Pitch a Papergang competition

Pitch a Papergang competition

This was my Papergang competition entry. I found this a really good project to work on. I don't have high expectations but have really enjoyed making this and entering something a bit out of my comfort zone.

I have learnt new photoshop techniques like Draping images (which was very necessary) and using layers and shadows to make things seem 3D. 

It was also good to work on things as a collection, a set - playing with limited ideas. I am not sure that I have created a document that I would be able to officially submit because I had a lot of layers which I'm not sure was allowed. 

I had to consider the audience and thought that this was a fun design which could be used for both adults and children (because of the simplicity and bold colours) but in comparison to the other entries (very surface pattern) it doesn't look as sophisticated.

Musician drawings

Musician drawings

 These were drawing when I popped along to a folk jam night. I didn't have an instrument I could play other than a little bit of clogging tap dance and humming along. Everybody was in their own zone sitting in a circle at a pub and playing their instruments and I had the itch to draw them. It was the first live drawing I have done in a long time and i tried to do it secretly but Im really happy with how they went, I really feel they captured the atmospshere.

I have found that the drawings I have done for fun of late are of musicians. 
I often feel really inspired after watching live music and want to draw and capture my enjoyment of it in an illustration.

 These are of a band called Ataari which I watched playing at Hifi on a Sunday night and had a chat with the guys outside and knocked up a drawing the next day. I then sent it to them on facebook and they were very appreciative.

I dropped into this gig by accident, I was in town and my friend (the fiddle player) asked if I wanted to come hear them perform in 5 mins as he saw me walk past!
This is definitely more detailed than the drawing of Ataari and because of that it has different qualities. Purple was a difficult colour to work with because it really creates a moody atmosphere when I just wanted to capture the lights which were predominantly purple without upsetting the mood.
I sent this to my friend, who was only standing in for this gig, and he sent it to the singer who got in contact with me and asked if I could illustrate artwork for on their CD. I started negotiations for this saying I would charge £50 (scary asking for money) but he was being ridiculously slow to reply and by the time he replied finally I had over night to turn it around (stupid) but he said he really likes the drawing so will contact me again if they want some illustration.

Alongside drawings of musicians I did a drawing of a fell race that my mum and aunt entered over christmas and emailed it to the organiser of the event and to my surprise I had a lovely response.
It was a really lovely event and although it was very cold everyone was very high spirited and even though it was a race people were dressed up stupid and enjoying themselves which i wanted to capture.

Ultimately I am really finding that adding a slight touch of colour makes such a difference and can bring a quick sketch to life!

Colours May Vary Exhibition

Colours May Vary Exhibition

This was the first time that I have ever been involved in an exhibition! EXCITING!

I didn't take a leading role in the organisation of the exhibition (i admit) but enjoyed being part of it. Originally I wasn't going to be able to make the night of the exhibition because my Bluegrass band were playing at the same time and therefore couldn't sign up to prepare or man the table or anything. The broke up a week before the exhibition so suddenly I wasn't going to miss experiencing the opening night and had a brilliant time. Having a car in Leeds my contribution was buying the alcohol with Gabby and then I kept it at my house till my flatmate could drive it there (I'm scared of driving in that area of Leeds still).

I submitted and made copies of a Zine which was a significant minority compared to all of the prints. Part of me wishes I had turned it into a print but also I really enjoyed making the Zine for my project and feel that it works well as a little book. It was very different in style than the other girl that presented a Zine and I found it very difficult pricing. I worked out that once Colours May Vary had taken their % to break even on the cost to print I would have to sell it for £6 without getting any profit. Already this is a lot to sell a zine for but it had 16 pages, was on good quality paper, in colour and had as much time and thought gone into it as the prints which were sold for £25 so I decided to sell it for £10 . Reflectively this means it is not very likely to actually sell...

Also I think it is a very difficult concept to display all of this art work by all these different people on different authors. I realised at the exhibition opening that it didn't display anywhere who the authors were (therefore what the hell the print/publication was about)! It definitely could have done with at least their name shown and maybe a sheet with a summary of the authors work perhaps as context to people who are external and don't know the brief or authors??

Online Psychology Course

Online Psychology Course

I went to see the careers counsellor because I am very lost in the direction I want to go after uni. I cant see myself selling my artwork freelance for a living nor working in an office environment...

I think that the way forward for me is to go into something like art therapy.
She suggested contacting Inkwell which is a local art therapy centre (which we are using as inspiration for our group PP presentation) but I am going to volunteer and go through the enrolling process so that I can try and get some experience properly next year.

I also decided to sign up for a Psychology online course. I have been there for a few friends battling mental health problems and genuinely really want to help them. Therefore I decided to take an introduction to psychology course by Open2Study which focused on mental health. It required me to do about 4 hours per week for a month of watching videos whilst I made extensive notes, doing quizes and then an assessment at the end. This was a lot of work per week plus uni work and life but definitely worth doing and although I am relieved/proud  to have finished it now it was achievable.

I really feel that I have learnt a lot and that it was very beneficial to do, to begin to understand the science and classification and symptoms of illnesses and how they impact people. I have also learnt that it is something I definitely want to study further... I confess I lacked motivation when it came to the science part of how the brain physically works but being dyslexic it was very beneficial to be verbally taught and able to stop, start and rewind all of the videos.

Perhaps I will go round the Leeds Beckett open day for art therapy? I definitely want to have a job which includes creativity and I don't think I could cope with straight therapy...