Summative Evaluation

This module has been one of the biggest learning experiences of my educational journey to date. That being said, however, I feel as though a lot of this learning was done outside of the classroom. Engaging with multiple live briefs this year has allowed me to better understand how I work as a practitioner, where my work fits in the ‘real world’, and how to conduct myself as a professional. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have been able to make the progress this year that I have, without the faith of those around me who have trusted me with their time and money to make something with feeling.

Usually as each module comes to an end I talk about my lack of time keeping, and though my blogging has been far from perfect for this module, my ability to organize and manage my time with multiple live briefs has really improved this year. I’ve had to balance a lot of client work alongside my studies, and at times this may have impacted my grading, but it’s a conscious choice I made. I’m really proud to be finishing this course with such a range of live work in my portfolio, and to have been lucky enough to work for people and briefs that I believed in.

It feels a little strange to be leaving, but the excitement for post-uni life far outweighs the nerves. I’m looking forward to having the time to get back to my personal practice again, and use the skills I’ve developed this year through live briefs in my own work. More than that though, I’m just looking forward to having the time to fall in love with my craft again. I feel ready to go home.

Project Report

Final Outcomes for OUIL603

Reviewing Statement of Intent

Reviewing Statement of Intent

Reflecting back on my statement of intent, I feel as though I've excelled with some of my intentions, but perhaps not quite achieved some others. I would confidently say that I have explored  the context of music based illustration. The many briefs undertaken for La Bete Blooms and Warren Records are testament to that. I'd also add that within the genre of music illustration I've gone beyond the obvious contexts of gig posters and album artwork, and explored other aspects such as story boarding for a music video, illustrating a logo, and getting to grips with hand rendered type alongside my image making. Working with live clients has also allowed me to professionalize my practice within this context, which will be very useful going forward and leaving the course.

When it comes to undertaking more self initiated briefs however, I don't feel as though I've really made the time since writing this statement of intent. It's been very difficult for me to balance the live briefs and uni work at the same time. While I've been able to use these live briefs as uni work, I've also had to blog about them, take the time out for workshops, crits, visiting practitioners, and complete both COP and PPP throughout the year. With all this in mind, I haven't really had the time to focus on a self initiated brief other than my final major project. I think this is also in part due to the fact that what I like most about self initiated projects is that they are personal. While I understand blogging for this course is necessary, it's not something I enjoy doing, and I think having to blog about a personal led project would leave me feeling a little down about it and unable to enjoy it as much. This goes for my intention of creating more zines and self publications, I think it's something I'd rather do outside of the realm of academia. 

I've definitely kept up my momentum with live briefs, I have a number of commissions already lined up within the coming weeks and months, and it's something I plan on keeping up. I also think it'll be a lot easier to balance my live work and my personal work once uni is out of the way (sorry LCA but let me go). I'd also like to think I've continued to put human emotion into most of the briefs I've completed this year. At no point did I feel as though I was taking on a brief 'purely for the sake of doing it' or 'purely for the grade'. I've believed in all of the projects I've done this year, which is a great feeling to be leaving this course with.

FMP; Final Prints

The final posters and mocked up examples of how they'd be hung. I finished the brief!!

Colour-Way Studies

Having finished my final posters, I decided to test out different colour ways. I won't have time to screen print the finals for hand in, but I still wanted to show the colours I would have proposed they be done in.

I started with two colour prints to see how they'd work with the linework not being black. I stuck to a lot of reds / yellows as they're both colours used often in the Hull music scene (eg. The Adelphi, The Sesh etc). However part of me felt that the coloured linework didn't have the same weight as the pure black. The line work of each image is the focal point so it's integral that it stands out and is visible against the background.

After playing around with a few I thought that the red/yellow background and black linework looked best. I also feel it translated across all the prints (only 3 shown above) and kept them cohesive. 

I then mocked a selection of these up as prints. I think this is how I'll present them within the final presentation boards; proposed as a select number of what would be a larger body of work exploring the Hull music scene and exhibited in a gallery setting.

I'm thinking of doing some of the final prints in the red background and some in the yellow, depending on which works best for the individual image. Within the proposed exhibition all prints would then be either red or yellow in background colour so the series worked cohesively. 

Final 5 Posters

Using my composition sketches, I created four new A3 poster designs and decided to include a previously created image. I'm happy with how these images have turned out individually and how they work as a set.

I think the mixture between thick and thin line-work creates more diversity than my other images had before, and these certainly have a lot more energy and a gritty punk aesthetic to them. I'm hoping as a series they do reflect the Hull music scene and what it's about, though along the way, perhaps this project has become more about a personal response to the music scene through primary research and experience, rather than trying to express a specific emotion or point of view? 

Moving forward I need to add a background colour to these so they can be seen as they would be in their final context (screen printed and hung for an exhibition). 

Compositions for Final Posters & Context

After loosening up with my drawings, I think I'm starting to get closer to what I want my final product to be. I agree with Matt that a poster format is perhaps a better context for my images to exist in, and after going through the initial words that would have been published in the pages of the book, I've highlighted some key points I think I want to respond to using the poster format.

I've spent the past couple of days really trying to push the compositions and ideas for each image. I intend on making these putting pen straight to paper; there's a way I draw using a pen straight to paper without pencil marks that allows me a freedom in how I create. I've planned for four posters, as I'd rather make four that really reflect what I;m trying to communicate, than push to make six but rush them all.

