Christmas Cards

I made a collection of Christmas cards to be sold for a charity fair back home. My objective was to produce something that felt high-quality and traditional, as I think 'holiday' cards can often appear quite naff and tacky. 

I am really happy with the final result. I think the subject matter of the 'three wise men' makes it a more traditional reflection of Christmas, but the graphic nature of the image provides a more contemporary edge. Also, each card being screen-printed on Somerset paper achieves that feel of high-quality crafting that I really wanted in the final design. 

I think working on projects like this is an important part of practice. The lack of content to wrestle with, in comparison to perhaps an editorial illustration, allows me to focus purely on the visual appeal of an image. Ultimately I do find producing this kind of work enjoyable, but too much of it could become a bit vapid. 

Brief Selection and Action Plan

Briefs :

The Waterberg Trust Christmas fair: Produce a collection of cards or illustrative products to sell. 

Deadline : 05/12/18

Penguin Random House: Produce a cover design for Animal Farm by George Orwell, A Brief History of time by Stephen Hawking & Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. 

Deadline : 06/03/18

YCN, Dogs Trust : Create a campaign that makes 'rescue dogs' the most desirable breed in Britain. 

Deadline: 22/03/18

Editorials: Produce a series of editorials on a range of subjects and dimensions. 

6 different dimensions: cover, full page, spot, square, portrait and landscape. 

Deadline: Submission 

Rationale: 

In order to complete all the briefs to the best of my ability I think its key to prioritise them according to their deadlines, but also set a series of goals intermittently to maintain a consistent production of work. At the moment I am struggling with Cop as well as doing work for Hanbury Hall, so extended practice may have to take a back seat until after Christmas; however I would like to keep it ticking over by doing some contextual research to support my briefs and noting down initial ideas or thumbnails. 

I aim to complete these initial briefs by the end of February. I have given myself this objective as I predict that by that time I may have some new briefs or ideas that I would like to take on to further develop my practice. This is only a flexible date, however, and personally set briefs such as the editorial may continue beyond this point. 

Action Plan: 

Design screenprint positives for Christmas cards, 26.11.17

Screenprint cards, 01.11.17

Paint wooden characters, 03.11.17

Penguin Random House: read books and research key themes, 31.01.17

Penguin Random House: initial ideas and thumbnails, 11.02.17

Penguin Random House: final designs, Deadline: 28.02.17

YCN, dogs trust: research, 31.01.17

YCN, dogs trust: initial ideas and thumbnails, 11.02.17

YCN, dogs trust: final designs, 28.02.17

Editorial, produce final designs for all 6 dimensions, 28.02.17

Statement of Intent

Broadly speaking the primary purpose I see for extended practice is to build a portfolio, which upon graduation will help me best promote myself to the creative industries that most interest me. As it stands currently I am interested in 3 main contexts of illustration: editorial, adult publishing and illustrative products.

My context of practice project aims to improve the visual aesthetics of my practice, therefore I think that in this module I should focus on both the content and possible contexts for my work. The two modules will then hopefully feed into each other to form a more directed personal and professional practice.

I would like to capitalise on my ability to think conceptually, and form images based on symbolism or visual metaphor to tackle complex subjects. Personally I am most interested in either environmental or social issues. This will guide the texts or articles I choose to illustrate for either editorial or publishing purposes.

To approach such subject matter, I will have to do in-depth research so that I can convey the key issues at hand in an appropriate and considered manner. Editorial and adult publishing are both highly audience-centric forms of illustration. I would like to use such briefs to develop my skills in condensing complex subjects into simple and direct images that will captivate a viewer’s attention.

I would like to produce images that are well crafted and have a feel of the handmade – personally favouring the result of print processes such as screen-print, mixed-media collage or gouache painting. To do this I see it necessary to invest a good amount of time into producing the final outcomes for each brief; however also see it important to develop a more systematic and instinctive method of process that will better suit contexts such as editorial, in which there can often be a very quick turn around.

