Writing a story 15/3/12

Out of all the lectures,this was the one I've been looking forward to since I feel like I could use with some pointers on writing tips as there is definitely room for improvement in this department.From the previous lecture on layout,it only seemed to be the tip the iceberg when it came to story structure.

There were some very basic but true quotes that I picked up from this talk ;

"Stories are so powerful that we lie, exaggerate and omit the truth in favour of telling a good story." - Errol Morris

"Promise your audience to lead them towards the story."

"Make it care."

That last quote sums it up perfectly.How many times have you watched a film or read a book and continued reading even though you cannot relate to any of the characters? Hopefully your answer is never as this is what every good story is based on.In some shape or form, the audience must be able to relate to the main characters or at least, understand their motives and why they feel the way they do.It sounds so simple but I find personally that this is a regular occurence.How many times have you sat on the couch just flicking through channels and settled to watch some programme you hate just because there is nothing else on? Actually don't answer that one...

The key in making the audience care about your characters and story is to add spines to them and build the skeleton,muscle and flesh from the core.What are their goals? What motivates them? What ticks them off? Every classic character in fiction whether they be Rocky Balboa or Wile E. Coyote have these traits which make them identifiable characters.The more recognisable the goal, the more you can exploit their traits.As long as its set in a relam of normalacy, that is.There must be rules in order for this to work.That's not to say these can be broken at some point.How you delve into this territory depends on where you want this story to end up.

When it comes to drama in story, it can be defined as a point in the plot when anticipation is mixed with uncertainty.Which characters cross over each other and how does it effect the general feel of the developments before and after these moments.Do things improve for the characters and does this keep the audience engaged or do they lose interest? This is when things can get a little complicated -  its almost like weaving a web,one false move could destroy the structure of what your trying to create.Fortuately there are some useful formulas we can use to help us get a better understanding of how we can avoid this.

For example Dan Harmon, writer for Community uses a circle with 8 points that cycle through a typical process for a character he's writing.

1. Comfort zone

2  Want/need

3  Unfamiliar territories

4  Adaption

5  Achieve their goal

6  Pay a price

7  Comfort zone

8  Development

Kurt Vonnegut famously used an algorythm to shape his stories.Depending on how erratic the graph seemed to be determined how interesting a story could be.

Fonts and type and how they effect the product 8/3/12

This lecture was primarily on typography and how important it is to display a clear and readable text.It's essential that communication of both the wording and the characteristics of font match with the chosen image and tone of a particular scene or moment.

With the previous lecture,we approached this topic from the point of view from comics and childrens books.There are two main ways of implementing font, through word processors and hand lettering - both have differing sensibilities.By computer, lettering looks more professional and clean but with handlettering, it gives the piece a more personal or natural appeal.We were then introduced to many of the basic terms like serifs and formatting your word structure to have a display font in the header. Kerning is also vital when structuring text as bad kern is generally frowned upon and is instantly noticable when analysing a particular design.Without proper kerning,the image ends up looking unprofessional and poorly implemented which is commonly apparent in handwriting fonts.An easy way to combat this is by using a tool such as Ames lettering guides to better facilitate layout of fonts freehand.

Layout is one thing however if the chosen type doesn't marry the accompanying image, then the whole exersize is futile.Image and text must balance each other out whether it be bold or italics.As an example of how effective this can be,we were shown a slideshow of groups of fonts from different decades and how trends change the style of lettering.What was instantly noticeable was how in the twenties and thirties,most of the fonts displayed had timeless qualities and could easily be used today and from the 40's onwards,fonts almost became fashionable depending on what was in pop culture and society at the time.

Finally at the end of the lecture we had a bit of an interactive section were the audience had to work on making a font work with a particular image - computer graphic.We had a considerable amount of time as a group to play around with characteristics of fonts and made me realise how meticulous and impacting choosing the right font can be to just give the image that extra push.Despite being reluctant in typography in the past, it is perhaps something I really should take more into account and study.

Layout Lecture 1/3/12

This lecture was the first in a series of lectures by Dan and Sue which covered the topic of layout in comics and childrens books.It was split into two halves the first being Sues examples and the second being a short tutorial in which the audience had to construct a short story through comics.

