Portfolio Ideas

These images are what I regard as some of my best work to date.
They aren't necessarily what I'd put into my portfolio, they are kind of thrown together. I need to work on the presentation of my work, and get more images that stand out and show off my skills. 

Feedback from Patrick (PPP & Extended Practice):

Issues Discussed:

- Creative CV/ Website/ Online Presence developed
- Be more ambitious for your work
- Understand where and who your end user is 
- Manufacturer/ Stocklist/ Consumer
- Experiment with colour and texture and foils etc. 
- Revisit some older work and apply colour

- Photocopy the drawings and work over/ cut up/ go for it!

 Patrick thought that my portfolio needs more continuity, I suggested that I'd like to get experience in companies such as Hallmark, his suggestion was to add more images in a similar tone of voice to my celebrity cats. In order to improve the images, I'd have to add more textures and experiment a lot more with their compositions. 

I'd have to get rid of my pet portraits, as it confuses the work, and doesn't look like it fits in the same portfolio. 

 I need to be more ambitious!

Illustrator's Websites Research

Here are some of the Illustrator's websites I've been looking at. Most have simple layouts which make their work stand out really well. They also all tend to have hand written/ designed logos. 

Polly Horner

   Polly Horner is an example of someone who has a talent for capturing likeness with extra ordinary detail, and does something with it. I've struggled to find my place in illustration, so the commercial product side of illustration is exciting because I could see my own work within it. I like to paint in a detailed way, which can be restrictive when trying to find a context for it. Polly Horner uses her passion for painting animals and creates post cards, card sets, and even bingo out of a large number of breeds of cats or dogs. 

James Barker

   James Barker creates vibrant collections of illustration, he makes children’s picture books, ebooks, editorial and product based illustration. A lot of his work is on the subject of nature, and the fact that he can apply his work to product is a good example of why he inspires me as an artist. I think that for my 'cat breeds' brief, I shall look at grouping animals together in a print and then expand from there, rather than going to extensive lengths to make a book about only one animal. I think that if I did this, It would link my cat work with my painting for the wildlife artist of the year competition.

Career Track Tuesdays - Hallmark

   Another session of 'Career Track Tuesdays' was a talk about getting placements at hallmark. They take on a huge number of placements a year. The experience would be great, and I was told in a career coaching session with Ingrid in the summer that it is what employers look for. If I managed to get a placement, i'd know what it's like to work in a design studio and have more of an idea of what I want to do when I leave university. 

Career Track Tuesdays - Teaching

Why I am no longer interested in teaching

   Since first year I have been working as a student ambassador because I wanted to gain more confidence around people in general, and I wanted to get experience for teaching. I was interested in teaching because I have experience in childcare and public services, and I thought I could use my artistic degree to perhaps get a job teaching art in a secondary school. When I started my degree I didn't like it and didn't think I fit in or would able to go far, so teaching was my back up choice. The job stability of teaching as opposed to freelancing as an illustrator seemed appealing, as well as the fact that I knew more about how to get into it than I did illustration. 

   My ambassador work initially involved woking with children on the progression team, helping lead after school sessions at college, as well as going into schools to talk to classes about further study in art. I then moved on to being a more of a general student ambassador, working at the colleges' open days, showing people around, talking about the course etc. 

   I went to the colleges' 'Career Track Tuesdays' event for Teaching. This taught me a lot of things, such as how and when to apply for training, what types of  training courses are there, what grades are needed, what funding is available for certain areas of teaching etc. I also learned that a teacher must have lots of patience, and be very confident around people. They also have to dedicate a lot of time to it, therefore be passionate about teaching. 

   Based on my experience from being an ambassador, I realised that although it has helped me a lot when it comes to speaking to people professionally, it has also highlighted the fact that I don't enjoy it as much as I think I should. There certainly has been shifts where I worked at an open day or with schools and i've really enjoyed it, but there are other times where I don't feel as up to it. I realise for a job in teaching, I  wouldn't be able to have 'off days'. So for now I shall only be focusing on my illustration work. 

Practitioners that inspire me - People in the Greetings Card Industry

I have looked at all of these illustrators to get inspiration for my greetings card work in extended practice. Sooshichacha, Love From Lemonade, Stop the clock design, Charly Clements,
Sophie Corrigan, Gemma Correll, Jolly awesome, Sandra Diekmann, Hanna Melin, Jamie Mitchell and Laura Gee are all illustrators/ design studios that produce cards that are sold by a variety of companies such as Paperchase, Urban Outfitters, Ohh Deer, Funky Pigeon, notonthehighstreet.com, and Joy.
They each have illustrations that they put onto various products for commercial sales.

