Amelia’s Magazine | D&AD New Blood 2014 Review

New Blood review 2014
This year the D&AD New Blood show returned once more to Spitalfields Market. The overwhelming emphasis was on work aimed at the more commercial sector of the graphic arts, with less colleges than in previous years choosing to showcase pure illustration.

New Blood Don't be a Dick
Straight away, I picked up a copy of the Don’t be a Dick newspaper by Shellsuit Zombie, offering some salient graduate advice in a nicely edited one page form.

New Blood Southampton type
Nothing was labelled on the otherwise always excellent Solent Illustration stand, so I tried to match up artwork to illustrators using their A4 hand out and nicely produced newspaper. It wasn’t easy! And even harder to locate websites in quite a lot of cases… The funky circus inspired typography above is by Laura Hunt. Dontcha just love the word funky?

New Blood southampton
Luke Baker is responsible for this gridlocked city scene.

New Blood southampton skull
Kirby Pyle made this skull and other wooden cut outs.

New Blood southampton stencil
Hannah Bartlett’s stencilled lady looks into her looking glass.

New Blood southamption grace williams
In the newspaper: I liked this abstract image by Grace Williams.

New Blood southampton emily wilks
Emily Wilks made this cool pattern of animals and foliage. We were not officially invited but I picked up an invite to the students’ stand alone show at the Coningsby Gallery, and asked former student Jenny Robins to cover the Wooly Bully studio work in more detail… to be posted soon.

New Blood Jennifer Humphreys
These decorative blue hands by Jennifer Humphreys at Gray’s School of Art went down a storm when I shared them on instagram.

New Blood Hannah Botma
Dinosaurs in bottles were held up by the ever popular bulldog clip method, by Hannah Botma at Edinburgh College of Art.

New Blood Caitlin Parks
I was most taken by this exploding bird from Caitlin Parks, part of a series designed to draw attention to the plastics found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

New Blood troll lips
At the University of the West of England Holly Dennis made this arresting image: the word Troll collapsing over overprinted neon lips.

New Blood 2014 -Mark Cook
At Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design the designer Mark Cook had produced this very appealing poster of fish lures.

New Blood David Hill
This tram coming up a hill is by David Hill at Sheffield Hallam University.

New Blood Emily Elvin
At Edinburgh Napier University Emily Elvin explored sleep in this rotating paper sculpture.

New Blood  By Heather McCarthy at Sussex College Hastings
At Sussex College Hastings Heather McCarthy had created some wonderful cards and posters designed to promote foreign destinations.

New Blood Dream Good by Hilary Newman
Colour, type and pattern were used to great effect in this Dream Good pamphlet by Hilary Newman at Bath Spa University.

New Blood Hipsters by Jacqueline Fryars at Blackpool & Flyde college
These hipsters are by Jacqueline Fryars at Blackpool & Flyde College. So true… beards and tattoos… everywhere. I have to say though, that it’s not the greatest to discover one of my own tweets (and that’s all) when trying to track down a student’s presence online.

New Blood Sophie Heywood
The trend for all things handmade shows no sign of abating. I like this risograph print for Handmade Studio by Sophie Heywood at UCLAN.

New Blood Midwinter Mischief by Dawn Williams
I was very sad to have missed the Middlesex University illustration show (no invite) because a small selection will never give me a full view of the talent on any one course. At New Blood I was drawn to this wonderful Midwinter Mischief fold out book by Dawn Williams.

New Blood Kayleigh Pavelin
I also liked these strong images of an African wild dog and giraffe by Kayleigh Pavelin.

New Blood Gary Curzai
Typography by Gary Curzai was clearly inspired by traditional Indian signage, but his is a fresh new update for a modern world.

New Blood David Doran
David Doran from Falmouth University already has an impressive list of clients to his name. I’m not surprised, his colourful patterned work is extremely clever and hugely engaging.

New Blood Dream Alphabet by Lauren Humphrey
Lauren Humphrey has adopted a similar curvaceous outlook, rendered in an appealing neon colour palette. I loved her humorous Dream Alphabet.

New Blood Rachel Saunders- Let's Play PeePo
The sea air must nuture illustration talent. Rachel SaundersLet’s Play Peepo! features lots of fabulous animals and foliage.

Falmouth students are also notable for their hearty online presence: I always find it intriguing how students at one college can be so incredibly useless at self promotion, whilst at another they are all on top of it. Can it all be solely down to talent that so many Falmouth students are doing well professionally before graduation? Maybe, but it doesn’t hurt to put yourself out there, and the sooner the better.

New Blood Necklace by Kristi Minchin
This quirky and colourful laser cut necklace is by Kristi Minchin at Arts University Bournemouth, who had also created a bizarre greeting machine replete with waving hands. I will be covering other discoveries at their High Noon stand alone show in another blog post.

New Blood Annabel Davis cats
Daft but brilliant. Annabel Davis imagines kittens and cats as kings and queens.

