WordPress statistics have just informed me that the last posting was the 1ooth one that I have made since I started back in January 2013!
That means 58,290 views and 9,202 visitors!
Thanks to everyone that is following the blog. There are more posts to come in the next few weeks with the upcoming degree show and graduate showcases coming soon after.
Many of you will know that for the last ten years, Falmouth Illustration has become known for its popular ‘The Illustrated Book of Quotes & Sayings’ publication
What is essentially an illustration source book, ‘The Illustrated Book of Quotes & Sayings’ has proved to be incredibly successful and well recognized in the world of illustration. The book can be found on the desks of all the top illustration agencies, publishers and design companies in New York and London such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Walker Books, Penguin Books, Design Bridge, to name just a few.
This year we felt it was time for a change and have produced more of a magazine style publication re-named as ‘Wunderkammer, our illustrated book of curiosities’.
The concept behind ‘Wunderkammer’ was to create a more magazine style book, rather than the former catalogue, which features not only this years graduates but also celebrates our amazing Alumni. The magazine includes ‘hot picks’ from Alumni published books, industry comments, tips for students, national and international awards and of course this years graduates. The magazine is aimed at students, graduates and industry providing inspiration, advice and tips from experts in the illustration industry.
The magazine is a wonderful celebration of our students and Alumni and such an invaluable promotional tool not only for them, but us as a course during very difficult times for Universities. In July our students take part in D&AD and New Designers, and we will use this opportunity to feature the new magazine, hopefully encouraging the next generation of budding illustrators to come and join us on the course whilst providing support and advice for those who have recently graduated.
Both the staff and students are incredibly proud of the magazine. Many thanks go to Keryn Bibby who did an amazing job on the design and production of the book.
Details on how you can purchase a copy will posted on this blog shortly.
Third year Falmouth illustration students have been putting up their work and submitting their 2nd semester work for assessment a week after returning from London and New York. This is the culmination of three year’s hard work. It’s at this time of year that the studios temporarily transform from the usual vibrant working space into a gallery space to showcase the students output. The teaching staff now have exclusive access while they assess the work after which the students come back later this month to put the finishing touches to their spaces in time for the degree show private view on Friday 3rd June.
Earlier this spring 1st year students took part in the annual ‘Project X’ challenge. This project has taken different forms over the last 15-20 years at Falmouth but essentially involves an editorial text being treated as a real life brief. Students have about 3 days to develop a concept, produce full colour artwork and then present it in context. It’s really a slice of reality.
We usually find that the pressure of this exercise often brings the best out of the students and this year was no different with the conceptual strategies that had been delivered earlier in the year being used on a regular basis. ‘Project X’ is presented as an informal competition. The winners are shown here.
Our final day in New York arrives. What a week! Some fantastic visits have taken place and important contacts made. Our ‘Wunderkammer’ has been working its magic and is now on the shelves of some of the top art directors and designers in the city. There has been real interest in Lizzie Houldsworth’s work from Nobrow’s New York office and it looks like Beth Wheatley has been offered agency representation from Mendola. Many more students have had incredibly useful, critical and supportive feedback during the trip that will allow them to recalibrate their portfolios, hopefully with future trips to London (and New York) in mind. More information from the visits will come to light over the next couple of weeks and I will feed this into future posts.
Thanks very much to Akhran for inviting Sue and myself to see his friend rehearse Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s, Lost’ at the Juilliard Performing Arts School (a very prestigious institution) last night. The quality of the acting was phenomenal.
After that it was down to ‘ArtBar’ in Greenwich Village for a final night drink. It was a little too crowded to begin with but eventually we seemed to take over most of the back room. It was good to sit down and reflect on the week (and in fact the whole of the year) over a beer. I have posted some photos from the night. Apologies any ‘red eyes’!
As I write we are just waiting for the coach to arrive to take us to JFK airport. It has been a really successful week and the students have acquitted themselves really well. They have been thoroughly professional in their approach. This has definitely been commented on by art directors. They also now have some fantastics contacts to follow up on and gained huge confidence in their own abilities. The challenge of researching, securing and going on the kind of industry visits that they have had in a place like New York would be a major challenge for an established professional illustrator and so well done to all of them.
Thanks need to go out to all involved in making this trip happen; Mark and Keryn for getting the ball rolling and dealing with the logistics, Jane in Art Admin for liaising with the tour operator and also finance, Study Trips for delivering such a professional trip and Sue Clarke for support in New York during the week.
Until next year…..
Great feedback is coming in from yesterday’s visits with real interest being shown in the students work with good opportunities to follow up in the near future including the children’s fiction group meeting with Marc Drumwright from Enchanted Lion. He was kind enough to spend 4 hours with students and gave everyone great feedback.
An added bonus was a meeting at The Invisble Dog Art Center with Oliver Jeffers for Catherine, Jo, Leah, Hannah and Millie. Below are some photos from the day’s visits and also one of the building in the East Village that was photographed for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s iconic ‘Physical Graffiti’ album. Sue and I just stumbled on it when wandering past.
Todays visits include; Henry Holt Books (a young audience imprint of MacMillan Books), Nautilus, Little Brown Books, Pearlfisher Design, Sterling Books, Farrar Straus Giroux and Bullet Proof.
More updates to follow….
Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So we head off the Famous Brooklyn Diner on west 57th. This is establishment is the real deal with a clientele that includes the likes of film star James Caan. Authentic American food that sets us up for the rest of the day…
Students have visits today with; Mendola Illustration agency! Penguin Books, Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Plan Sponsor Magazine, JKR Global, Scholastic Publishing and Stranger & Stranger. I will post feedback on the visits and photos as soon as I can.
A small group of us have just returned from a truly amazing gig at the York College of Performing Arts. Snarky Puppy are a collective of some of the world’s most talented musicians. Tonight they played a mix of the jazz fusion that they are known for with some material from their new album. It was a real treat to see them perform in their home town. Thanks to Rachel for sorting the tickets out. You can check them out on You Tube.
More visits tomorrow with more updates….
We woke up to rain this morning but it didn’t dampen our spirits. students discussed yesterday’s visits over breakfast before heading out to nine new appointments with New York art directors.. Visits today include; Enchanted Lion Books, Studio NYC, The. New York Times, WW Norlton, Ray Ray Books, Bust Magazine, Harper. Collins, and the wall StreetJournal.
At the Wall Street Journal David Bamundo and four other art directors were very impressed with the portfolios that 10. Falmouth Illustrators showed them. The Wall Street Journal is now a great contact for. Falmouth, having seen our students and commissioned them over the last three years. David and Peter namechecked a number of Falmouth Alumni, including Josh McKenna, Beth Walrond,
and David Doran
Driving into Manhattan is still as exciting as ever though with huge skyscrapers eventually blocking out the night sky as we approached our destination. After arriving at the YMCA pretty late (10pm local time, 3am UK time!) most of chose to get some sleep straight away.
Day one involves upto 5 visits. 11am sees students visiting Hard Hat Design. Hardhat is a boutique, award winning, multi-disciplinary creative agency based in Brooklyn. At 3pm students visit Patrick Crotty from PEOW. PEOW is a studio that specialise in comic book publishing and Risograph printing.At 3pm a group of students will visit Chase Design Group. Chase Design Group is a creative agency with offices in California and New York. Then at 5.30pm students visit Vault 49, an award winning New York agency who create branding, advertising, design and art. Its also hoped that some students will be able to visit Nobrow’s NY office subject to confirmation. Good luck to everyone. We hopefully will be able to share images of the visits as and when they come in…
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