Take a random news picture, and a random song lyric... part III

Take a random news picture, and a random song lyric... part II

Take a random news picture, and a random song lyric...

And this is what I got. The trick is to keep it random - no cheating! Anyone recognise either person or song?

Status update: Louise is...

Nightmare - sneak preview

Here's a sneak preview of what I'm working on this week. One of those projects I started ages ago, but never finished (there's a dull story involving a broken pinkie that kind of explains it, but none the less it's a rather pathetic admission).

This week will be the week! Considering the pile of drawings I've made just to get this far - serious respect to animators. Phew.



click to view animation

Design Week Hot 50: drawing/making

Design Week have published their Hot 50 people, organisations and movements for 2011 to keep an eye on, and interestingly they've included:

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DRAWING AND MAKING
http://www.designweek.co.uk/hot-50-drawing-and-making/3023080.article
Surely the best way to generate ideas is to put pen to paper. So the alarm was raised in design when the coalition Government cut funds to arts and humanities courses last year, with drawing as a casualty in some colleges.

This scenario prompted the Hot 50 selectors to highlight activists promoting craft skills. The Sorrell Foundation’s National Art & Design Saturday Club, for example, seeks to provide Saturday drawing and making classes for teenagers of all backgrounds, while Sue Grayson Ford’s charity, The Campaign for Drawing, raises the profile of drawing as a tool for thought, cultural and social engagement through its two programmes: The Big Draw, a month-long community-led public festival held every October; and Power Drawing, a professional development programme working with schools, higher education, museums and local communities.
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It's extremely exciting to see drawing/making having such a comeback at the moment. In London, you feel it all around. And in design and advertising, illustration has had what feels like an enormous resurgence in recent years. That hasn't always been the case.

In my early days at art college the much berated 'craft' word took a back seat to 'ideas generating' or 'expressing yourself'. Drawing wasn't taught - a drawing project would involve being sent out of the studio for 6 weeks on your own with a couple of critiques in between. Probably a good chance for tutors to get a nice long tea break. Interestingly, I did an Erasmus exchange in Belgium, where the Art College was almost straight out of the 1950s. It gave me much confidence being amongst students/tutors who saw the value and discipline in drawing, but I don't think they'd quite got the balance right between tradition and cutting edge.

But over here recently it has felt like the tide is turning. Universities like Kingston actively promote drawing and you can see it in the quality of their graduates. Designers, photographers, fine artists all embrace the need to craft their work as well as come up with great ideas.

And sometimes, dare I say it, representational drawing/painting is enough without the ideas generating or going overboard expressing yourself:
http://www.matthewcookillustrator.co.uk/content/war1.html

Old photos, old memories: 1999

Austin, TX and Nashville, TN. USA. Photography ©Ainsley Adams

Looking back: music and degree shows

Boy my family and I had a lot of fun playing music around the world when we were younger (I'm an optimist: I remember the fun days, not the stress, or disappointments).


Today I've been reminiscing; looking back at old album covers. It took me a good couple of weeks to painstakingly replicate this old 1950s National Geographic advert. I painted it onto a piece of board about 60 x 60cms in gouache (though it was frustrating the designer didn't get the tint of the "G" and the "L" right). I was pretty upset when my dad gave it to a record owner as a 'thank you' - it's hard parting with work that's taken so much effort. Money or appreciation is not compensation enough - I sometimes wonder how that painting is doing now.

And I've also been looking back at my Illustration final degree show (8 years ago now) - I wanted to tell the story of our family band with a series of screen prints.













I sold quite a few of these, but the great thing about screen printing is there's always the artist's copy, and I'll be keeping that for myself!

Grapes of Wrath

I'm starting a new project: to illustrate the Grapes of Wrath. I finished reading the book last week and it's made such a powerful impression on me - the hardship and injustice of the migrate people, but also the powerful writing style of John Steinbeck; it's hard to stop thinking about the images I have running through my head at the moment. Images, colours, moods and textures. I'm imagining simple pen and ink line drawings and screen printed colour and texture. There's also a beautiful Folio Society version out there with b&w wood engravings, but I can't lose the opening paragraphs of the book from my head and continual references to the red country, and feel I'd at least like to see what it looks like in colour.

The version I've got (Penguin) has an excellent introduction by Robert DeMott which really sets the intensity of Steinbeck's thoughts and writing. The book has so many levels to it, I can't imagine being able to do it justice in illustrative form, (and if that's the case it will hit the bin as quickly as it takes to type this) but I'm at least going to try. To quote Steinbeck:

"On one level it is the story of a family's struggle in the Promised Land...On another level it is the story of a people's struggle, the migrants'. One third level it is the story of a nation, America. On still another level, through...the allusions to Christ and those to the Israelites and Exodus, it becomes the story of mankind's quest for profound comprehension of his commitment to his fellow man and to the earth he inhabits."

Issues still so relevant today.

In my research I've also come across the amazing work of Dorothea Lange:

Bunty

When I was a little girl I Ioved Bunty - loved the drawings, loved the stories...often really dark, which seems so unusual for a comic written for young girls. Lots of stories about orphaned girls or evil dolls that came alive at night or impoverished girls who had an amazing talent but we forced to practice in secret because their cruel parents would beat them in the day time. Or something like that.