Wish List

• Mortgage/ House (never to have to live at home again)
• Be able to get a Pomeranian
• To get a job that I enjoy/ be able to draw for a living
• A solid body of work that I'm proud of
• Have well known, successful work

Jessie J

   My interest in celebrity began over 3 years ago, and it's partly why I want to focus on commercial illustration. I've always felt more driven to produce images that evoke a response from everybody - when people recognise a person I've drawn, they automatically know if the celebrity is drawn properly from their memory of the celebrity's face. I wanted to capitalise on the value that people place on accurate celebrity portraits. For my final project in my Foundation Diploma I painted 2 large celebrity faces at roughly 6x10 ft - Nicki Minaj and Jessie J. The concept behind the project was to show the human side of the highly worshipped, idealised celebrities, by showing flaws in their skin (although it is hard to tell as much in the photographs).

   We had an exhibition at our college (King Edward VI college) on 29th June 2013 and an ex student took a photograph of the Jessie J painting and uploaded it to instagram. After this, Jessie J herself re posted the image and added the caption "Who did this? I want to know! It's amazing!" Hundreds of people in the comments section began to then comment "it was me" "this is my work"- much to my family and friend's annoyance. They all began to tag my profile (where I'd uploaded pictures of my work) in the comments. As people viewed my profile, more people would tag my name in the comments, until it would have been hard for Jessie J to miss my name! She eventually 'liked' my images and commented on one saying "Yeah!!!! It's sooo amazing!! I wanna see it in real life!" she also followed me on instagram for a short while.

   My college's marketing department got in touch with the local news and managed to get the story on the front page of the town's news paper, as well as interviews for Heart FM and Free Radio.

The paintings also got nominated for WJEC Foundation Excellent Excellence Exhibition and Awards in Wales, where they

 were exhibited on the 8th November for two weeks. 

Eventually this was forgotten about as I had no idea what to do after it all happened, so now, after discussion with John, I must try and contact Jessie J. 

Photography Practitioner - James Mollison

James Mollison

Book - The Disciples. Fans dressed as celebrities

Exhibited at Photographer's gallery London when I visited over summer.

The tone of voice Mollison has is very similar to that of my OUIL505 Project last year, except  the subject of his work is the fan's relationship with the celebrity. His images from 'The Disciples' shows how the fans of each celebrities take on their chosen muse's looks & identity, suggesting a strong relationship and understanding of each public figure. This could further represent the influence such celebrities are having on their fans' attitudes to their own identities, or even their perhaps their lives.

V&A Visit

Theatre & Performance

"The Theatre & Performance collections in the V&A record the history and practice of live performance in the UK. The largest of their kind in the world, the encompass everything from theatre architecture and stage technology to film, photographs, posters, scripts, costumes and tickets. 
These galleries show the whole spectrum of live performance, from circus,and rock to pop and opera and drama. The objects on display represent the ingenuity and hard work that goes into creating a live performance, as well as the glamour and magic of the final show. Alongside the objects are films, computer interactives and interviews with contemporary practitioners. Together, these give a unique insight into what happens both behind the scenes and on stage." - V&A Museum 

Celebrity 

"Celebrity is both a means of selling a performance and a by -product of it. The range of famous people shown here shows that celebrity is not just a modern phenomenon, and talent has never been the only passport to fame. 
Celebrity can be fleeting, but it can also confer immortality of a performer or artist through the production of souvenirs, mementos and commemorative editions." - V&A Museum

The above quote is most relevant to my research - showing that no matter how long someone stays famous, their performances and products are what remain to be treasured. 

Madame Tussauds Visit

I visited Madame Tussauds over the summer, and I found it so fascinating. The fact that the public are happy to treasure statues/figures that only resemble the stars that they see on their screens seems quite bizarre. Most are in awe when they see these sculptures - and perhaps act similarly (but on a lower level) to how they would if they were to come face to face with one of the stars. The public are starstruck and want to take selfies on their phones with what is essentially wax. This isn't hugely different from admiring a work of art. The figures are exhibited, as well as mementos in the V&A performance sections from celebrity icons in the past. Celebrity image is so valuable to western culture that even the clothes/ fashion famous people wear, their merchandise etc. is important to fans.