The first book Sue used to show the importance of good layout was Where's my Teddy by Jez Alborough.Like all good childrens books the author uses effective differences in scale and colour throughout the book to make it as visually engaging as possible.This is all seen within the cover and clearly shows what type of narrative is in store.The narrative is very one directional - fusing the compositions from left to right in anticipation to turn the pages as the story progressses.

Within this template there are many constants Jez uses to keep the story simple.The horizon is always centred in the middle of the images to keep in with the flow,action is broken up to keep a level of uncertainty,page layouts go from single page to double spread to keep things balanced,sky is introduced whenever it feels like it needs to break tension,gutters are always the same measurement away from the spine of the book so that it doesn't distract the reader to much and dominant figures are featured in the right context, e.g the colour of the giant teddy bear is bright and sticks out, the colour of the forest and volume of leaves reflects the size of the bear.A lot of visual information is depicted within this frame of narrative which shows the amount of initial thought that goes within developing a childrens story depending on the tone and how you want things to proceed.

In My Grandmother's Clock by Stephen Lambert, different techiques are used accordingly with the tone and subject matter of the story.Pastels and bright colours are used throughout which give it a feeling of time or nostalgia which works on both levels for a child and a parent who may be reading the book.A lot of high angles and vignettes are used which almost give a comic like quality to some of the layouts.This effected the way type is used in the book which varies from being embedded to some of the compositions to almost squeezing some of it in which isn't usually advised.In comparison to Where's my Teddy? the book takes a more liberated approach to how it handles text as it's almost a part of the illustration itself rather than just exposition.

In Dan's section, he set about a scenario involving a character involved in a immoral situation which the audience had to solve.A scenario such as this is a quick example on how a drama can be quickly put together and how this opens the possibility of creating short stories or perhaps a novel when an idea is expanded.In doing so we first established a character, place,adversaries and a distraction to set the scene.With comics, the thing that appeals to me when it comes to starting off such a premise is the use of visual information that can be ascertained within the setup of say mannerisms of a character or details within the location.

Once everything is setup,questions emerge.What is the core of the character? How tough is the situation and how can the character overcome these elements and are they feasible? What components do I have to work with? Keeping within continutity and preventing conflicting compositions (e.g. when two characters suddenly switch sides for no apparent reason.) The key is making it readable and still keeping the viewer in suspense.More that will be discussed in another lecture in the future.

Innovation : Digital Rights Distribution

Throughout the year,my two main lecturers Dan Berry and Sue Thornton have created a series of additional talks to support the illustration students with subjects that are usually only briefed upon usually in design courses. 

There is only a finite amount of information an art student can pick up on when they finish leaving institutionalised education in which the majority of what you've learned may not even apply to what you ultimately want to do with your career.This can be a giant deterent towards productivity and morale once you finally leave for the big bad world out there.Working and stragegizing a plan early on can help combat falling into this trap, however, it's also important to not plan anything directly ; have goals but don't let one path determine unrealistic ideas.I think what I am trying to say here is that there are a lot of art colleges that don't teach you what you need to know (business and marketting) and it doesn't hurt to gather as many resources available to you.So in addition to already having the Creative Futures Week, we have these lectures now and again which I have found quite informative and that have opened up new areas of research to better equip myself and make my future career work for me.

With that brief explaination out of the way,let me touch on the first lecture. The first talk I attended was on Digital Rights distribution back in November by Dan.It was a short bitesized version of a talk that he was preparing for another event, which hit on the main point of the future of digital distribution in terms of comics and interaction.

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO and a champion of 'design thinking' once said that, "there are useful starting points and landmarks but overstep boundaries, rather than sequence of steps in one direction."

 Alan Kay summed it up better by saying "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

What both Tim and Alan hit on is innovation ; the ability to break the mold and see what ideas survives and how.

We are currently in the transistion of a mass paradigm shift as everything we know through media and culture is massively being streamlined through the medium of internet and data.Timelines and gaps between the latest breakthroughs are shortening as technology is constantly evolving and changing how we perceive content.Now more than ever before we are at the most advantage as currently everyone has the means to research and analyse this data.Through blogs and sites we can analyse who exactly has been looking at our work and where,how they got there, what demographic they belong to and how long they might of paid attention to certain parts.This is part on how we can manage to branch out and further our reach online if we can apply this creatively.How people interact is a powerful tool in this case and what boundaries we can push with whatever technology we use.An iphone is more open to new ideas since its interface is a screen which means developers are open to creating new ways to use this platform.

