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.
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.
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?
Luke Baker is responsible for this gridlocked city scene.
Kirby Pyle made this skull and other wooden cut outs.
Hannah Bartlett’s stencilled lady looks into her looking glass.
In the newspaper: I liked this abstract image by Grace Williams.
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.
These decorative blue hands by Jennifer Humphreys at Gray’s School of Art went down a storm when I shared them on instagram.
Dinosaurs in bottles were held up by the ever popular bulldog clip method, by Hannah Botma at Edinburgh College of Art.
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.
At the University of the West of England Holly Dennis made this arresting image: the word Troll collapsing over overprinted neon lips.
At Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design the designer Mark Cook had produced this very appealing poster of fish lures.
This tram coming up a hill is by David Hill at Sheffield Hallam University.
At Edinburgh Napier University Emily Elvin explored sleep in this rotating paper sculpture.
At Sussex College Hastings Heather McCarthy had created some wonderful cards and posters designed to promote foreign destinations.
Colour, type and pattern were used to great effect in this Dream Good pamphlet by Hilary Newman at Bath Spa University.
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.
The trend for all things handmade shows no sign of abating. I like this risograph print for Handmade Studio by Sophie Heywood at UCLAN.
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.
I also liked these strong images of an African wild dog and giraffe by Kayleigh Pavelin.
Typography by Gary Curzai was clearly inspired by traditional Indian signage, but his is a fresh new update for a modern world.
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.
Lauren Humphrey has adopted a similar curvaceous outlook, rendered in an appealing neon colour palette. I loved her humorous Dream Alphabet.
The sea air must nuture illustration talent. Rachel Saunders’ Let’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.
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.
Daft but brilliant. Annabel Davis imagines kittens and cats as kings and queens.
These strange animals are by Dan Widdowson.
Lauren Rothery at Plymouth University had created these pamphlets with titles such as ‘How to Interact Socially.’
I really liked the little hand out sheets about artists at Norwich University of the Arts: a nice touch.
These oddities are by Tim Blann, who has an appealingly blobby style.
Chris Shuttleworth at Leeds College of Art made these eye catching promotional posters adorned with the slogans Learn to Sail and Pitch a Tent.
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
Similar Posts:
- Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration Graduates 2011: part two
- Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration & Graphic Design Graduates 2012: part one
- D&AD New Blood 2013 Review: Best Graduate Illustration and Graphic Design
- Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration & Graphic Design Graduates 2012: part two
- Best of D&AD New Blood Illustration & Graphic Design Graduates 2012: part three
