Save the Children Animation

I am so pleased to finally be able to put this out there. I spent the better part of my christmas holiday  squirrelled up in my bedroom working away at this project. The project was for Save the Children I knew this was the right brief for me as for anyone who knows me personally I am absolutely mad about books. A project about encouraging fathers to read to their children?! YES!

As I started to dig in to the brief and read Save the Children's statistics it was quite upsetting to see a lot of children aren't reading well by the age of 11 and struggle. Save the Children's campaign is to get children comfortable with reading so it helps them during primary school where the key developmental stages for basic reading and writing start. Their mission is for every child by 2025 to be leaving primary school as confident readers. the statistics shown were children from poorer income families were the ones that struggled.

We see so much on the news about horrid things happening all over the world which are important, but we are forgetting what is happening at home with all of our children? By just giving 10 minutes of your time per day to sit and read with your child and help them along you can help them become comfortable and confident with reading and also show it can be fun. I made it my mission to show how beautiful reading can be.

Save the Children had already made a video about their campaign but I found it far too over the top and exaggerated. The shock factor was far too heavy.


I wanted show the positive aspect of reading and how it can light up the imagination to not guilt trip fathers but shed some light on such an important subject. As creatives we need our imagination and reading has been a large part of my development creatively.

I worked along side Joseph Standen again who is a wonderful Motion graphic designer but this time I was the creator and in control of the story. It was a huge step for me to try something totally out of my comfort zone but this project couldn't have been better suited for an animation. I don't think a poster or a zine would have had the same effect. What a fantastic experience it has been and I have learn a lot from Joseph about how to draw for an animation.

Please do leave a comment as I would love to know what you thought be it good or any criticisms you might have.

SELF PUBLISHED!!!!

I am so excited to announce my first self published book!

I did a project on the struggles I faced when I injured my knee (I've torn my meniscus and require an operation). I have been on crutches since early September and during the running of this project I have struggled a lot giving up my independence and asking for help. Channelling my emotion into these drawings, which I don't usually do, has really helped and made me look at the positive of the situation.

So here is my book and a few of the illustrations please do go and have a look. This is also a huge thank you to everyone who has kept reading my blog and seeing what I am up to. I love signing in and seeing people have dropped by if I could offer you tea and cookies for visiting I would!

My negotiated brief 2nd year.

As I have previously said in my last blog post I am uploading some more work from last year (academic). This project was really quite special to me because I had set myself really high goals and I was determined to produce this final and manage my time well. 

This was the first time I had been strict with myself and confident in my own idea. This was towards the end of the year as was the lie project and I had come leaps and bounds in the space of a few months with my confidence in my self. I have always struggled with it but I was proud of this project. (I still to this day hate showcasing my artwork but the joys of being behind a screen)

It's not perfect but it never is the day after let alone a few months! 

The basis of this project was to do create my own brief and execute it. I chose to do a recipe for children. As I want to become a teacher, I wanted to experiment with learning materials and instruction. I thought the recipe would be a really easy place to start and I could choose whatever is best visually as well. I wanted it to be colourful and bright so I chose the rainbow cupcakes which are simple enough. The final format was to be double sided A3 and then laminated for a wipe clean surface. 

I was also determined to hand draw absolutely everything in this project and I am pleased I did. The only thing that wasn't was the type for the instructions and the arrows for direction. I went all out and spend a lot of time making sure everything made sense. The only thing I completely forgot to take into consideration when placing on photoshop was to leave a few millimetres for bleed and the final print had taken a little bit off of the side to right. The biggest rookie mistake and I made it after all these years. I am glad I did though because next time I will give myself even more extra time towards print to make sure it is correct so if there is a problem I can tweak it. 

During the interim crit quite a few people commented on how they liked the drawing of the Vanilla extract I did and to be honest it was my favourite one to draw. 

We make mistakes to learn from them and for this project I had made plenty before during and after. 

Tell a lie collaborative project.

I haven't uploaded a lot of my work from last year as I felt really overwhelmed. I was pushed so far out of my comfort zone i wasn't sure at all how to feel about the work i produced and whether or not it was good enough or not. 

I have been sitting here tapping away looking through a lot of my artwork, old and new,  I have seen the good the bad and the ugly and to be honest last year had helped me evolve into the artist I want to be and that is free and confident in my own work. 