If we hit on the idea of approaching this with comics, this opens a barrier to potentially how we can use graphic narration.The Marvel app, for example, uses some of these ideas already.Their stories have tracking information which tells the editors or writers what points did the reader stop,how long they took to read a particular page and what review they gave it and how that effects the readers interest.That may sound a little invasive and counter productive - as a sole experience may not necessarily reflect on how a reader feels and makes creatives somewhat reluctant to go with their decisions but its just one way on how we can use this technology.Marvel aren't necessarily a creative powerhouse and they need to turn profits however it is just an example on how effectively comics can 'read us.' Scary thought.

It's already happening with Kindles as reader habits are fully recognised with their history.A more noticable example is Facebook who are the biggest culprits of using analysis data and yet we as a society accept this blindly.Ads and suggestions are displayed based on what you like and who you know - based on a massive pile of information the administrators have compiled on their databases, all influenced by what you type and don't type - That's right! Do you think using stats is as invasive in comparison?

Who knows,as you may be reading this in a few short years time,the game might of changed yet again.Social media isn't going away anytime soon,perhaps it'll mutate in some way.That doesn't change that in order to stay current, we need to constantly observe what developments are coming our way despite our resistance towards new things.Twitter was seen as nothing more than a nuisence - a site many saw as a way for teenagers to procrastinate.This has drastically changed in the past 3 years as the qualities that Twitter possesses are relevant to the current way we access information.Major news stories and connections to other people are now common place with twitter.

It's a matter on seeing where we can go from here.How we can use these mediums to innovate and change how we distribute information.

Creative Futures: Day 3, March 7th

Speakers


Jason Minsky ( Freelance Artist) 10.00 - 11.00, 11.30 - 12.30
Amanda Farr ( Artistic Director ) 13.30 - 14.30
Tracy Simpson ( Director of ADDO) 15.00 - 16.00

Todays talks began with a double session with freelance artist Jason Minsky -The first talk involving professional development and the second being portfolio development.

In professional development,he made it quite clear how beneficiary it can be for a degree or post degree student to take on unpaid work for a studio as it gets you in the mindset of what it's like to take on a career as demanding as his.Such things an artist can take from experiences like this are building confidence within your practice and methods,getting used to tight deadlines and how to keep working when you've failed.An example of this was going over budget on a project such as when Jason had to do work for St John's College in Oxford.

He also talked about ways you can attract attention towards yourself exhibitioning yourself as the artist as part of your work.Jason uses his contacts to generate grants so that he can commission quite offbeat performance pieces which require a lot of work and innovation.He then collects pieces into a publicity folder that he shows to potential clients which can lead to further work or sales of pieces.

Many of Jason's ideas are unconventional but work for what he wants to get out of it."Do what you want to do."

For example,one of the many idea's he talked about was a self promotional ad he ran on M-tv - a local channel in Manchester that averages 300,000 viewers a year.In the advert,he briefly appears for roughly 20 seconds explaining that whoever was watching was to go to the address mentioned on the screen.When they showed up,they would get 1 of 500 limited badges with a certificate of authenticity.Ultimately only eight people showed up to get the badges however it proved that maybe with improved resources,he could revisit and expand that idea upon its initial reaction.Also,if you have an opportunity to give stuff away (as long as it's not a finacial burden) jump at the chance,the badges he gave out for the M-tv project only cost him £30.

The second part focused on what it is you need to expand upon in regards to a portfolio.Rather than show past work,Jason also alluded that it would be a good idea to include projects you would like to work on in the future - either concept images or explaining ideas.This feeds back to what Wendy from BBC talked about when going for an interview in the company.A key point Jason brought up was how to handle a portfolio - think about what the client has to go through when examining work.They usually have to look through 10 - 20 images within a set time - it needs to be handled as swiftly as possible in a way were your artwork doesn't get ruined or looked over.The easiest way to overcome it is through presentation.Become a professional,it's only a title at the end of day - let it reflect who you want to be rather than who you are now.Consistancy is also vital,have a strong start,middle and end and strategize how your portfolio reacts - what points would a client pause and take in an image and what do they want to see?

***

 After break,we had Amanda Farr, artistic director of the Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown,Wales.Her talk was mostly about the work she was involved with with exhibitions and educational programs but she also dispensed some general information about getting work seen by a gallery.This included what exactly needed to be researched to submit work, the roles within the staff including financer,marketing and curator and the board of trustees.

