Amelia’s Magazine | UWE Illustration Degree Show – Break a Lead 2013: Review

Jodie McNeil naked men
I regret to say that I have been somewhat remiss in my coverage of the annual stand alone UWE Break a Lead illustration show, despite this course turning out some top illustrators, including quite a few who have contributed to Amelia’s Magazine (although not in recent years, sadly). This year the graduating students chose to show at the Truman Brewery as part of Free Range, in a cavernous room adjacent to the UpMarket – a smart move it turned out, as this part of the exhibitions was much busier than elsewhere due to intrigued passing traffic. Here’s my pick of the talent:

Jodie McNeil uwe
I liked large scale illustrations of quirky domestic and religious inspired narrative situations, by Jodie McNeil (see also the top of this post).

Elizabeth Loveday Birchley lady
Elizabeth Loveday Birchley
Elizabeth Loveday Birchley created curious ladies and texts using old fabrics and embroidery instead of traditional paint.

Man cabinet by George McCallum
George McCallum gun shirt
George McCallum took a jovial approach to his show, building this striking man cabinet in yellow which he featured alongside a pastel patterned wooden gun held aloft by a man in a short sleeved shirt with a distinct 80s vibe. Miami Vice eat your heart out. His most recent tweet describes an intriguing next project: ‘started work on my bird house squats. based on abandoned millionaire mansions and counsel flats’...

Jack Bailey newspaper
Jack Bailey - Dancehall in the Foodhall
Jack Bailey used a minimal colour palette to produce a series of bold narrative illustrations with a humorous edge. I particularly liked Dancehall in a Foodhall – his image of ladies eating oversized fastfood.

Madison Shackell-York safari
An atmospheric ages old safari landscape pattern by Madison Shackell-York would not look out of place in a Nobrow publication.

First World Problems- laptop makes my legs hot, by Adeel Khan
Adeel Khan addressed a host of First World Problems in a poster: ‘Laptop makes my legs hot‘ was certainly one I can relate to!

Jess Warby
Characters by Jessica Warby UWE
I liked these characters by Jessica Warby, who specialises in complex decorative narrative illustrations created in a variety of media.

Brittany Molineux bottles
Brittany Molineux lighthouses UWE
These lighthouses by Brittany Molyneux are part of a picture book that won her a commendation for the Macmillan children’s book award. She enjoys exploring surreal narratives.

Fox By Amy Mattingley
A minimalist approach to illustration was practiced by Amy Mattingley, who created this lovely fox.

Joyce Lee - mac_scottish
Joyce Lee native american
These Scottish and Native American characters by Joyce Lee make use of juicily simple saturated colour palettes. She is also a qualified web designer and developer, so hopes to integrate both disciplines in the future.

Alison Beecham- portraits and mouths
Decorative eyeballs by Alison Beecham
I adored strange collages by Alison Beecham, featuring odd mixes of body parts and these ace decorative eyeballs.

Jayde Perkin
Lastly, Jayde Perkin uses a painterly approach to tell narrative tales such as this story of beach life.

I’ve got many more show reviews to catch up on, so keep an eye on the website to discover future graduate talent!

Categories ,2013, ,Adeel Khan, ,Alison Beecham, ,Amy Mattingley, ,Break a Lead, ,Brittany Molyneux, ,Dancehall in a Foodhall, ,Elizabeth Loveday Birchley, ,First World Problems, ,Free Range Art and Design Show, ,George McCallum, ,Jack Bailey, ,Jayde Perkin, ,Jessica Warby, ,Jodie McNeil, ,Joyce Lee, ,Laptop makes my legs hot, ,Macmillan, ,Madison Shackell-York, ,Nobrow, ,review, ,Truman Brewery, ,UpMarket

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Amelia’s Magazine | New Designers 2015: The Best Illustration Graduates

ND Jen Leem Bruggen
My final New Designers review features work displayed as part of the Visual Communications section in part two of the show: with the focus on illustration, of course.

New Designers Jen Leem Brugen
New Designers Jen Leem Bruggen 2
I absolutely adored the fantastic illustrations of Jen Leem Bruggen at the Uni of Hertfordshire, seen here in a concertina foldout booklet, showing a magical use of colour.

ND Gemma Taylor
This piece is titled Monogamy by Gemma Taylor – showing a great use of pattern combined with bird imagery. Also at Hertfordshire. Sometimes it is the lesser known art colleges which throw up the most unexpected finds!