I had to collaborate with a few of my fellow illustrators in class and we decided to do a project on telling lies. We wanted to see whether or not the general public would expose their dirty little secrets to us and then we could present a visual representation of their lie. The project was based on national tell a lie day and we jump straight in and got to work, bouncing ideas off of each other and working as a team. 

We had some wonderful lies and I think in total we ended up collecting over 100 lies in a lie box we had left in a small boutique tea room in a small town called Puckeridge just west of Bishops Stortford. The incentive to submit a lie was a free piece of home made tiffin. 

If you're interested in visiting this beautiful little Tea Room head over to their Facebook page and show some support to the lovely ladies. 

https://www.facebook.com/Somethinglovelytearoom?fref=ts

My chosen lies did make me laugh but that was what we were aiming for.

“I ran over my neighbours cat. I can’t tell them what happened, they would be devastated. I buried it in the garden under the lavender bush. I was called Whitney. I told my neighbours I hadn’t seen their cat”

“I gave birth to a unicorn”

“When I was little I would eat any chocolate in sight like most children would, but I got caught one day and said it wasn’t me only for my dad to point out that I had chocolate all over my face. Whoops :P”

A messy desk is a productive one!

I know I usually post about my artwork or teaching but I thought I'd share an insight into my bedroom made studio. Whenever anyone comes in in the middle of me working on a project or anything creative it is like a minefield. My Bedroom/Studio starts off beautifully tidy and clean but then I get into it and the whole desk is overtaken with bits, materials and paper which then overflows onto the bed.

This is my passion and if I don't create chaos I'm not having a good time. Don't let anybody tell you how you should be working, it comes naturally to me to work in madness and I've tried for years to curb it but it's my most comfortable. 

Also it does help to have a study buddy. Sadly mine isn't as motivating as most. 

Messiness isn't exactly a bad thing :)

You know you've had a good day when your hands look like this. :)

If I Were… a Film. Week 1

I was set a one week project with the title "if I were a... Film" we had to make a front cover for a DVD without any type.

I really struggled with this as I couldn't come up with an image relative to what I like to draw and what genre it would be.  After pulling my hair out trying to force an idea I gave up for an hour and  took some time out. I find this to be extremely important  as it can be disastrous mentally and you end up burning out scraping for an idea.

I managed to  come up with the silhouette of a woman in the 60's. I like old fashions and styles in all the decades but this was new for me as I usually go for the 40's or 50's. I think a lot of my work can also be quite dark so I wanted more of a thriller/ horror symbol.

I finally came up with this image.

*UPDATE* Palindrome crit.

The crit went really well the other day and i got some really good advice. After hanging the drawing up on the wall and looking at it from afar I noticed what everyone else had said about the dentist being too far to the left and the white space being too much behind it.

I lightboxed the drawing and moved it over this time stepping right out of the comfort zone and leaving black behind for the first time, I really struggled with it but I stuck it through and I am overwhelmed by the final outcome. I never realised how much I relied on black outline and how it didn't always need to be used.

But... As per usual I had to add something black :) 

I changed the filter on  Instagram to black and white and it changes the entire visual language.  

Business Card

This was for a self promotional project in my foundation degree, I based it soley on my favourite medium. :) I will be going back to the drawing board with this as it's been nearly a year since I originally did this and I need to add more of my social media information. 

Foundation Degree Exhibition 2013

A few photos of my exhibition for my end of year show. This was the end of an era for me really, I'd spent nearly 5 years of my life at West Herts College from the age of 16 to 20. I look back at the start from my first course in art and design and i have seen a vast improvement confidence wise in my materials and personality. 

So this for me wasn't just about putting myself out there as a young illustrator but my journey of following my dream. My parents are so supportive of my education and pathway I have chosen even though the art industry is a difficult career to engage in. My mother wouldn't stop going on about graduating an "the funny hat" I'd have to wear. She was more excited than me. 

So this isn't just a thank you to my parents, it's a thank you to all my tutors who have taught me so much over the years through all the tantrums and tears I managed to get there in the end. I cannot wait to finish my degree and hopefully if I carry on posting my journey all of you can walk it with me.

Thank you again I owe you all a cup of tea :)  

Wood letter press experiment!

I spent half a day in the print room working with a graphic designer who is passionate about type, I had an amazing day and learnt so much by just talking and asking questions. I produced this print as an experiment but I may use my name cut out for other things as I really like the font I picked it to create this.

It is wonky but I kind of like it that way as it looks more hand made instead of printed from a computer. :) really good day.