While I still have access to college facilities, I would also like to take the opportunity to be more experimental in my practice – using the print, as well as even the woodwork and ceramic workshops. As most of my chosen briefs for editorial or publishing will be very content and research driven, I would like to leave myself some room for non-cognitive image-making. This could lead to producing some illustrative products, prints or zines.

To document my progress I think I will find it most useful to leave my initial ideas, thumbnailing and practical development within my sketchbook. The blog I see mainly as a place for key points of reflection and evaluation both during and at the end of each brief. I also like to use it as a point of reference for contextual research.

I think the most important point with this module is to keep it fun and manageable. Doing things that I enjoy will hopefully lead to a portfolio that reflects my interests, and therefore generate work after graduation that does the same. For the purpose of time-management I will prioritise competition-briefs that have more immediate deadlines, but I also think it will be essential to set regular goals within personally-led briefs so that there is an element of consistency in the production of work.

Tutorial with Ben

Two focuses of editorial and publishing. 

Editorial (Self-directed Brief)

• Importance of variation in format and subject matter. 
• Formats: full page illustration, cover illustration, spot illustration, square format, portrait format, landscape format. 
• Deadlines depending on the format e.g. full page, give yourself 2 weeks. 
• Challenge yourself with content. 
• Source articles from : The Guardian, New York Times Op-ed & Book Reviews, Popshot magazine. 

Publishing (Competition Briefs)

• Book Illustration competition : Create 3 illustrations and a binding design for The selected adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (by Arthur Conan Doyle). 
• Penguin Random House :  Animal Farm (by George Orwell), A brief of history of time (by Stephen Hawking), Noughts & Crosses (by Malorie Blackman). 

Because these two projects/contexts are very heavy in content and require in-depth research leave yourself some room for play and non-cognitive image-making.

• Mono-printing
• On location/observational drawing (Yorkshire sculpture park, Hepworth Wakefield)
• Play in sketchbook
• Make drawings/prints into zines or run of prints?

Through Experiment

What are you afraid of..?

One of my common fears in relation to anything in life is the unknown. Not knowing if I am going to financially stable or what my work day is going to be like after graduation is scary. My worst case scenario is to work from home and be isolated in my practice, as I know I am most happy and productive when my work is separate from my social life. 

What are the comfort zones in your practice?

The primary comfort zone in my practice is simplicity. I prefer my illustrations to be simple in their composition, form and colour; however I think if I were to push these boundaries and produce a more complex image this could potentially achieve something greater than my current work. 

What are the strengths of your practice? 

I think a strength of my practice is that I communicate content conceptually using motifs or symbols. My technical abilities across both handmade and digital processes are also to a high standard. 

What is holding you back? What are you bored with? 

Currently, my aspirations to be like other working illustrators is holding back the progress within my own practice. I need to focus and allow myself to develop a way of working that can become my own USP. 

Thought Experiment illustration:

For this illustration I choose to portray my biggest fear in relation to being a freelance illustrator - which is to be isolated in my practice working within the four walls of my room.

To generate the idea for this image, instead of mind-mapping, I worked visually making a series of exhaustive thumbnails - returning to this process of idea generation made me realise that it may be more effective in producing visually appealing outcomes, as it forces me to focus on both the conceptual and visual aspects of image-making.

Initial brief selection / ideas

Competition Briefs

The Book Illustration competition :- 

Create 3 illustrations and a binding design for "The selected adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle. 

Deadline : Wednesday 17th January 2018

Penguin Random House, Student Design Award :- to be announced

YCN :- to be announced

Secret 7 :- to be announced 

Self-Directed Briefs

Save the Waterberg Rhino Christmas Bizarre :- 

Create a series of handmade Christmas Cards. 

Deadline : Tuesday 5th December 

Editorial a Week :-

Produce an editorial a week from a selected article. 

NEST magazine :-

Produce an illustration based on the theme of Red. 