Adding to that,she also commented on the required skills a curator needs to have working in a gallery like budgeting and negtiational abilities.These skills would be first acquired through a training program that the gallery have provided.

She then gave us a brief account on how to get an application going to submit work.

• Check funding criteria,deadlines for release and if you can fulfill the work required.

• Gather information about proposal.Brief description of the project.Funds,costs,grants,start and finish date,contact information,reference,CV of past work and presentation

• Contact the project officer for eligibility and send work,bank details and if your collaborating with someone.

•  Grant is sent with standard conditions, finacial information and additional conditions must be adhered to.

Although I saw use of the advice,she could only really apply from what she has experienced at her work which is an independant gallery and is technically classed as a charitible organisation that reach out to rural communities deprived of contemporary art.

***

Finally,the last talk of the day was with Tracy Simpson, a director of ADDO who discussed how to get funding from the arts council.

Her talk was more specific on exactly what was required for grants and funding a project.For example whether you were applying for a Government grant or a Private/charitable grant scheme.These had different regulations accordingly (e.g. Oriel Davies talk.) The main point she hit across was how time specific everything is and how it varies that change depending on the project and the circumstances.This is important to know as you need to be eligable but also you'll find that your funds will be effected depending on how you deal with this.Find funding that will fit your project.Once you've got everything going,she then talked about what happens during the production,in which you may get an occasional visit from project officers to monitor your progress.This is followed up in a report which is then evaluated and sent back to the arts council.As well as that,another thing she mentioned was to plan your future project within projects as an exit strategy.

In case you can't get funding,there are many other ways one can access financial support which include

• Interest free loans
• Forming groups or clubs
• Local authority projects (Oriel Davies Gallery)
• Business links

 

I found all this quite practical and gave me access to options and despite the fact that students don't have a chance in funding a project through the arts council,it was beneficial for everyone in the talk to at least get a head start or some idea what kind of people and work such an institution looks for in artists.The talk also could of used some examples of artists that Tracy delt with as it would give me some indicator of interaction rather than general presentation.

Creative Futures: Day 2, March 6th

Speakers

Dave Boydell (Game designer and concept artist)  10.00 - 11.00

Wendy Rees (Head of Human Resources for BBC Wales)  11.30 - 12.30

Jonathan Edwards ( Character designer)   13.30 - 14.30

Dave Newell (Freelance Illustrator)  15.00 - 16.00

Today's first talk came from Dave Boydell, a concept artist currently working in the games industry who gave a brief talk about what he does and how to adjust to finding a professional practice after leaving university.Dave graduated from Glyndwr University in 2010 achieving a BA Hons in digital art in video games.He currently works at Dreadnought Design, a company that produces iphone games such as Ivor The Engine, Penguin Panic and Tail Gunner.

Since Dave is a recent graduate of the college,he didn't have much to say experience wise but he still had some relevant information to share since he faced a situation that I will face shortly once I leave university.The main point being to practice your craft and hone your skills.The chances are,most graduates have a small window of time between graduating and getting a job and being productive is vital in that time.

Being idle could have a negative effect and you could end up not working in whatever field you originally came to college for.A good way to combat this is practicing your work with sketchbook in this time ; don't take on major projects just yet, draw and experiment with media and digital applications in order to keep yourself interested during that spare time you might have.Better yet,keep track of your sketchbooks by keeping sketches dedicated to mindless doodling and serious sketches - this could be a strength come for a job interview.Set goals to motivate these sketchbooks.

He also dabbled a bit into networking and getting your name out there with promotional materials like business cards and stationary.Art communities like deviant-art are worth joining as they can help you identify artists and what trends are currently being used.He also touched on contacting agencies such as OPM recruitment to generate some extra work.

Finally,Dave talked about his experiences in applying for studios in which he outlined some important but basic things people usually forget.

• Get a good resume together with specific skills and vital information within 1 or 2 pages.
• Give yourself a cover letter on the front of your portfolio/resume; Sell yourself with a simple image.
• Be flexible; Show you are willing to relocate if necessary and show that you are prepared to make coffee!

Being ruthless and persistent also helps too! As well as preparing another job to support yourself.

