Position Statement

 Based in the UK, I am a practicing Illustrator and designer, creating highly detailed imagery that catches the eye. My work is design based, involving motifs and patterns that are often inspired by animals and nature.

Always willing to build upon my passion for design and print, I am always trying to push my abilities in order to make the most beautiful work. I’m very happy to work alongside others, thriving from a buzzing environment, as well as independently. I enjoy challenges and am always willing to learn.

 From my development throughout BA (Hons) Illustration, I have become confident in calling myself an Illustrator. My practice has been formed from a strong detail, within my practical drawings, as well as the communication of my practice. Starting from scratch with a fine art perspective, practicing as an Illustrator has allowed me to bring context, meaning and purpose to my projects. Attention to detail ensures that I keep the value of my drawings when they are applied to products and prints, and when processes are applied to them. I am skilled at taking observational drawings, and giving them a purpose.

   Process is very important to me; it brings another element of value to an image, and makes it more desirable. I am most happy to make screen prints, foil prints and laser cut images, as I feel that they are processes that add a more bespoke feel to a product. The craft element to the making of work is something that drives my practice more than ever, however, I am perfectly capable of bringing digital work to life.

   I have a good understanding of the use the use of colour, layout and type, which I have taken on projects that allow me to design packaging, posters, etc. I also utilized these skills in order to develop my brand. I have a strong interest in working within a design company, and am willing to learn and develop in order to push the boundaries with my work. I see myself as someone who works best alongside others, whether it is in a studio, or in the presence of another Illustrator such as through my experience of collaboration with Sophie. 

Evaluation

Evaluation

   My time on BA (Hons) Illustration has been a fairly challenging one. I've learnt an awful lot, as I came to realise during an interview day, when I was working as an ambassador, showing perspective students around and telling them exactly what I've got out of this course. I outlined a story with the main points being that this programme has allowed me to change so much as a person, let alone as a practitioner. 

   As well as coming to know a lot about how illustration works within the creative industry, I have realised a few things about myself. I know now that I am always determined to work as hard as I can, pushing myself to get the most out of whatever I take on. With this knowledge, I am more confident with my abilities, and I believe that I can get to where I want to be, as long as I work hard. When the course first began, I felt as if I'd never be able to complete it. It was so challenging! More so than anything I've ever done, and it was a shock. Everyone was so clever, and talented and seemed really comfortable, whereas I had no idea what I was doing. From this point on is when I really started to change, and I felt better in myself for doing so. I feel empowered by the fact that I've been successful on this course, and enlightened because I know that I have a range of developed skills and attributes; strong academic capabilities as well as artistic skills. 

   I've been encouraged to think analytically and critically about my practice and the world around me, which helps me to position myself as a creative. The past year has propelled me forward into exploring options beyond Leeds College of Art. Research for Personal and Professional Practice has been helpful in this aspect. Through attending Be Your Own Boss in the summer, as well as Career Track Tuesdays, Start Up Wednesdays and the Association of Illustrators lecture, I now know the main aspects of practicing as a freelance illustrator.

  

  I feel well prepared to leave Leeds College of Art, knowing that I have more than a qualification; I have a better understanding of society, of myself and the things I can do. Verbal and written communication skills, software skills, teamwork/ collaboration, and time management are a small selection of what I've improved on, I can take these skills and apply them to anything that I find myself doing. 

  I realise that this experience was so valuable, and I don't want to stop pushing myself and trying new things. This is why I'm currently researching creative job roles. I have contacted design studios and practitioners as part of PPP, and I intend to keep doing so, as it provides me with insight into how the industry works, what is expected of me and what I still have to develop. I'll keep going until I have a job that I'm happy with. It seems like it would be most advantageous for me if I got an internship at a design studio, which would be the start of my next learning curve. I say this because I think that design is where my work is heading. I have moved away from fine art/ portrait work, and started thinking about the applications of my drawings, where they can go and what they could do. I began to realise in second year, once I'd stopped panicking about everything, that I prefer to give my work more of a purpose, I feel more job satisfaction when I sell work as a product. This is why at one point this year, I tried to make portraits and got pretty stressed about it - I didn't understand at the time that I feel most happy with my work when it makes sense - when it isn't just a pretty drawing - when it is informed by research, shows a thinking process, has an application. 

