My Best Friend - Bonnie Rainey

I haven't posted in a while, which is frustrating, but I have had a lot of things going on in my life. I will try and post more in the future as I have a lot of things to talk about.

The first big thing thats happened in my life is that I have lost my dog and best friend Bonnie. She unfortunately couldn't last any longer and had to be put to sleep. For anyone thats lost a dog you will understand the feelings I am going through. I am heartbroken and miss her so much. I remember the first day I got her when I was 11 years old. She was tiny and came wrapped up in my dads coat. She had a red ribbon on her head and was very shy and timid. I had so many good memories with her and basically grew up with her.

I will always remember how she was always there for me, cuddled me and we had lots of adventures together. She loved the beach, playing with her toys and cuddling up. It honestly feels so strange with her not being here, its like there is a major part of my life missing.

One thing I know is that I gave her all the love and care in the world whilst she was here with me and I hope she's knows that. I will treasure my memories of her for the rest of my life. She really was my best friend and my family.

Here are some of my favourite pictures of her. Enjoying the beach and the pool. The middle one in particular the look of love she is giving me makes me sad, but happy. I hope you enjoy.

Q & A with Laura Fray and Jess Turley- INC INK ART

http://www.inkincillustration.co.uk  (all the amazing images used on this page are from this website and were created by Laura and Jess, please go and check out there work by clicking on the link)

I thought it would be a good idea to try and get some advice from professional illustrators/designers. So I thought of Laura Fray and Jess Turley, successful illustrators based in Manchester that run a shop and sell a number of illustration based products, from framed pictures, postcards, cushions and a lot of other products. Im a huge admirer of there style of work and the way they produce work.

I visited there studio and they kindly answered a few questions I had and gave me some great advice ! which I really appreciate. Im going to summarise what they told me below (not word for word).   

1) what inspired you to first start drawing / take up illustration ? 

Both Laura and Jess come from creative backgrounds. What I found interesting was that they both came from fashion/printing/textile backgrounds. They both had interest and enjoyment in drawing and decided to try and pursue a full time career in illustration working as a team for themselves, rather then at a fashion studio or business. They've used what they know from fashion to aid them on there way to becoming successful illustrators.

2) Can you explain your creative process ?

They explained in some detail how they go about creating their illustrations and ideas. Explaining that they don't often do lots of research before hand and instead use their own initiative and imagination when it comes to creating drawings. So if they think an idea will work or look good they can then go ahead to sell that or use it. Similar to myself in the way they use Photoshop and other adobe programmes. They didn't know how to use them straight out of uni and have learnt more by getting used to them through trial and error and learning for themselves. I found that really encouraging as I always get in the mind set you have to know how to use them fully and if you don't you can't be as successful. They are proof you can. The main process of creating work is usually coming up with an idea, using fine liners to draw out the idea and then use the computer to edit and refine the image.

3) Do you ever get creative slumps ? how do you combat that ? 

This answer did make me laugh as they suggested "drinking wine". They explained as they have become busier they don't get into that mindset as much and manage time and what they need to do more. They are always doing something so when it comes to drawing they treasure that time and enjoy it.

4) Whats the best bit about being an illustrator ? 

They both explained the best bit was being their own bosses and having the freedom to create what they wanted and when they wanted. They don't earn as much money as they previously did, but they are happy doing what they do.


5) Have you found it difficult to become professional / any tips for someone trying to make it professionally ? 

• Finance/learning about cost - they both said they didn't really know much about costings, how to price things, or much about running a business. They've both learnt as they've gone along.They mentioned holding an exhibition showing there work that went quite successful and that gave them the kick and inspiration they need to pursue an illustration career. 
• Experience - get experience in something related, it doesn't always work out where you can just get an art job and sometimes you have to get something related or a job where you can use that experience to further yourself
• Social media - Use Instagram, Facebook, twitter and attend events. get your name out there and showcase your work. 

Illustrator lessons

Having watched as many adobe illustrator  tutorial videos as possible and trying to learn as much as I could, I've been practicing using the pen tool more. I'm trying to not lose or forget what I've learnt. Being a manchester city fan I thought it would be a good idea to try and recreate there badge. I think I've done a pretty good job. Some of the letters need more work on them, but from going to knowing nothing to producing this, Im pretty happy.