New Designers Ana Jaks
New Designers Ana Jaks 2
One of my favourite discoveries was work by Ana Jaks at Falmouth Uni – I love her use of colour and shape to create eye catching images.

ND Alex McGinn
Also at Falmouth I was taken by fine editorial work from Alex McGinn.

New Designers Hazel Partridge
Other pieces that caught my eye: a lovely bird by Hazel Partridge.

New Designers Charlotte Perry
This cool alphabet design by Charlotte Perry.

New Designers Thomas Pullin
And a fun character by Thomas Pullin.

ND Jess Rose
New Designers Jess Rose
The Nottingham Trent Uni stand was ridiculously difficult to navigate but I eventually established that these exciting silk scarf designs, inspired by viruses, aches and pains, are by Jess Rose. Beautiful and engaging.

ND Josh Patterson
New Designers Josh Patterson
Cooking up a storm! This lovely editorial work is by Josh Patterson at Birmingham City Uni, who has unsurprisingly already worked for an impressive roster of clients, as well as winning several awards.

New Designers Michelle Bowden
And I also liked this painterly pattern by Michelle Bowden.

ND Sorcha Faulkner
New Designers Sorcha Faulkner
At Cambridge School of Art I liked a more traditional take on cookery illustration by Sorcha Faulkner.

NEW DESIGNERS micah shaW 2
New Designers Micah Shaw
This house on a hill and ghosts are by Micah Shaw at Plymouth College of Art.

New Designers Sander B
ND Sander B
At Coventry Uni I loved this gorgeous book of Nordic folklore by Sander B Draws.

ND Jack Bailey
New Designers Jack Bailey
Jack Bailey was showing work with Cygnet Ink as part of a show put together by the Uni of Lincoln. I really enjoyed his mixed media approach, featuring beautiful delicate watercolour animals, buildings and matching models.

ND Yada Subhadira
At Portsmouth Uni I liked this 3D papercut of skulls by Yada Subhadira.

New Designers Bethany woollvin
And these planets with eyes by award winner Bethan Woollvin.

New Designers Dale Sylvester
Finally, this piece featuring the nerve endings in the brain is by Dale Sylvester.

All of these images first appeared on the New Designers instagram feed (they very kindly asked me to guest post a favourite selection from both part one and part two of the show) or on my own my instagram feed: follow me there to catch my discoveries as I make them!

Categories ,2015, ,Alex McGinn, ,Ana Jaks, ,Bethan Woollvin, ,Birmingham City Uni, ,Cambridge School of Art, ,Charlotte Perry, ,Coventry Uni, ,Cygnet Ink, ,Dale Sylvester, ,Falmouth Uni, ,Gemma Taylor, ,Hazel Partridge, ,illustration, ,Jack Bailey, ,Jen Leem Bruggen, ,Jess Rose, ,Josh Patterson, ,Micah Shaw, ,Michelle Bowden, ,Monogamy, ,New Designers, ,Nottingham Trent Uni, ,Plymouth College of Art, ,Portsmouth Uni, ,review, ,Sander B Draws, ,Sorcha Faulkner, ,Thomas Pullin, ,Uni of Hertfordshire, ,Uni of Lincoln, ,Visual Communication, ,Yada Subhadira

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Jack Bailey: Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion featured artist.

JACK BAILEY illustration
Jack Bailey was one of the fantastic new illustrators I discovered at this year’s New Designers graduate show who answered my callout to take part in the colouring book open brief. His energetic art is created on a large scale then turned into fantastically busy pictures like his colouring book page, inspired by the game of Ultimate Frisbee.

JACK BAILEY illustration
Where do you find inspiration for your characters?
The inspiration for my characters comes from a mix of sketching outdoors and making loose marks on a large sheet of paper. When I apply the loose marks to a piece of paper I relate back to my original outdoor sketches and start to interpret the mark as the shape of a body or a facial expression. The characters barely resemble the original sketches however I find studying from life allows me to interpret the marks made in a variation of forms. Previous to this brief my characters where always produced in colour, so it was fun to experiment in black and white for the colouring page and this is something I have continued doing.

JACK BAILEY illustration
Can you tell us more about what is going on in your artwork for my colouring book? who are all those people?
The piece for the colouring book was inspired by an article I read in the New Yorker about the chances of Ultimate Frisbee becoming an Olympic sport. Immediately, due to the word ‘ultimate’, I imagined a huge, chaotic game of Frisbee where only those playing understood what was going on. Almost like looking at a London underground map for the first time. The characters in the image are the people playing the sport and I packed the image full of people to show its rise in popularity. Unfortunately not many people play Frisbee in Liverpool so I picked up on the dynamic poses through watching youtube videos, which also contributed to the hectic feel of the image.