***

Next up was Wendy Rees, head of human resources for BBC Wales.Her production has been directly involved with programmes such as Doctor Who, Merlin, Crimewatch and a variety of documentaries and sport related coverage which spans television and radio.Her talk focused mainly on how to get a job working at the BBC in which there are a couple of opportunities available.

Despite the fact that this talk was mainly aimed at a more media based audience,there were some bits of information I found handy about what they were looking for and it was a nice follow up to Dave's points about what jobs look for in an employee.

For example,your main appeal as a creative is what you have to offer -  not qualifications.When it comes to hiring staff for one of the stations many trainee schools, this is what shines through more than anything.Also,having an enthusiastic interest in the companies history shows an initiative to work.Even if a studio do a work experience program with a limited time frame and no pay - try it anyway.The worst that can happen is you spend a week there at the most although its what you do in that time is what counts.Do a great job and you may be asked back for paid work,that is if you think the studio is reputable enough.

The BBC also do competence tests when it comes to interviews.This separates your average workers from your unique talent before they've even started.The test comprises of evidence of a past project you may have been involved with and how you developed the idea into the final stages.They also want to see what you plan to do with a given job by outlining how you need to organize and set goals.This is something that I can apply towards future interviews.

***

The best talk of the day came from character designer Jonathan Edwards.Like Dave,he was also a former student of the university and had 20 years experience working as an editorial illustrator before designing collectible toys and sets.The majority of his talk was about his recent work from the past two years which was great to see as it was enjoyable to hear how he got these simple designs to transform into something completely fresh and different.

An example of this came in the form of a character he created called Inspector Cumulus.As an experiment,he contacted a sculptor to make him a replica of his character as he was quite a fan of collecting vinyl toys.Within a few days,Jonathan received a jpeg of the toy which amazed him on how detailed it turned out.Jonathan carried on developing this project, making small adjustments here and there in which he then decided to submit to Crazy Label, a company that sells specialized vinyl toys.They liked the toy and approved for the figure to be mass produced and eventually was released to the market within the next 6 months.It even featured on review site Toys R Evil which made the toy quite popular in Singapore.He also plans to market the toy into a comic, which reminds me of when Mattel used to do this to cartoons in the 80's.

He also gave an example of the benefits of social media when it comes to working as an artist.While working on a project with his partner Louise Evans, they talked about a band they used to listen to all the time called The Fall on twitter.As a joke,they made one of their felt monster to resemble lead singer Mark Smith.When a photo of the toy was put online Mark's daughter, who happened to be working for London Fashion Week, saw the dolls and asked them if they would like to contribute to a window display.The display was later filmed for The Culture Show for BBC2.

Another example of his work exceeding his expectations was when he was invited to create work for The Headspace Gallery in Japan after a successful run of a dollhouse display at Selfridges on Oxford Street.This led to a nationwide tour as work was seen in Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.For publicity,they photographed the dolls hanging out in Japanese streets and towns,produced a magazine featuring one of their characters as kind of a pastiche on celebrity magazines and even designed a kimono worn by Kyoko Ormano for a photoshoot.Jonathan's talk really showed me the true nature of what an idea can become and how to market it.

***

The last talk came from Dave Newell, a freelance illustrator who probably had the most experience of all the guests so far.Despite this,I wasn't majorly impressed of his work on show.Dave began in the industry way before computers and it showed as a lot of his representational work hasn't aged very well.His talk was mainly an overview of his career which really could of been condensed into say,his best work over the course of a ten year cycle.The subject of the talk was also misleading as I assumed that he was going to talk about copyright which ended up being a small footnote around half an hour into the talk.

The footnote in question was concerning one of Dave's designs for the NEC Birmingham Clothes Show.The party in question sent Dave a 26 page document detailing everything from an image that he was allegedly stealing from.This included minute details like curves and characteristics.Luckily for Dave,he was able to back up his work by sending them preliminary images and references to the images he was influenced by which at the time, was a popular style in American comics.Due to this,the legal team eventually backed off.I really did think this was facinating as it showed me how really desperate some people are just to get a cent off you although I hoped that he could of offered more advice and expand a little on the issue of copyright.

Dave's strongest work was oddly his designs on packaging such as Supacell digital batteries, which looked really professional - however it's not really something that I aspire to be.Compared to the other talks that I've had with Jonathan Edwards,John Allison and Karen Cheung, I think my aims should be higher at this point.This really hit home for me,especially since I've been fighting the urge to conform to a style and develop it.If there's one thing I learned from this talk, it's to throw away that old conception of being an "everyman" artist. Not to say that this is necessarily a bad thing if your starting out small and you need the money but if you want to develop a serious image of yourself I think an artist needs consistency. This also shows that an artist is truely confident in his vision and aesthetic which is what employers gravitate towards.

