New Blood Fundraising

08/05/2012

Quite some time ago, my university colleagues decided we’d like to attend D&AD’s New Blood exhibition in London this June. With government funding cuts and what not, we were short of cash to go so decided to fundraise. We sold cupcakes (many, many cupcakes) and other creative bits. As I am incapable of creating edible cupcakes (unless it’s out of a box – I’m not THAT bad), I hand-made/printed some notebooks, tote bags and greeting cards.

We started with greeting cards for Mother’s day and at this point I took the chance to also have a go at creating handmade/printed notebooks.

I was happy with my designs for both the cards and notebooks, especially as I had the chance just to make “pretty” stuff, which is what I enjoy most.

Another event we hosted a stall at was the Stockport Teenaged Market. For this, we sold left over cards from Mother’s day (the one’s that weren’t too “mother-ish” atleast), I screen printed some tote bags and made some more of the notebooks.\

Whilst due to time being cut short on the day I printed the bags, I enjoyed it and would like to further explore the textiles side of illustration. I think if I was able to spend more time on it I could really create some nice (saleable) items.

After all the sales, we were *nearly* successful in raising enough to go to London. Luckily, the head of our department stepped in and brought our total up. So, if you’re in London between the 25th and 28th of June, please come by and see me! The 28th is my birthday, so atleast come by and say Happy Birthday if nothing else. ;)

Behind blue eyes

08/05/2012

Hopes, Fears & Opportunities pt. II

05/05/2012

The second edition of hopes, fears and opportunities. A follow up to part one. I feel like I have taken several steps backwards since the original post and this saddens me.

Fears
My biggest fear, is after a terrible (personally) final year at university, where I’ve not felt motivated in any way or supported, that my self-doubt/emotions will continue to get in my way. I have little emotional support and this leads to one of my biggest let downs. Without help/support I can’t get through these bouts and I feel like I might just be better off giving up at times. It’s difficult to look towards the future without fear when all I hear/feel is negativity and put downs. I want to believe in myself, but when no one else does, it gets tedious to keep trying and eventually wears me down to a place where I just feel like stopping. This has prevented me from getting on with my work, improving my work or even liking my work. I have not created a single piece I have been proud of since… september. Being told I’m not going to make it as an illustrator by my contemporaries surely doesn’t help to eradicate any doubts I have about myself. I used to fear finishing university and being forced out into the world of grown ups, but I am more ready than ever to finally finish and get away from the negative atmosphere.

Hopes
Despite my fears, part of me hopes that once I am out in the real world that I will be able to get a grip on myself, return to the place where I actually enjoy drawing again and be able to push myself and my work further. I have so many ideas and dreams, but something holds me be back from taking them on.

I hope that, despite that I’ve been told that I can’t, I can support myself through my illustration. Ideally I’d like to move abroad for a couple of years, which illustration as work should allow me to do with world as small as it is now through the wonders of the internet. I would like to get back to that “happy” place and really develop my work. Days can fly by and I don’t feel at all inspired to even pick up my pencil, I am hoping this feeling passes quickly.

Opportunities
I have had a number of opportunities these past few months – some I’ve taken advantage of, others I haven’t. It’s a difficult place to be, when you want to do something, but just can’t seem to find the energy. I visited London in March, which led to some great opportunities, both personal and work-wise. Having been commissioned by a magazine that is in one the major genres of illustration I’d love to pursue was a great point. Meeting others involved in the industry, being able to communicate with them, get advice and pass on my business card was another great opportunity. I have noted everything I have learned from these events to peruse in the future when I’m back to myself.

I head to London again at the end of June, which I’m looking forward to and will definitely be taking the time to contact various art directors and the like, though a bit earlier this time (not a few days before I head off). I also travel to Vancouver, Canada for three weeks in July, another opportunity to make contacts and perhaps get some portfolio viewings. It will be interesting to see how any feedback I may receive will be different to that in the UK. Vancouver is definitely up and coming market, especially since the 2010 Winter Olympics and a lot more seems to be happening there, design-wise than when I lived there.

Ideally, once I’m finished uni and have more time (I realise now, that uni isn’t the be all and end all of life), I would like spend more time on personal work, building my portfolio to fit the market I want to fit into and gain some more real world experience. I always knew, throughout my degree, that though illustration was the path for me, a large part of my heart belongs to surface design and I am going definitely pursue this area more and create products to sell through various outlets. Despite a lot of emphasis being put on editorial illustration at uni, that is not what I am as an artist. I could do it, for the sake of doing it, as I have done in the past, but it’s not something I overly enjoy (though I suppose the right editorial for the right paper/magazine might change my mind).

I just know, whatever happens, I am going to take advantage of any opportunities presented to me from now on, especially if I feel they will help my skills/creativity reach new levels.

Vintage Life Magazine – May 2012

05/05/2012

I have mentioned a piece I did for Vintage Life Magazine sometime ago. Well, the issue in which my work appears is now on the newsstands and is available at WH Smith amongst other retailers. Below you can see a preview of my work in the May 2012 issue.

