Messaging the Brudenell

Had been putting this off for a really long time, but finally got around to e-mailing the Brudenell about how they go about commissioning their gig posters and if they'd be into the Shonen Knife one I did before Christmas, albeit with information specific to the Brudenell's gig.

It's a shame that I had to contact them through their enquiry form on the website, but I couldn't find any other email addresses on the site. I did find a Promotional assistant on linkedin though and sent her a connection request with a short message as well.

Lolita book cover

I finished reading Lolita over the weekend, and since I'm really interested in getting into books and publishing I thought I may as well design a cover for my portfolio.

Pretty pleased with it since, having looked at loads of other covers for the book, I haven't used any obvious cliches- instead opting to suggest the point in the book where Humbert and Lolita are driving from motel to motel around America.

The turnaround was also pretty quick - thumbnailing started it last night and the finished thing was done by lunchtime. Will try to keep up this work output and remember to try and illustrate any books I read.


Also, Ben presented this website to the second years:
http://gray318.com

Which is the portfolio of an interesting book designer I'll keep an eye on.

Tom Clohosy Cole reply about Big Kahuna

Tom Clohosy Cole replied to my question about his audience with Space Race:

I didn't really spend much time considering the audience, I focused on getting the facts correct and making it something enjoyable for me to work on visually. I think the rest often follows and it will always end up suiting the right audience for your style of work. I tend to think about audience more when making a children's book, as they tend to have to conform to certain parameters, but with the Nobrow concertina I just did something I hoped me or my peers would enjoy. I wouldn't worry about the middle ground too much, it's often a good place to sit your work as it can appeal to a wider range of people. 

Similar advice to what Nicolas Andre e-mailed me about and what Fred said I should begin to think at the last group tutorial. I particularly like his advice to make something that me or my peers would enjoy.  I think this is the best way to get a satisfying end result to the project.

Chip Kidd - TED Talk

I watched Chip Kidd's TED talks on book cover design in order to help out with my design for A Clockwork Orange. I took note of his comments on 'words and forms' for his Dietrich and Hepburn book covers around 4:20. Really deceptively simple stuff.

This video and the Clockwork brief has definitely taught me to simplify the work that I make, especially if it's going to go on a book cover. The way I've been trying to make typographic elements work around a pre-made image hasn't been very smart and I'll avoid clinging onto one image so desperately in future.

http://lwlies.com/articles/carol-creative-brief-winner/

Pretty late on this since I was never notified and only came across it by chance, but my portrait of Carol got an honourable mention by director Todd Haynes! Isn't that nice. He spelt my name wrong, but at least it means I did a good drawing!

Ben Jones talk

Ben did a good talk today, some stuff on editorial and publishing, which are his main areas of work. Some notes:

• Ben charges £150/day as a day rate.
• Is a fan of Roland Topor.
• Lots of personal work in his portfolio and on the Heart agency website. This has encouraged me to not be too shy about the personal/client-led work ratio in my portfolio. Personal projects may work well for Folio Society.
• Read a lot of theory after he didn't get into Royal College of Art: Ricky Poyner, Steven Heller, David Crowe

• All magazines have a budget, don't do editorial for free.
• Guardian cover = £800, quarter page = £125
• Should try and send out work to places like Guardian, even if you feel your work isn't right since maybe they can direct you in the right direction.
• Penguin Essentials have highly illustrated covers - good place for your work to end up. Ben also had work in Rotland Press, which got seen by people like David Lynch.
• Go out and look at WHO is commissioning people, find out their names and contact them.
• Avoid certain words when e-mailing people, such as 'portfolio', 'new work' to avoid it going into their junk folder.
• Could send some low-res images in an e-mail, maybe also follow up every 2 months.
• Small screen printed ephemera might be good for self-promotion.
• E-mail people before you turn up to their agency/studio/company. Mention you're a recent graduate before going somewhere with a portfolio.

An illustrator is someone with a set look.

An image maker is someone with ideas.

I want to try and incorporate more animation into my work.
I did this image for fun because I had the idea in my head for a couple days and really wanted to execute it. I'm happy with how it turned out, especially considering that it only took several hours. I don't know if animation like this can fit into any of my extended practice briefs, but I'll try and get on it in between them if I have time.

Nicolas Andre reply

Nicolas Andre, the french illustrator I e-mailed replied with a very nice reply about my solar system book:

"For a quick anwser i would say that you're asking yourself the 'wrong question' or you're asking it to early

compare to your work. I mean the studies are made to try eveythings in whatever direction … OF course is very important to keep vigilant and aware of editorial world and bookshops ' rules' , but in my opinion they will comes

in a second time.

So i would recommand to work very hard on your final projet ( and i know what a screenprint leporello means - i've made 3 differents leporelos in 3 colors each, ind 25ex each, 180cm each for my Strasbourg Master degree) … after my degree i went to see Nobrow and my favorite youth books editors to speak about it."

He encouraged me to not worry too much about the audience just yet - that everything will make sense once I have done a sufficient amount of visual research and play. He placed a lot of importance on the idea of doing something personal to me, since I won't get much opportunities to do so after graduating. 

He also said to feel free to show him my book once it's complete - this I definitely won't pass up to get his opinion.

Made some money!

Off the back of Flight Facilities sharing my screen print on their instagram, someone saw it and asked me if the prints were available for sale. I directed her to my tumblr where she got in touch through that and arranged to buy one. 

I looked back at the prints I had made previously and decided they weren't really worth selling so I printed a new set, including a couple on somerset paper. I didn't really know how much to charge and was worried about scaring her off so I only charged her £35 incl. P+P to California. I know I've undersold it, but at least I know for next time - I feel more confident about charging more now that I've arranged a sale with someone. 

I even designed a receipt to go inside the poster tube in order to make the whole thing a bit more professional. I need to evaluate how many prints I have of everything I've done and make it more explicit that they are available to buy on my website.

House of Illustration volunteering update

I e-mailed the HOI again to find out the status of volunteering application. I got a reply today and unfortunately they don't have any spaces for the Easter period but will hold onto my details. Really annoying, but oh well.

Finding tips for the Big Kahuna

I've been sending some e-mails in order to get some advice before I tackle my Solar System book.
I e-mailed Tom Clohosy Cole about audience considered when working on a project like Space Race.

I also e-mailed the general info address on the Nobrow website asking a similar question:

I also asked my sister to help me translate an e-mail to send Nicolas Andre asking pretty much the same question:

Tutorial with Patrick

Some things for the big kahuna:

-talk to science museums, educational establishments

-university of leeds science depts. - see if they want material as the engineering dept did

-potentially propose more educational books- science, biology, etc.

-look at publishers other than nobrow - invite to exhibition, new blood, etc.

-e-mail patrick a sentence about big kahuna.