Creative Futures: Day 1, March 5th

Speakers 

Prof Michael Scott (Vice-Chancellor of the university)  10.00 - 11.15
Angus Montgomery (Journalist and Head Designer of Designer Week) 11.30 - 12.30
John Allison (Web cartoonist and comic creator) 13.30 - 14.30
Karen Cheung (Animator and Illustrator) 15.00 - 16.00

Over the next few posts, I will be going over the events that I attended at the Creative Futures week at the university which features guests from all over the art industry including comics,animation,illustration,game design and children's books.The week will be a great opportunity to hear from insiders currently working in their chosen fields and collating information I can use to have a better understanding on where I'm going,what exactly do I lack and things that I can consider applying to my own work.

The first two talks weren't necessarily important as they were a general talk to all the art students however there were some valid points within their advice that I found useful.

Michael Scott opened the week with a seminar on the importance on developing an artists business sense - becoming part of the creative industry by fixing your product to the market whatever it may be.He used his knowledge on the life of William Shakespere as an analogy to applying this way of thinking.

Shakespere was the perfect example of a successful businessman - he was lucky enough to sieze an opportunity with the invention of theatre, which was invented by a neighbour of his, John Burbidge.It was new and obscure at the time so he worked on developing  scripts by stealing work of playwrights and writing about the histories of the country - dramatization of events.This was something that was not explored and the audience flocked to see performances - demand was set.Once he had an audience, he wrote 'As you like it' which served the audiences interests and gave them an incentive to come back to see more plays.

He also discussed how Shakespere came back from almost being bankrupt by moving his theatre to the barges of London and dividing his company into two parts - One for himself and the owners and another for the actors - to give them representation.Applying what Shakespere did and how he made his fortune,there's no wonder why he became influential in the ages that followed - by the time of his death, all theatre in England was under his name and he used this name and his wealth to buy out his competitors.He was at the heart of it all,a businessman,something I think we can all develop if we have the idea to apply this towards creative industries.

***

Second speaker of the day was Angus, a journalist who specialised in writing about design.His talk was mainly about breaking into the industry and how education is an important key to achieving an acedemic side to design - an area which agencies lack at the moment.He gave us great examples of blurbs of wisdoms from some designers working within.Some key points were brought up during this from Simon Manship, Lizzy Cullen and Rhiannon Jones, mostly about how marketing and self promotion are vital to how you make money - a little lateral thinking also helps too.The most important advice on offer was from Greg Quintin who had a 3 point action plan which was ;

• Stop listening to your influences and get off the internet.
• Engage in colloboration project more.Helps with networking and relationship building
• Show that you love doing what you do.

The rest of the lecture focused on projects and work he found interesting as a design that serves both an aesthetical purpose and practical purpose.My favourite of these were;

• Olympic posters designed by Alan Clarke 

Clarke's posters for the olympics cleverly displays the action or movement of a particular sport through graphic design.

• The Pearson Lloyd Accident and Emergency notices

Thanks to the design work of Pearson Lloyd, the A+E of hospitals are now greatly more efficent due to the mapping system they created.Each map shows the patient how much longer they have to wait and where they need to be.Since theses maps were introduced,its found that violent incidents in A+E have dramatically decreased.

• Milton Agency logo designs by Magpie Studio

As part of the companies identity,the logo is shown through negative space.

• $100 Laptop project

The aim of this project was to create cheap and well designed laptops made from unwanted parts of old computers to be distributed to developing countries across the globe.

***

The next talk was my favourite talk of the day ; John Allison's 'Building an Audience' presentation.His advice was very informative and realistic too - the main point being that if you think that your work is reasonably good,then it's good enough!

John made a great job of going through almost 14 years of his career, highlighting the important changes he made towards his work to improve.What started as a hobby which gave him an excuse not get what some would say a 'real job,' he persevered and carved a path on his own - mainly due to the audience he built online.

