Jamie Hewlett Exhibition: The Suggestionists

I went to see Jamie Hewlett's new exhibition, The Suggestionists at the Saatchi Gallery in London today. Hewlett is an artist I've known and admired for years, but this was actually his first exhibition ever, and the work was very different from the work he's known for - more personal projects.

This is a piece from the Tarot part of Hewlett's exhibition - each A1 piece accompanied by a poem to describe the tarot card. I love the line quality and use of colour in all of these pieces, which are the most similar in visual signature to Hewlett's more well-known works. I was immediately drawn to these pieces because of this.

I'm always surprised by how large pieces are when I go to exhibitions - seeing Hewlett's work - which is quite similar to my own tone of voice - encourages me to think I need to start working bigger! I can be a perfectionist and want to get lines and marks just right, and since I usually work quite small, this can be difficult. Hewlett's able to use more expressive strokes which look much more refined when the image is resized for viewing online or in print. Since I aspire to create comics, I'm aware that comic artists don't actually work at the size of paper the comic will be printed in, since it's actually much easier to work at a larger scale and have any imperfections disappear or become unnoticeable once they're resized.

Having learned this from researching comic artists' processes, I have in the past tried to do this but find it hard to know where to fit panels or what size they should be in order to look good when shrunk down - which is something I plan to work on over the course of my degree. But first - just working bigger in general, to loosen up my drawing style.

These images are from the next part of Hewlett's exhibition. They're studies of pine trees in the south of France, but again, they are A1 studies that look really detail and refined from afar, but are actually pretty expressive when you look at the detail (see third image).

I NEED TO WORK BIGGER!

 The final part of the exhibition - a fictional adult film star played by Hewlett's wife. A series of poster depicting fictional adult films. These are vastly different from the Jamie Hewlett work we know and love, and although I wasn't as attracted by these posters at first, they do have a fantastic vintage aesthetic and graphic design element. The poses and lighting are well considered and the typography is thought about and fits well with the theme, but is still clear and bold. The colours contrast to catch the eye, warm tones and blue tones, and the posters are simple with block colour backgrounds on most, but effective for what they are. I definitely could believe these were for real films.

Finally...

I met the man himself! Not relevant really, but still something I'm pleased about! Note to self: try to go to press views more often, even if it's accidental and the gallery neglects to mention that 'opens on the 18th' actually means 'open to the press only'. I had a nice, brief chat with Jamie and mentioned being influenced by his drawing to do larger studies, which he also encouraged. So I will get on that.

Mark Wigan

I saw these shoes today and had to look up the artist because they're SO COOL:

I love the bold thick lines of colour on the first pair, and the playfulness of the lines and shapes as they interact on the shoe. They're quite naive but striking, reminding me of chalkboards outside restaurants and pubs - especially when you look closer at the text.

The second pair is a look a club culture. There's humour in both the ay the figures are drawn and in the dialogue in speech bubbles. I like the simple black and white palette, as I think colour would distract from the humour and speech.

I love the top image - the playful interaction of the club go-er characters, all with something to say. The characters aren't realistically drawn but that only adds to the humour. They're all drawn over and around each other, not just individual vignettes, which adds to the club intent.

The second one I like less personally, but I still love Wigan's bold use of colour without lines mixed with black line drawing - it's an interesting use of different elements to create an image.