As for the final context of these posters, I'm going to propose them as a small selection of what would be a bigger series of work exploring the Hull music scene. These would then be exhibited in Hull for a short period of time, and sold individually with all profits going to Warren Records and other local charities/ events/ causes.

Time to CREATE

The past couple of days have been spent trying to madly create some images in response to the tutorial I had with Matt. I agree that my best work is when it's expressive and almost 'spur of the moment'. It's hard to just turn that one and off however. Quite often my instinctive work doesn't quite...well...work? I'd like to think I'm a practitioner that embraces mistakes quite openly, and I've never been afraid to make a mess of my sketchbook, however with the deadline looping quite close, I am feeling the pressure to create something 'final'. The past couple of days I've tried to put that at the back of my mind and just create using key quotes and points of interest from what Stew said.

I'm thinking now that the end product to this brief may be a series of narrative style posters, created and championing DIY, punk ethics. Maybe the best way of showing the Hull music scene, with all my pride and love for it's gritty hard graft approach, is to create how I consume. Let's make something with FEELING.

Thoughts on Final Product

Throughout this project, the final outcome of my piece(s) has changed multiple times, as the focus of my work has become more defined. Moving from gig posters, to a clothing brand, to a hardback book to where I am now.

The past couple of days I've spent trying to loosen up and hone in on what kind of work I want to make and what I want it to say. I think Matt was right when he said my work is at it's best when I'm working instinctively and intuitively, and so these past couple of days I've been trying to work out how I can emulate this quality of work (learning how to 'play live' rather than 'studio recording'). 

I think I'm slowly getting closer to what I want my final pieces to be;

• 4-6 A2 Prints (time dependent)
• 'Gig Poster Style' (La Bete Blooms)
• One colour print on coloured paper
• Proposed as A2 screen prints (won't have time to do this for hand-in but will screen print them for the end of year show)

Rationale of work;

• This series of work explores the underground Hull music scene, with specific references to the punk movement between the mid nineties to early noughties. Taking into account primary research through informal interviews and first hand experiences of the scene, this series hopes to emulate the ethos of Hull's music community. Through the media of screen-print and the analogue investigation of this topic, it is hoped the final works champion the notions of D.I.Y., working class subculture, and Hull pride. 
• GIVE. 'EM. HULL.

Tutorial w/ Matt

TUTORIAL

Overall Practice;

- Feels like I have a lot of momentum with my work at the minute (doing tons of work and events)
- Going back to Hull after uni (good network there)
- Very confident and assured about my own work which is to my credit (has very little worry or fear about me not carrying on or doing well in illustration/ creative paths)
- Spoke about owner of Duke Studios who has become a sorts of 'spokesperson' for Leeds creative community; could see me doing something similar in the Hull scene
- Loves punk / DIY element of work; ethos carries itself through my work

FMP

- Final images too neat / considered?
- Work best when I'm working instinctively and intuitively
- Finals feel far away from where my best work is (La Bete Blooms gig poster)
- Linework too thin?
- Is hardback book appropriate? Seems far away from DIY/punk aesthetic; maybe gig posters / narrative posters more appropriate?
- Rawness of my work is when it's at it's best. And my work is most relatable and authentic when I'm putting myself into it; MORE OF THIS
- End of year show should be about showcasing WHO I am as a practitioner. No point showing work that isn't truly me

Moving Forward

- More writing with image making
- Find what makes my La Bete piece successful and push that. Like finding the difference between live music and a produced recording. Keep the raw energy. Find a way to 'play live' not 'produce in the studio'
- Consider application of final pieces; does a book work for this project? Or would posters be more appropriate? What does time allow for?
- Keep pushing the ideas and feelings. Make sure the focus of the work is on the EMOTION.
- Homage to punk scene of past, recognition of present, championing of DIY, LOFI, LOW COST REPRODUCTION, RAWNESS, EMOTION, FUCK YOU TO THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T GET IT.
- GIVE 'EM HULL.

AFTER THOUGHTS

This tutorial left me feeling a little conflicted but inspired. Before this meeting I had in mind exactly what my end product was going to be and how I was going to achieve it, however now I'm not so sure. I think this is good. I agree with Matt that a hardback book may not be the most appropriate end product for what I'm trying to communicate. Perhaps somewhere through all the planning I lost sight of the core emotions I've been trying to convey. Rather than a detailed illustrative interview with Stew maybe I need to pick out the key moments. The statements that stand out, that resonate and make me feel something. This year I've spent so long trying to hone down my craft and commercial ability I've not had the time to do anything for myself. Rather than forcing this project into something easily categorized as illustration, maybe I should take this as a chance to throw myself into something I believe in. Leaving this course, I know I don't see myself as 100% illustrator, and I think that's in part due to my dependency on art as a human being. As I'm rounding off the end of this degree what I'm coming to realise more and more is that I didn't come onto this course because I wanted to learn how to make a shit ton of money drawing pictures I don't believe in. I came here because I wanted to learn how to do something that I loved the best of my ability. Not for money, or fame or other people but for myself, because quite simply art is something I have to do. At this point, I'm not entirely sure what my end product is for FMP, but I feel as though Matt was right when he spoke about large scale posters. I already have all the content and exploration of images; now is the time to madly create.

Book To-Date

I began stitching together my images and the text for the final book. Tonight I've finished off all the 'text only' pages, as well as completing the two illustrated pages I drew up today. I may still play around with the paper texture over the images a little more, but it works as a WIP so I can see how the book is coming together as a whole. 

It also helped to write out the 'dedication page', 'give em hull series', 'about give em hull', and the 'stew & me info page' in a finalised format. Only 13 illustrated pages left to go!! 