To tell you the truth,webcomics don't appeal to me when it comes to aspirations.They can sometimes feel tacky,under valued and trotted out almost but I can see some advantages to approaching this market.For one,the main attraction I think most cartoonists see in webcomics is the chance to try something out - there's nothing really to gain or lose with what you begin with and you start to see your strengths and weaknesses as you explore your craft which can take some time.

Another thing that I never quite considered before was the fickleness of the audience,the most valuable commodity to any artist out there.One of the things John touched on was on whenever he was constantly improving and changing styles,fonts and crossing over from tradtional to digital, his audience would rise or drop depending on what changes he had made.He saw his audience rise after he began his series, 'Scary Go Round' which had a lot of appeal but disinterested John since he was tired of writing the same characters for so long.Once he ended the series,he saw a big drop in readership which led him to say that "comic readers are the most conservative readers you can find." This is quite true,especially when it comes to a weekly webcomic as the reader expects familiarity of some sort to keep an interest going.

The most important way to demonstrate this is by simply having recurring characters with strong enough visual and charismatic traits carrying each comic.John gave examples on webcomics that are doing really well which show this very strongly.They're not necessarily well drawn however their humor,wit and charm shine through which is what the reader craves at the end of the day.The examples he gave of successful webcomics were Nedroid for being easy and funny and Hark! A Vagrant which researched but accessible.

Finally another point he made very clear to everyone was the importance of conventions and different ways you can tackle marketting yourself even if you have little money. Even if you have small supplies, make your own t-shirts and make cheap and free items available to anyone. What can also help is sticking close to not only your peers but to people who do work similiar to you.Even if you are not selling work,it's good to hang around at conventions and observe how business is being operated at booths.Studying successful people also helps mapping out exactly what you want to achieve.

***

The final talk of the day came from Illustrator/Animator, Karen Cheung, graduate of Bristol School of Art.Her talk was a lot of fun and she came across as someone who really enjoys the work that she does.Her talk was broken down into what she did at university,her first job,experiences in dealing with agents and self promotional work.

In university,her main focus was on animation which she worked hard on until she graduated in 2006.Her short film, 'Headache Hotel' was shortlisted for the BBC New Animator competition.However near the end of her studies she decided to put a children's book together and aimed to get it published.Her book was called Shleepless and despite being unable to find a publisher to print the book,her work won the Macmillan prize in 2006.

When she finally left college,she landed a job at 12foot6, a small animation production set in London.Her first job was designing characters for idents on Paramount Comedy UK (now Comedy Central UK).She continued working for them until 2009 when she left the studio and began working for the Jelly agency.

Through Jelly,she has built up a roster of clients and is doing well working as a freelance artist.In her work,she explained the positives of having an agent as they can be a invaluable source for incoming work.Despite this,she does admit that agencies tend to gather as many varied artists as possible so chances are that if your work is similar to that of another artist on their network,you probably won't get hired.Do the homework before you submit a portfolio.Also,the most successful agents tend to take a bigger percentage of a cut.

 

 To conclude, she also gave some brief bullet points for life after uni.

- Be brave

- Persevere

-Self Promote any way you can

-Build a site!

-Take part in anything and everything around you

Is your business card up to par?

• Is your business card standard size of 3.5 x 2"?
• Does the ink run when touched or when liquid spills on your card?
• Is your card of professional quality?
• Is your business card multicoloured?
• Does your business card state what it is you offer in clear english?
• Does your business reflect on your image?
• Is your font evenly spaced and legible?
• Is there at least three means of contact information? Does one of those include a website?

If your answer is no to any of the above questions,chances are you need to reconsider your card.


(Source http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/advertising/a/bcardtest.htm )

Analysing Business Cards

There are many way's one can present themself through a client or an agency.To give that aura of "I'm a professional and I want to work for you" can make or break a first impression.You only have a matter of seconds in some cases to say what your business does,how you do it and how you may be approached.Without overthinking about it too much,the best way is,of course,to produce a business card into the hands of anyone who is willing to listen and give you a chance.How you utilize this oportunity is entirely dependent on an idea for the design and how willing you are to go with it,which reflects on your practices.

Of the business cards I found both physically and through the internet,I first must divide them into two groups :

those that are conventional and those that are innovative.Since the person needs to convieniently store a business card into most commonly a wallet, it's recommended that I stick to conventional design.Despite this,I'll also include some samples I found online which have some simple concepts that I found relevant.