OUIL403 Visual Skills evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
·         Experimenting with different media - particularly Photoshop, expanding from the Visual Language workshops, seeing how images work in different formats. Going back to using paint again instead of focusing on inks - sometimes ink isn't the best fit and it helps to experiment. ·         Roughs/ideas generation - previously I've been used to generating ideas in my head and writing them up as lists or brainstorms rather than presenting them visually, but having to do roughs helped me realise getting ideas down visually is a big help, particularly in Brief 1 where I realised I couldn't actually illustrate (well) some ideas for each of the 10 themes. ·         Blogging - having to write down that mental conversation with myself helped me realise further things about my own practice by getting down the jumbled thoughts in my head into a clear presentable format. ·         Loosening up my drawing by working to a small timeframe - similar to roughing, not being so precious about my drawing, as it's more important to get ideas down rather than being concerned with having perfect illustrations in the early stages.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
·         Limitations on colour and size/format across all the briefs helped me to realise that sometimes the more simple illustration is better for that particular brief, and it helps to make the mistake of drawing something too complex and simplifying it. I even decided to stick to a limited colour palette for the third brief even though there were no formal restrictions because of this. ·         Looking at other artists' work, relating to PPP and my new Pinterest account - helps to see how other artists create their work and apply the knowledge of professional practitioners to my own practice.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
·         Authorship - my personality and interests definitely show across each of the 3 briefs, which I think helps set me apart from illustrators similar to me. ·         Character design - something I'm very passionate about and interested in pursuing. I find that more often than not when I'm presented with a brief I somehow subconsciously (sometimes consciously)  find a way to include character in my imagemaking. I think my character design is fairly individual and unique to me. ·         Drawing confidence - my confidence has definitely grown in my own drawing, particularly my sketchbook work and roughing. I'm less worried about having perfect illustrations on every sketchbook page, and am now more focused on just getting ideas down, which I think begins to show over the course of my sketchbooks for Visual Skills.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
·         Time management - falling back into old habits of not prioritising/organising my time effectively and staying up very late on Sunday nights in Briefs 1 and 2. Identified and fixed this for Brief 3, but will need to stay on top of this by doing work as soon as it's set, organising a social life around work and getting a good night's sleep more often than not. ·         Improve my rough drawing and do more! I can still overcomplicate my roughs and there is always an opportunity for me to do more, even if it's just a doodle on the bus. I need to get into the habit of taking a sketchbook everywhere. ·         Blogging - blog every day! Also use bullet points! I come from an English/essay-writing background so I'm always tempted to waffle on, but bullet points can help me to just get the main points down. ·         Continue experimenting with media for every brief to see what works well and what doesn't, even if I do use the first idea/media I wanted to.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? ·         Helped me get to grips with blogging - definitely evident on my blog that I'm getting more used to it as time (and briefs) wears on. ·         Helped me get used to the structure my life has now and how much work I'm getting and need to do every day. ·         Has helped me get to grips with using resources like Photoshop and the library that are available to me to help with each brief. ·         Introducing me to basic illustration skills like roughing that will underpin my practice for the rest of my professional life. ·         Crit sessions have really helped me start evaluating and reflecting on my own work in a friendly and constructive environment, and I look forward to these opportunities to have my peers help me figure out which path to progress on for each brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality				X
Motivation				X
Commitment					X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced					X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

OUIL403 Visual Skills Final Self Evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
·         Experimenting with different media - particularly Photoshop, expanding from the Visual Language workshops, seeing how images work in different formats. Going back to using paint again instead of focusing on inks - sometimes ink isn't the best fit and it helps to experiment. ·         Roughs/ideas generation - previously I've been used to generating ideas in my head and writing them up as lists or brainstorms rather than presenting them visually, but having to do roughs helped me realise getting ideas down visually is a big help, particularly in Brief 1 where I realised I couldn't actually illustrate (well) some ideas for each of the 10 themes. ·         Blogging - having to write down that mental conversation with myself helped me realise further things about my own practice by getting down the jumbled thoughts in my head into a clear presentable format. ·         Loosening up my drawing by working to a small timeframe - similar to roughing, not being so precious about my drawing, as it's more important to get ideas down rather than being concerned with having perfect illustrations in the early stages.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
·         Limitations on colour and size/format across all the briefs helped me to realise that sometimes the more simple illustration is better for that particular brief, and it helps to make the mistake of drawing something too complex and simplifying it. I even decided to stick to a limited colour palette for the third brief even though there were no formal restrictions because of this. ·         Looking at other artists' work, relating to PPP and my new Pinterest account - helps to see how other artists create their work and apply the knowledge of professional practitioners to my own practice.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
·         Authorship - my personality and interests definitely show across each of the 3 briefs, which I think helps set me apart from illustrators similar to me. ·         Character design - something I'm very passionate about and interested in pursuing. I find that more often than not when I'm presented with a brief I somehow subconsciously (sometimes consciously)  find a way to include character in my imagemaking. I think my character design is fairly individual and unique to me. ·         Drawing confidence - my confidence has definitely grown in my own drawing, particularly my sketchbook work and roughing. I'm less worried about having perfect illustrations on every sketchbook page, and am now more focused on just getting ideas down, which I think begins to show over the course of my sketchbooks for Visual Skills.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
·         Time management - falling back into old habits of not prioritising/organising my time effectively and staying up very late on Sunday nights in Briefs 1 and 2. Identified and fixed this for Brief 3, but will need to stay on top of this by doing work as soon as it's set, organising a social life around work and getting a good night's sleep more often than not. ·         Improve my rough drawing and do more! I can still overcomplicate my roughs and there is always an opportunity for me to do more, even if it's just a doodle on the bus. I need to get into the habit of taking a sketchbook everywhere. ·         Blogging - blog every day! Also use bullet points! I come from an English/essay-writing background so I'm always tempted to waffle on, but bullet points can help me to just get the main points down. ·         Continue experimenting with media for every brief to see what works well and what doesn't, even if I do use the first idea/media I wanted to.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? ·         Helped me get to grips with blogging - definitely evident on my blog that I'm getting more used to it as time (and briefs) wears on. ·         Helped me get used to the structure my life has now and how much work I'm getting and need to do every day. ·         Has helped me get to grips with using resources like Photoshop and the library that are available to me to help with each brief. ·         Introducing me to basic illustration skills like roughing that will underpin my practice for the rest of my professional life. ·         Crit sessions have really helped me start evaluating and reflecting on my own work in a friendly and constructive environment, and I look forward to these opportunities to have my peers help me figure out which path to progress on for each brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality				X
Motivation				X
Commitment					X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced					X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Study Task 3 - What is illustration?