Life Drawing

This is from another of my life drawing classes. Im really happy with how this turned out. It was really challenging to draw, not because of the model, but because I decided to sit down for this one. Usually I'm stood up drawing and its a very different experience as you can't move your arm as freely to draw. I think I captured the shape of the body well, but I think for next week I want to try and focus in on shading especially around the face. 

Illustrator Lessons

This is another attempt at using illustrator to create drawings/work. I think I'm getting to grips with drawing with the pen tool now and using the pen tool to create shapes and curves. Ive experimented with this one after creating the initial shape, using different colour schemes and placing different darker spots throughout the drawing.

Life Drawing

I wanted to try and get back into drawing again and regain some of my confidence. One of the best ways I've found to do that is to attend life drawing classes. So thats what Ive been doing. These are my first attempts. I found it quite relaxing, but also a challenge. I'm really pleased with how the face turned out, as I often struggle to capture facial expressions. I apologize for the bottom picture beign a bit blurry - I need a better camera ! 

Illustrator Lessons

This is my third attempt at a vector/illustrator based drawing. Ive found having an idea before hand really helps, especially when it involves simple shapes. Here I've also used the pencil tool to create the more organic lines, such as the lines inside the cactus or on the floor. I wish that id learnt this earlier as I found the process really easy. I still think my work needs a hand drawn element, so Im going to try and combine the two together when appropriate. I think this style could work really well with editorial work.

I want to try and create more work using different view points and angles though.

Illustrator Lessons

This is my second attempt at recreating an old drawing in illustrator. I think I've done a much better job with this one. I really like the smooth finish that illustrator creates. I think I'm going to use illustrator more for basic shapes like this. I don't think it works as well with a more detailed drawing and its a lot harder for me to recreate. Im seeing signs of progress though.

Ive been trying to find work ( full time ) in design for a while now, but what I've been finding is that most jobs, if not all you need to know how to use illustrator and other adobe programs. If Im being honest my illustrator skills are very basic. So I've set myself a challenge of learning how to use it properly. I've used tasty tuts, which is a brilliant youtube channel for anyone trying to learn.

Ive been watching you tubes videos and going through everything there is on illustrator to try and learn as much as possible. Right from the basic things to more complicated things. Above is my attempt at drawing out an old illustration, just using the pen tool and what I've learnt the past few weeks. Its not the best, but its an improvement from where I was. The pen tool I've found really difficult to use, but slowly I am getting there. I just need more practice and to keep going with it.

Fahrenheit 451

It has been a long time since I last posted on here. I think now is the right time to try and start posting again. I have always been a avid book reader and my aim is to write down my thoughts and respond to each book on my blog. 

"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix before Christ, every few hundred years he build a pyre and burnt himself up, he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over, and it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had. We know the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it someday we'll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. 

Fahrenheit 451 is a book I have been meaning to read for a while. I have finally done so and I must say it was an extremely enjoyable book. A dystopian novel written by american author Ray Bradbury, the book is centered on the main character Guy Montag. His job as a fireman is to destroy books - the discord of all unhappiness in society. 

This story is one of a future with no thought and no questioning, i.e. why do we do things, what is that or whats the story behind that. Society in general becoming bland and emotionless with people unable to think for themselves. Everything 100 miles an hour and instantly explained on a television. Books and anything intellectual have become the source of all evil and the story itself focuses on the idea of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. With that the history of the past gone and people unable to question things and unable to learn from past mistakes. 

This book is very symbolic in my opinion of where society could be heading and the author has some very interesting ideas about the way we live. The quote above is a perfect description for me. We forget and make the same mistakes, rather then learn from them. Books and ideas are the counterweight to that. Books in particular hold such strong power i.e. history of the past, lessons of the past and imagination - the ability to use your mind to transport yourself to another fictional world. People aren't meant to be glued to the tv like zombies, but living real lives and not forgetting about real things - family, relationships..

This world created by Ray Bradbury, is a world lacking in colour and emotion, until the main character opens his eyes and opens his mind to the world around him.“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” 

This book is a fantastic read and I would urge anyone to read it. It certainly challenged the way I think.

The Time Machine

Ive always had a interest in science fiction/fantasy novels. 'The Time Machine' a book written by author H.G WELLS is a book I've always wanted to read. The idea of exploring the unknown and traveling to the future has always fascinated me. From classic films like Back to the Future - time travel, is such an interesting concept.

The book itself is a great read and holds up so well considering it was written over 100 years ago. The book  is an imaginative viewpoint of what society and the world has become in the future. The idea of society almost breaking down and the human race coming to a point where it almost devolves into something less. The main character, known as the time traveller, arrives in a world where small child like adults live in run down buildings of a bygone era. He thinks humans have evolved through technology, where the human mind has become less important in a peaceful world.

