Falmouth Illustration at D&AD New Blood 2016

A number of Falmouth Illustration students have been showcasing their work at the prestigious D&AD New Blood Graduate Showcase this week. Preparations had been underway back at Falmouth for the last 2-3 weeks Keryn and Sue have done a great job of designing the huge drop banners for the show. All of the show was packed up last Friday and driven down to London on Monday along with the New Designers boards (more of this in the next posting) and Sue, Cally and Nigel hung the show on Tuesday. It was hard work but well worth it. The show looked fantastic in time for the Private View on Tuesday night. The PV night was really crowded but there was a great atmosphere. A number of well known art directors, publishers, designers and agents have already begun to respond well to the Falmouth stand with really positive comments directed towards our graduates. Industry visitors have included Sam Arthur (NoBrow/FlyingEye), Louise Power (Walker Books) and art directors from Wired magazine and Andersen Press.

Students (and their websites) that have taken part in the show are:
Seekan Hui / Lizzie Houldsworth / Kim Meech / Harry Oelman / Jia Li Yu / Rachel Pinnock / Julia de Graaf / Freddie Fuller / Lucy Haslam / Kate Hickey / Jessica Meyrick / Oscar Mitchell / Robert Newberry / Eleanor Hardiman / Ben Flanagan / Sara Hougham-Slade

 

1st & 2nd Year Falmouth Illustration student exhibition a great success!

During the this years 3rd year degree show, we have decided to exhibit work from our talented 1st & 2nd year Illustration students. In previous years we have held this show at the Wellington Terrace foundation building but this year it was decided to run it in parallel with the 3rd year show to ensure that more people than ever get to see how talented our students are. The feedback that we have been getting has been tremendous. Well done to Natalie, Sue, Rachel, Linda, Nick, Cally, Rose and of course the students for doing such a good job of displaying the work.

Here are some examples of work from the show…..

2016 Falmouth Illustration Degree Show Private View!

This year’s Falmouth Illustration Degree Show kicked of with a fantastic Private View last Friday. The evening began with Ginny Button, the director of the Falmouth School of Art, addressing all FSA students before myself and other Heads of Subject handed out this year’s course awards. The winners of the illustration course awards were: Sara Hougham Slade (‘Outstanding Student Achievement’), Julia de Graaf (‘Outstanding Studentship’), Lucy Tomlinson (‘Outstanding Dissertation’), Seekan Hui and Ellen Bennett won the ‘Paper Rose Award’. The crowds then dispersed to the various exhibitions throughout the campus and the PV started for real.

This was one of the busiest (and warmest!) private views in recent memory. It was great to see students and parents enjoying what is undoubtedly a very strong show this year. It was also great to be able to see 1st and 2nd year work also on the floor below (see the next post for details of this show). Today is the last day of the show, so if you want to see it then come down before 4pm. If you can’t make then here is a sample of work that is on show….

More work can be seen on individual student websites by clicking Agency Website

Kickstarter hope to fund ‘Silent Quarter’ – Falmouth Alumni Tim Lane’s illustrated short story

Kickstarter is to fund the production and publishing of Falmouth College of Art alumni Tim Lane’s new bookwork Silent Quarter.

Silent Quarter is a short story told through a combination of writing and drawing. The playful structure is most akin to a concept album. It has short written passages that fit together in a loose story arch which are like the ‘lyrics’. The ‘music’ is then provided by the large images that literally ‘open-up’ on fold-out pages and augment the text – lending mood, symbolism and providing time for reflection. The idea is not a fixed narrative but instead something that is open and flexible to the reader. It is a project that Tim has been working on for over two years and exhibits his first foray into writing as part of his artistic practice.

TIM LANE
Tim is a contemporary artist living and working in Bristol, UK. Originally from Cheltenham, Tim graduated from Falmouth College of Art in 2004 with a first class BA (Hons) degree in Illustration. Since then he has been exhibiting his paintings and drawings in galleries, most notably in: London, Bristol and San Francisco. The fine art market was a natural progression for him, as it provided a far greater creative freedom enjoyed in terms of style and subject matter. Tim’s degree – in which he concentrated mostly on authorial/ book illustration – helped give his art a rich narrative quality and a concern with character and environment; offering structure to his love for working directly from his imagination as well as strongly encouraging a passion for drawing (which is at the core of all his work).

Tim’s anachronistic style takes strong influence from reading literature, particularly Classic and World Mythologies. The consideration of myth for Tim, provides a multi-layered structure and open narrative that then inspires highly symbolic imagery which seeks to explain the world in a visceral, imaginative, often dark way – but which prompts the viewer to interpret these symbols for themselves.
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You can support Tim’s project by visiting:

Level 2 Berlin Study Visit, Report and Photos 

Earlier in the year 2nd year Falmouth Illustration students travelled to Berlin. Here is an outline of how the week went from Natalie Hayes, our Level 2 Course Co-ordinator…

‘On the Monday of the trip Linda and myself took 20 students to visit the illustrator Sophia Martinek , who spoke at length about her work. She was able to show the students a range of projects, from publishing to editorial and music promotion. It was interesting to hear from her that she doesn’t get much work from Germany, but that she regularly works for British and American publications such as the New York Times. She also spoke about a nine month project where she produced over 100 illustrations for the book ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ by Arthur Conan Doyle, published by Rockport Publishers.