  Hearing illustrators talking about their practice through programmes such as big heads and visiting speakers has helped me to understand that it is very hard when being freelance to know where the next pay cheque is coming from. This is why I'd like to try and get a job whilst I find my feet and get a place to live etc. I also want to work around people rather than on my own; I have learned that I feel a lot less motivated working at home than when I'm in the studio. Collaboration with Sophie to form Pink Cat Club this year has been another way that I have found this out. 

  I don't want to lose the momentum that the course has given me, I plan to go as far as I can possibly go. I'm excited to apply the new me to a 'real life' job. 

PPP Presentation

Creative Presence Boards

Portfolio

Here is my up to date portfolio. It shows a range of my work, going from my portraits, to motifs, to my cards, wedding invites, products and the celebrity cats. I'm not 100% happy with it at the moment, I think that the more work I do for 603, the more I'll change it.

Pink Cat Club Plans

We've moved on a bit with Pink Cat Club since we just designed cards. We've set up lots of markets to go and sell at, this will help us to promote ourselves as well as get a feel for what sells. We're also developing an online presence. So far, we've got an Instagram account @pinkcatclub.
Also, Sophie's set up a blog for us to post to weekly - http://www.pinkcatclub.blogspot.com
We should continue to develop this collaboration after we leave. 

Artsmix Reply

I got a reply from the Artsmix director he seemed to be pretty happy with our application, so we should be able to start trading with them soon.

Printing Stress!

  I'm having a bad time with printing lately! I'm losing a lot of time out of my days to get nowhere. Last week I waited an hour for print drop in and I forgot to bring my paper, so I went to get it in which time my seat had been filled and I couldn't print. So I had to wait until 7pm to get my promo pack done.

 I also wanted to print part of my design digitally, and then foil another part, to show the diversity of my processes, but discovered I can only print the cards on the laser printer because they are double sided, so I couldn't foil them because the foil sticks to the toner as I've annoyingly found out.

  Then I thought, I could screen print what would be the foil bits with metallic ink! So, I spent a day cleaning screens and exposed them, I even bought the binder and mixed the paint ready. The next time I came down to actually print them, despite the fact that nobody is allowed to touch people's screens until at least a week after they were prepared, and despite my name being on them, someone decided to take them.

So, because I have a physical outcome - the purely digital printed packs, and not long left until the deadline with more pressing things to get on with for submission, I've had to give up. More stress than it is worth.

Social Media/ Online Presence

Online Presence

I wasn't massively excited about my online presence at the time of putting my presentation together. This is because I've scarcely gave it consideration since last year. This is really bad! I do want to get myself out there as much as possible, and I realise that having an online presence really helps. I think because until this year, it has been hard to show my work, as I've been mostly unhappy with it, so I'm afraid it wont be received as well. The reluctance has came from not liking how my work sits together on a page, so until now, I've been making excuses in my mind about being too busy etc. 

Some feedback from my presentation was that it seems a bit stale, as I mostly have last years work on there, so I've spent every spare bit of time available trying my best to change this (It is such a long process sometimes with online shops, putting a number of pictures up for each item, adding measurements, descriptions, price, postage & packaging costs etc. on Society6 I have to add about 10 different file sizes for each product with the same print on!)

Big Heads - Reviewing Old Videos

I've been re- watching/listening to a lot of the Big Heads Videos on youtube whilst I draw. I've enjoyed it because it's encouraging to hear about what professional illustrators do/how they feel about jobs etc. I can relate to the bits I've already gone through, such as learning time management, and struggling with motivation sometimes. I think that sometimes it doesn't feel like a real thing that people do, but when I hear these videos, it's reassuring that people do actually earn a living this way, they just have to work really hard, which is what I'm prepared to do.

AOI Lecture

The AOI lecture was very beneficial. This is because we got to learn a lot about what being an illustrator involves. The most helpful part of this was a brief overview of how to licence work. I had no idea how important it was, it sounds like a good way of having peace of mind about what work will be used for.
A lot of the rest was stuff I've learned about before in the life after college workshops, but its good to keep hearing it so that it really sinks in!
I think I'll definitely sign up to the AOI when I can afford to.

Why Birmingham?

I want to go to Birmingham after I leave University because although I absolutely love living in a city, I feel like I'm a bit too far away from my family at the moment. The train journey home takes nearly 3 hours, and costs a lot of money, especially if I cant book in advance for whatever reason.

