Who Am I

Five reasons why I have chosen to study Illustration

         From a young age, I always paid more attention to the illustrations 

         in children's' books. I thought to myself, 'that's what I want 

         to do when I grow up'.

         I want to communicate my ideas visually. Pictures give more powerful

         messages than words.

         I'd love to be able to make a career from something that I am passionate

         about.

         Drawing, and making pictures is my favourite thing to do. I want to expand

         my knowledge and practise in the field of illustration and in the creative

         industry.

         Being an illustrator is the only career I can imagine myself enjoying

         and hopefully being successful in.

         

       Five reasons why I chose to study at Leeds College of Art

       LCA is a small, specialist institution which has produced many successful

         practitioners in the past. My preference was to study somewhere where I 

         wouldn't feel like a small fish in a huge pond, and be surrounded by 

         other creative individuals, something I could not experience at a regular

         university art department.

         The city of Leeds is buzzing. There is always so much going on and so many

         things to be inspired by, in contrast with Grantham, the small market 

         town where I grew up.

         When I came to the open day, I was amazed at how enthusiastic the course 

         leaders were about their specialisms. I didn't get the impression that 

         the process would be 'here's your degree, off you go'. I got the 

         impression LCA has a culture of hard work and determination, enabling

         students to get the most out of their degree programmes and leave with

         the experience and knowledge to take them onto taking on professional

         work.

         The facilities are great, enabling maximum potential of exploration and

         experimentation.

         My college tutor advised that when looking around universities and 

         colleges, make sure you get the 'warm fuzzy feeling', in other words if

         you can see yourself settling into the institution really well and 

         flourishing there. When I looked around LCA, I felt like this.

       Five strengths and skills

       I am keen to experiment with different materials and processes.

         I like to try and find humour in almost any thing or situation.

         I'm friendly and work well in a team.

         I have very high standards, I always try to work to achieve the best

         I possibly can.

         I'm really reflective, I look back on work I've produced and evaluate

         positive and negative factors, searching for ways that I can develop

         for the next time around.

        Five things I want to improve on

       Become more knowledgeable about art in general, learn about different

         art movements and become more aware of the surrounding creative 

         atmosphere.

         

         Allocating time to indulge in creative media. For example reading more

         illustrative blogs, books and comics.

         Become less of a perfectionist, learn to accept and embrace mistakes.

         Less familiar skills, such as printing and using digital media.

         Accepting that everyone in the class works differently. Everyone has

         different interests, experiences and skills and that this shouldn't 

         make me feel inferior. 

         

       

       Five images that show my interest in Illustration

 

'Brick Lane' Lucinda Rogers

I admire the way that Lucinda Rogers uses a variety of different
line quality within her observations of buildings,using a heavier
line weight  for more promenant features, for example street corners
and pavements.

'Have you seen my Hat?' Jon Klassen

Jon Klassen has a unique sense of humour as he comes
across as being extremely blunt in his style of
writing. This correlates with his design of characters
having the same, flat facial expression in each
illustration. Also focusing on the fact that Klassen
has chosen not to use mouths in his characters, allowing
the character to express themselves only through their
eyes, noses and bodily stances.

               

         

'Imagined' (series) Jennifer Maravillas

'Imagined' is a series of illustrated animal characters taking on stereotypical human tasks, such as riding bikes, skiing etc adding
an element of light humour.

'Cardigans' Frida Stenmark

Stenmark is very observant in her work, often drawing series'
of objects or portraits with a simplistic use of line. I like
the way she presents her work in sketchbook form, showing her
observation and thought processes in more detail.

'As Large as Life' Quentin Blake

'As large as life' presents work created for hospitals, designed
to have a therapeutic effect on their patients. I admire the
simple 'every day life' situations that Blake illustrates, especially
the more sentimental areas, such as the mother and baby paintings.
I can imagine that these are extremely refreshing to view from a
patients perspective, especially with the subject matter being focused
around human behaviour. This allows them to relate and have a connection
with the pictures.