However he finds two forms of life the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Morlocks - blackened and only seem to live underground. I love the atmosphere created and the character development of the Morlocks and how they are portrayed as almost monsters. Towards the end he realizes that the childlike adults ( Eloi) are actually cattle and food for the Morlocks. He then travels further through time to a world of giant creatures and a dying planet.

When I read this book, I can easily imagine the world he is in and the characters that are there. I can imagine bright star filled worlds and books like this make me wonder about our own future. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it.

The Future

After a break from all things illustration, university and work. I can proudly say that I've just finished my degree and I have achieved a First class honors in illustration. After lots of hard work I finally feel like I've achieved something. Below is a picture of my degree show which took place in Stockport College. I received many kind compliments about my work and lots of interest, with the illustrations I thought best showcased me as an artist. I need to keep progressing and getting better at drawing. So I will be posting at least once a week from now on, on what I'm doing, my drawings, my ideas and my interests. I'm looking forward to this next chapter in my life. 

Chris Madden advice

Previous Stockport college student and illustrator Chris Madden seemed like a really good person to ask for advice from. I want to follow a similar path to his own and my work is similar in its style - the use of visual metaphors. He gave some really great advice on my work. Thanks Chris :)  - His website http://www.maddenillustration.co.uk

Advice

I have had a proper look through your website and have a few pointers for you. Obviously, this is just my opinion and you should definitely listen to your own instincts, too.

Overall, your work looks really strong - it’s clear that you are very skilled with a pencil, a lot of illustrators these days rely too much on ‘style' to carry them, without having a good understanding of the basics (I am one of them) so that’s a really good strength to have.

With regards to your portfolio, I think a few minor tweaks here and there will make it look really great. 

In my opinion, your strongest work is the 'NHS Waiting Times’ and ‘Soldiers Stories’ images. They display a really good range of skills, the ability to portray a visual idea, and are bold and colourful - all qualities that art directors look for in an illustrator’s work. 

In the B&W images (snow leopard/being homeless) I would be inclined to add an element of colour - maybe even just a flat grey if you want to keep them monochrome - so there is a definite contrast between the background and focal points. The elements are really well drawn but all merge together and become difficult to see, some nice contrasting colours would really help. 

A few pointers on your website - I know you will be working on your site constantly, so you may be in the process of implementing my suggestions already.

I think your site would benefit from a little bit of context. Having a short description of what each image relates to can really help ADs visualise your thought process and how you may fit into their publication. It only really needs to be a sentence or synopsis of the article/book/essay you illustrated. Also, naming the publication is a good idea as it shows that you’ve been trusted to work for somebody else before, so an AD will feel more comfortable trusting your with their assignments.

Other than that, I think you’re on the right track. You’ve obviously found a way of making images that works for you. I can definitely see you doing well with Editorial clients with this kind of work.

If you have anymore questions, just ask and i’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Good Luck with it all - looking forward to seeing your degree show!

A Tug of War

This is the final image I have produced for this unit of work. It was one of my original ideas for this project. Based on NHS waiting times the idea behind it is a tug of war between doctors and politicians/business types in the struggle of the NHS. The politicians wanting one thing and the doctors the other, all the while the life of the NHS represented by the red life line being pulled in the middle.

This piece works metaphorically for me and really represents what the story is about.

Client List

The most difficult part of being an illustrator in my opinion is knowing where your work fits in. After a few years of improving my drawing and finding a consistent style I have found that my work and own enjoyment is in current affairs and social issues, so editorial work is where I want to work in the future.

Using the AOI client list, I have come up with a list of potential clients that I can work with and that I feel suit my own style of work.

• The Independent 
• Daily telegraph
• Money observer 
• Financal Times - Weekend - Im really interested in this client as they use highly conceptualized work and I can see my work fitting in there. I have sent out samples of my work to them.  

• Creative Review 
• Radio Times 
• The Big Issue 
• New Internationalist 
• Sunday Times 
• The Spectator 
• Financal Times business - Highly Conceptualised. I really like the style of their illustrations so I will be sending samples of my work to them
• The Guardian - Im interested in this client as they often take on new illustrators and I can see my work fitting in there. I have sent samples of my work to them. 