Birmingham is exactly 30 mins from home, which is a lot better. I find myself travelling home every other weekend, so I'll save a lot of money that way. 

I also like being in the centre of the UK, because I'm not too far away from London, or Leeds, I'm in the middle of both. Birmingham is a big city with lots of opportunities, as I've found from my research.

Markets Update

Since I've sorted the insurance for the markets, I emailed the director of artsmix with out info and work examples. If they are approved, we should be able to trade with them twice monthly for a year.

There are a few other markets that Sophie has organised for us that are happening quite soon, so I'll be preparing for that as soon as PPP has been submitted!
These are:
Print 'n' Pint Fair - 30th April
Bake and Destroy at ShuffleDog on 30th May.

We've also both sent individual applications to be in the LCA art market.

Below are the files I've been sending over, as examples of our work, as well as the form for artsmix.

Pink Cat Club's work examples:

My work examples:

Application Form:

Stock For Markets

At the moment, I'm considering anything from my work that I'll be able to sell at the art markets. 
I think that most of the work that I make can be adapted into a sell-able print/ artifact, so, I'm going to go for it and try and do as many things that I can. This will be a good test of what will sell at markets, so I can take a few prints of each project that I'm proud of and see what is popular.
My cat prints were very successful at the LCA art market last year, I got more money than I expected from a small number of digital prints/ a tremendous profit, so I'll definitely take some more of those. 

I'll also take some laser cut cards from my 603  range, as well as a few other digital prints of my work in general. I also want to try and make key rings/ coasters by laser cutting my designs into plastic and wood. They are a bit different from just prints, so our stall may look a bit more interesting. I might even make some notebooks, and some foiled prints. I just want to push everything really. 

CV

I need a new CV because I rambled so much in the one I've uploaded already and It's too big to send to people. I will make a few versions of it, such as a creative one and a corporate one, but none have to have as much word vomit in them!
I could utilise my design skills more effectively to make one, so that's what I'll be doing ASAP

Minor Improvements to Website

Before, my website had a square logo, and square social media buttons, they didn't feel 100% right though. Sophie pointed out that it may look better as a circle, because the square is too 'abrupt'/doesn't sit naturally alongside everything. The circle looks a lot nicer. This may be because of the curves in the logo. 

I also changed the colour, so that the new one was more pink and matches the rest of the site (I think last time I accidentally saved the file as CMYK instead of RGB because on certain computers the logo looked more peach coloured than the rest of the site.)

General Jobs in Birmingham

Here are some standard jobs that I've found in Birmingham. I want to live in this city whilst looking for a design job/ getting experience, so a basic job will help me to do this.

I found a few administrative/ secretarial  roles, just because I don't think much experience is needed/ I already have some experience in this type of job. 

There are the odd animal care roles that I save here and there, I think it could be a nice change, I'd like to try something new and I absolutely adore animals. I've taken care of all sorts throughout my life from gekos to chinchillas, always loved it. Another type of job that's been cropping up in my book marks is retail. I've never worked in retail (just as well, everyone i've ever known that has absolutely hates it) But, I think it would be advantageous to me because: I want to get experience where I can, my work is heavily based around the subject of retail, I'm passionate about fashion & beauty, discount... 
 

Promo Pack

I built my promo pack, using the peach rose motif as a constant image. Last year's pack was very successful, however, I didn't feel that it was as representative of my work at this point, plus the box
design takes quite long to produce, as well as being less practical than a flat pack.

I adopted a more compact design for this year's pack. The part that holds the pack together is a A4 square with all of the corners folding inwards.  I put an individual collection of flowers on each fold. I included within my pack, an 'about/ skills' section, as well as some business cards and some stickers.

Due to my work becoming more about process, I shall keep this pack only as a quick copy. I intend to screen print the wrap and business cards. The pink flowers will be printed as usual, and then I will screen print silver paint onto the top. I'd have foiled it instead, but to transfer foil onto a laser printed image would mean that the foil would go on top of the image that was already there. (I had to laser print because it's the only process in the digital print room that produces double sided prints.)

Logo Design

I decided to try and make a logo for my brand.

'A' and 'G' fit together quite nicely I think, so I drew them together (above). 

I didn't think it stood out enough on its own, so I opened illustrator and added a box, the original image I drew was a bit too wonky, so I drew it in illustrator and on the first go I thought that it turned out pretty well (luckily). 