Bringing me down

27/04/2012

It’s funny, people have told me for many years now that I appear to be such a confident, strong and independent person. Really, nothing could be further from the truth. How others come to this impression, I don’t know, perhaps it’s because I’m tall and wear high heels? I don’t know. Maybe on the outside I look it, but I definitely don’t feel it. Inside, I’m more often than not a crumbling mess of over-emotional anxiety.

I am so easily hurt by others, I really shouldn’t be allowed to leave my house unless accompanied by medical help. Seriously, I don’t think people get this or understand this about me. When I’m depressed it takes little more than someone that I don’t give a fuck about (pardon my French) to just look at me in a funny way and I want to take to bed and cry myself to sleep.

I cannot say university has helped this part of me at all. People say it’s the best years of their lives, not mine, it’s been some of the worst. I’m not one to try and be cool, like so many others, nor am I cliquey. Hell, I’m long past that stage of life. I am an adult, I don’t need nor want to be “cool”. However, it is difficult when you are purposely annexed from situations for no good reason. I have helped people only to be walked on in the end. I have done nothing but be myself, but apparently that’s not good enough for people and I must be shunned. Never have I felt worse about myself than in this, my final year of university. I have never had much self-confidence, but the little that I did have has been squashed out of me by it all. I don’t want to be everyone’s best friend, but it would be nice if people made the effort to give me just a bit of what I’ve given them. Not a kind word to be said to me, apparently.

Since year one, I have aimed to do well, achieve the highest marks I could achieve, show myself that I am indeed good at something. However, at this point, I could care less if I even finish. I know my degree results are not the most important thing in life, especially in a portfolio-based industry like Design and Illustration, but even there, I feel worthless. Perhaps once I’m outside of the negativity and pettiness of university, I’ll feel better and love working again.

It’s hard to see the light at the end of such a dark, long tunnel. It’s difficult to go through life feeling ignored and being on the outside and it’s getting to me. Every night, I end my day in tears at the idea of having to wake up and see people, at having to experience another day. I used to love drawing, I even used to enjoy life, but now I have no desire to even pick up my pencil or get out of bed. I don’t know how not to feel like this, how to get out of this low, it’s too difficult.

London visit – Pt. 3 Pick Me Up

27/04/2012

Quite some time ago now, when I was in London in March, I had the opportunity to attend the Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House (an beautiful location, wish I had taken some photos of the interesting art in the courtyard).

I had originally planned on meeting the rest of my uni group there (those going anyway), however it seems I was early and they were late, so we didn’t cross paths. So, I took in the show solo.

There was a large selection of artists, of varying interest to myself, so I’ll just share the ones that caught my eye. I was familiar with quite a few of the artists prior to the event, having been following their various blogs or following them on twitter for quite some time, but it was nice to see their work in person. Especially as it was much more tangible (to the eyes, at least) and you caught a greater sense of what the artist had intended.

The Artists of choice, in no particular order:

1.

Paul X Johnson – I particularly enjoy his use of figures, as they keep a semblance of real proportion and shape, which I like. His work is quite sombre and has a lovely overcast sensation with regards to his colour choice.

2.

Riikka Sormunen – I had come across Riikka’s work prior to the show and had recently started bookmarked her website to for future reference. Like Paul’s above, I like her use of the realistic-ish figure and moody scenes.

3.

Zeloot – Great colour, pattern, sixties-esque. What’s not to love?

4.

Kristjana S Williams – Another one of those you can’t help but love and in person, you definitely can’t help stick your nose right up to the glass for another look.

And those are my choice four from Pick Me Up. Of course, there was other great and talented artists, but these were by far my favourites. However, despite these and the others I liked, I did find a good chunk of the work on display to be quite uninspiring and lacking, still, was definitely worth the look in and I recommend you visit in the future (2013 will be the 4th year of the show).

Slater-Wilde

03/04/2012

I was recently commissioned by two lady architects to design them a logo. They’ve been in the business for a number of years but have always worked under another company and have decided to make a go of it on their own.

They wanted their logo to reflect them by use of what they’re known for, one being her glasses and the other her gratuitous wearing of scarves.

I thought I’d quickly share what I came up with (I gave them a couple of options, which they went with, I don’t know as of yet). It was created in illustrator for ease of colour change and scale.

London visit – Pt. 2 – Company Magazine

27/03/2012

My second visit in London, which was my first individual visit, was with Company Magazine, a young women’s fashion magazine. I met with Tanita Montgomery, the magazine’s Art Editor in the lobby of the Hearst Magazine Building in London, having arrived freshly from DDB.

The meeting itself went really well, and Tanita liked my book as a whole. She, like my graphic guru Natalie, believes I should work under two names however, as my work is quite clearly divided into two different “styles”. I’ll definitely be considering this in the future, if I continue to work in two clearly defined ways as I develop my skills. She liked the fashion work I had done, particularly one of the girls I had completed for Amelia’s and said she could see her on the pages of Company. She also liked my Macmillan work (the fox & bear story), which is one of the favourites of everyone I’ve met so far it seems, and liked my use of pattern and colour in general. It’s funny, because the Macmillan pieces were quite a last minute decision on my part and rather rushed, yet they seem to draw a lot of attention. I suppose it shows that when something comes quickly and naturally to you as pattern seems to do to me, there’s a good chance it might be right and it will work out in the end.