I know I'm aiming high from the list above, but from the AOI list these clients are the most suited to my style of work. I will keep researching and looking for other clients of a similar nature. 

I didn't want to just limit myself to just editorial as I have to be adaptable and able to work in a number of fields, so I am looking into publishers as well. 

NHS waiting Times

Rather then showing all my initial ideas separately, I thought it would be a better idea to show you  both the initial and finished illustration. Then you can see the process I go through and how my idea develops. 

This initial idea is based on the news articles about NHS waiting times and the effect government cut's are having. I tried to think of symbols or visual metaphors related to time and waiting. So I wanted some kind of clock or alarm clock that I could manipulate into a building, that people would then be queuing up to. I wanted to keep the image simple and reflect the nature of the story. I started out with a few rough sketches and played around with the composition and type of clock I wanted. 

I realize its not the best picture. 

This is the final image. You can see the process I've taken from my initial sketches. I am so happy with the final outcome. I think I've refined my style of work to include the detail in the figure, but use simple almost graphic imagery to complement that. I decided to add a chimney and a door to make it look more like a building rather than a clock and went with quite neutral colours that I thought work well. 

Abstract Front Cover

I wanted something for a front cover, but like the previous project I didn't want to use the an image I had already done, so I decided to try and create something abstract and different from the other images I had created. I enjoyed making this as I could really be creative with composition and use of colour. I think this has been a success.

A Soliders Story - flashlight

This story is quite a hard hitting serious one, so I wanted to reflect that In the imagery. I didn't want it to be too detailed and just show the core idea I was trying to get across. My initial idea was centered on the idea of the flashes of light. Solider's often after war struggle with light as it often reminds soldiers of a war zone and the bright flashes of light that they have to deal with. I thought of using a flash light as a metaphor for that and focusing the composition on the soldier on the floor. The hand again is such a powerful image to use so I wanted to use that. I was thinking about composition especially with this one. 

This is the final Image. I tried to incorporate a pastel texture into the image and a shadow on the person so it didn't look as if he was floating. Im happy with the colour scheme, however I may change that in the future. 

Contacting Art Directors/Artists

As part of my university course one of the tasks set out to us, is to contact art professionals. So art directors of editorial newspapers would be an example. After creating a client list with my preferred choices, I sent out a number of emails, briefly stating who I was and why I thought my work could be a good fit for their company. I attached a pdf containing a few of my images and a link to my website. I found this process incredibly frustrating, as I found that a lot of the art directors I was emailing weren't responding to me and often not opening their emails. Its disheartening and annoying, but I wasn't prepared to give up. 

So I emailed more art directors and sent samples of my work, deciding in the process that rather than narrowing where my work could fit in, I looked at publishers as well as editorial companies. I think my style of work is aimed more at adult style books, so I only contacted that kind of client. 

Luckily Ive had a reply !!. From an independent press publisher called 'Atlantic Press'. Its a publisher primarily run by illustrators. The main theme of their books is 'Authorial Illustration'. So its all about creating graphic literature, with the illustrations created around the artists words. Its all about letting the illustrator be the driving force behind whats in the book and the type of work they want. 

I hadn't really thought about this type of illustration before in terms of my own work, but the type of freedom and style of illustrations really interested me and this is definitely something I want to look into. 

http://atlanticpressbooks.com

The work is different from what I do, but I can see my work fitting into this kind of genre. These beautiful illustrations are by Elizabeth Blue and Charmian Hussey. 

I emailed the company and luckily someone who helps run Atlantic Press called Stephen Braund, replied back to me. He was really nice down to earth guy who also very kindly sent me a free copy of the book above with a nice note wishing me good luck for the future. In a phone conversation with him, I asked him what he thought of my work as I wanted his invaluable advice about my work. He said 'you have great potential and I can see the direction your work is going in' He compared my work and way of working to 1984 book illustrator Alex Williamson. 

He then recommend this authorial type of illustration and that my work could be a good fit for that style. It is nerve-wracking talking to someone like that, but it really helped and encouraged me to know the positives people see in my work. 

I didn't really know who Alex Williamson is, but I can see why he compared my work to his. especially his use of hands, which I often use within my work. I love the book 1984 swell. 

My own book !!

As part of my dissertation I had to design and illustrate my own book. My dissertation was based on 'visual dynamics', so aspects of picture making like line, shape and texture. I experimented with space and composition and I wanted a professional clean look, with hints of mark making and texture throughout to reflect my essay.

I am so happy and proud of what I have produced !!.