It didn't look like an 'A' and a 'G', so I made the G thicker, so that it would be more obvious. 

I think that the result is alright for my first go!

Website Editing

abbyglover.co.uk is a lot better now!

I've been playing around with it, and I think that now I have a better understanding of what I'd like to do, I've been able to pick and categorise the imagery that I use more effectively.
I've also finally got the hang of using the Squarespace platform (I know it's easy to use, but it takes me a while to figure things out sometimes.)

So I've added my logo, colour scheme and fonts.
I didn't use Times New Roman this time, as I have been doing with my promotional material. This is because I thought it looked too chunky on the page, so I opted for something more delicate. It was called Sorts Mill Goudy. In italics this font matches the whispy-ness of my logo, this is why I chose it as a uniform font for my site.
I also worked out how to get drop down menus on the navigation bar, which is useful because I was worried about having too many sections in the menu.

There is still a bit of work to do, but I'm mainly happy with it. I'd like to make it so that each page has a mall slide show gallery that flicks through a small selection of images at the top, then a grid gallery underneath which will show all of the images, and they will be enlargeable.

I also want to expand on the images/ categories shown when 603 progresses enough.

Birmingham Design Studios

This is exciting! I've been researching design companies in Birmingham and there are quite a few! I'm going to email them all to see if they have internships available, as quite a few of them state that they do. Hopefully I can squeeze myself into the industry this way.
These are the ones I've found so far:

http://www.supercooldesign.co.uk/
http://www.idc-design.co.uk/recruitment/
http://www.adventuregraphics.co.uk/contact/
http://www.iedesign.co.uk/contact
http://www.mediaraft.co.uk/careers/
https://www.jaskcreative.co.uk/join-our-team
http://www.core-marketing.co.uk/
http://www.zahoot.co.uk/

Elle Wills

Elle Wills is an artist that creates simple imagery, but with extraordinary details. Her images work well when they stand alone, which is something that I aim to be doing when I create my imagery. I've been rushing my work lately in order to get images to apply to products etc, so much so that I forget that my work looks best when I put more time into it.

Robot Food

This design work is an example of premium packaging with a bright, colourful pattern, as well as foil flocking. The colour scheme of these boxes works well with the gold foil of the logo. The brand makes 'esquisite, high end chocolates' and wanted a brand identity to match. The box does this job and I love the mixture of bright colours and simple type.

Below is another project by Robot Food that I really like. The packaging is beautiful, made with Ebony Colourplan & foiled. Observing this company's design work is important and informative industry research to me, especially because they fully explain everything they make on their website and Behance. The processes that they use to make their high quality designs encourage me to test some of my ideas.

Georgina Luck

Georgina Luck makes watercolour illustrations that are sometimes applied to packaging. I like her use of colour, and her work is a good example of how I'd like to apply my drawings to product. Georgina is another example of someone who works illustratively for design. 

Paul Holland

Paul Holland's work is for fashion/ beauty. He does a lot of portraits, but with added narratives. the above images caught my eye because of the strong use of colour and composition. They look like they are from a makeup campaign. Although I've took a step back from portraits for now, there is a possibility I could bring them back later on, once I've created my makeup packaging. I'm thinking that I could bring portraits in once I've got my motifs; I could combine the two for a campaign. selecting elements of the face and combining motifs is a nice, eye catching idea.

The use of such imagery still interests me, as I'd like to make campaigns as part of my work. If I combined motifs and portraits, the images would work together nicely in my portfolio. Paul Holland is an example of someone who illustrates for the beauty industry that I admire. 

Portia Wells

Portia Wells is a designer that has done work for makeup brands, such as point of sale and makeup packaging/ branding. She takes a theme and applies it to products I order to make them eye catching and unique, so that they stand out and get sold. I aim to do this in my project, which is why I'm drawing motifs for each of my themes. I would like to apply them to the makeup packaging, as well as potentially adding them to  makeup stands, shop windows and promotional material. 

Her work inspires me because she takes her drawings and applies them to her branding. The image below of makeup packaging resonates with me, as there is a mixture of detailed imagery, design and process that makes it beautiful. I'm using this as a basis to do my own packaging for 603.

Insurance

Sophie and I are planning on selling our work at markets, therefore we invested in market traders liability insurance. We will be covered for a year.