Start on Final Illustrations

Today I began working on the final illustrations for each page. With a rough composition for each worked out, I scanned in the chosen composition, printed it out at 7x7inch and used a light box to draw in more detail with a pencil. I then went over these with a fine liner pigma pen.

I've been toying with the idea of having hand rendered or computer rendered text/font for this book. After completing these first two illustrations I think a digital font would complement the images better than hand-rendered. I don't want the images to look too cluttered and I think the digital text would give a good sense of consistency throughout the book. Separating the analogue image making (my images) with the text (Stew's words).

Final Text for Book

Today I wrote out the specific text that would be included on each page of the book, as well as making sure I had a workable number of pages (multiple of 4) for printing at uni.

While writing out the final text using my initial interview notes and memories from the phone-call, I did have to pop back in touch with Stew to get a few of the more finalised details in order;

Me: 

Hey stew, hope you're having a great bank holiday weekend smashing all these shows 👊 I'm getting on with some of my final major proj and just wanted to check these two things from our phone convo we had a while ago. If you could just make sure I haven't got any of these things jotted down wrong that'd be aces 😎 

• started freaks union 1993

• recorded first ep at Warren in 1995 on cassette 

My final hand in is two weeks on Monday and shortly after I'll be back for a week or so will have to have a catch up and I'll be able to  show you what all this work has resulted in haha! Thanks for all your help with it man, means the world x

Stew:

Hey yeah ace weekend so far. Me and my bro started our first and in 1993 but Freaks union started in 95 and yeah recorded our first tape demo at the warren that year xx

Me: 

Another quick question, when you were saying about how before in the music scene you used to feel like you were taking on the world you mentioned about organising a march where there were about 600 people and you stopped traffic; what was that for? And I think you mentioned about another one that was a march around town that ended in a gig at welly? x

Stew:

I found this thread of a guys favourite gig which included the FU Stop The War gig.. we met in paragon square and marched to Clive sullivan way near where you cross to get to Humber street and we stopped the traffic and laid down on the road chanting and with placards etc, we pissed off a lot of innocent drivers but the idea was to make a point and raise awareness. It was happening all over the world around the Iraq war so that at it happened in other cities, but we didn't massively use the internet like we do now. So we then marched to welly and had a massive show with loads of energy and it was all ages. Massive sense of unity, this guy puts it well..

Me:

That's amazing Stew, all the info I need as well. I'm super pumped for you to see this project when it's finally done, hope I've put all this info to good use haha!!

Stew:

And we did another massive show at welly for the tsunami disaster and raised money to send overseas. We worked hard and played for years doing small shows full of passion and as we got bigger in hull and could sell out the welly we used that to do something real and positive and give back to the world. The punk scene was really energetic when we got stuck into it and was very active.

Ace can't wait to see it all together! And thanks so much for asking me about this stuff, I kinda forget about it and then all memories come back when you ask me.. so I really appreciate it xx

With the extra information I was able to write out each page in full English and not broken down notes haha. Speaking with Stew has also given me a little push to make sure this project is something I'm really proud of. At this point I really want to be able to say I've done his words justice, and illustrated his fond memories with thought. I think it's important when completing reportage work that the tone of the work fits with the story you're trying to tell. I want to make sure the end illustrations are gutsy, but considered, and showcase Stew's passion for the Hull music scene.

Furthering the conversation I spoke about how I was looking forward to having more time in Hull soon; with the ending of uni in sight. He said how he hoped we'd be able to work on some aces projects together if we had the time. I responded saying we'd make the time, and he wrote back; 

We need to make the time. Life's too short to miss cool shit and not hang with cool fuckers x

I thought it might be nice to start the book off with this quote. I think it encompasses a lot of Stew's attitude, and how he feels about the community he's in. I'm really looking forward to showing him the final product. 

Further Compositional Studies

I've been working on the other compositions for the final pages. I think I'll have to revisit a few of these as the refinement process continues; some still feel a little obvious or under developed? Need to make sure all the pages are strong as stand alone images!

Compositional Sketches

I spent today going through some of the pages of my book, narrowing down the key themes per page and sketching out some compositional studies.

I've made use of the photos I collected during my trip to The Warren a few weeks ago. I really want each page to be a strong stand alone image, as well as working together as a collective. Some of the themes have been harder to communicate than others due to their discussion of ideas rather than narrative; I also don't want to be too literal/ obvious in the illustration of Stew's words. I've tried mixing elements of different images together in one composition to make each page more interesting, while taking into account the layout and which pages will be next to each other.

Even the final composition sketches are very rough at this point, I find it a lot easier to add detail to an image while crafting the final thing, which will probably happen here.

Moving forward I need to finish sketching out the final pages, tie down details with title page, dedications etc and I could do to type out the words I'll have on each page for reference and final image making. A consideration of colour as well as the details of how each final piece will be crafted must also be taken into consideration at this point.

Change of Printing Plans

As previously mentioned, I had up until this point planned on printing my book hardback via Blurb. However today whilst checking shipping times I was a little taken a back by how long the book would take to construct, print and ship to me (8 days). With this in mind I was faced with two options;

rush the book to get it finished in less than a week so I could send it off in time to be printed 

OR 

take my time illustrating the book and print it at uni. 