Conventional Cards 

Dan Leo, Illustrator, Graphic Designer

Information : Image, type, 3 colour, two sided, Title, Contact details, Sharp edges 2 x 3.5", iphone barcode

Front

The image featured reflects the subject and style that the artist exhibits - Graphic design / graffiti influence.

Three colours used are black,white and pink - strong choices and recommended amount needed on a business card.Also gives off the tone of his work - offbeat and unreserved.Handmade font shows branding of his business.

Back

All his information with prominent text.However not properly aligned, feels a little out of place especially on line 2.Uses sans serif font - not bad and the inclusion of the iphone barcode shows that he's up to date with modern technology.

Jonathan Edwards,Illustrator, Character Designer

Information : Image, two sided, repeat pattern, contact details, sharp edges, slightly gloss on card, 10 x 7cm, sharp edges

Front

Image captures your attention,lines and colours are quirky and have character.Describes the type of work Jonathan does.Your almost intrigued to learn more - almost like a tasting a free sample of ice cream.Despite avoiding the 3 colour rule, he gets away with it purely because of the mood that is represented,like his style and presence can bring life into a employers problem.

Back

Information and repeat pattern on back of card. Display font uses a custom font - reflects his linework and eccentric nature of his work - jagged forms and inconsistant forms that are bold.Contact details are almost lumped in - small font can be hard to read with those of poor sight, no spacing and could be more contasting against the repeat pattern.Example ; Repeat pattern could be one of the muted colours against the bright greenish yellow - stay consistant.Also it's irregular shape could be hard to keep for some.

Cards of Innovation

The following images are some good examples of innovative business cards that go that extra step.The more engaging your design, the deeper the interest.Good way to bring this across is interaction.Davi deGrasperini stencil design is a good example of this,as it invests in your curiosity to apply your own interpretation of his name.There is almost a bond between the artist and the viewer and it puts out the idea that a relationship can form since the artist is giving away a part of his process towards his job to better inform his targets.The contact details are there but the name is the focal point and if the employer is interested,he will search the artists information rather than the artist give the information to a client.

The Japanese business card and the Victoria Vaughan also engage the viewers interest.The Japanese business card reveals in the interactive element as it leaves a humourous effect on the viewer and they take away not only your business but also a charming memory about a business before they've even worked with them.It's a simple concept with universal appeal.

The Victoria Vaughan idea is even more simple ; liquid moves around inside the card.This means that the card is always changing and it works because it's well made.The card itself is transparent plastic,as well as the liquid which doesn't obscure the information.The card technically always changes as the liquid can be manipulated to form shapes depending on where the viewer moves the card.It not only gives the impression that the artist behind the card pushes herself but she is always morphing her abilities,not keeping still.

The attorney card and Hypno are in the territory of cards that let ideas fit around the format.The attorney card uses the option of pulling out the card from a holder that resembles a jail cell.This action plants a message into the viewer about how confident and the competancy of the attorneys which reflects well on them.Also,the way you have to move the card from horizontal to vertical with the layout is a great weapon as it makes you attentive with an action.This is made simplier with a simple colour scheme.

The Hypno card takes full advantage of the formatting and uses the name to incorporate the design.From the beginning, the circular design is very striking with its peculiar quality and the color choices of red,white and black are distinctive.The layout of the card has type that revolves around a tagline that's isolated at the middle which puts you in a trance - as you navigate your eye around the edge, you keep coming back to the centre.My only fault with the card is the size and whether I could conviently store it if it were presented to me.

What to expect.

Coming up on the blog are the following :


Creative Futures week ; Thoughts on lectures and advice gained - application.

Business card Analysis - What makes the perfect business card?

Lectures on Comic books : The basics.


Brian

First Post

Just thought I'd make a little introductory post here explaining what's the purpose of this blog.

My name is Brian Burke and I'm currently a student at Glyndwr's Art and Design department studying Graphic Novels.After graduating with a diploma in Illustration at B.C.F.E in Dublin,I decided to take my education further and earn a degree as a transfered level 6 student.It was also a chance for me to study abroad,experience a different system and develop business skills which I lacked once leaving college last year.

I'm more than half way through my course already and it is at this time were I need to ask myself the hardest questions,discover resources and media,develop networks and a work ethic,get seen and promote myself.This blog will serve as a record to some of my findings towards achieving a plan to get into the field of illustration.

That's all I have to say for now.Time to get the ball rolling!

Brian