Who am I? Why am I here?

Reasons for wanting to become an illustrator:

- Where it is situated within the creative spectrum ; it sits some where between design and fine art and has the potential to move into/further towards either area depending on how you develop your practice.
- Growing up the people who have influenced me most creatively have come from a wide variety of practices. These have included my high school art teacher who is also a practising fine artist, a family friend who works within games design and finally the design studio I do work placements at during my summers. Therefore I feel illustration was a natural path to choose as it channels all the major artistic influences I've had through out my life.
- Desire to communicate ideas/concepts/narratives visually.
- Further question and explore both the world around me and how I interpret it visually.
- Refine my practice of image making through developing both my conceptual and practical skills.

Reasons for choosing Leeds College of Art:

- Specialist art institution: complete immersion within the creative arts and exposure to other ways of approaching it due to the diverse range of students/subject areas.
- Strong reputation as an educational institution which in turn has led to strong industry connections.
- Leeds as an up and coming city. A lot going to influence, develop and apply your creativity to within the city.
- When looking around other universities it was the one I felt the most resonance with. This is due to its relatively small size which made it seem easier to immerse yourself within as well as access all the resources and facilities you would need to develop as a creative practitioner.
- Close enough to home (Sheffield) to not feel overwhelmed but still a new city/environment to become immersed within. Allows me to still be apart of the various projects I'm involved with in Sheffield whilst still taken the plunge of moving away from home/living independently.

My personal strengths:

- Use of colour.
- Composition
- Use of Software
- Exploration and development of ideas
- Ability to communicate ; visually and in written word.

My personal weaknesses:

- Ability to create more technical/realistic drawings/images.
- Over thinking/complicated ideas/concepts.
- Doubting my own abilities/losing faith in my work.
- Procrastination: I have far too many pointless hobbies.
- Use of wet mediums, particularly acrylic and oil based paints.

Five images that best describe me:


( reblogged from http://coopercolegallery.com/imgs/artwork/listing/CC_Geoff_McFetridge_3x3(DealingWithAbstraction).jpg )

This piece by Geoff McFetridge shows my appreciation of more graphic illustration as well as tendency to use more minimalist approaches in both colour and composition.



( reblogged from http://www.jeanjullien.com/work-91-books.html)
Again this piece plays into my minimalist approach, however the main reason I have chosen this image by Jean Jullien is because of the playfulness he uses to create visual metaphors. This is a method I try, but don't always succeed, to employ within my own work.


( reblogged from http://www.1zoom.net/big2/75/182776-Sepik.jpg )

Leading on from this is my desire to create work that can be appreciated by multiple different audiences. The work of is the work by my child hood hero Albert Underzo who's Asterix and Oberlix comics, created alongside Rene Goscinny speak various different genrations through both clever word play/innuendos as well playful visuals.

( reblogged from https://s-media-cacheak0.pinimg.com/736x/c9/ba/2e/c9ba2e542c0a0da520b15baf897d052a.jpg )


On the other end of the spectrum I also enjoy work that is a lot more visceral with varied use of texture. In particular Anselm Kiefer's work has had a major impact on me particularly when I've been created work on a darker subject matter.


( reblogged from http://themicrogiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ralph-steadman-1.jpg )

The work of Ralph Steadman best shows the way in which the various different visual and contextual ideas displayed above can be combined. This mirrors my desire to explore the possibilities of mixing different media/techniques/processes to produce work for a variety of different subject matters/contexts.