I've decided at this point that I'm going to print my final book as a paper-bound, using the uni print dungeon. This is because I really want to finish the year with something that I'm proud of. So I'm going to take the full (almost) two weeks until the deadline to make sure the images and tone of the book are correct. I'll then print the book at uni for hand in BUT still send the book to print hardback at blurb for after then. I still want to see the final book realised to its full potential. While I can't do this in time for marking, I'll still have the hardback version for the end of year show, and a copy to give to Stewart. I'll also be able to photograph the hardback version for my website and portfolio, whereas the paper-bound will be used for marking purposes.

Final Book Printing Plans

As I've decided to create a book for my final piece, I've been looking at places to get it professionally printed. I've found myself coming back to Blurb, it's a company I've used in the past to print final products and they provide a range of paper and cover options for 'photo' books (image based books).  I've put an order in for a sample pack so I'll be better able to chose the texture and finish that's right for the book (something matte and textured). I'm thinking of doing it hardback at this point, as I'd like it to be something I can have at the end of the year show. The square format appeals most as it's roughly the size of a 7inch vinyl EP sleeve, which I think works well with my music theme.

Visiting The Warren

Stew was an abso star as always and allowed me to come visit him at The Warren and grab some shots of the instruments and rooms to use as reference if needed. I also took a couple of photos of the telephone boxes in Hull (for the telephone part of the convo). It was nice seeing Stew again and discussing creative ideas with him. I'm hoping I can make something he'll be happy to have been a part of by the time this project ends!

Structuring the 'Stew' Book

Structuring the Book

I went through my previous transcript with Stew, and picked out some key points of conversation. I also played around with the structure to make the conversational piece flow a little bit better than it translated straight from the interview. After this was done I tried to roughly group together statements/parts of the conversation together that I felt could be used on the same page/ with similar imagery. This was to give me a rough estimate of page numbers. 

Also made a list of possible places to visit while I was back in Hull to take reference photos of. I'm thinking of getting back in touch with Stew and asking him if I can have a nosey around the music rooms of Warren so I can take photos for any references I may need.

FMP; Change of Direction (FOCUS TIME)

I've spent the last couple of days trying to simplify my project down to something that really reflects my initial ideas and intentions without over complicating them. I think Patrick was right when he said  that my project felt a little disconnected and muddled. After taking some time to think and reflect, I think I've managed to narrow down my project to something focused and far more illustration driven. 

What did I really want to do with this FMP?

- Explore and expose Hull's underground music scene

- Champion the people/ venues that have allowed the Hull music scene to get to where it is today

- Create something that feels authentic

What excited me about this FMP?

- Being able to do something about my home, I'm very Hull proud

- The conversation I had with Stew; his passion for the scene and all he's done for the scene to date while staying incredibly humble

After considering these points, it occurred to me that maybe the answer to this project had been there all along. If I truly wanted to champion the Hull music scene and it's passion, while giving back to that scene and area, maybe it made sense to illustrate one of those passionate stories.

Maybe I should just illustrate my conversation with Stewart Baxter.

Having being in the scene for over 20 years, Stew has been at both the receiving and the giving end of the music scene here. Taking part in both playing and attending gigs, to helping vulnerable young people in Hull find an outlet through music. His passion for the community here is evident in the way he speaks about the area and where he grew up. Perhaps illustrating the conversation I had with Stew would be a way of showing the passion and culture within the Hull music scene, and a proposed percentage of the profits of the book could go back into funding The Warren and similar projects. Perhaps Give 'Em Hull could be a publishing brand rather than a clothing brand, bringing out books that showcases individuals and places that have helped shaped the community and culture of this city.

I feel a lot better about this project, and I think this is a direction I'm going to commit to. It's a lot of work to do in just over a month but I'm determined to make something to do Stew's words some justice, and show the Hull music scene as something to be proud of!

FMP; Talk with Patrick (Revise Project???)

Today I had a tutorial with Patrick and it confirmed a lot of the worries I had about my project feeling a little over-complicated. He struggled to understand the link between what I was trying to communicate and the clothing line. He suggested I try simplifying my project down.

Points taken from tutorial

• struggling with intent and clothing line
• scrap idea of merchandise being main focus
• really like what's coming from 'fanzine' posters; got a lot more feeling and attitude
• want to do something related to Hull music scene and paying homage/giving back to it, think of a better way of doing this
• simplify ideas down; what are you real focuses; what gets you excited about the project
• have a long think over Easter and find one focus

I'm a little worried about the timescale of this project and feeling a little lost about an end product at this point. With just over a month left I really need to organise my head space and get this project focused within the coming Easter weeks!

TEDxHull; Live Day & After Thoughts

The Event;

• The day overall was abso fantastic! Great atmosphere all round, people were engaged and interested and just generally super atmosphere. I was placed in a 'hangout' sort of area just before people went into the theatre. Alongside myself live drawing there was also James Fenwick on the wall opposite me, as well as a stall from Form, a small book stall and a table from Hull Uni's science (?) society doing funky things with physics. While we were told to feel free jumping into any of the talks, I stayed outside to do my work as I didn't want people sat inside the theatre for two hours and coming out to see no difference in my piece haha!

Practicalities; 

• The practical execution of my piece actually went really well!! This was my first time doing live art without using paints, but I feel like I was able to really get into this piece with a high level of craft and detail. I genuinely just really loved doing this event as it gave me 6 & a half straight ours of just drawing. I've felt so all over the place recently with balancing workloads and emails etc it was SO good to just be able to really have the time put aside to get into an image. And I finished the full thing in time!! Extra points for me.