Click here for a link to my new Pinterest account!

Some examples of the things I've put on my 9 boards:

Drawing

This drawing is by Courtney Kenny Porto. I've classified it as drawing rather than imagemaking or illustration simply because it is a pencilled copy of a lion. There is almost no imagination or purpose behind the drawing other than to represent the real thing. Although it's a very good drawing and it is representational, it's not that exciting and not much thought has gone into the composition. However, it is hard to classify images as drawing, imagemaking or illustration without knowing their context. This was actually used as a greeting card, so in theory it is illustration, but I still stand by classifying it as drawing for the aforementioned reasons. The image is aesthetically pleasing and relates to my own practice as I do sometimes like to draw realistic (or as realistic as I can get them) monochrome pencil/pen drawings, usually of people. Again, I do this simply as observation, to practice my skill or because I too find my subject aesthetically pleasing and want to capture it in my own way.

Imagemaking

I've chosen this image for this category because it is more imaginative than just drawing a representational image of a cat, and more thought and effort has gone into the process (screen-printing) than just drawing. The artist is Sam Giles, and although it is used as his business card (Dream Safari, at the bottom), the actual image of the cat is quite stand-alone and doesn't particularly convey a meaning or purpose as illustration should. I love the line quality in this work, and the contrast of just monochromatic line on white stock. I often draw in the same way, and am sometimes almost scared to add colour in case it ruins the aesthetic.

Illustration

This is an image by Boneface, a promotional image for Queens of the Stone Age's album 'Like Clockwork'. I've classified it as illustration because it is an image with a purpose - to communicate the message behind one of the songs on the album. I personally like the artwork because like myself, Boneface does a lot of character work, drawing people and such, which is what I most interesting in. He uses bold black line in a very graphic style and bold colour which is aesthetically pleasing to me, and also reflective of my own work. One thing he does though, which I don't but should do more of, is use textures in his work, as you can see in the jacket of this piece. Texture adds depth and character to his work more than just block colour.

Purpose

Laurina Paperina! The purpose in this image is humour - relatable to many self-deprecating millennials nowadays. The humour is conveyed with a naive, low-fi line quality and colour scheme, almost childlike - contrasting to the only slightly more adult themes. I love Paperina's work, as I often seek to convey humour within my own work, and also admire how she can convey purpose without investing a lot of time into her work.

Context

This is the book cover for graphic novel Art Schooled, written and illustrated by Jamie Coe. That is it's context. I love the colour scheme and composition of the work, coupled with the typography and the narrative and character running through the image. I seek to one day write graphic novels, as I love narrative and character, and Coe is one artist I really admire for his visual signature, narrative skills and humour. I actually used him as inspiration for one of the briefs in OUIL403, the typology poster.

Process

Luke Dixon. Great character artist, often using lino print (like here) or pens to create images with wonderful line quality. He has an instantly recognisable visual signature no matter what media he uses, as he uses line and mark-making to create tone within his work. He's one artist I often go back to for inspiration, as I also generally opt for black line, but I admire his ability to create depth within his work using only black ink and line.

Product

Chris Haughton - A Bit Lost. A children's book created with collage and shape. I love the visual aesthetic of his work, as well as his narrative and characters. Shape and collage are things I don't play around with often enough, and seeing work like this inspires me to push myself out of my comfort zone, as I can see the beautiful things that can be created with different methods.

Aesthetic

Becky Cloonan. I LOVE Becky Cloonan. Her line quality and use of colour both analogue and digital astounds me in it's quality. This image is from the cover of a graphic novel she illustrated called The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, written by Gerard Way. Again, aspiring to create graphic novels, Cloonan is one artist I constantly look to for guidance and reference - not only her finished work but also her rough sketches, as I am able to see how her work translates from the initial stages into masterpieces (in my opinion). Her proficiency with digital also encourages me to experiment more with Photoshop to achieve similar things.

Content

James Jarvis. I picked this image for content semi-ironically, as there is barely any physical content in the frame. However the image displays humour and meaning to the viewer - it's strange how we can relate to such simply shapes and project feelings onto them. I like to create simple humourous images sometimes, maybe just doodles in my notebooks about how I'm feeling, but I think they express more than some well-composed and detailed images do.