Falmouth Illustration in New York: Days 1 & 2

Posted by nowen2013

Days one and two in The Big Apple have gone well for our Falmouth Illustration Students with the visits kicking off on Monday morning with a visit to MB artists. MB artists represents over 62 children’s book illustrators from around the world and represent collection of highly-regarded artists.

Following on from that students visited Hearst Magazines. Hearst Magazines is one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with 25 U.S. titles and over 300 international editions. Hearst Magazines also publishes 19 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hearst Magazines UK And so was a prime visit to secure for our editorial leaning students.

In the afternoon a number of students visited Buzzfeed. BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American internet an digital media news and entertainment company.

The final visit was to Dragon Rouge. Dragon Rouge is an award-winning global creative agency with offices in Paris, London, Hamburg , Warsaw, Shanghai, Singapore, Sao Paulo and New York. Feedback on these visits and photos will be posted on these visits when it comes in from students.

Day two began with visits to two successful illustration agents. Falmouth has had a long standing connection with Mendola Artists. Having seen them for many years on the New York trip. They currently represent former Falmouth graduate Rachel Saunders.

The second visit was to Painted Words, an artist/ literary agency dedicated to bringing unique voices in children’s books to the foreground. They develop author-illustrators for the children’s publishing marketplace, nurturing their talents into creative projects across the media spectrum. Their goal is to provide the utmost in representation for illustrators and authors while placing a unique emphasis on developing characters, books, and licensed properties.

The third visit was to the New York Times. The New York Times has a worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won numerous awards for its journalism more than any other newspaper. It also has commissioned a number of Falmouth Students in recent years, notably Tom Paterson in 2018 who had to deliver a commission during the study trip.

The final visit was to Littlebrown Publishing (part of the Hachette Group). About 12 students met at the Starbucks close to the Neuberger Bergman Skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. Art director Christina Quintero took us up to the Littlebrown offices afetrewhich four artdirectors spent over an hour and a half looking through the students portfolios. Really useful feedback came from these conversations. Notably Christina said how graphic novels and comics have become very popular with young audiences in the US and they are commissioning more and more in this area. The popularity of hand rendered type was also referred to on numerous occasions. Many thanks to Christina and her fellow art directors for such a great visit. Likewise to those involved in the earlier visits. Again I will post photos of those visits as soon as I have them.

Falmouth Illustration New York 2018: POST no.2

Posted by nowen2013

Last week’s Falmouth Illustration trip was a huge success with around 40 students making the trip to the Big Apple. Numerous visits took place during the week and included some of the world’s top art directors. As with the trip that was happening simultaneously in London students had done a great job of securing some really stellar visits that amongst others included:

Nautilus
Debut Art
Peter Lott
Mendola Illustration Agency
Bernstein & Andriulli
3×3 Magazine
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
Buzzfeed
Vault 49

It is a major challenge to secure visits of this calibre for even a professional illustrator and so the students should be applauded for their success.

The purpose of these visits is to get feedback on their portfolios of work at the end of the course with a view to fine tuning just before they enter the ‘real world’ of illustration. This year however, one student, went one further and was commissioned by The iconic New York Times. Tom Paterson showed his portfolio to the art directors at the NYT and before the end of the afternoon was commissioned to produce an illustration for the online version of the newspaper. The deadline was the next day for the rough and the end of the week for the artwork. With a borrowed iPad and a quick run through ProCreate he got to work, eventually delivering the artwork on time. This is a first for any student on this study trip and congratulations go to Tom for doing such a great job with the illustration.

Another highlight was meeting up with Beth Wheatley and fellow Falmouth alumni Sophie at Vault 49. Former Falmouth Illustration graduate Beth now works at this well known Brand Design Agency that originated in the UK but is now based in midtown Manhattan. The story of her journey from Falmouth to New York was an inspiration to the students on that visit. It was also great to meet up with senior designers Jonathan and Richard for a drink afterwards.

Thanks to the students for making the trip such an enjoyable and successful one. I am sure that they have learnt a great deal about their work and the industry from the week. Thanks also go to all of the designers and art directors that were visited during the week for making time available to see our students. Much appreciated. Thanks also go out to Sue Clarke and Keryn Bibby and the Arta dmin team for organising such a successful trip. Here are the photos that I have at the moment. I will try and post more as they come in….

New York! Day 2

Posted by nowen2013

Travis Quinn reviews Rachel Orme’s portfolio

Deb Archambault reviews Cedric Wurm’s portfolio

The view from the 19th floor of BBH

Day 2 of our study visit to New York. Great feedback from students on the appointments that they’ve had up until now. Trips to agents like Mendola, publishers like Nobrow and Advertising agencies are already yielding really useful informations great contacts.

The visit to Bartle Bogle & Hegarty was really inspirational in more than one way. Looking out across uptown Manhattan from the 19th floor of a 1920s Art Deco skyscraper it was hard not dream of what it might be like to work in New York, particularly when hearing English accents coming from a number of the creatives working in what was a typically cool and creative workspace. Well done to Josh for getting there on time and also bringing a copy of the quotes book.

Great Mexican food was to be found (and eaten!) last night just off Thompson st. & Bleecker st (South Greenwich Village) partly in celebration of Mexican National Day. A great area to visit in the evening…

Falmouth Illustration Students in New York

Posted by nowen2013

Falmouth University Level 3 Illustration students have just returned from a successful and exciting trip to New York. All students had diaries filled with appointments to visit New York’s top illustration agencies, publishing houses and design groups. Some visits were set up in advance using the contacts that tutors have built up over many years, such as the Illustrators agent Peter Lott at the prestigious Society of Illustrators and the children’s book publisher Holiday House. Students were given a warm and enthusiastic welcome and were offered honest and insightful feedback on their portfolios: important advice for their future careers. Other appointments were set up by the students themselves with design companies such as Pentagram, The New York Times, Penguin and for some lucky students, the legendary designer Milton Glaser. The excitement of experiencing the industry first hand was palpable as the students met up in the evenings to discuss their meetings, and all were left feeling inspired by those who had seen them. Hugh Cowling summed up his experience : ‘I have learnt so much from this week and feel that I really made the most out of it. I had 13 portfolio reviews so I have come back with my head full of advice and suggestions on how to improve my options for when I graduate.’