A little while ago I was approached by the fine people at Union Magazine. A new start up men’s lifestyle magazine, the aim of the game was to get a publication underway that combined intelligent articles, incredible photography and generally interesting stuff that extended out of the usual men’s magazine remit of boobs and sports.
A few months and a lot of hard work later and TaDa! We have Union magazine, and I have to say, when my contributor copy landed through my letterbox I was immediately impressed at the tasty little number. Not to get all design-geek on you all, but the use of Spot UV on the cover is seriously tasty. I mean it, the production quality on this thing is truly beastly.
Anyway, the main deal of the mag is photography, some of which is truly stunning, however if you look hard you may well find this little fellow tucked away in the thick of it.
Horray! Yeah I got to illustrate a neat little interview with the notorious director of questionable taste, Uwe Boll. For those of you who recall my boxing fascination and are aware of the rumors surrounding this guy and his answer to critics, I couldn’t really have asked for too much more.
As I said, the mag is a new start up and definitely worth a peek if you’re in the market for something a bit different. It’s available at a number of places in and around London and more information can be found here.
And if you manage to get your hands on it, seriously do pay attention to the Spot UV varnish.
I love the customer review function on Amazon. I use it all the time when I’m buying and researching things and I ESPECIALLY love it when it’s all about ME!
Having only gone live a short time ago, I’m super pleased to say that the very first (and I do hope not the last!) review has come in for the Emotional Animal ABC book I illustrated for the psychologist, Renee Jain, Published by GoZen Ltd.
It is SUPER positive and really is a great first response for the little book, so a huge well done to everyone involved (including me!) involved in the project! I really hope more people enjoy the book as much as our first fan did!
I recently worked with a really great company, Go Strengths Ltd, on a project they were putting together to help young children identify with the emotional spectrum.
It was a wonderful project, written by the very talented child psychologist Renee Jain, whose work in the past has been designed to help a number of children with various anxiety and emotional problems cope in their everyday lives.
This new project is a light hearted, illustrated introduction to the alphabet, using a colourful menagerie of emotionally able creatures with original illustrations by yours truly!
Available on Amazon.com now!
The book is Renee’s own humorous and charming story, centered around the journey of a, rather unlucky ABC book, as it is passed from paw to claw, traveling through the entire alphabet. Each character embodies a new emotion, introducing young readers to the whole spectrum with full page illustrations drawn by moi.
Percy the Panicky PenguinYen the Yearning Yak
The adventure is now available in paperback and on kindle via the magic of Amazon.com and was an absolute dream to work on. I wouldn’t hesitate to commend the wonderful work from the guys at Go Strengths Ltd and their wonderful cause and was really honored to be approached and involved in it.
Plus, it was seriously educational deal. Not only does it have the important task of providing children with an early platform to explore emotional complexity, but also taught me the meaning of xenial.
And I know know what an x-ray tetra is. Seriously, something for everyone.
Having already spent a weekend basking in the creative radiation of Alexis Deacon in his two day masterclass last weekend, this week I’ve taken another peek into the world of illustrative inspiration and general artistic goodness.
Following a series of talks and masterclasses throughout the month, the key player of the East London Comics and Arts Festival (ELCAF) is always the indie comics fair, held on the final weekend. Hosted by the beautiful and, almost sickeningly lovable publishers Nobrow, the fair is a celebration of contemporary illustration from all over the place, this year showcasing tables from Canada and France as well as our wealth of homegrown talent.
I hate generic terms like “something for everyone” but unfortunately there are times when you really do just have to bite the bullet and succumb to the fact that there is no better way of saying it. Showcasing the numerous talents of indie publishers, comic stores and artists, the work on show was as diverse as it was eye bleedingly beautiful with artists and storytellers of all ages forming a real smorgasbord of stories.
And my how I gorged.
I couldn’t resist the chance to get my copy of Wild signed at the Nobrow table by the lady herself; Emily HughesBeautiful little drawing left for me by Emily Hughes
As well as a general display of sickeningly talented people, the day also consisted of a number of talks masterclasses and events. I was very happy to get the chance to add to my collection of books signed by people I like, with the very talented Emily Hughes signing at the Nobrow table, as well as attending a talk but the eloquent and wonderful Jillian Tamaki, in conversation with Paul Gravett.