Illustration Practitioners - Hattie Stewart

Hattie Stewart 

Hattie Stewart 

Hattie Stewart manipulates images, in a way that is similar to how I approached my COP practical work last year, when I drew portraits composed of the items people 'need' to construct their identities with. 

 "Her signature doodle style"... "decorating images from pop culture with accessories, stripes, googly eyes and emojis and generally elevating them beyond magazine fodder and 
into something entirely unique and infinitely bolder." - It's Nice That 

Working over the top of normal celebrity images from the media, Stewart creates her own artwork. This could suggest that viewers need to take what they are presented lightly, finding their own truths in what they see.

This could be an approach I explore for my celebrity Context of Practice work, as I am researching similar themes. 

     

Illustration Practitioners - Victoria Will

Victoria Will

In 2014 during Sundance Film Festival, Victoria Will set up a tintype portrait studio and made handmade portraits of celebrities. 

I find the fact that she used traditional methods to create celebrity portraits put a unique twist on the documentation of celebrities -the pictures we are used to seeing in the media are usually taken with digital cameras and sometimes manipulated. These photographs feel more authentic and true.  

The use of celebrity images in her work suggests that portraits of celebrities can be approached in more traditional ways, despite 'celebrity' being a relatively new phenomenon. Social media, magazines etc. renders the celebrity image meaningless and disposable, whereas these images add more value.  

Illustration Practitioners - Jon Burgerman

Jon Burgerman's Famous Friends

'Jon Burgerman’s Famous Friends examines our celeb obsessed culture' - It's Nice That

Jon Burgerman has recently been working on creating images for Instagram that show how obsessed the public is with celebrities and their life, and how we "curate our lives towards perfection"
“I’m also trying to show that in most cases these things are actually pretty mundane. So I’m ‘hanging out’ with celebrities, but we’re not doing anything that fascinating (apart from shooting up with Obama of course). Celebrities’ Instagram feeds are often littered with multiple selfies and photos of their cats. They’re just as dull as us normal people!”

 This is quite a noteworthy project that informs me and my practice as it's fun and light hearted when dealing with the social issues of attitudes towards celebrities. This is a similar direction that I want to take my practical and conceptual work for Context of Practice. 

Life After College - Help I've gained

   After we had a week completing 'Be your own boss' I had the chance to have a 1:1 Career advice/ coaching session with ingrid; a lady the college hires to come in and talk to students about what to do in preparation for when we leave. Although the course is very helpful and supportive about this, it was good to get some extra advice over the summer.

   When I told her I was interested in becoming an illustrator for product design companies, she told me that I must try and contact companies for work experience as soon as possible. This is because it can be very difficult to get into contact with companies for placements, as well as the fact that the people who will be able to offer me a job in this field will usually only do so if I have experience. 

   She also pointed me in the direction of a website called 'Prospects' (http://www.prospects.ac.uk)

which gives post graduate career advice in specific areas of study. It also helps with CVs and Covering Letters. 

   I have also spoke to my friends on the printed textiles course here at Leeds College of Art; a course that encourages placements to be sorted before the 3rd year, asking how they got their placements, what types of things they sent out to people, how they got in touch with companies etc. 

   From this I want to make a plan of action for how I will contact people in the industry, as well as being prepared with questions to ask. 

Contacting People/ Agencies/ Practitioners/ Companies

As a starting point, these are the people that I want to contact that I think will  help me identify things I need to know in order to develop my practice, I can also try and target certain people for potential work experience. Once I start networking, I should have a clearer view of the industry and therefore a sense of what I need to do in order to be successful. 

Companies that sell illustrated products:

• Paperchase
• Ohh Deer
• Urban Graphic
• Tiger Print 
• Hallmark 
• Colours May Vary

Practitioners who make illustrated products:

• FAYE GOLLAGLEE
• MEG WILEMAN
• KELLY BLAKE
• BHAVI ILLUSTRATIONS
• JAMIE MITCHELL
•  SOPHIE CORRIGAN
• GEMMA CORRELL
• SANDRA DIECKMANN
• LAURA GEE
• JAMES BARKER
• HANNA MELIN

Practitioners who Illustrate for clients (Editorial/ Portraits)

• Marco Ventura 
• Josie Jammet 
• Mr Bingo 
• Michael Gillette
• Stuart Patience
• Hello Von

Teaching 

• Career Track tuesday
• Ambassador Work 

I also want to try and meet people/ organise stalls at events such as print fairs. I met a girl in Be Your Own Boss in the summer who is part of a group called 'I AM Collective' - they are based in leeds and run events in different venues. Such events celebrate the arts and music, bringing people of similar interests together in order to network. They hire bands to play, and have artists selling their work. I have yet to contact her to enquire about being part of this.  