New Blood Strange animals by Dan Widdowson
These strange animals are by Dan Widdowson.

New Blood Lauren Rothery at Plymouth Uni
Lauren Rothery at Plymouth University had created these pamphlets with titles such as ‘How to Interact Socially.’

New Blood Norwich uni
I really liked the little hand out sheets about artists at Norwich University of the Arts: a nice touch.

New Blood Oddities by Tim Blann
These oddities are by Tim Blann, who has an appealingly blobby style.

New Blood Chris Shuttleworth - Learn to Sail
New Blood Shuttlefingers Pitch a Tent
Chris Shuttleworth at Leeds College of Art made these eye catching promotional posters adorned with the slogans Learn to Sail and Pitch a Tent.

New Blood staffordshire dogs
Finally, I didn’t record the name of the designer behind these marvellous pink Staffordshire Dogs. Sorry!

The hall was buzzing on my visit to New Blood, and I thought it interesting to hear from one graduate that it was a great opportunity for her to meet all the other students she had been following online for so long. Times have changed! How wonderful that nowadays the most engaged illustrators can discover and friend each other from across the UK before they have even graduated. Just think of the potential work partnerships.

Categories ,2014, ,Annabel Davis, ,Arts University Bournemouth, ,Bath Spa University, ,Blackpool & Flyde College, ,Caitlin Parks, ,Chris Shuttleworth, ,Coningsby Gallery, ,D&AD, ,Dan Widdowson, ,David Doran, ,David Hill, ,Dawn Williams, ,Don’t be a Dick, ,Dream Alphabet, ,Dream Good, ,Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, ,Edinburgh College of Art, ,Edinburgh Napier University, ,Emily Elvin, ,Emily Wilks, ,Falmouth University, ,Gary Curzai, ,Grace Williams, ,Graphic Design, ,Gray’s School of Art, ,Great Pacific Garbage Patch, ,Handmade Studio, ,Hannah Bartlett, ,Hannah Botma, ,Heather McCarthy, ,High Noon, ,Hilary Newman, ,Holly Dennis, ,How to Interact Socially, ,illustration, ,Jacqueline Fryars, ,Jennifer Humphreys, ,Kayleigh Pavelin, ,Kirby Pyle, ,Kristi Minchin, ,Laura Hunt, ,Lauren Humphrey, ,Lauren Rothery, ,Learn to Sail, ,Leeds College of Art, ,Let’s Play Peepo!, ,Luke Baker, ,Mark Cook, ,middlesex university, ,Midwinter Mischief, ,New Blood, ,Norwich University of the Arts, ,Pitch a Tent, ,Plymouth University, ,Rachel Saunders, ,review, ,Sheffield Hallam University, ,Shellsuit Zombie, ,Solent Illustration, ,Sophie Heywood, ,Southampton Solent School of Art and Design, ,Spitalfields Market, ,Staffordshire Dogs, ,Sussex College Hastings, ,Tim Blann, ,Troll, ,typography, ,UCLan, ,University of the West of England, ,Wooly Bully

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Amelia’s Magazine | Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration & Graphic Design Graduates 2012: part one

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Ivana Thomas
Image by Ivana Thomas.

This year the New Blood graduate talent show eschewed the lofty halls of Free Range at the Truman Brewery and relocated to a cramped custom built exhibition space in Spitalfields Market. I popped down to do a bit of talent spotting on the night the awards winners were announced so it was immensely busy, making it hard enough for the average punter to get around and doubly so for me since I had brought Snarfle in his pram. As usual this was a huge show so I have left out the work by colleges whose stand alone exhibitions I visited at a later date but this still leaves me with a huge amount to share… and it’s taking me forever to get these blogs online (Snarfle, again). It also takes ages to get everything together but I think it’s really important to include as much information about the designers and illustrators as possible, so that any prospective employers can track them down should they want to.

Because illustration and graphic design are becoming ever more entwined I’ve decided to blog about them together. Here we go….

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Richard Sweeney
At Burton and South Derbyshire College Richard Sweeney showcased his branding skills with this confident piece of artwork for the Dam Busters, created for the Derwent Dam Museum.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Melissa Preston
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Melissa Preston
The crafting influence on graphic design continues apace at this year’s shows: at Edinburgh Napier University graphic designer Melissa Preston embroidered Money Can’t Buy Me Love and other slogans on cotton.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -chris cole
Loved this multi image plane print for the RAF Museum by Chris Cole from Norwich University of the Arts.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -joe smith
New Blood graduate show 2012 -joe smith
There was some live action at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the form of a twitter message chalk board by Joe Smith, graphic communicator.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Alex Johnson
Beautiful typography on old fashioned packaging by Alex Johnson.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Eliot Wyatt
There was some very promising artwork on display at Bath Spa University so I was very sad to see that I missed their stand alone show at the Rochelle School. Eliot Wyatt asked whether gangs are defined by what they do or the way they look? Delightful illustrations in very fashionable slightly off neon colours (the risograph influence).