Unfortunately (due to the fact I was sat behind someone with the biggest head I have ever seen) there are no photos to document this one, but it was a fantastic and honest talk about her life and the role of comics and illustration in it. As with the Alexis Deacon masterclass, it’s a really pleasing thing when successful and well regarded artists talk about their process and it sparks familiarity and chimes similarity with your own and once more I found myself desperate to get back to work.
I won’t go into to too much more depth, I’ll leave that to the numerous reviews and analyses that have no doubt been written and published about the whole festival online, but I’ll sign out simply with the fact that my inspiration batteries have has a good and thorough recharge. In an attempt give you something more of a taster, I’ve waded through the thousands of photos I snapped while I was there, and will leave you simply with a holiday slideshow of sorts all some of my personal highlights.
Peace out x
Vivian Schwartz drawing a kitty!
Beautiful Nobrow collection. I own too much of this selection.
I’ve been thinking a lot more about stories and comics recently. Mainly because I’ve not been doing so many and, given that this whole illustration thing has grown out of comics to begin with, I’m definitely now suffering the symptoms of some kind of creative withdrawal condition.
So when I saw the chance to do a two day illustration and narrative masterclass with Alexis Deacon (Beegu, Slow Lorris, winner of 2014 Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize and generally good maker of things) while booking my Elcaf ticket, I thought it was probably worth a bit of investigation.
I’ve never done a masterclass outside of formal education before (certainly not one actually meant for grown up people anyway) and, to be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect.
In actual fact, it was like being caterpauled back into the welcoming arms of early university days again. Both days focused on different topics and I found myself with a curiously warm and fuzzy feeling at the notion taking part in a one day project; something that I despised being requested to partake in during University, yet have seemingly grown to appreciate in the name of artistic growth and discovery. Back then, my stubborn, student exorcisms in self righteousness sneered in the face of actively creating “bad” work and paying for the privilege to do so; and I still can’t quite say it’s a method of working I’d chose to exercise on too regular a basis, yet there was certainly a joy to being apart of an environment in which you can genuinely bury any sense of pride or dignity regarding your work in favour of loosely and blinding discovering the new. It’s a bit like being creatively drunk. Inhibitions go out the window, your metaphorical artistic pants come off and you all dance on an entirely non-existent table of creativity, relishing the fact that in that moment, you can see the room from a completely different position from that you’re accustomed to.
So in the name of lowering all artistic inhibitions and creative inebriation, we got stuck in and had a lot of fun.
The first day was a masterclass on character and their roles and positions within the physical environment of a drawn story.
On entering, Alexis had drawn a massive forest environment and our job throughout the day was to populate it with characters who interacted with each other and their drawn habitat, both physically and in the creation of mico-narratives.
Alexis was an ace speaker and generally charming chap, focusing a lot about the analysis and theory of a character and inviting the group to consider each task. He spoke a lot to various members of the group about simple visual elements, yet maintained a refreshingly analytical bent that I often see glossed over in favour of just making marks by less considered artists.
Having spent most of my creative life being told to think less and draw more, Alexis offered what felt like a refreshing and intelligent analysis of the physical form and it’s position in space. I felt encouraged to see his priorities and considerations when drawing a scene seemed very similar to my own inner processes and seemed like another tick in my head that for me, visual storytelling seems to be where it’s at; a feeling i believe to be echoed in the feelings of a lot of like minded characters in the room.
Mine and Alexis’s fish-things.
Even though the work we were making was quick and loose (probably not going on the wall), it all had a purpose within the context of the forest scene we were working together to create. I think it was this sense of consideration and context that separated THIS kind of quick project, from the kind I’ve encountered in the past where all sense and sensibilities go out the window in the name of blind “freedom”; a word that needs careful usage in my eyes so as not to make me want to grate my own face.
Anyway, the day spanned a series of short tasks and by the end, our forest was well and truly populated. Visual perfection, it was perhaps not, but it’s always been of my opinion that the imagery alone is inconsequential. The narrative if formed by a number of visual and inferred factors and I like to see our forest as an expressive anthology.
TaDa!