Networking & Public Reaction;

• I had a great reaction from the public with a couple of people stopping for a conversation while I worked. It was really great seeing that as the piece developed, people started to recognize places. I overheard a woman point at Ringside saying 'that's down Bev Road' while I was having my lunch break, and it was great to hear that people were able to recognise elements of the piece.
• James also gave me some great feedback which was really humbling to hear. Given that he's worked for bands like Scouting for Girls and Foals it was rather nice knowing that he appreciated my work and craft. He was pretty blown away with how much detail I'd managed to get in within the time we were there too. He also spoke to me about how he acquired the music briefs he's done and how/ where I can market myself if I'm looking to get something similar. He was really open and friendly about it which meant a lot as he didn't have to go out of his way to give me the information that he did. It was also interesting hearing the differences between the courses at Hull and LCA; let's just say I'm v. glad I came here for uni haha.
• I also met Joe which was lovely, and could later lead to some partnership or collaboration. I think it's good to know the creatives in Hull that are making something of themselves; if only one step at a time. Post-uni I'l be moving back home, so it's good to know I have a creative network of friends there already. 

T-shirt Designs

I tried exploring some of the t-shirt designs I'd roughed out today. I quite happy with out they're turning out, but I'm a little worried that they're loosing their initial raw energy. They also feel a little pre-manufactured and not very original. At least with my adelphi church and no more ctrl+z designs, they were quotes from Stew that felt relevant but didn't explicitly showcase the music scene here.

I'm starting to feel a little lost with this project. Though my intention of exploring and showcasing the Hull music scene is still there, I'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the clothing line aspect of the project. Sometimes I feel as though I'm doing a lot more design work than I am illustrating which is leaving me a little uneasy..

TedxHull; A2 Sketch

Pencil Sketch before drawing on the day

Sketching out my image onto A2 took a LOT more time than I thought it would haha. I have some nails up in my room with large bulldog-clips hanging off them that I was able to attach my A2 piece of paper to so it lent against the wall. This allowed me to look at the piece straight on as I was sketching it so I didn't get a warped perspective leaning over a desk to draw the image. 

Though this process took a long time, I'm really glad I did it BEFORE going to draw live. It showed how much time it took to translate the scale, proportion and composition successfully onto the A2 work from an A4 sketch. I needed these details to be correct so I didn't have to worry about placement of things too much during the inking process.

It was at this stage I also decided to ditch the open fields at the top of the image and replace them with text. While I was drawing I was conscious of time, if it took this long to sketch it how long would it take to add all the details to the piece? I decided to fill in the top to cut down the amount of drawing I'd be doing on the day, I also think it allowed the piece to breathe a little more and not look overly cluttered. 

I feel confident going to draw on Friday with this sketch to hand, I'll be transporting the piece with me via train, rolling it up so it doesn't get damaged on the way. 

Fanzine/ Promo Posters?

Using the ideas/ethos of my project so far, I whipped up these quick fanzine style posters today that could be used as a way of promoting the project, or be given away free with the merchandise? I wanted to collage these by hand so they had that DIY/punk feel to them. Photocopying them onto thicker, coloured card gave them a little bit more life too. 

What I like about these posters is I feel like they sum up perfect what I'm trying to accomplish and champion in this project. These obviously feel very far from a finished piece, but I think they capture quite succinctly what this project is about; I just need to push this further.

TedxHull; Rough Composition Drawings

Drawings from collage

In response to the previous college for TedxHull I thought it'd be helpful to try sketching the image out a couple of times quickly so I could get a feel for how I needed to draw the piece. I liked the overall composition but I needed to be sure I'd be able to make the piece work in my own tone of voice. After bashing out these two quick scamps I think I am going to go ahead with this composition. Given that the live-drawing is on the 31st March and I'd like to have a rough sketch done on my paper ahead of the event, it was useful to try out this quick exercise before drawing it out A2. 

TedxHull; Ideas and Composition of piece

Ideas;

• The theme of the event is 'From Where I Stand'. Joe said I didn't have to incorporate this into my image but I thought the live art would work best if it fed off the themes of the talks. Whilst thinking of ideas, I thought it best to start with my own experiences. From Where I Stand is a very personal theme, and given that I would be travelling back home for this piece, I thought about doing something based around my growing up in Hull.
• I'm a strong believer in that the person and attitudes I have today are as of a result of growing up in Hull. I love my home city and I'm very proud of where I come from, given the theme of the event, I thought about my piece centralizing on personal experience.
• As for media, every time I've done a live art event previous to this I've used acrylic paint and board/ canvas. This time however I'd like to use some heavyweight paper and pens. I've been big on my linework this year and this seems like a good opportunity to really get into the crafting of an image. I spoke to Joe about whether or not we'd need easel's and boards to prop out work onto, and he assured me we;d be working against a smooth concrete wall, so as long as the pen wouldn't run through the paper, I was fine to masking tape my piece straight onto the wall. Good times. 

Research;

• I thought it'd be important to draw influences from my environment growing up in Hull, so the piece would perhaps be more relatable to the general public. 
• I chose a few key locations from both my childhood and teenage years, these were made up of a mixture of residential areas, pubs and clubs. 
• Knowing that I wouldn't be going home next until the day I was live drawing, I used google maps to gather up secondary research material and references for image-making. I also took photographs of myself as a reference for a central figurative character. Hull's a very working class city, and a lot of the residents are fans of Adidas (I think almost everyone I grew up with at home owns an Adidas jacket) so I thought it'd be a nice touch to add that detail into the character design.

