Submission to YCN, Dogs Trust

I think I struggled with the commercial nature of this brief. I was very conscious that the finishing result had to appeal to a wide-audience and have a clear communicative message, as well as a concept that suited the tone of Dog's Trust. Within this I found it hard to build a concept I was personally excited about and found myself changing my practice to suit the brief, rather than the other way around. 

I think this is often the struggle of doing competitions briefs. In many ways the benefit of doing them is to gain recognition or the winning prize so you have to create the work with an audience and the client in mind. It can sometimes be hard to find a balance between shaping your practice to meet the competitions needs, and still making work that suits you and excites you creatively. 

In a positive sense, however, by making these illustrations I have found a new method of making images that suits my practice and gives myself a quicker turn-around - which would help within a commercial context as a freelance illustrator. This includes making a cut-paper base, with just white card, scanning this in and then photoshopping mono-print textures on top - meaning I do not have to make new ones every time to cut up. In this brief I also enjoyed drawing again - especially for the mono-type dogs - and think I would like to incorporate this more into my practice. 

Overall I am happy with the final outcome. I like the limited colour palette and the 3-D cut paper effect, resulting from the use of my new process. However, I am unhappy with the unimaginative concept of just dog's existing within different 'forever homes' in a surrealistic way - for me it lacks originality or depth of thought. 

Reflection & Moving Forward

I think I have arrived at a key period of reflection in my practice and deciding how I can most effectively use the last couple months I have on degree. 

This term I have seen some successes, working on Penguin Random house and YCN Dog's trust has enabled me to contextualise my practice within the creative industries to a higher standard and produce some good portfolio pieces. The past few weeks, however, I have been feeling especially de-motivated in producing work, and I think this comes from the lack fulfilment I am getting from completing competition briefs. 

In tutorials with both Matt and Ben I have realised that what could better distinguish me as a practitioner are my interests and I need to use these to fuel my practice. I would like to use Easter as period in which to find and outline a passion project to complete when I return to Leeds, so that I can use the remaining time to be creating something for me as a practitioner. 

Ideas / Stuff I would like to do : 

• A printmaking project inspired by David Hockney's 'homemade' prints, working shape, bitmapped patterns and hand-drawn elements - with a similar focus on composition as my context of practice work. 
• A content-driven project on an environmental issue that concerns me - could this still be range of editorials in some way? 
• Screen-print some long-sleeved t-shirts :)
• Produce an animation or series of looping gifs - this could potentially be combined with the content-driven project. 

Mega-Crit

Positive Feedback:

• Like the penguin random house covers - use of texture and shape. 

Moving forward:

• essentially do more work - need to get going on dogs trust brief and maybe start planning a personal project?

Easter Plan

• Design a website (on wix.com) - doesn't have to go live right now ... 
• Design Instagram logo and animate for website. 
• Secret 7" - do cover for London Grammar 'Help'. 
• Start personal projects
• Screen-prints (extension of Cop work) - make positives to print on return. 
• Find a content? - editorials, books, documentaries. 
• Take inspiration from trip to Saint Petersburg - architecture, culture, art ... ? 

Sister Corita Kent

Corita Kent was an American Catholic religious sister, artist and educator. Attending their school as a girl, at 18 she entered into the order of nuns of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Soon after, noticed for her artistic talent, she went on to work in the orders art college, that had a liberal reputation, and eventually becoming head of their art department in 1964. 

At the orders art college, she decided to buy her own diy screen-printing kit and started experimenting. Her early work mostly figurative or religious, later on she began incorporating advertising images and slogans influenced by the pop culture and pop art movement of the time - artists like Andy Warhol coming to the forefront of the American art scene. 

Her work communicates spiritual and activist messages, striving to bring attention to social injustices such as poverty or racism. Visually, however, she just wanted things to be beautiful and her artwork, as well as a method of social activism, was also just an expression of joy. 

Corita Kent created so many pieces, mainly in screen-print or watercolour, but my favourites are the prints she made in the early/mid 1960s. The bold colours and use of type as a decorative shape in itself, I think is so effective in achieving this visual combination of an image that communicates a message, in a similar aesthetic to advertisements of the time - but also holds a visual quality that undeniable defines it as a beautiful piece of art. 

David Hockney (homemade) prints

Last term I visited Salts Mill gallery and bought a book dedicated to Hockney as a printmaker. Within this body of work, I particularly like prints (such as the one above) where he has combined more fine, digital-looking patterns with fluid handmade lines and shapes. This print, and most of the similar ones, state to have been made by a 'office colour copy machine'. I think I could replicate the same effect, however, using 'bitmap' mode on photoshop to modify mono-print or hand-drawn textures. I would like to start experimenting with creating similar digital patterns, to create a body of screen-prints - perhaps expanding on my final work for the context of practice module ...