The second day was even more joyfully analytical and focused on the telling of a story and visual exploration of a narrative. It was potentially less involving than the first and I felt less apart of a group project and more considerate of my own part within the story’s structure, however this could have been due to a number of factors and I can’t pretend I don’t find working alone a familiar and comfortable position to be in.
Having had a story broken down. we each tackled a key scene, as agreed by the group. Consideration was given to how the visual priorities and composition, lighting and other basic features were used in the process of communicating the intended emotional impact of the scene. The work was, again, loose and unrefined but I felt it was the perfect compromise of being able to shed the fear of producing a bad item in the face of pushing the intended impact of the image. The irony of course, as is always the way, is that when those creative beer goggles go on and the artistic inhibitory pants come off, then emotion of a scene can really be given the freedom to shine. Communication is a funny thing and the visual manifestation of it is just as complex. The fear of making something that ‘doesn’t look right’ is inherent in many, if not most, artists, but once that analysis and understanding of what you ARE trying to achieve within a piece has taken place, loosing the fear and daring to push out of a comfortable placce is seemingly the only route to really nailing an idea.
I requested to work on a scene that revolved around the environment, due to the fact that environments are not at all my forte, but I DID know how I wanted it to feel, so with this knowledge in hand I struck out of my comfort zone and really did just make a big mess.
You know, in the name of learning.
Thanks a billion to Alexis for all his help and critiques during this weekend. I cannot fathom how difficult it must be to teach real life grown up people but found an inspiring balance between honesty and criticism without falling into the patronisation pit. While I don’t think anything I produced was necessarily pride inducing, i think of this weekend as an exercise in the craft of storytelling.
So, after a long lazy gap my muscled have finally been well a truly flexed, it’s time to go make something.
I got an exciting thingy in the post this weekend! It was a copy of Stew Magazine, a really nice little arty magazine for children. It covers a range of topics and is a pretty educational deal, but it’s real draw for me is it’s emphasis on really bloomin’ nice art. Every edition is packed with contemporary illustrators that really help bring it to life. Edu-tainment indeed.
So, that in itself is reason enough for the lovely postie popping it through my door to be a pretty nifty ordeal. But this edition, is a special edition. This edition is a contributor edition ladies and gents. Oh yes.
Behold!
Yep, there it is. My work, in print, doing what work does. I always think it’s pretty exciting to see stuff in print and to have bits and bobs in a nice little mag like Stew is especially nice.
It really is a grand magazine, and there’s oddles of talent to be found. If you haven’t already, I really would check it out.
As I sit here, doing my freelance thing, drinking a coffee in my slippers, at my desk and wondering if I did remember to clean my teeth or not this morning, an email pops into my life.
It’s the Creative Digest newsletter, one of the many creative signups I’ve subscribed to over the years. Nothing new there.
The email details what’s going on on the website this week, new features, new tips for existing as a creative and then BAM what’s hiding at the bottom? ME!
Yes friends, My Creative Digest Showcase is well and truly doing the rounds! So if you fancy catching up on me, my life and everything, read Aaaaalllabbadit here:
Thanks again to the lovely folk at Creative Digest, and do check out their website. It’s full of hidden gems for people like me who decided to try not getting a real job.
Peace out
B
p.s I do actually work at home, I’m not just drinking coffee.
Well, I’m closing in on the second week of getting an illustration career together outside of the comfort of full time employment.
And I feel I’ve been making steady progress. I’ve never sent so many emails in my life, I’ve drawn things every day, produced several full colour, completed images, am working on a piece for a neat, up and coming children’s magazine and I’ve, without a shadow of a doubt, done more designing in the past week than I did for the entirety of my design job.
Probably.
Such is the nature of portfolio making I suppose.
Anyway, I thought, as I’ve been living the dream along with my ol’ ball and chain, Photoshop, I’d bring you a few shots of my sketchbook doodles. I figure, while it’s the end result that get you work, it’s kind of important to see how things progress as you’re going along and give a bit of limelight to those little, off the cuff bits and pieces that throw themselves into your head. So here are a few snippets of scribbles that have, are in the process of and hopefully will one day become fully fledged ideas, with functional limbs and beady eyes. And colour.