Deadline : Sunday 5th November 

Other possible avenues :

Contact Independent Leeds Mag

LCA x LCM collaborative facebook page

Who Am I ? Pitch

OUIL505 Project Report

OUIL505 Presentation boards

Revised project proposal

Reading and reflecting on my original project proposal, it has been interesting to see the close correlation between what I aimed to achieve and the final outcomes of this project. The only clear difference is in the final application of my products - originally wanting to make a series of patterns and images homeware or clothing products, my work - mainly due to the projects content - took a more editorial direction that led me to focus more on creating a social media and advertising campaign. Here is a revised edit of my project proposal with consideration of these changes :

Proposed Applications

The primary application of my illustrations is a series of posters (mocked up above) each with the WWF logo and a slogan to further communicate the concept of each design - and thereby raise awareness of the problems facing Orangutans and why people need to contribute to the cause. I made a series of mock-ups of how these posters and other individual aspects of my designs could be applied as if this was an actual WWF brief as outlined in my proposal. 

I think a social media campaign would be key, especially with it being aimed towards an audience of young adults - the technology generation. I have mocked up a logo that could be posted online - on platforms such as facebook or instagram - with the tagline #savethekingoftheswingers. This could be along with, or followed by each individual poster as well...

Originally I wanted to extend this online application by making moving gifs to post on social media or even use as a TV campaign, however I was not able to in light of time limitations. 

I think, with more funding, this could also be extended in a commercial advertising campaign - such as on billboards. 

My secondary application is on a series of merchandise that is more attractive to an adult audience than the existing cuddly toy in the adoption packs - such as t-shirts, tote bags and limited edition prints. 

These products could be distributed in both the adoption packs and sold through WWF's online shop. 

Final Megacrit

I think the feedback from this megacrit in response to my final practical outcomes was generally positive - people commenting on the use of texture, colour and composition. I like how someone commented 'works well as an advertisement for WWF because its different to the usual photos' - as it shows they understand some of my main intentions behind this brief. I did not, however, have a lot to comment on with regards to the final presentation and application of my work - this is something I need to work on between now and the deadline next week. 

Evaluation of practical outcomes

Successes :

• I really like how each design is defined by an individual concept/theme, communicating the problems confronting orangutans. 
• I think the use of negative space, symbolism and visual metaphor to communicate these concepts/themes works really well to create something both relevant to my current practice and the context set by my brief proposal. 
• The tone of my illustrations, achieved through the bright colour palette and abstract/conceptual feel of the designs effectively achieves my aim of producing something non-confrontational and positive encouraging people to become a part of WWF's work.  
• Due to the designs' cohesive colour palette and the similar graphic/shape-based aesthetic to each illustration, they work really well as a set and would be recognisable as a part of the same campaign. 

Things I could have done better :

• I think the process through which I developed these designs - using photoshop and illustrator - despite being made with monoprint textures,  has made the final outcomes feel too digital to suit my personal preferences. 
• I could have perhaps made this feel less so by adding in more overlaps and using the multiply 'tool' more effectively. 
• I also struggled with generating ideas to communicate the themes for some of the designs, such as the ones based on palm oil plantations and the boxing orangutans - as a result I think they feel less accomplished both conceptually and in their composition. 

Development of designs on photoshop

I have started to develop some of my final designs in photoshop - making shapes on illustrator, tracing my thumbnails and then cutting these out from my monoprint textures. I think overall this process is working with the graphic and shape - based quality of my work, and the use of texture adds further interest which I think lacked in the gouache paintings.

I need to develop these further - adding more overlaps and colours as they are looking quite flat and dull at the moment. I also need to find a way of defining the facial features of the Orangutans that does not look out of place with the rest of the design. 

I also started to play around with how I could add type to my designs, to make them into my primary application of a poster/social media campaign. I liked the idea of using type in a similar way to that of Anna Kovecses, but I think my attempts are feeble at best - mostly due to my lack of skill in typography. I think its best to keep it simple (like in the design to the left) - this is also more in keeping with WWF's branding that I have seen in previous campaigns. 

Keith Negley

I had another catch up with Ben today about my 505 work. We got into an interesting discussion about abstraction and how this can function in more communicative contexts, such as editorial - referring particularly to the work of Keith Negley. I like this idea of having one figurative aspect in a design that then triggers an understanding of the rest of the image which could be more abstract, symbolic or expressive. I think this is a really relevant method of image-making/thinking to my 505 designs - as the orangutan characters are figurative and the rest of the design is more abstract. This also made me think of focusing on one other key figurative aspect in my design - such as a bullet or boxing gloves to act as trigger through which the audience can decipher/understand the key concept/theme behind the image.