Research: Dogs Trust

Key Phrases:

• Make 'rescue dogs' the most desirable breed in Britain. 
• The best place for a dog is a 'forever home'. 
• Give all dogs a second chance at happiness. 

Key Facts:

• Every year Dog's Trust cares for around 16,000 dogs at their 20 rehoming centres nationwide. 
• Dog's Trust never put down a healthy dog, once a dog is their care they will be looked after for the rest of their life. 
• Dogs Trust need to find homes for 13,000 abandoned dogs each year. 
• The length of a dogs stay with Dogs Trust is increasing, meaning they have less space to rescue and rehome another one. 
• They put this down to changing buying behaviour - people are buying dogs more online. 
• There is also the common misconception that rescue dogs are 'broken' or have 'issues' - most of Dog's trusts dogs need rehoming due to their previous owners having work commitments, a family crisis, a new baby or ill health. 
• 1 in 4 households in the Uk own a dog as a pet. 
• In America rescue dogs are made popular by their A-list celebrity owners e.g. George Clooney or Ariana Grande - how can you make rescue dogs 'fashionable' in the UK? 

Target Audience : British dog lover. 

Tone : upbeat and positive - do not try to shock people or come across judgemental. Do not make the dogs seem unwanted or unloved, or Dogs Trust a bad place for them to be. 

Possible Ideas: 

• Make an online campaign that could exist along-side other dog-selling sites to compete with this growing market - this could an animation, looping gifs or interactive advertisement? 
• Research into the most common rescue dogs and try to think of ways to make them 'fashionable'. 
• What celebrities in the UK have rescue dogs? 
• Hone in to this idea of a 'forever home' and the connection between a dog and their owner. 

This is Dogs Trust most recent TV ad. It shows people finding a balloon dog that then leads them to a real Dogs Trust dog that need a new home. It aims to create this idea of every dog having a 'special someone' that is meant to be their owner or forever home. I think this is ultimately a very effective ad because it has a sense of sentimentality and makes you think of the special connection we hold with our pets without bringing any form of guilt or sadness that could be associated with rescue dogs. 

Penguin Random House : Reflection

Things that went well:

• Can see clear improvement in comparison to my covers from last years competition - better crafting of imagery as well as consideration of layout and type. 
• Doing the competition again confirmed to me that publishing is an area of interest to me within my professional practice. 
• I enjoy the whole process of researching and illustrating book covers, as well as having to consider layout/composition beyond just the actual imagery - how each component (front, back and spine) will work together as well as separately and the placement/hierarchy of type. 

Things that didn't go so well: 

• I did not plan my time effectively enough to submit to as many categories as I would have liked - shows how important time management is at this point of the year!
• I miss doing personal work! Despite producing cover designs that I am proud of, in terms of my portfolio I feel I am still lacking something that shows my personal interests, rather than illustration that works to achieve more commercial needs. 

Noughts & Crosses, Cover Design Evaluation 1

I am overall very happy with this final outcome. I think the cover design is impactful and eye-catching. Each element - the front, the spine and back -  are being able to stand on their own but the cover also works as one cohesive piece. I feel that the choices I made in typography are appropriate, and all the copy has managed fit around the design, still maintaining its legibility. 

I like the focus on composition across the design in the positioning of the snakes - how they balance across the front and back cover, and frame the book title. I think it was a good choice to take the design from being entirely digital into lino-print to give it a softer, more handmade aesthetic. 

The concept of the cover was to symbolise the hope of racial discrimination disappearing within the next generation, through a visual metaphor of snakes achieving some form of rebirth by shedding their skins. The skins being shed within the design also contain the 'nought' and 'cross' symbols,  iconic to previous covers of the book, and also derogatory racial terms referring to blacks and whites within Blackman's dystopian setting. Im glad I found a way of incorporating the two symbols in a more non-conventional and conceptual way. The only worry I have about the design is the fact that this concept is perhaps too ambiguous, and therefore will be considered not necessarily in keeping with the plot of the book. 

Noughts & Crosses, Cover Design 2

The concept for this cover design is more closely bound to the narrative of the book. The beach scene reoccurs throughout the story - a secret meeting place that acts as a stage for their budding romance, but also Callums eventual betrayal as he uses it to orchestrate Sephy's kidnapping by the Liberation Militia. 

I like the simplicity and clean look of the design. The imagery is a lot softer, and less impactful than the snake skin cover design, which in some ways could perhaps make it more attractive to a younger readership ...? I am happy with the overall composition - the way it flows from front to spine to back, and how each component stands on its own. 

A weakness of this cover design is that it communicates perhaps more about the love and relationship between the two main characters, rather than the primary theme of racial discrimination. Although the image is directly related to scenes within the plot, I think picking up this cover you would expect something different than the actual narrative.