Mock-Up Image;

• I wanted to make a collage 'mock-up' of what I was thinking the final piece was going to look like. This allowed me to quickly have a look at composition, scale, and whether or not the piece worked. I wanted the figure to be central to the image, with the surrounding areas branching out from that. I eventually came up with the final composition as seen in the issuu post above. 

Give Em Hull; Considering purpose, tshirt designs and Pizza for the People Research

Pizza for the People

- Promoter and event organiser in Leeds

- Puts on gigs

- Invites local and independent food outlets to each event

- First "Indie Banquet" (name of their events) was hosted in October

- Just had their 4th event since

I thought that give em hull could operate in a way similar to Pizza for the People, but would have their own merchandise for sale at the events and online via a store. The events put on by Give Em Hull would also largely be for charity or local fundraising reasons, in order to be an example for "practice what you preach" in giving back through the music scene.

I keep trying to narrow down exactly what this project has become. Is it a branding/campaign project now more than a poster project? I keep playing with the logo and today tried to come up with some more music related iconography to put onto the back of tshirts. These are just rough scamps at this point, but I'm hoping to explore them larger scale within my sketchbook to determine which ones are working best.

TEDxHull; The Brief

The Client;

• TEDxHull (independently organised TEDtalk event
• At Hull Truck Theatre
• Contacted via email by Joseph Cox on behalf of TEDxHull

The Brief;

• Hi Jazz,

I’m part of the team that organise TEDxHull, a day of TED talks at Hull Truck theatre. At the breaks in between the talks we like to have some things going on in the foyer to keep people entertained. (30 mins in the morning, 30 in the afternoon and 45 at lunch). We've had artists each year doing live art and wondered if you’d like to do it this year?
The whole event is ran not for profit, so I’m afraid as with the speakers and the organisers ourselves there’s no money in it. But we’ve happy to put a small amount towards materials if required. 

Let me know what you think? 

Cheers,
Joe

Rationale;

• Though unpaid, I think this event offers a good opportunity for networking and coverage. I know as freelancers we're not meant to ever do work for free, but given that this is a not for profit organisation in which the speakers themselves also aren't getting paid, and given that it's a local event, I think it's something that I'd like to do. I love taking part in live art events (this will actually be my fourth live art event in front of a crowd in less than two years wowza) as the atmosphere always tends to be one of enjoyment and community spirit. Speaking to Joe I've also been informed we're welcome to sit in on any of the talks too, and that food and drink will also be provided throughout the day.
• It is from a networking perspective, however, that this brief appeals the most. I've been wanting to meet Joe for a while as he runs the Hull based print shop Form that sells a lot of local artist and illustrators work via both their online store and stalls at craft fairs and events (such as this one). He could prove to be a value contact if I decide I want to sell some of my work via another channel. James Fenwick, A Hull based illustrator, will also be providing live art during the day. I'm a fan of James' work, and as someone who has worked for national music clients on gig posters and design jobs, I'd really like to speak to him about how he got those contacts in the first place. To the best of my knowledge he completed his illustration degree in Hull, so I want to know how he found the music jobs that he's completed.

Some Quick mock-ups; FMP

After my sketches the other day, I decided to quickly run them through photoshop and inject some colour to see how they were looking. Though my work so far has been really raw for this project so far, I think that reflects the atmosphere and vibe that I'm going for. Unrestrained, raw and unapologetic.

I ran the first couple of designs through photoshop as posters. I really wanted to bring that bold, almost nostalgic, colour to the pieces to really make them stand out. I chose the yellow and red on the two inside posters to reflect the branding colour of the Adelphi. 

I also ran my rough give em hull logo through a site that allows you to order custom embroided merchandise. I wanted to try it on a cap as it's a common item of clothing among the underground music scenes. I took one of my church designs and quickly mocked that up onto a t-shirt too, proposing that the illustrated design would be on the back while the give em hull logo was on the front of the shirt. 

I actually really like how the mocked up tshirt came out. I'm seriously considering turning this project into a material screen printing one rather than one that is poster based. I think if I mocked up a website that explained the ethos and intentions of 'give em hull', the merchandise would fit in well with that. It's something I'm thinking about for sure.

Further Play; FMP

I spent this day writing out a rough 'manifesto' of what I wanted 'Give 'Em Hull' to represent. I took the majority of the campaign objectives from the conversation I'd had with Stew, and the idea of supporting your local space and community. If I were to make this into a brand, these could be posted on the website as something to stand for. Using the merch as a way of spreading the message and getting more artists and musicians involved.

I was thinking about also proposing that give em hull would also organise and put on events to raise money for charity. I used the company 'Pizza for People' as a reference for this idea. Pizza for People organise gigs within the Leeds area, putting on a group of bands as well as organising independent food stalls to appear at the events. I was thinking 'Give em Hull' could perhaps be a hull version of this, but with the profits going to a charity or particular cause in keeping with current events? I know this is a lot to consider, but it's something I'm really trying to figure out. I'd like the works that I make for this project to give something back to a scene that shaped me so much in my teenage years, I'm a little concerned however that this might be too much to take on in the time left available? I'm unsure.

Considering a change of format?

After my conversation with stew I began considering the format of my final pieces. Did I want to target the general public, or did I want to target the musicians of Hull? I kept thinking about the gigs that Stew and Freaks Union put on to raise money for overseas causes. I began thinking about the possibility of running a campaign to champion that kind of thinking, and get the Hull music scene more involved in activism.

With this thought in mind, I began to consider the relevance of gig posters if this was the route I wanted to go down? Perhaps a different format would be a better way of expressing this message and getting local bands involved.