OUIL503 Summative Evaluation

OUIL503 Studio Brief 3 : Project Report

OUIL503 Presentation Boards, Studio Brief 2: Collaborative

OUIL503 Presentation Boards, Studio Brief 1 : Individual smaller brief

OUIL503 Presentation Boards, Studio Brief 1: Individual main brief

Conceptual thumbnailing for final outcomes

In response to the peer feedback I got in the mega crit before Easter I have continued to develop my designs using more conceptual ideas - using visual metaphors, symbolism and negative space. I have also better defined the individual themes for each of my designs -

1. Deforestation - burning trees, tree stumps, swinging orangutan, vine - negative space to represent disappearing habitat. 

2. Wildlife Zoos with poor conditions & animal cruelty - orangutan moving from bars to vines/jungle (possible slogan - 'Help WWF trade bars for vines')

3. Illegal Orangutan boxing - hanging boxing gloves, Orangutan in jungle/on tree, (possible  slogan 'Help WWF hang up those gloves'), patterns giving feeling of theme parks where this takes place - contrast between this and 'the wild'. 

4. Illegal Pet trade - mother being shot and baby taken away, symbolism of pet - collars, confinement, domestication? shooting of mother - bullet, ominous figure, absent mother...use of negative space?

5. Palm Oil Plantations - working together for sustainability, education of workers, vastness of plantations in contrast to preserved jungle habitat, palm oil fruit - split in half to refer to 50% of packaged goods in supermarkets containing palm oil. 

6. General campaign poster for 'Save the King of the Swingers'. 

To develop these thumbnails into my final designs I think I will create shapes on illustrator based on these drawings and then cut them out of my monoprint textures on photoshop - to create my a kind of print media, textured and colourful aesthetic.

Megacrit for presentation boards

Here are the boards I had done so far and presented in the crit. Overall in reference to my feedback and looking at other peoples boards I feel I am going in the right direction with keeping a cohesive layout throughout and the content demonstrating my progress through each brief. I just maybe need to cut down the writing down (a lot) and give the images a bit more space to breath. 

Interim megacrit

The feedback from this crit was v positive and so I am v. happy! People seemed to like the direction in which I am taking my designs - complimenting the use of bold colours, shape and composition in my gouache paintings. I think this is definitely how I will continue to progress my designs - and these two ones could possible be the basis for two of my finals? I like the idea of using monoprint, however, to make my final outcomes - adding more obvious texture, other than that of gouache, to these designs could make them more eye-catching and interesting. 

How to progress forward :

• Continue thumbnailing for other themes in style of gouache paintings. 
• Experiment with processes of using monoprint textures to create final designs. 

The Corner Shop, Easter Cards

With request from the corner shop I have printed another series of cards to be sold over Easter, tweeking one of my designs to suit the holiday!

Gouache Paintings

After my chat with Ben and in light of the final megacrit for this term - I really wanted to do some more finalised designs that represented this new direction of my project...so I did some gouache paintings. I think these are generally quite successful and much more suitable to my current practice. I really like how I have started to use negative space and more abstract/graphic compositions to communicate these ideas and themes. They will have to be amended or done on a bigger scale, however, as small details like the facial features have been lost. Also I feel that the bright colours in the left design are a bit too jarring and if less saturated would be more appealing.

Monoprinting textures

I went and made a load of monoprint textures in a range of colours - mainly blues, oranges and greens to make the orangutans and foliage for the background of my designs. I really wanted to use some form of print media to make my practical outcomes for this module - this first was ideally to be screenprint, however realistically in relation to other module deadlines I will working towards next term and the time left until Easter this no longer really feels like a viable option. To incorporate this feel however maybe I could use these textures to create cut-paper designs or cut shapes out of them digitally to arrange on photoshop - using the multiply tool and overlay to make it feel more print media based and not digital.  