In the evening we went to an Exhibition of the work of Professor Henning Wagenbreth from the University of the Arts Berlin. The exhibition was at Re:Surgo Gallery, which is an independent gallery run by printmakers. Henning spoke to a group of 20+ students about his work, his methods and the large scale production of his screen prints. The gallery also sells beautiful printed books .

On Tuesday afternoon we took a group of 15 students to the independent publisher Reprodukt. They are primarily responsible for publishing graphic novels and comics ranging from serious titles including ‘Irmina’ by Barbara Yelin to translations of books such as the Hilda series, originally published by Flying Eye Books. We met with Klara Gross who spoke to the students at length about the titles, and took many questions from the students about getting work published.

On the Wednesday morning we took 20 students to visit the Illustrator Jacob Hinrichs in his studio. He showed several of his recent projects to the students, including the substantial graphic novel ‘Hans Fallada’. He also spoke of his experiences of working on Editorial projects for a range of clients, including The Guardian and The Times and spoke of the importance of Illustrators valuing themselves by charging fees reflective of the quality of the work and time spent producing the work.

On Wednesday evening all students (37) were the guest of the Illustrator and artist Patrick Thomas who gave an extensive illustrated visual presentation, documenting his journey from the RCA, through to his current practise creating prints, exhibiting and teaching. Highlights included examples of his work for the maverick designer / artist Mariscal and designing logos for the clothing company Desigual.’

Thanks to Natalie, Linda and everyone involved in organising this fantastic trip. Apologies that it has taken longer than intended to get this up on the blog.

1st year students complete ‘Project X’

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.

New York Study Trip: Day 4

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….

Day One NY 2016

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…

2015 London Illustration Forum is a Big Success!

This year’s Falmouth illustration Forum was a big success. Students arrived early in the morning at the London College of Communication, for whom we are very grateful to for allowing us the use of their lecture theatre for the day.

Things kicked off with a presentation by renowned reportage illustrator, Olivier Kugler. Olivier is particularly well known for his work for the Guardian. He has worked however for a numerous publications across the world and regularly travels to obscure and often dangerous locations to capture and record his observations. This was a fascinating insight into the work of this award winning illustrator.

After a short break Jonny Hannah took to the stage. Jonny has spoken at this event before and always entertained and informed in equal quantity. This time was no exception. Jonny made clear his musical influences throughout the presentation and I am sure we are all going to be checking out his suggestions with interest! Johnny’s work is rich with his own personality and he wears his inspirations on his sleeve with pride. These include obscure New York graffiti to obscure Southampton Kebab shops. His work is full of humour and surreal interpretations of things that most of us take entirely for granted.

After lunch we were treated to a fascinating talk by Aude Van Ryn.

Born in Belgium, Aude studied at Central St Martins and the Royal College of Art.

Her work has a diverse appeal providing her with opportunities for her work to be used as theatre posters, packaging for retailer ‘Le Pain Quotidien’ and campaigns for clients such as The British Heart Foundation. She is particularly well known for her beautiful compositional sense and intelligent conceptual solutions within the editorial sector.

It was great to have had such experienced and inspirational illustrators presenting at this year’s Forum. The feedback from students has been really good. It was also great to see so many LCC students present too. at the end of the day the three speakers, teaching staff and a number of students were able to reflect on the day over a well deserved drink in the ‘pub round the corner’.

Many thanks to Stuart Varley for his help in getting the event up and running . Thanks also go out to the technicians who were able to iron out a few last minute technical hitches. A big thank you goes to Sue Clarke who was instrumental in organising not only the forum event but the whole week’s study trip and also to Rachel Dunn who provided invaluable support throughout the week. Also thank you once again to all of the art directors, editors, designers, agents who gave up their valuable time to talk to our students.

Until next year……

Visit to Transworld and the Folio Society

Earlier during the day Rachel took a group of students to the Folio Society. This is another much admired publisher for which recent. Falmouth Students have been commissioned, namely Jim Boswell with illustrations for ‘The Drowned World’ and ‘The Traitor’s Purse’. Students were met by Sheri and Raquel who gave a great talk about the company and it’s commissioning process. Students really appreciated being able to peruse through the amazing Folio society library. Many thanks…

Later that morning Sue took students to Transworld. This always is an informative visit and today was no exception. Tranworld is the UK’s leading fiction publisher. Originally founded in 1950 as a mass market publisher. The visit allowed students an opportunity to ask questions about how books are commissioned and projects handled. This is incredibly useful for illustration students. Many thanks to all involved.