That jobs blog

Options, organisations and awards

When looking into key organisations and professional awards in my area, I have noted several organisations and award schemes and followed them all on social media to ensure I am up to date with all competitions and opportunities they are offering. I found looking into who wins awards particularly helpful as I feel with my own work I’m often very lost when it comes to developing a personal style in my personal voice, heavy line detail, that still considers composition and is able to communicate well without sacrificing any of my line detail. Therefore when I was looking at awards, I found one illustrator who’s style I really love. I found her when looking at the Victoria and Albert Museum awards. I feel it was important to focus on the more recent winners as the creative industry changes very fast therefore I wanted to look at what is winning awards now. I check out the winners and runners up of various categories but the illustrator who’s style really impacted my Cat O’Neils.

I find her work absolutely beautiful and I’m so glad I found her, I followed her straight away on her art social media. Her work spoke to me so much in the respect she uses lots of line detail like me, her style leans towards editorial illustration and she has found a way the communicate ideas clearly without losing her beautiful line detail. Therefore, I took this opportunity to message her and see whether she would answer a few questions for me, mainly about how she managed to find this balance in her work. This also gives me another opportunity to gain another practitioner to interview and network with.

Her is a screenshot of her digitally portfolio and I find it so inspirational. I feel by following her work it allows me to do visually problem solving as I feel it will help me develop a balanced personal voice like her own while still playing to my natural style which is very similar to her own. I got a reply from her on Instagram and she said she would be very happy to answer my questions! Therefore, I sent her some over, obviously relevant to her work and her style as previously discussed. I told her not to rush as she’s very busy but I feel I may message her again and see whether she’s got anytime to reply this week so I have enough time to write about her answers, with her permission of course!I found another illustrator who’s style I really like call John Vernon Lord. I found him eagain through the V&A but this time through their blog. He work stuck with me because in a lot of my one to one tutorials with my lecturer we always discuss the fact my use of line detail is so heavy and I’m not letting my work breathe and sometimes I’m losing the composition in the linework. Therefore, I found Vernon Lord another great illustrator to study. Again, I have followed his art social medias in order to keep up to date with his work. He is a contrast to O’Neil as she is a brilliant example of an editorial illustrator, he is a great example of a book illustrator, both of which having resolved the dilemma I am currently facing. I felt it was important I looked at illustrators working contrasting way as I am still undecided which area of illustration I wish to pursue and therefore wanted to explore practitioners winning awards in different ones.

Finally, I researched library articles and found a very fitting one to discuss. About John Vernon Lord! Almost like I planned it huh?

I looked at so many different articles before deciding on this one and I’m so glad I choice this one. I feel it is so relevant and relatable to my own practice. I feel some of the quote’s discussed in this journal article are the answers to my previously discussed dilemma of how to create a composition with my intricate line art that also has space to breathe! In the article he discusses his process when it comes to illustrating and book, and quite frankly, I feel his writing is as eloquent as his illustrations. His dialect is complex like his line work yet his wording is almost poetic, kind of apt for an illustrator.

The quote he used and the way he explained it has really made me reflect on my own work. It was Leonardo Da Vinci he quoted, “‘Art breathes from containment and suffocates from freedom.” Vernon Lord then explains and visuals this quote. The image he attaches alongside it illustrates perfectly that by sectioning work, it allows the overall image the breathe and offer relief from the intense detail. This image attach is seen below, I feel this demonstrates this point clearly and I feel this is a technique I will try within my own practice straight away!

Through this blog I feel I have learned so much that speaks to me and is relatable to my own practice, it took a lot of searching to find the people and articles that I felt relate to me but it was definitely worth the search. I cant wait to her back from O’Neil on how she balances her line work in her overall composition and I feel Vernon Lord has already answered my question of how he does the same through this house of illustration article.