Artsmix Market

The market is open 2 saturdays per month.
These are the dates and prices stated on the website:


"£50 April and May
£55 June and July
£60 August and September
£65 October
£65 November on the two Sundays*
£75 in November and December on the Saturdays

Non-refundable deposits payable are £10 for all markets April to October and £20 for November and December dates."

We decided to start from June and July, so that there isn't as much pressure to get things done as there would be when we have deadlines.

Other Business Card Ideas

These are a few other ideas for my promotional material using drawn imagery rather than painted. For the first one, I thought I'd try mixing the outlined motifs with colour. I used water colour photo shop brushes to try and achieve this. I don't think it works as well, perhaps the colours are too dark. I am more pleased with my previous designs rather than these, because the others are more practical and minimal, and will not clash with other publications like these. The second was an attempt at designing a laser cut business card, as well as the beginning of what would be a laser cut promotional pack. I gave up on this idea because the images would be too small to laser cut - I found this out after I tested the imagery on the machine. The paper struggles to keep its structural integrity with too many holes in it, ruling this design out, as the pack would be too delicate and would break.

I also designed an open-able butterfly business card and took it to the laser cutter. I was going to cut the holes out and back the front with some bright paper, but again it would be too weak. I decided to engrave the lines instead of cutting them out. Although I like this idea, the cards took a long time to produce, which isn't practical for business cards. They also came out smelly and burned.

I think that based on these findings, a combination of digital and other print processes may work better.

Business Cards, Letter Head, Post Card

These are my first attempts at making promo imagery this year. I made these before I realised that print processes are something I'd like to get better at and include largely in my work. The processes I use for print are more exciting than these, however, a large amount of self promotion needs to happen digitally, which is a perk of having these. Items like a digital portfolio, website, CV etc can be viewed on screen, so processes such as screen print and laser cut can't be used. I think these images are simple and elegant/ are less likely to clash with things on the page. This is why I shall use these images as a basic theme for self promotion. I want to add more of a process to my printed promotion material, however. I am looking into perhaps using foil or laser cutting for my physical pack/ business card.

This is because I don't think that my business cards look special enough. They came out a bit dull, so I need to amend this. After the success of last year's skull business card, I decided to keep the motif shape. I think that I might try and add foil to these cards where the leaves currently are. This should make them stand out more and feel more unique, as well as representing what I do a little bit more.

Design Within My Work

   I have been looking into design a lot more within my work since job searching for creative  roles. It seems to be the most heavily required skill. I also think that my work has been naturally heading this way; at the beginning of the programme I had no idea about it, but I feel that my work has progressed the most when I have applied a consideration of context, composition, process and layout. 
   Through applying my imagery to design problems, it has gave my illustration more meaning, hence why this year I have selected briefs that put my work into a design context, e.g. packaging, greetings cards, wedding invitations. I favour these more now, because when the finished outcome is achieved it has a purpose, other than looking good. This is more of a satisfying achievement. The realisation of this could perhaps explain why the idea of going back to making portraits stresses me out, there is rarely an end point that pleases me.
   Motif/ pattern, print and design/ product helps me to define and categorise what I can do, and will help me structure my portfolio more effectively, as before I was worried before about a lack of consistency created by doing lots of different projects. I must now use 603 to bring all of my skills into a coherent body of work.

Tutorial Before Easter

My tutorial with Fred was very useful, as it made me re think how to structure all of my projects, so that they benefit me/ my portfolio the most. I feel like as I have worked on different things throughout my time on the programme, my work doesn't quite sit right together in my portfolio. This is because I have been pushing myself to find success from doing different things. Now that I have been through that, I can decide what my work is really about, what briefs I can complete/ what I can get out of existing briefs that will best show this. 

We narrowed my work down to:

• Motif/ Pattern
• Print 
• Design/ Product

So, my briefs will be:

SB1 - Fever Tree - YCN LTD Edition packaging design - countries in Africa/ continents

SB2 - Wedding Invitations - creative response, 4 Sets 

SB3 - Greetings Cards - laser cut, 5 designs for 3 themes 

SB4 - Tour Poster - design competition, Number of Talenthouse competitions/ Number of different tour posters

SB5 - Cosmetics/ Makeup 

"Define product ranges and formats based on cutting edge and innovative packaging design."