It was at this point I coined the phrase 'Give 'Em Hull'. The words almost naturally fell into place while I was thinking of a slogan or name for this work to branch under. I began to consider using merchandise as a way of spreading this idea that musicians should give more of a shit about what's going on in the world. To prove that they were brave in standing up for something worthy and that they believed in. I considered at this point that I could illustrate punky designs and put them on t-shirts and merch brandishing the title 'Give 'Em Hull'. The Give Em Hull 'company' or 'brand' would then donate some of the profits of the t-shirt sales to places like The Warren that help young people in Hull access much needed counselling services, as well as giving back to the music scene.

I understand this may seem like a big leap to take from my original idea, but it's something that I'm considering at this point. Using slogans and quotes from my conversation with Stew, as well as mottos and sayings that I feel reflect what I'm trying to say could be brandished on the t-shirts too.

At this point I don't want to put myself into a box too much, but this is something that I'm considering as a format to move forward with. My aim to to continue to play around loosely right now, and see what kind of work comes from that.

FMP; Talk with Stewart (Warren Records)

Today I had my phone interview with Stewart Baxter. It lasted about an hour in total and his answers and points of discussion were really interesting and helpful!!

Speaking about how the old punk scene used to get involved with raising money for charity and taking part in marches is something that I hadn't heard about before. What really came across in this interview was Stew's passion for the music scene here and what it stands for. Though he admitted there was less activism within the music scene (he felt it was coming more from the arts scene now) he still believed that the bands in Hull carried with them a similar ideal and community spirit that was active during the late 90s - early noughties.

Moving on from this interview, I think I'd really like to implement some of the ideals that Stewart talked about; passion, community, hard graft. I'd quite like to create a series of work that inspires musicians in Hull to consider how they can continue to make music for a difference (or at the very least to say something).

This conversation has really lit a fire under my ass to get this project going. I really want to make something that's filled with as much passion as Stew was talking about, I hope that's something I can do!!

interview with stew written while on the phone

Contacting Stew

• I recently contacted Stewart Baxter from Warren Records about possibly doing an interview about the Hull music scene and his thoughts about how it's changed and evolved since he first became a part of it. Stew has been super helpful and agreed to take part, so I took the day to write out some questions to ask him over the phone.
• Telephone interview works best as it allows for a more conversational tone of voice and I think you get more from a human conversation than you do form a written 'questionnaire' style of interview.

Questions I intend to ask Stew;

- How long have you been in the Hull punk music scene?
-  How did you get into it?
- What bands have you been in?
- Any memories that stand out (ask at the end)
- How has the scene changed since the 1990's?
- How about the style from then to now?
- Have the venues changed?
- How many people were in the scene compared to now? Was it a close knit community?
- The ages of people involved? (varied or not)
- Did you use to do anything other than gigs?
- Best memory to date?

• Though I have these written down as rough questions, I don't feel obliged to stick to them all during the interview. I'm hoping Stew feels comfortable enough to go off on tangents and discuss things I perhaps wouldn't have thought about asking. Though I'd consider myself as fairly involved within the current Hull music scene, I have nowhere near as much experience in the field as Stew, so I'm hoping he can shine some light onto things I previously didn't know about.

Initial Start on FMP

Today I started with some sketches for my FMP. I know I want the focus to be on the underground Hull music scene, but I'm not sure which direction I want to take this in yet. My end goal is to showcase the Hull scene in a way that's engaging to the public, and informative about the underground culture here. With Hull being city of culture, I think quite a few of the grassroots places and people here are already being given space to shine, which means that my own work would have to stand out from the pre-existing city of culture work.

I started with what I know, which is that a lot of the home grown music talent here is born through venues such as The Adelphi and The Warren Youth Project. I did a little more research into the backgrounds of both places, but really I just wanted to start making some practical work. I'm really trying to get across the bravery and resilience of such places. I've chosen to work in an A3 sketchbook for this brief, in the hopes that it pushes and encourages me to work bolder and with less fears of making things 'neat and perfect'. I believe the work should reflect the Hull passion and bravery, so bold honest illustrations are what I'm looking for here.

RESEARCH SUMMED UP

Adelphi

- The New Adelphi Club has open for 33 years now

- Hosted bands such as Pulp, Oasis, Radiohead, Green Day. The Beautiful South

- Holds local gigs every week

- Massive supporter of local music scene

- Feels like home

The Warren

- Local charity for Hull youth

- Proves free counselling and other services to young people 

- Provides free music recording, producing, workshops etc as well as rehearsal space

- Warren Records also releases music for young people via their label

- Been around around 30 years also

For the past 30 years, The Warren Youth Project – an independent charity - has been providing vital support services to marginalised and vulnerable young people in Hull. Operating from a former fire- station in Hull city-centre, the Warren’s staff team offers free support, guidance, training, music, education and counselling services to young people aged 14-25 who are experiencing unemployment, homelessness, isolation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, drug-abuse, bullying, neglect, domestic violence, family-relationship breakdown, learning difficulties, racism and homophobia. We also work very closely with young people who are experiencing physical and mental health problems such as self-harming, eating disorders, depression, psychosis, STDs and loneliness to name but a few.

We also provide a music service – Warren Records (link here) – which supports young people to develop their musical potential in any field or genre by providing free rehearsal and recording studio space and support. As well as being a vital element of our strategy to support and empower vulnerable young people, Warren Records also plays a prominent role in the city’s arts community by facilitating access for those who might not otherwise engage and is also working with City of Culture 2017 to promote local music and local musicians. It is now a primary partner in all the city’s major arts festivals and has successfully facilitated countless live performances along with the digital release of hundreds of music recordings which may otherwise have never been heard due to the unaffordability of recording facilities to young people.