JACK BAILEY illustration
What led you to study at the Lincoln University and what was the best bit about your course?
In all honesty studying at Lincoln was totally by chance as I was still unsure if I was going to go to university at the time. I attended a university fair in Manchester where I picked up information packs and Lincoln University was one of them. When I got to Lincoln for the interview however I knew it was the place for me. It was quiet enough for me to be able to get on with my work and the old architecture of the city really appealed to me. As well as this everywhere was in walking distance and so really accessible. I guess you could say it was destiny! The best bit of the course for me was having tutors from a variety of backgrounds. It really enhanced a brief when you knew a tutor was passionate about the subject and had experience in the field. Another aspect of the course I enjoyed was the encouragement to try different media and new ways of working. Before the course I believed a single image had to be produced using the same mediums and on a single surface. Now I’ll use a whole bunch of mediums on separate surfaces allowing me to be a lot more expressive and confident in the way I work.

JACK BAILEY illustration
JACK BAILEY illustration
How do you translate your ideas between 2D and 3D artworks?
It works in a similar way to how I translate a sketch from life into one of my characters, in that they often don’t appear anything like the original influence. Between the 2-D and 3-D image they will often only share similar characteristics such as the amount of legs, hair style and facial features. Working in paper mache means capturing a dynamic pose is often difficult. This is why I use string to decorate the creatures. I feel the shape and swirl helps add movement to a static creature.

JACK BAILEY illustration
What is the process of creating your 3D pieces?
To create my 3-D pieces I start with a single sheet of paper, often from an old book as I like the stained colour of the pages. I dip this into a wallpaper paste and begin moulding it into any shape that feels natural. Similar to when I create my characters I try not to think too much about the early steps of the process and make shapes with papier mache whilst not thinking of the end product. This is so I don’t miss out on a nice, natural shape for the character. Once I have combined a few sheets of paper I use this as the body, from here I will refer back to my 2-D character and begin creating a head and other features. I finish by adding a face and decorating it with string and found objects.

JACK BAILEY illustration
JACK BAILEY illustration
Why do you find it easier to work on a large scale?
Working on a large scale is easier for me as I find it enhances my creativity. I find the characters look a lot more natural on large sheets due to me not being worried about them running off the page. The marks I make on large sheets are more expressive and full of energy as it is my whole arm moving the brush, not just my wrist. I also find working on a large scale creates new ideas. The sheets become a visual mind map. If I need a tree for an image, on a small scale I will produce one whereas on a larger scale I will produce as many as I can to fill the length of the sheet. This then becomes a new image for me to play around with.

JACK BAILEY illustration
What is it about drawing buildings that appeals to you?
Mainly that they don’t walk off as I try to draw them! What I enjoy to study on a building is the smaller details, often found towards the tops of buildings. I find the top of buildings to have the most character. There are unusual patterns and decorations, small windows and chimneys. You can interpret these as faces, creating relationships between two buildings or as body parts and the buildings can become giants peeping over trees.

JACK BAILEY illustration
How has living in Liverpool influences your approach?
I think the diversity of Liverpool has influenced my illustrations. The city centre is a collection of classic and modern architecture, renovated buildings and desolate warehouses. I also think it encourages creativity here too, with a variety of contemporary and classical art galleries there are always avenues to explore for inspiration.

JACK BAILEY illustration
JACK BAILEY illustration
Why is your new project with Cygnet Ink inspired by Quentin Blake? what is it you love about his work?
What I love about Quentin Blake’s artwork is the energy and looseness of the characters. Each line contributes to the personality of the character and he includes just enough information in each image to depict a scene. His characters also have a nice balance about them too, the positions are believable and you almost move with the character as you look at it. Blake’s backgrounds are a huge influence to me as he approaches them so cleverly. They depict real environments, but he will leave sections out or use a splash of watercolour to describe an area so the characters are the centre of attention.

JACK BAILEY illustration
You can find Jack Bailey‘s lively art in Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, available soon from Kickstarter, and the ideal present for that special person this Christmas!

Categories ,#ameliasccc, ,Adult Coloring Book, ,Adult Colouring Book, ,Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion, ,Coloring, ,Colouring, ,Colouring Book, ,illustration, ,interview, ,Jack Bailey, ,Kickstarter, ,Lincoln University, ,Liverpool, ,New Designers, ,Quentin Blake, ,Ultimate Frisbee

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