my thumbnails though this leaves out a whole ideas generation process. I used to be good at working in sketchbooks in Access to HE at Vernon Street, taking pride in creating these huge beasts of experimentation that I would spend months living inside, finding it hard to move out of the sketchbook a little bit in Level 4 illustration to then create physical pieces of work like test pieces. I think since my retinas detached I have lost my confidence with creating small illustrations and working in a confined space of a book; opting to print things out and stick them in instead. It feels more freeing that way. I need to find a happy middle ground though perhaps I'm critiquing myself too much and should let this happen naturally.

• More regular blogging; I really enjoy meaningful blogging and providing insights into my way of thinking and the journey through a brief from proposal to experimentation to end. I'm a very honest person in my feedback to myself, a big communicator and want to clearly convey what I am trying to say in an illustration, a train of thought, a message. My blog becomes my friend that I enjoy spending time with and very much what my sketchbook was back in Access to HE when we didn't use blogs - pouring my heart into. I fell off of this though in Studio Brief 3, About the Author, as I became quite ill with a chest infection and my seasonal depression got the best of me. I think it's quite obvious in my blog posts during SB3 that I wasn't spending enough time reflecting on what I was doing and I would like to improve on that to improve my work for this brief.

• Attend sessions regularly and let go of self-doubt; To reiterate some of what was said in better time management," my depression has been very severe recently due to a number of reasons, some of it seasonal, and bad thoughts make me not want to be in the studio and feel like I don't have a place here / don't belong. This then affects my attendance and my work. I want to ensure I am attending sessions regularly for crits, tutorials and to keep a sense of achievement for myself in keeping my mental health in check.

• Regular tutorials with tutors; Tying into attending sessions and working with better time management. I want to touch base with tutors regularly, which I didn't do too much in the last module as I had an idea of what work was required from the previous year. This module is completely new to me and i will need as much feedback, support and guidance as I can get.

• Enjoy the work you're doing and have fun with it

LAUIL503: Studio Brief 3 - Reflective Report

My final outcome for Studio Brief 3 is encompassed in a 16 page zine based on Agatha Christie's bestselling novel "Midnight on the Orient Express," using a 2-way colour palette of green and black and showing variants of the two through textures. I chose the printed zine / booklet to reflect Christie as the "classic published author." 

What went well?

The successful aspect/s of this brief were my continued developmental research into printed processes; pushing my visual ideas in new and exciting directions. Instead of settling for 2 or 3 printed processes, as was mentioned in the brief, I wanted to test a whole host (monoprint, type, screen print, gelli printing) to see what I could achieve in the allocated timeframe. The more work I produced in this developmental research stage, the more speculative I could be and the more I had to choose from and had at my disposal to create a piece of work truly beyond anything I've made before. I managed to tackle my fears of being in the print room as someone with a severe sight impairment, often feeling like I'm in the way of sighted people and the work they are making, and really getting involved in my own choices, decisions and the output so that any imposter syndrome and negative thoughts from my disability melted away as I continued to get stuck in and feel a sense of achievement, Printing onto acetate worked really well, despite it being of a thin stock and sometimes hard to turn the page, it really brings about thoughts of "mystery" and "intrigue" and involving the audience to search for items on the page like their own detective - huge elements to Christie's work. The colour palette of green and black reflects poisons very well with the dark and murky connotations.

What could be improved?

Working in a sketchbook is still very hard for me, especially creating roughs and thumbnails. I'm very much a "doer"and prefer to get stuck in with making as soon as possible - finding what works and doesn't work through a digital means on screen rather than on a small scale in a sketchbook. My planning and preparation certainly needs improvement in terms of creating quick thumbnail sketches (even if on a wacom tablet in photoshop and printing hem off) so I can get a better idea of what can be successful before taking things further to the creating stage.

What did you enjoy? Not enjoy?

I really enjoyed being in the print room, pushing my ideas further and further, creating kaleidoscope imagery with my cutouts and having the final book in my hands after weeks of work! I didn't enjoy selecting 16 final designs as I'm often quite indecisive and it can be a painstaking process going back and forth deceasing what works and doesn't compositionally.

What would I do differently?

If I were to approach this brief again, I would look into other proportions of the zine rather than just a standardised size hat I chose. It was chosen so it would properly display the repeated motifs and designs but how would other configurations interpret this? If I had more time Would have liked to create a belly band for the zine to give it a further sense of professionalism and an added touch of flair. Both the front and back covers are very ominous and bare bones and don't reflect what is inside.

What next?

I would like to continue making zines as I feel a huge sense of accomplishment now. I used to be scared of the printing process, selecting the pages and making final decisions but I found it much more manageable now. I would like to continue to explore printing techniques and how I can marry them with collage and textures to create a unique tone of voice. 

LAUIL503 Studio Brief 3: Final Outcome Samples

Here are a few examples from my final finished zine:

Last page acetate in comparison to the card cover 

Centrefold - very dark with all of the acetate stacked up!

Isolating the pages (very hard to do as there's little weight to them) looking through the acetate with the scanner light.

These are truly weird and experimental, nothing at all that you would relate to Christie's classic aesthetics, and I like that the audience is invited to participate in solving the mystery of what shapes and motifs are on the page. Is it a poison bottle? A train ticket? Skulls? Without light or a piece of white paper between the acetate pages it is hard to see what some of the motifs are and that can be both positive and negative to my original proposal and ideas.