Etsy Shop

I've finally added products to my Etsy account! 

I now have 22 items listed to sell.

I have promoted the shop on my facebook page, as well as adding a 'shop now' feature.

I shall be promoting the shop across all of my social media accounts on a regular basis.

This will ensure more shop views, and hopefully increase sales of work.

Module Feedback from Level 5

OUIL501

This module was an enjoyable one last year. I got to express my concerns as a part of my practice, and this, I believe I can do quite well. If I'm passionate about something, I can analyse it to death, so the written element of context of practice is easier now. (Last year I had no idea what I was talking about in cop, I couldn't choose my own subject so I had no interest in what I did, so of course I did REALLY badly.) To make sure I have success in my dissertation, I really need to be interested in my subject, which is why I've already began investigation of my research project. 
I need to improve my introduction and conclusion, as well as link my theories to the texts I read. 

OUIL502

PPP was my best outcome of the year! I'm really happy with this grade. It shows that I am naturally good at evaluating my progress and looking ahead to the future. I hope that I can continue at this level, I just need to stay confident and believe in my work/ abilities. 

OUIL503

I didn't feel too great about the responsive module. Throughout, I'd find it difficult to manage my workload, and organise the projects. I found myself trying to do everything at once, which meant I applied myself too thinly to each project, and generally could have done everything a bit better. I need to work on my problem solving, and fast, if I want to improve on my practical work. 

OUIL504

This was my first project after first year, and I don't think I'd fully got out of that same way of working. I was pretty certain that first year was a disaster, I wasn't happy with a lot of the work I did, or the outcomes. It was all new to me. The only success came at the end of the year with PPP; I worked on a project I really liked, got into and enjoyed the outcome. The difference was that i'd settled down, got used to everything, and gained a momentum that made me very ready to take on the last project. In a similar way to this, I found the start of second year to be daunting, I had to learn many new processes and I got stressed out again, and was unable to apply myself as well as I could have. There was a success - my prints - and this gave me a new outlook on how I make my work. 
My entire time on the course has been trial and error and improvement (which is what it's meant to be, probably?) I have learnt a lot, and I have improved as a person more than I will admit to myself. 
The main place I keep falling short - 
ASKING FOR HELP. I can't, when I'm feeling rubbish is when I'm the least likely to ask for help/ improve. I need to try and stop this from happening by rising above whatever it is that makes me feel bad and getting help on whatever it is that is confusing me.
For this project I could have improved on:
- Time Management
- Documentation of work (more thorough) 
- Pro actively conceptualise Initial ideas 
- Keep practical investigation consistent
- Develop a higher level of written and visual communication
- Wider research into Illustration
- Recognise potential Audiences 

OUIL505

I enjoyed completing 505, I made images I was really proud of, as well as reasonably successful, commercial items. I could have improved this project by being more consistent with my evaluation.

Be Your Own Boss - Practice Pitching - Rick Ferguson

Practice Pitching 

Albert Mehrabian's communication percentages model (when talking about feeling or attitudes) 

• Words we use 7%
• How we say the words 38% 
• Non - verbal behaviour (body language) 55%

Logical Levels (Robert Dilts):

• Environment (where, when with whom) 
• Behaviour (what)
• Skills and Capabilities (how)
• Values and beliefs (why) 
• Identity (who) 
• Mission / Vision (purpose) 

Content (3 things to consider)

• Bookend - Introduce something at the start of your pitch, then return to it at the end
• Power of 3 - Overall structure of the pitch (beginning, middle and end) and also within the presentation (listing 3 words)
• 'Heart' content (values, beliefs, purpose etc.) and 'Head' content - (what, how, where etc.)