New Blood graduate show 2012 Tess Redburn
Tess Redburn‘s colourful lithographic print also caught my eye.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Melissa Leiva
I liked expressionistic portraits by Melissa Leiva at the American Intercontinental University.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Hannah Bartlett
Paper cutting was alive and well with Hannah Bartlett at Carmarthenshire College. Check out also her jellybean poster!

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Ruth Wood
More 3D paper cutting on a poster at Nottingham Trent by Ruth Wood.

New Blood graduate show 2012 Maddy Crampton
Sussex Coast College Hastings showcased typographic interpretations of bird sounds by Maddy Crampton.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Kirsty Turpie
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Kirsty Turpie
The Waitress by Kirsty Turpie at University of Dundee was a worthy winner of a Best New Blood award.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Megan Elizabeth Taylor
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Megan Elizabeth Taylor
Megan Elizabeth Taylor painted these intriguing figures at Glasgow School of Art. So badly mounted though… tut tut.

New Blood graduate show 2012 Gabriella Marcella DiTano
New Blood graduate show 2012 Gabriella Marcella DiTano
New Blood graduate show 2012 Gabriella Marcella DiTano
Gabriella Marcella DiTano won Best New Blood with her outstanding display of 80s influenced artworks. Love that cassette tape packaging vibe she’s got going on.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Megan Brooks
At University College Falmouth Megan Brooks created a response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria – a decorative pattern that on closer inspection was revealed to bbe 10,000 hands raised in the V for Victory sign – each representing a protestor who has died in the crackdown. She has projected 10,000 Syrians onto buildings to raise awareness and is another Best New Blood winner. NB – I love a description next to a piece of work, makes it so much easier to understand (and to describe to my readers).

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Joanna Halpin
Joanna Halpin chose the decline of bees in Britain as the subject of her appealing graphic poster.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Kudzai Dyirakumunda
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Kudzai Dyirakumunda
Kudzai Dyirakumunda london riots news block New Blood graduate show 2012 -Kudzai Dyirakumunda
I was immediately drawn in by Kudzai Dyirakumunda‘s work, London Riots, on the stand from The Arts University College at Bournemouth – inspired by egalitarian commentary gleaned from twitter and featuring wooden blocks engraved with quotes, shattered glass, riot helmeted police, and stunning typography – another deserving New Blood winner.

New Blood graduate show 2012 Blaire Frame
Blaire Frame created this lovely graphic collaged poster at University of Wolverhampton.

New Blood graduate show 2012 Juliet Bankes
New Blood graduate show 2012 Juliet Bankes
Yet another one of my picks chimed with the New Blood judging panel: Juliet Bankes at Oxford & Cherwell Valley College (part of De Montfort University) displayed Memory and Preserving V. In these she deconstructed the meaning of simple objects – spatulas and serving spoons from a manor house are embedded with lives past: home produce grown on an allotment, the old village ways.

New Blood graduate show 2012 -Ivana Thomas
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Ivana Thomas
New Blood graduate show 2012 -Ivana Thomas
I also absolutely adored curvaceous illustrations by Ivana Thomas, who took inspiration from Slovak proverbs which have an equivalent in English such as ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.’

More coming up soon!
Read my second blog review of New Blood 2012 here.
Read my third blog review of New Blood 2012 here.

Categories ,2012, ,Alex Johnson, ,American Intercontinental University, ,Bath Spa University, ,Bees, ,Blaire Frame, ,Burton and South Derbyshire College, ,Cardiff Metropolitan University, ,Carmarthenshire College, ,Chris Cole, ,D&AD, ,Dam Busters, ,De Montfort University, ,Derwent Dam Museum, ,Edinburgh Napier University, ,Eliot Wyatt, ,embroidery, ,Free Range, ,Gabriella Marcella DiTano, ,Glasgow School of Art, ,Graphic Design, ,Hannah Bartlett, ,illustration, ,Ivana Thomas, ,Joanna Halpin, ,Joe Smith, ,Kirsty Turpie, ,Kudzai Dyirakumunda, ,London Riots, ,Megan Brooks, ,Megan Elizabeth Taylor, ,Melissa Leiva, ,Melissa Preston, ,Memory, ,Money Can’t Buy Me Love, ,New Blood, ,Norwich University of the Arts, ,Nottingham Trent University, ,Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, ,Preserving V, ,Proverbs, ,RAF Museum, ,review, ,Richard Sweeney, ,Risograph, ,Rochelle School, ,Ruth Wood, ,Slovak, ,Spitalfields Market, ,Sussex Coast College Hastings, ,Syria, ,Tess Redburn, ,The Arts University College at Bournemouth, ,The Waitress, ,University College Falmouth, ,University of Dundee, ,University of Wolverhampton, ,Visual Communication

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