Bigheads: Owen Davey

• Owen Davey is a practicing illustrator based in Leicester.
• He had a home studio for five years, then decided to get one in town due to feeling lonely!
• From A-levels to Foundation he went on to study Illustration at Falmouth and has been working really hard as a freelancer for six years.
• It takes a couple of years to build clients so you really have to hang in there.
• He has an agent which has been very helpful.

Working Life

• 'Mad about monkeys' is his latest work which he says is firmly grounded; not completely realistic though.
• When asked how he makes work he emphasised the importance of thumbnails, concepts and composition which he then transports straight into photoshop.
• Spends more time planning than finishing!
• It is important to do LOADS of research.
• It doesn't matter what he is trying to achieve personally, he just makes work that excites him.

Attitudes to work and advice

• Work really hard and have a strong work aesthetic.
• Image making is only half of being an illustrator. The other half is more focused on being a business person and promoter.
• Great illustration is where someone is really pushing themselves in their practice and enslaving themselves in things that scare them.

Second year exhibition at Colours May Vary

Yesterday evening we had the opportunity to attend the opening night of a screen-print exhibition that the second years had arranged and set up themselves at Colours May Vary.

The whole event opened up our eyes as to how much could be expected of us this time next year, and the skills and personal development the second years have gained since they were at the same point in time as us.

The brief they were given was to read a book over summer and create a series of screen prints in response to the specific author or novel. It was interesting to see individual interpretations and responses to the given stimuli and also the organisational and professional skills of organising and dressing an exhibition space open to the public.

Superhero Task

Working from our mind maps, we were put into pairs and given the task to create a poster of a superhero as a visual metaphor of who they are and how they are progressing on the course so far.

I was paired up with Amy, from talking to her and looking at her mind map I made some notes. We also had to take into consideration the qualities of the superhero; what they would wear, what powers they had, did they have a sidekick, did they have a kryptonite? 

From everything that I had learnt about Amy, I decided that she would be 'Cute Nature Girl'. Her costume and accessories were made from pretty foliage, her weakness is tiredness(shown by the angry stars), her main power is that she magnetically attracts interesting books for her to read and her weapons consist of powerful dessert-bombs attached to her belt.

And here is Amy's interpretation of me!

I think this is a great portrayal. She has included my main issue- balancing everything equally which is shown by juggling important people in my life with my art equipment, I also have a really cute owl as a novelty sidekick. 

Evaluation of this task:

Having a visual representation of who we are and what we are about in the form of a superhero has been a great opportunity to accentuate our strengths, weaknesses and interests, especially from an external point of view. The map communicates clearly our thinking process and how our brains work, which is only necessarily visible to ourselves. The superhero acts as an emphasised alter-ego of our personalities; who we are with our main points of character being made clearer to those who surround us, in a fun and interesting way.

Part two:

The second part of this task was to create a personal ad restricted to 20 words, here was mine:

ELLIE CHAPPELL is a small ILLUSTRATION STUDENT  with a BIG imagination. Employ her and she will work and smile lots.

I think I could have done something more to emphasise my interests in illustration and the level of success I will potentially bring when working with clients in the future, as apposed to having a novelty feel.

Where am I now? What have I learnt?

This session focused on our progress so far in the course and where we feel we are at in our journeys as illustrators.

Making a series of lists on how we have developed:

Personal Development

• Learnt to live by myself and be completely independent
• Prioritising on a more serious level
• Living off a really tight budget
• Perspective on the value of money has further increased
• Soap, sponges and toilet roll don't magically appear! 
• Adapted to living with four other people my age
• Managing long distance relationships
• Self-discipline when tackling four modules at once
• The importance of blogging near enough everything
• Realising that everything is so expensive!

Professional Practice- What have I learnt?

• Learnt more about the creative industry, how it can be based upon trends and popularity and how this fluctuates individuals demand and workload
• No matter what, people out there (most of the time the minority-hopefully) will dislike your work in some way
• How the world around us revolves and relates to illustration
• This industry is very self-driven, the pros and cons of being self-employed
• Keep a sketchbook and draw regularly. Drawing is like a sport, keep it up or you'll become bad at it
• It is important to experiment as a first year and not constrict yourself to a style just yet

Working in groups, devising lists of different skills in categories:

Personal Management Skills:

• Find value in free time
• Not to waste time, plan thoroughly
• Use pinterest!
• Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone
• Look after your health
• Eat well and try and find time to exercise
• Spend money wisely
• Learning how to accept your own limitations, capabilities and strengths

Practical Skills:

• Learning digital methods
• Roughs and Scamps
• Variety of media
• Going to BigHeads sessions creates goals and aspirations
• Experimenting with different media in sketchbooks
• Exhaustive research is good
• Professionalism

Study Skills:

• Daily 'to-do lists' or goals
• Mental notes
• Where to find illustration specifically
• Talking to people
• Blogging and reflection of progress
• Reading/watching documentaries
• Use the library!
• To be inspired, what inspires me and what I need to be aware of in terms of being inspired
• Be critical of other peoples work and form opinions
• Analyse everything from a creative perspective

Other Skills:

• Looking at the world visually
• Human contact is good, but being alone is good too
• How to cook
• How to balance social life/uni life
• Freezing bread makes it last longer

Refreshing our minds on types, purposes and contexts of illustration:

Type:(what)

• Graphic novel
• Zine
• Advertising
• Children's books
• Roughs/scamps
• Instruction manuals 
• Editorial
• Print

Context:(where)

• Album covers
• Billboards
• Children's books
• Newspapers
• Manuals
• Magazines
• Books
• Zines
• Clothes
• Posters
• Adverts
• Exhibitions

Purpose:(do)

• To inform
• Persuade
• Communicate message
• Humour/entertain
• Advertise
• Propaganda
• Understand

Task: Create a visual representation summarising where you're at currently within terms of this module.

Planning- categorising different things I have learnt so far, and actions that have followed/are following.

Thinking about relating the aesthetic to a map of Leeds, however I thought that this may be more difficult to follow.

INSPIRATION: Searching 'Maps', 'Mind Maps' into Pinterest:

I thought that the idea of a tube map was clever, and easy to read; it also related to the analogy of 'boarding the illustration train' and embarking on a creative journey.

Some further developments- shapes and colour co-ordination.

The final idea

I mapped out a chronological journey of my time and development on the course so far, and linked the different elements together appropriately. Each colour represents a different 'line' which can be decoded on the map making the message clearer to the viewer.

The final map

Rights of Nature Exhibition

This weekend whilst I was home I went to check out a local exhibition at the contemporary. 

I went in with open eyes because I normally find these kind of  exhibitions really hard to relate to due them being so open to interpretation with the subject matter being fine art.

I was interested in this piece named 'De Re Metallica' in terms of the line quality and abstract sort of frame layout. De Re Metallica was actually used for 180 years as a practical guide for miners and metal workers until a more modern publication was produced in 1738.

This is a more modern piece that I found interesting entitled 'Las plantas cultivadas por la gente de centro en la Amazonia Colombiana'  (The plants cultivated by the people from the centre of the colombian amazon)
The paintings are a series of observational images that catalogue peoples holistically environmental knowledge within the area. The artists work is recognised by both art an scientific circles for their unique qualities.


I found this exhibition really informative about the ecology of the Americas, but at the same time very hard to relate to due to the lack of illustrative principles and products. Fine art and instillations to me can often be really overwhelming and difficult to understand, especially when being already unclear on the theme of the exhibition. Nevertheless it was a good experience and I shall challenge my interpretive thoughts further in the future.