Style (6 things to consider) 

• Avoiding crutch words (so, okay, right, moving on, um, err.. etc)
• PAUSE during presentation
• Appropriate eye contact not too much/ too little
• Volume, pitch, speed
• Awareness of unconscious ticks/ Movements 

Be Your Own Boss - Self Employment - Russell Smith

Self Employment 

Notes from session on self employment:

• A person a can be on tax records as both self employed and employed.
• Tax has to be done independently when someone is self employed

3 Types of self employment:

• Freelance/ Self Employed 
• Limited Company 
• Not for profit 

A limited company is backed up against bankruptcy - also seems more official and gives commercial credibility as some companies only deal with limited co.

First £10,600 earned is tax free - So one can still register without paying tax

Number to register - 08459451515

UTR - National insurance class 2 - £2.80 a week 

Self employed people get an element of tax back -

Tax that is claimable - train, car, bus etc. to see exhibitions or clients. 

car petrol - 45p per mile

Food isn't - unless away from home 

If a business makes a loss it can be rolled forward to the next year so that they pay less tax.

or the loss can be claimed against employment for tax rebates.

If you don't account for all expenses the earnings can be artificially high, which leads to paying more tax.

Tip - save 18% of earnings for tax and most of the time will be covered when tax bill comes.

5th April - Beginning of tax period 

don't pay tax until after a year and a half. 

31st January - 10 months of tax to pay at once & 50% of next years for the first year of paying tax.

Have to submit tax return before 31st jan 

Retain for records:

• Sales Invoices / Paypal Receipts 
• Expenses / Receipts
• Bank statements
• HMRC
• Checks / Paying in books
• Grants/ Prizes / Rewards 

Sales Invoices 

Date sent 

#Number (sequential)

Customer 

Amount 

Payment terms

*There are no rules with sales invoices.

Pricing 

How much will you spend? 

- Over heads - Computers etc.

- Hourly Rate - Work this out from adding up the expenses 

Top 10 Tips 

1. The news is bad - mostly negative. Helps to ignore it and stay positive 

2. Be around positive people and make friends with good people

3. Who a customer buys from is better than what they buy. Your USP is your personality

4. Get good at sales and Marketing

5. Don't undervalue yourself - Value is what a person is willing to pay

6. Pay attention to money attributes  - Don't feel guilty about making money

7. Keep on top of cost: Maximise revenue, rise cost or limit resource cost/ sales income. More marketing.

8. Read, listen, learn as much as you can about business. 

9. Networking everywhere. Find out about people. 

10. Get a good accountant that works with creatives. 

Be Your Own Boss - Is Your Idea Viable? with Keith Evans

Keith Evans from Cida co. came in to talk about how to measure the viability of our ideas.

Tips to remember overall when selling work;
- Don't be afraid to ask
- User generated content
- Think Globally
- Network
- Keep an eye on competition

11.9 billion - What the creative sector is worth.

UK Creative Sector  

• Competition - Getting a better idea of how to price your work, potential collaboration.
• Technology - Online Presence, Social Media.
• Customers - What do they want, where will they buy it? 
• Policy/Legal Issues - Tax credit, Trade/ Marketing - intellectual property, Copywright.
• Supplier.
• Economy, Education, Environment - Awareness of things eg. cuts to fees, staying with the news.

Important things voted by the class - 

• Protect the value of your work 
• Self Promotion and Networking 
• Brand 'UK' - Leading Country
• Digital  - Brand, Selling (eCommerce/ Market) Experience
• Uniqueness 
• Enterprise Schemes
• Sustainability - Selling point, suppliers 

COSTAR 

Used in the UK & USA, eg. Iplayer

Methodology - Measuring the value of ideas

Customer - Who is it and what is their unmet need?

Opportunity - What is the full potential, how can it expand? 

Solution - What is your proposed solution for capturing the opportunity?

Team - Who needs to be on the team to ensure the solution's success.

Advantage - Your competitive advantage over alternatives.

Results - What will be achieved from your solution?

Critical Behaviours For Success

1. Confidence sells! What you say in a pitch is only a small percentage of how you communicate.

2. Have a clear sense of values and beliefs.

3. Conceptual thinking - Be open to people's ideas.

4. Strategic Thinking - Value the planning process, plan over significant periods, recognise trends and opportunities.

5. Commercial Aptitude - Keeping up to date with the latest developments.

6. Project Management - Ideas into reality, critical links between people, ideas and info at all stages of the project - understanding negotiation, communication and reach agreements.

7. Risk Taking - Hope of success, not fear of failing. Set goals despite setbacks.

8. Customer Sensitivity - Long term relationships of trust - high level of customer service. Regularly exceed customer expectation.