How I can say the meeting went very well, is Tanita has asked me to do some work for the magazine! Though I’m not at liberty to share much about it here at the moment, I am obviously quite excited and am looking forward to it as it will be some of my first work on a national scale.

London visit – Pt. 1 – DDB UK

25/03/2012

This past week, I had the opportunity to visit London with my university course with the outlook to visit people in the creative industry and gain advice and feedback on my portfolio.

Straight off the train, for me at least, we had a group meeting at DDB, an advertising agency. So I rushed over and luckily found myself on time. The meeting took place with one of DDB’s Art Buyers (who’s name I regrettably forget) and was an opportunity to learn about what kind of people they work with, both clients and creative and how they find the illustrators they use. It was interesting and affirming to hear from someone in such a major firm that there is indeed work out there, both at that level and beyond. He discussed with us what he found promising in an illustrator’s portfolio, such as variety, which is quite funny as I seem to hear much conflicting advice on this point. I have been to several portfolio meetings and all thus far all have liked the broad variety of my portfolio, whilst I have heard and read about others being told their portfolios are too broad. Perhaps the difference is, so I’ve been told anyway, that despite my work being varied, you can indeed tell it is all done by me. Perhaps my personality shines through and makes it all “Megan”. I really don’t know, but it’s definitely something I’m going to be actively aware of in the future. My graphic guru, Natalie, has told me to consider maybe working under two different names for my two ways of working which may be a good idea. It would allow me to enter the illustration industry from different angles and prevent me from being pigeonholed into a certain way of working all of the time. After all, variety is the spice of life.

At the end of the DDB meeting, which I had to rush off from as I had a second meeting later that day, I handed over my business card and all I can do now I suppose is hope for the best, as you never know, I might be the right illustrator for one their clients.

On reflection, one major theme in the feedback I have received from everyone I have spoken to is that my work is on a professional level (though of course, there is always room for improvement) and that my book is well put together and looks great. It reassures me that there is a place for me out there in the big wide creative world, even if some days I feel like my work is rubbish. I perceive myself differently than others tend to, and though I am working on being a more positive person (in general), it is good to know I am sometimes too hard on myself and should have a bit more faith in my skills.

Personal Project – Final(ly)!

25/03/2012

Finally sharing something to do with the many times aforementioned “Personal Project” back from term one of this academic year. Well, I have to say, it’s not what I’ve described before, a usual, I went off another completely different tangent (I’m so fickle!) and started anew, again.

I hummed and ha-ed over this project for ages and struggled to begin it when it was first briefed, to the point where I didn’t start it. Unfortunately, I am my own worst enemy and my depression took over me for the majority of first term rendering me useless (more than usual, anyway). As I have said before, I am lucky to have understanding tutors and an understanding doctor and was sorted out and given some extra time. Well, that time has come and I am now able to unveil the long awaited “personal project”.

Eight ideas later (and nearly as many starts), I settled on the theme Marie-Antoinette. It allowed me to creative something decorative whilst telling a story that everyone knows. I was also able to add a bit of humour to the project, which I rarely do. Though perhaps you may not find it as funny as I do.

I decided to stick to designing for the outcome of a scarf, because despite all of my talk of scarves, I’ve yet to go there. Also, with a scarf, I didn’t necessarily have to create a “scene” or a distance story.

So, I started by sketching my ideas out (which can be found on my research blog) and finally drawing my idea of Marie-Antoinette.

This is where my sense of humour kicks in – her holding her own head with a look of surprise on her face. Yes, I find that a little bit funny.

I then cleaned her up and inked her and ended with something like a page out of a colouring book. Not a look I particularly go for, normally.

I then spent ages playing with colouring her and nothing seemed to work, be it markers, paint or digital colouring, it all just looked… shite. So I decided to colour her with markers and then play with the image digitally to see what I could come up. I don’t usually use digital filters, but at my wits end, I did and it came up with something I actually quite liked.

I also created a variety of wallpaper sketches and bits and bobs, which can also be seen for the most part, on the relevant research blog.

Then, I threw it all together to create (many slightly different varieties of) this:

I also played around with the colour and finally decided I’d like to to do multiple colour ways, each bringing the piece a different feeling/mood.

I had originally planned on going with the baby blues, pinks and mints most often associated with Marie-Atoinette, but I have a strong aversion to baby blue and couldn’t bring myself to do it (and it looked rubbish), so I went with a more 1970′s colour scheme (as seen in the first image) which I feel livens the piece up. From there, the purple and yellow came from one of my favourite colour combination.

I am currently waiting on some quotes from various printers (so expensive so far!) and then will be sending it off to be digitally printed and turned into a real life scarf, hopefully.


 
© 2009-2012 Megan Thomas Illustration.