tuesday-talks

[tuesday-talks]

Viviane Schwarz

Book ‘Board Games’ by Kevin Davis and Viviane Schwarz. 

This Tuesday Talk was given by artist and author Viviane Schwarz. She specialises in creating books and games, especially for children. She talked about how she creates interactive art in many forms and then went on to read through her book called ‘Theres Cats in this Book’, a short children's story which she has illustrated. The book had many interactive features and the characters within the story spoke and interacted with the reader as if they were talking to one another. The idea she described was that usually the parent will perform to a child when reading a story and some adults may find it difficult, but her book makes it easier for them. She talked about her other projects as well, including the Ghost orb and Treasure Maze interactive games. I really enjoyed this Tuesday talk as I felt Viviane had her own unique ideas and style, the games she created were interesting and full of character and excitement. Her imagination is something I want to channel into my own work and aspire to think further outside the box.   

[tuesday-talks]

Alex Grigg

Still from animation ‘Safe Spaces’, animated by Alex Grigg.

This Tuesday talk was given by illustrator and animator Alex Grigg.

[tuesday-talks]

Charlotte Ager

Chosen from a selection of Personal Drawings on Charlotte Ager’s website - illustrated by Charlotte

This Tuesday talk was given by illustrator Charlotte Ager.

[tuesday-talks]

OLLIE MACDONALD OULDS

A Mothers Day outing - drawn by Ollie

This Tuesday talk was lead by Ollie Macdonald Oulds, a young illustrator from Manchester. He graduated from Kingston University 2 years ago, he described him self as an Illustrator first and book shop employee second. Ollie’s approach to illustration is to draw all the time, he brings his pens and sketchbooks wherever he goes and will draw almost anything he sees. He likes to reduce and clutter his images. He talked about his travels and drawing the people he meets, he began drawing the people local to the towns he was visiting and before long he had queues of people waiting to be drawn. Ollie's style is expensive and bold, its not a style I usually am drawn to however the vibrant colours and feel of his illustrations draw me in and interest me. I will take away from this talk the idea of drawing as much as I can wherever I am, as this is a technique that excites me. 

[tuesday-talks]

Johnny Hannah

An original screen-print illustrated by Johnny Hannah. 

This Tuesday talk was given by the freelance illustrator Johnny Hannah. Johnny’s work is fast and full of expression, he told us 'I like to work quickly, if I’ve got too long to do something, i’ll change my mind half way through’. He also told us about a book in which he has made ‘Greetings from Darktown: An Illustrators Miscellany’, which contains lots images and lots of detail. As well as imagery, Hannah also has a big interest in Typography. During the talk Hannah gave a lot of advice for us, he said ‘people are very keen to tell you what you should or shouldn’t have done’ - something that resonated with with me as I feel a similar feeling. His work is not my favourite of the talks nor the type of illustration I prefer, however his attitude and motivation for his craft did inspire me. If I had the chance to ask him further questions I would want to know a little bit more about what inspires HIM. 

[tuesday-talks]

Laura Fitton

Drag Bingo - reportage drawing. Colourful, capturing life. 

The second Tuesday talk was given by the artist Laura Fitton, an illustrative reportage artist. Fitton graduated for Norwich university in 2013 and her current interests are drawing, musical nonsense and teaching. She told us all about the things in which she likes to draw, being the following: political scenes e.g. protests, physical exercise e.g. her girlfriends football games, performance e.g. gigs and finally public transport specifically during rush hour. Laura’s style is very loose and almost messy, often featuring typography to help convey a certain message. She also talked about her residency and placement at Topolski Studios, which by the sounds of it shaped her largely as an artist. During the talk I didn’t manage to ask a question but if I were to ask one I think I’d ask what drew Laura to specialising in Reportage art over other art styles. This was actually one of the first times I’d heard of someone working primarily in this way and now the talk is over I will research more into other artists who work similarly as it did interest me. 

[tuesday-talks]

Joey Yu

Joey Yu Studio Tour for Lazy Oaf. A playful and energetic room. 

This Tuesday talk was given by the Illustrator Joey Yu. Joey told us all about her life in the industry, her work, the context behind her work, what inspires her and even gave us advice she had collated over the years. She showed her various pieces through slide shows and even played three videos of animation work she had done whilst in university - the third of which was a stop motion film showing a man walking along a moving train which inspired me greatly. Joeys work is colourful, expressive and varied. Yu talked about how a lot of her pieces were scenes from her travels or her everyday life, how she loves colour and takes inspiration from films – the latter being something completely new to me. The audience in response to her talk wanted to know a bit more about her experience at university and any advice she had in relation to that, she said that we should take advantage of the people and facilities around us because we can use all of it our advantages. Although her style is different to my own, I would say her use of movement and colour is something that has stuck with me and I plan on experimenting with this myself.