Collaborative : Final Products

WHAT I AM HAPPY WITH :

• I think our concept works well with the current branding of GUCC, as well as, in reference of our market research, is both innovative and original. 
• I really like the patterns I made in contribution of the final designs. I think they again captured what I was trying to achieve and were eye-catching. 
• I think the final landing page design and packaging are cohesive, working well together. 

WHAT I AM NOT HAPPY WITH :

• I think the puzzle layout was not used to its full potential in the design of the packaging slip. 
• I wish we had also included designs for the chocolate bars and other components in the pitch of our final design - although this is not part of the deliverables I think this would have made it a lot more engaging as a submission. 

REFLECTIONS ON COLLABORATION :

• I think overall it has been a successful collaboration. We worked well together as a group - organising meetings and delegating tasks. 
• Setting up the group chat on facebook and shared google drive proved vital in keeping up communication, especially in these final stages.
• As a creative, I sometimes found it difficult not having autonomy over a project - not being able to work at my own pace and considering others creative interests as well as my own. 
• Despite this, I now appreciate the advantages of collaboration - sharing creative skills and ideas, balancing a larger workload and learning how to work effectively together with others. 

Collaborative : Final Development

Through our group chat we have been giving each other feedback and the graphic designer's providing updates on the final development of the designs.

• They divided the labour equally between them - one doing the landing page and the other the final packaging design. 
• Both I and the other illustrator have also been making ourselves available to help in any we can...
• A design for the final packaging was uploaded to the google drive and the group were asked for their feedback. 
• I feel that the puzzle layout could look more dynamic on a larger scale but with the rest of the group happy with this final design it seems unreasonable to push my opinions. 

>image of Rosie final packaging design<

YCN, UK Greetings : Final Submission

OUIL505 : Chat with Ben

I had a very useful chat with Ben today about how to progress forward with my OUIL505 project. He hit the nail on the head saying that the thumbnails I have done so far do not reflect my practice and what I enjoy about image-making. I am shaping myself to the content of this project instead of making something that aligns with my own current practice - that focuses on simple composition, abstract motifs and shape based imagery. 

He showed me the work of Mathew Richardson, who has both a fine art and illustration/design practice. He uses a lot of found imagery to produce collages based on conceptual ideas (probably due to his fine art influences), and is actually very successful in a range of design-based contexts such as editorial, book publishing etc. 

This made me realise that I was perhaps underestimating the intelligence of my audience with producing very narrative, scenic images for this brief - especially that I am targeting this towards an age group of around 18-25 yr olds. I now think that, as long as my work has figurative motifs, I can apply a more abstract and conceptual approach to these images whilst still maintaining a successful level of communication. 

OUIL505 : Peer crit

My feedback was generally positive. They liked how my characters had been developing - particularly the combination of the blue and orange for the orang-utan - as well as what I am intending to communicate through this campaign. 

SUGGESTIONS OF HOW TO PROGRESS:

• Keep thumb-nailing and simplifying your compositions to make it align more appropriately with your practice. 
• Start testing colour and media to get feedback for next weeks megacrit. 

Thumbnailing for poster designs

I needed to start thumb nailing for some final designs so have decided to use the parameters of creating 6 illustrations suitable for an A4 poster design. These illustrations could then manipulated to be applicable for a poster campaign, commercial advertising campaign, print campaign, social media (being appropriate for my target audience) and even merchandise like tote bags or t-shirts. 

I made the thumbnails within a square - so when applied to A4 they could be surrounding by text, WWF logo etc. Overall I am happy with how the themes for each of my illustrations are evolving - defining each illustration by a problem that confronts Orangutans and then the final sixth poster being a general image for the slogan 'Save the King of the Swingers'. 

I am struggling, however, with developing a meaningful but non-gruesome and un-obvious way to communicate these difficult subjects - because I still want the overall feel to be positive and focus on what WWF is doing to help, encouraging other people to become involved. 

Collaborative meeting : developing final design

In our meeting today it was important that we made quite a bit of progress - with the deadline looming.