Moving forward I was thinking about contacting Stewart Baxter from Warren Records as he's someone I've built a good professional friendship with over the past year or so. I think he'd be happy to help with my project, and getting his take on the music scene would be really beneficial. As well as working at Warren Records for a few years now, Stew has also been in the Hull punk scene for quite some time. I'm hoping that having some primary research will give my work a sense of authenticity. 

Physical Copy of Independent Leeds & Virgin Media Box Exhibition

Tonight I went to a one night only exhibition of all the painted virgin media boxes for headlingley residents association. It was a really great night seeing everyone and their work, and the residents had even put together to get our paintings printed for us to keep; how sweet.

Whilst at the event I also saw David from Independent Leeds, and he had with him a fresh batch of the latest issue. Inside was the piece I wrote and illustrated for them, as well as a photograph of my box in a feature they'd done on all the paintings for this event.

It's absolutely so great seeing my own work in a publication like Independent Leeds. I think the guys did a fab job of arranging the layout and my pieces look so professional in this context!! I would consider taking on more editorial / reportage briefs after completing this one for I.L. It was a great learning curve, and I surprised myself with how well it all came out. Overall, many happy vibes.

CMV; Final Image

Once the final image was completed, I set it up as a CMYK file on an A2 sheet of paper with crop marks. This will make it infinitely easier to crop each to the same dimensions and ensure that the space around each edge of the piece is the same. 

Considering I was feeling a little bummed out with this brief when I first started, I'm actually really happy with the final outcome!! I've also proven to myself that I shouldn't avoid totally digital illustration at every cost. I still think I prefer the human element you get when you draw analogue, but digital definitely has it's merits, and working in this way allowed me to complete this brief far quicker than I would have done if I'd have carried on working purely traditionally. 

CMV; Colour and Text

Left; no text, Right; with text

Using the palette I chose yesterday I started to colour in my image. I wanted a mixture of block colours with gradients to give the piece an illusion of lighting. I didn't want the piece to look too flat overall, and I know solid block colours in digital art can often give that appearance. 

That's where I used a trick I learnt some months ago about easily adding a little texture to your on screen images. Simply using the file>add noise function, speckles the colour out as much as you desire, to give the illusion of a texture surface. I use noise in most of the image aparent from a few of the 'coloured glitch' pixels, as I wanted a bit of variation within them.

Once I'd finished the colouring process, I thought about adding in some additional type. I quite often mix text and image within my personal work as I feel it gives the piece a little more emotional context. It was imperative that the text fit with the imagery, so I spent a while going through dafonts.com to find one that I felt fit best. 

Whilst a couple of the pixel fonts were cute, they didn't feel as though they suited the image as their  were a little too much of an 8-bit style. I finally came upon this font 'Paskowy', which had a slightly more angular and serious tone, with the barcode above the lettering giving it a very digital and computerized feeling. I decided to lay the text out like a barcode on the image, typing the words seen above.

Despite the robotic element, I still wanted the work to emulate and tap into human emotions. The idea of A.I.'s ability to love kept popping into my head, as quite often I explore sentimental human emotions in my personal work. It's hard to explain how I come up with the text as it just feels like something instinctual to me. People generally tend to understand the emotion I'm trying to convey as it comes from an honest place. I hope that translates in this final image. 

Finally some inspo

Loish's art book

This week inspiration came from my postbox.

I recently put an order in for Loish's artbook that came out a while back. Loish is a digital artist and illustrator that works in predominately concept art and character design, as well as completing her personal artwork to sell as prints and merch. I've been a big fan of Loish's work for a long time, and finally being able to see the process behind her work is really inspiring!!

For the first time in a while I turned on my PC and started drawing straight into photoshop using my 500 year old tablet. And it was actually surprisingly refreshing!!! I looked through my own photos until I found one I wanted to use as a reference. I didn't treat this as something super final so allowed myself to play and have fun with it. I actually found that I quite liked the initial sketches and so started working into the piece with a little more detail.

While I started with a woman's head, the more I drew into it the more I started to implement character traits that lent themselves to my pixel/glitch idea. I decided a humanoid/robot woman would be a fun idea to play with; the idea of artificial intelligence going wrong.

I kept focused on the line weight and quality at this point. When I felt as though I had a strong line image set out I began thinking about colour palettes. 

I eventually arrived at the one pictured below. I used a website that holds as tone of pre-existing palettes so just had a scroll through until I found one that I felt fit. I really like the almost 80s vibes I get from this palette, and it feels slightly space/ 8-bit like.

Initial sketches for CMV and struggle

I started with some initial sketches in my sketchbook for this brief. The openness of it left me a little stumped at where to start as I feel as though all I've done recently is live briefs that are often dictated at least in part by the client.

I knew I wanted to play around with the female form, so I started by doing some sketches from life drawings to see if any interesting compositions came out of it. I like the idea of glitches and pixels going awry to go with the theme 'out of order' but I'm really not sure what direction, or how I want to achieve that.

In all honesty I'm feeling a little bummed out at the minute, as if I've got an artistic block. I've been working on live and quick turn around briefs for so long I feel as though I'm running out of creative energy a little bit. I really want to be in this show but my mind is at a current blank. I'm hoping inspiration will strike soon!