Obviously this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my arsenal of unrealised scribbles, but it’s a nice little collection of doodles nonetheless.
B) Muse a little bit about things. I just feel like we never talk anymore. The blogosphere can be a lonely place.
So first up, here are some pieces I’ve been working on this past week. They’re not projects as such, simply drawings and characters I’ve had kicking about in my head for a while. Glorified doodles.
If anyone is familiar with the work I’ve been making over the past few years, you may have noticed a shift in the nature of some of the more recent bits. (If you have, seriously big old kudos heading your way! I owe you a cookie.)
Firstly, I think the art is beginning to be a little more consistent. That battle I’d been having before and right the way through university to develop a “style” is finally being won. And, while I thought that would feel stifling or limiting when I did eventually settle into it, it’s actually feeling pretty happy. I feel a bit safer almost. Comfortable. Yet I’m also confident with it, because I know that other styles and ways of working to me are possible should a given brief call for it.
Secondly I think my characterisation has been coming together into a different direction recently. The work I make is usually figurative in some manner, but I’ve definitely been inspired in recent months to approach this a little differently when it comes to transcribing the characters I’ve seen/ invented onto the page.
The reason for these changes, I think, it simply that life has changed. As it does.
Making pictures is, like any form of creativity or visual media. It’s a snapshot of your life; a representation of the way you see the world, the things you know and the lessons you’ve learned at any given point in your existence. Mine has changed dramatically over the past nine months and is, now, once again on the verge of changing again.
Firstly, university and the life and structure I had while I was there, ended. My friends moved away, the rigorous and consistent marking system ceased and regular access to tutors, mentors and facilities went with it. Since then, I moved back in with my partner and invested in one of those full time job deals, working as a designer in children’s publishing.
I can’t put into words how much I have learned. Nine months in the exact field I had wanted to be in (albeit a slightly left of field job) taught me more about myself, my work and (dare I say it) the market that governs it all, than three years of formal university education even touched on. And now, as my contract with the publishers finally winds up to a conclusion and I prepare to push on into that expansive gulf of possibility, instability and fear that everyone else met with some time ago, I have never felt more confident.
Somehow, it turns out, working a full time job and having the time to devote to your work torn out form under your feet, made me even more determined to find the time to devote time to my work. I draw more now than I think I ever have and every image feels like it has a real purpose or audience. I’m no longer jumping through hoops and making work for marks, but making work for me and it feels easier than it every has.
That’s not to say I begrudge uni anything. I loved being at school, but it’s only now that I realise how much of it I wasted worrying about making the right work instead of just making the work that works!
The job I’ve had has been doing all the background research for me, and is one of the reasons I’ve loved it so much. I love the world of picture book publishing and, actually, I really loved being a designer. But as the contract nears its end and the job winds up, I feel like it’s time to get it together and start approaching the industry from a different direction. The right direction. I am an illustrator at heart, I always was. Now I’ve had the good fortune to be afforded an insight into how to be the best illustrator I can be. I’ve seen behind the scenes, I’ve got to grips with the structure of it all and I know for sure it’s publishing I want to work in.
So, nerve wracking as it is, let’s give it a go. Let’s make pictures. After all, the worst case scenario is that it doesn’t work out. To me, that is a thousand times better than wondering “what if.”
As the Folio Society continues to pump out books so beautiful I dribble a little bit, in their honor I decided to knock out a few pieces in line with their yearly competition (previous entry seen here).
Three illustrations and a book jacket design for their next publication; and this year the book is a collection of short, Victorian ghost stories, all with varying themes and settings but linked together by a whole lotta scary.
So here’s what I got. Not so traditional but hopefully still dark and tingly making!
The Treasure of Thomas Abbot by M.R James
The Upper Berth by F Marion Crawford
The Tale of the Empty House by E F Benson
And the jacket design. This had to be simple with limited colours to be printed onto cloth. Instructions also dictated that there should be no information on the cover itself, but space for the logo and anthology title on the spine.
Okay so it hasn’t won, but it was a nice project to work on, and excellent portfolio builder and most importantly, gave me an great excuse to curl up under a blanket get involved in some classic creepies!
Rebecca Bagley Illustration 