gractiaba-blog

[gractiaba-blog]

Jonny Hannah (Tuesday Talk)

12/11/19

(Jonny Hannah: Greetings from Darktown: An Illustrators Miscellany)

Johnny Hannah, the third speaker in our Tuesday talks, started his discussing with “You are entering Dark town”, a phrase introducing us to an ongoing project, in which he has created a new world called “Darktown”. The town Is inspired by everyday things, and Hannah has considered almost every detail of this world in order to make it as convincing as possible. From The Mermaid Cafe to the Transport (George Bennie Railway). The town holds narrative around two mysterious bottles arriving.

The world he created was created as an exhibition put on. For this he also painted a car, which was outside the house of illustration for a short time also, “everyone should paint a car” he said. Hannah talked the importance of text within his work and methods on integrating it. Using printing methods such as screen printing (thinking in layers) as well collage and photoshop.

As well as dark town he talked about his editorial work, which he doesn't do as much now however worked a lot in at the beginning of his career. Making book covers, posters and also being commissioned to design stamps for a royal mail collection.

I was surprised I was not familiar with Jonny Hannah's work before the talk as I really loved his style of work, especially clever composition and use of text, something I want to progress in my own work. I was going to ask about what he draws inspiration from, he referenced “pop culture” but I was curious as to what more specifically he is inspired by. He talked about music as being something he's inspired by which I also found interesting.

[gractiaba-blog]

Laura Fitton (Tuesday Talk)

15/10/19

(Drawing from the talk, observing details of window shadows)

The second Tuesday Talk we had was from Laura Fitton who talked about her work as a reportage illustrator and the opportunities she had taken, for example the chance to travel and draw and work  at Topolski studios. As well as this she talked about the importance of reportage and how you can capture smalls things by observing the world around her. I was not familiar with Laura's work however did know she was a reportage artist.

She spoke about places she goes to draw at such as, Drag bingo halls, Gigs, clubs and how drawing is just a way of documentationn, as to not forget the small moments around you, and “create new landscapes”. This was something I found most fascinating about her practice, and something I tried to take away with me. The idea of capturing the mundane parts of life which interest you. I was curious as to how reportage however can lead to bigger projects. Laura said that by making reportage work you can then suggest it to people after as forms of research.

She talked about how drawing is a physical excersize. And heavily advised us to carry sketchbooks everywhere, when it comes to reportage quantity being over quality.

[gractiaba-blog]

Joey Yu (Tuesday Talk)

1/10/19

(Illustration By Joey Yu, from Guardian Article about main town effects of climate change)

Our first Tuesday talk delivered by Joey Yu covered her experience working as a freelance illustrator in the industry, coming out of her Illustration degree at Kingston School of art. Presented as powerpoint, she showed projects she had been involved in, commissions given to her as well as work she had made during her time on degree, from first to third year.

A summary of the talk

I was familiar with Joeys work as I had followed her for a while on Instagram, and knew of her drawings done whilst travelling. However I had not been aware of some of the projects she had been involved in such as the scroll drawings in Spitalfields market.

Questions were raised around how she got the work she did so soon after graduating, as well as how  being a freelanced illustrator is in the industry. I did not ask a question but if I had would have asked about what her favourite project to be part of was. I found the question about what she would have taken advantage of at kingston whilst on degree, an interesting question, her response being, to “collaborate with the people around you to make work”. She talked about an animation project she had done whilst on degree inspired by the goldfinch. She also said not to find “a style or brand” just be constantly mark making.

Joeys processes around colour is what stuck out to me most, the materials she uses to acquire this vibrancy is something I wanted to take on in my own working, using crayon and coloured paper is something I have tried to adapts into my own work. As well as using film as a way of collecting information such as perspective, storytelling and composition. She said “think about material use in relation to location”.