Important points :

• Rosie did not like Joe's initial mock-ups of the packaging, and so based on this we decided to change some aspects of the design. 
• I had the idea of perhaps animating aspects of the landing page - to make it more interesting? Everyone liked this idea but it is a matter of time as to whether we would be able to achieve this...

I think at this point in the project the graphic designers will play the primary role in developing and designing the final product. We will keep up contact - using the facebook chat, shared google drive, as well as hopefully meeting a couple more times to refine and finalise everything before submission. 

Making the puzzle layout and feedback

Jenny and I worked together to put our patterns into the puzzle layout, editing the colour palettes of each of our designs to make them work cohesively together. We ended up featuring the patterns very zoomed in and bold within the pattern pieces, so as to not make the final design too busy and overwhelming. At first I was a bit sceptical of this because being so happy with my patterns, I did not feel like they were being featured as I initially envisioned; however this is the best way to do it for the overall design and I think Im just being too attached to my own work. 

I think this development really shows the benefit of collaboration because having other people to bounce off helps you to see the images you produce in a different way and provides outcomes that you would not necessarily think of working on your own. 

Similarly, showing the final design to Joe, was equally really useful to have some fresh eyes and get a different creative perspective. He just thought that the white and block colour puzzle pieces needed to be changed slightly to get a more balanced composition - which when we did so made it look a lot better. Here is the first and final (rejigged) designs:

Patterns for collaborative - final edit

Today I scanned all my painted patterns in, cleaned them up on photoshop and then added coloured backgrounds, with a little bit of noise to even out the contrast between the handmade elements and digital colour. I am actually really happy with these final patterns - I think their child-like, playful but still look professional and well crafted. I also really like how colourful they are and think will look really effective when added to some simple type. 

The next step is then to pair these with Jenny's patterns to make the puzzle layout, for the final slip design. 

OUIL505 Group tutorial

I found the group tutorial today really useful and it has given me a new perspective on how I could develop my project further, particularly regarding my final 6 illustrations. 

Most recently I have been struggling with how to communicate the threats to Orangutans within my illustrations, whilst still making them light-hearted and pleasing to the eye so they then can be applied to merchandise - like T-shirts, pins, stickers etc. 

Proposed ideas within the crit:

• First of all think of what emotion you want to convey through this campaign - positivity for the future (there is a solution), get people to emphasise with orangutans or shock people into helping. 
• I really liked Steven's idea of focusing on the solution. This being a WWF campaign I could turn this into why people should help - what are WWF going to with this money that would be so great?
• There was also a general consensus that if I were to include these threats, it should be done subtlety e.g. an ominous shadow in the background, outlines of orangutans - to show they are disappearing or not there, leaves/rainforest changing colour or disappearing...
• Bronte suggested the idea of making 6 primary illustrations, for example six posters, and then selecting certain elements to then go on the merchandise. I think this would work really well and give me increased flexibility as to how I could apply my final illustrations. 
• Introducing slogans to my illustrations to aid my communication was also an idea - I would like to do this, especially after looking at Anna Kovecses work. 
• Giving the Orangutan an identity e.g. Otis the Orangutan. I think this could work quite well, but on the other hand, I debate whether this is appropriate to my target audience of 18-25 year olds. Also character is not really my thing, so I don't want to delve too deep into this side of the project. 
• On the other hand giving an identity to something does make it easier for people to relate and emphasise with it? 

Pattern making for collaborative

Today I made a load of patterns for my collaborative brief - the aim being for them to be inspired by the ingredients within the chocolate bars, but also have a childish and playful tone of voice to reflect the company's branding. 

In order to achieve this child-like aesthetic, as well as add a little bit of texture, I choose to finger-paint certain components of the patterns. I think this worked really well, and to be honest I had a lot of fun doing it - there's something to be said for just sitting down and experimenting with making stuff! I think the shapes within the patterns mimic the ingredients quite well, but the colour palette - taken from their existing branding - being so limited, it means the final results are also quite abstract and non-representational (which I do like, because this aligns with my practice quite well). 