9. Networking - Key business activity. Networks provide access to info, expertise, collaboration and sales. Planning and preparing leads to desired results. Sell you!

10. Leaderships - Drive your own projects.

11. Innovation - Develop work.

Popular Culture - Artist Inspiration

Onlyleigh is an animator on youtube and tumblr. Her videos are so popular because she takes some of the most popular tv shows/ films and merges them together to create satire that resonates with millions of people - the original audiences and fans of such content.
Because there is such a heavy fan base of this media, a lot of them are online (especially Orange is the New Black, because viewers usually access the show via the internet as it is a Netflix original series) This makes them more likely to share the content on social media; giving the animation more views/ success.
I'd love to make this a reality with my work as well. What I intend to do is create work that resonates with the most people as possible, so that it can be more widely viewed. I intend to do this by creating illustrations with humour and recognisability - not unlike my celebrity work.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NefqXlOmPPA

Be Your Own Boss - Leeds College of Art Enterprise Week

I am currently taking part in the programme 'Be Your Own Boss' which involves facilitators with different specialities coming in to teach us their holistic knowledge about how to effectively set up and run a self employed business. We have/ will be taught sessions on;

• Measuring viability of ideas
• What it means to me a creative entrepreneur
• Practising pitching
• Self employment and tax 
• Marketing and PR
• Legal and Intellectual Property 

Although our course touches on all of these subjects, it has been a beneficial experience to go into these areas in more depth.

50th Anniversary Party Invitations Commission

I'm so glad I made these.

I was approached to make 50th wedding anniversary invitations to a party. I used it as a chance to make something new, and explore foil flocking. It was really difficult to get right, but it paid off, because I came out with successful invites and the idea that I could do more with this process, and more with design.

Floral patterns are something I enjoy drawing. They bring a more 'girly' feel to my work, I feel like I can achieve this quite easily, because I know the market for this imagery very well - (people like ME!)

Leeds College of Art End of Year Show - Art Market

   I sold out everything that I put into the art market that had my 'celebrity cats' on - I sold 11 prints, and many keyrings and badges. It all added up to £125 - I couldn't believe I'd made that amount from what was essentially some sheets of card and plastic. I didn't even bring that much to sell, most of it had sold out, so I wish I'd brought more!
This made me realise that this kind of work is more beneficial to me; I not only enjoyed creating my cats, but I think that they have the potential to become more popular. 

   My initial ideas for context of practice included researching authenticity of celebrity, celebrity worship, media Influences on body image / attitudes on identity, and the consumption of the celebrity image. This is because I have addressed them all in previous work; they interest me greatly. The only reason they didn't feel like the perfect subject/ I couldn't pick a direction is because It doesn't directly fit with my practical work. The celebrity cat idea has been the most compelling project I have done so far - I felt like the time we had on the project was way too short and I really want to continue it.

Inspiring Artists - Mr Bingo

Mr Bingo 

   Mr Bingo still inspires me, ever since his visit in first year. During his visit, he told us about many aspects of his career. He's a great business man, which is something I'd love to be good at one day!  

   Not only does he illustrate for companies, but he sells work that is commercial. He knows what sells, and what is popular. He has a good understanding of current popular culture and uses this to his advantage in order to get noticed. Many of his illustrations feature elements of popular culture, for example, celebrities and recognisable people, as well as funny animals. This tone of voice is something that I'd like to work on this year.

Painting for Northampton Cadet Training Centre

  Over the summer I was invited to paint a wall mural for an army cadet training centre in Northampton. I got this through links to North Warwickshire and Hinkley College. A teacher there had been approached by the army general, they were going to ask the students if anyone could do it. I have done wall murals before in art foundation - which was in the Nuneaton news. Because of this, a family friend suggested to the teacher that I should do it because I have this experience. From this point, I spoke to the colleges PR manager.

 I took the paid opportunity, because I'd have time to do other projects, as the year at college had finished. I thought it would be handy to get some experience working for a client.

 Once it was agreed upon I arranged to complete the painting, it took 3 visits, one of which was to see the wall and prepare my materials accordingly. 

 After this, the final two days consisted of 8 hours work. I used oils for the sky of the image, and black acrylic for the shadows because it was cheaper. I had to use oils for the sky so that I could blend colours together more effectively. It was not necessary to use oil paint for the black part.