In preparation for our collaborative meeting tomorrow I am going to scan these in and add some block colour backgrounds digitally - as I think if they are going to be in a puzzle layout, they each need to have solid colour so each piece can be differentiated from the other. 

Hunting and the Illegal Pet trade

https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/become-aware/issues/orangutans-a-wildlife/the-illegal-trade-in-orangutans

I been researching a little more into other factors that cause the endangerment of oranguatans as a species, other than the destruction of their habitat. 

• The hunting of orangutans is still a threat - where this occurs depends on tribal and village identity. As this is an indigenous tradition, it has been hard to counter this problem without becoming culturally insensitive and causing offence. They are hunted for a number of different purposes:
• meat 
• perceived medicinal benefits by consuming certain body parts (alike to rhino horn)
• The illegal pet trade : there is an international and domestic market to keep orangutans as pets, again for a number of different reasons:
• Kept by families (as we would keep cats or dogs in western society)
• Status symbols - kept by local politicians, senior military and police staff. 
• In order to obtain a baby orangutan, they need to shoot the mother. 
• At a young age organutans are docile and sweet, but soon grow to have the strength of an adult human and can become increasingly aggressive. 
• Orangutans are also poached to be kept in zoos or wildlife parks, often in appalling conditions. 
• They are also poached to be used for entertainment purposes e.g. thai boxing. 

Palm Oil - sustainability is the solution

I watched this video on the WWF website, explaining how we solve the environmental destruction caused by Palm Oil plantations. 


Sustainable Palm oil production from WWF on Vimeo.

• Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, and as a result they are losing their rainforests at an alarming rate - often by slash and burn techniques. 
• 50% of packaged products in our supermarkets contain palm oil. 
• However; 45% of the palm oil in Indonesia is produced by smallholders (farmers that cultivate under 50 hectares of land) who rely on this income to lift them out of poverty. 
• The solution is to therefore work towards sustainable palm oil - RSPO certification. 
• This means reductions in the use of chemicals and farming methods that produce higher yields, therefore preventing these plantations expanding further into the rainforest. 
• WWF funds the education of these smallholder farmers so they can gain RSPO certification, and therefore protect the Orangutangs habitat. 
• RSPO certification, however, will only work if consumers support it, this why people need to only buy sustainable palm oil products. 

Study task 2 : 5 inspiring illustrators

Gathering these 5 illustrators as inspiration for this project, and through doing so consciously thinking about how and where I would like to apply my own illustrations within a professional context, has been a really useful and thought-provoking exercise. 

I think something that all these illustrators have in common is that they mostly work in shape, using bold colour and texture, to make really graphic images that rely on thoughtful composition and layout. They almost all work regularly with handmade process', some making this more central to their practice than others. Its interesting for me to see that these core aspects of what I love about illustration - shape, texture, colour, handmade process - can produce such different images and most importantly exist across so many different contexts within the creative industries. 

Looking at the work of Anna Kovecses and Geoff Mcfetridge has made me realise that I would really like invest some more time into expanding both my graphic design and animation skills. I think being a multi-disciplinary practitioner can only be an advantage, and makes your career ultimately more interesting as it opens yourself up to work on a whole range of different projects. Kovecses, in particular, has made me interested in experimenting with type in relation to image and this is something I may start playing around with during OUIL505. 

Leading on from my conversation with Ben, looking at these five illustrators has also given me some ideas as to how I could apply my OUIL505 illustrations.

• For example if I were to make this project into promotion for an event, to decorate the event space I could apply my illustrations like : 
• Zebu's 'Huge London' offices murals, different surfaces -> increased interaction. 
• Charlene Man's flamingo bunting for the V&A. 
• Or even look into creating some kind of tactile space or object ppl can interact with and learn complicated ideas from like play-o-logy's giant digestive system. 
• Atelier Bingo's posters, Anna Kovecses playful typography and Geoff Mcfetridge's work has given me ideas as to how I could create a number of posters ... using type as well as image, and graphic symbols. 
• I have also seen how I could apply my illustrations really nicely to make some illustrative products or clothing - like Zebu & Charlene Man have done so successfully.