I once went to a lecture with one of the animators from Aardman - he told a story about Bunty (can't remember how on earth he got to the topic) and how the illustrators working on it would get so bored doing such repetitive work that they would see how dark and tragic they could push it. And boy did they ever!

Check out the link above to see a sample...








































Update: after a little bit of research I've come across this guy Sean Phillips - a Bunty illustrator! One of the good ones as well.

Marion Deuchars

I've been a fan of Marion's work for a while now - I'd love to commission her one day. Her drawing, her ideas, her style is sublime.

If you could collaborate...

Wow, this project is getting even more exciting...

Rob Ryan & Michael Marriott working together - my head is going to burst!

Dave Foldvari

Looks like Dave has updated his website:

I love Dave Foldvari.

Book series

I went into a book shop in Muswell Hill recently and picked up William Golding's Lord of the Flies after being inspired by excerpts from his biography (published in the Times, I think) and also John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (which I'd never read before as my dad was worried I'd mess up his lovely Folio Society version).

The thing that struck me in this bookshop was the overwhelming mass of colours, designs, formats fighting to get your attention. Aside from Penguin, there don't seem to be as many book series as there used to be.

Now I'm no expert on book publishing (maybe there were never that many book series, maybe in marketing terms it's better for a book to stand out on it's own) but it branding terms, if I've read a couple of books from one series and enjoyed them, I'll feel more inclined to carry on reading through the set - trusting the quality and branding of the publisher.

Plus, they always look so nice in my bookshelf.

Below: Batsford's series of guides to the UK
Pick up a copy of The Britain of Brian Cook if you can find one. London: Batsford, 1987. ISBN 9780713457001

A&C Black colour guides

I grew up looking through my dad's book collection - he used to pick up second hand books before the hobby became popular (and expensive) - 50p here and there. These days, you can't collect books on a bus driver's income.

I loved the travel books, and even more so the beautiful illustrations inside - boy, I would dream a lot about travelling to Italy after pouring over the beautiful illustrations of Ella Du Cane. Classic escapism. Or William Heaton-Cooper. Easy to dismiss these watercolour illustrators in a modern design world, but it terms of top craftsmanship and beautiful colour work, these guys had something. Plus old books are lovely.





Ella Du Cane, from The Italian Lakes

Useless busker...

(try play acoustically against 50 megawatt tube announcements...I gave up!)

Useless blogger too (in fact I may well delete this blog)...

BUT, come see me (hear me) and my sis on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/louiseandirene

Commissioning illustration

Haven't posted for a while, probably because, now I'm a 9-5 person I haven't been doing any freelance illustration work. But what the day job does give me freedom to do is commission illustration, which is a whole different ball game!

I think I've learnt more about illustration from commissioning than I ever did from working as one - finding the right style for a specific project when most illustrator's styles seem very 'particular' is quite a challenge. A fun challenge, but tricky. And so many elements to factor in - our brand, the audience the project is for, the tone of the project, the agency's design style, etc. I think, because there is so much personality in illustration, it's such a fine line between an illustrator's work being perfect for a job or just not quite right. And because of trends, you seem to get a lot of illustrators with a similar style, and then you have a lot of illustrators that aren't quite right for the job. Add to that, finding illustrators that can draw people is always a challenge (people in a non fashion, non teenager, non vector, non photographic way). Of course working with a shit hot design agency to commission the illustrator always helps.

I do feel very privileged to work for an organisation that is prepared to take a risk and try something new, and to some people commissioning illustration feels like a risky business. But in my experience, compared to commissioning photography, once you're past the task of picking the right illustrator (and assuming you're giving them a solid brief), the process is actually very smooth - an illustrators style is usually pretty set, and there are less variables than there might be on a shoot (lighting, models, weather etc.)

Plus, using illustration alongside photography gives so much extra dimension to a brand.

One such illustrator who was fantastic to work with was Karin Akesson working with hat-trick design to make us a beautiful booklet:
Losing someone to heart disease

Nathan Barley

Heheh. Quality TV. I discovered this late and god it's cringe-worthily brilliant.

Best scene - Episode 6:
TV exec after having beer poured over him:
Are you guys the crew?
Are we all in this?
Am I the centre of something here?
Is something brilliant happening?

Check it out on you tube.

Rumour has it they're working on a new series. Pleeease!

So I'm officially a licensed busker on the London Underground

Funny old business this busking lark.

I've wanted to busk for many years - when I was little there used to be a decent music scene in Southampton and you'd get lots of young rockabillly buskers playing on Southampton High Street; drums, double bass, guitars, singers. It looked like so much fun! Then, when I got older my family and I went on to playing music a lot, recording, gigging, touring etc etc. But busking always seemed to me such a perfect way to do it - playing music with no obligations; no crowd to please (pleasing crowds is a good thing, but when you're playing local social clubs; tricky business); no club owner to satisfy, no income to 'earn'! It seemed as simple as: playing for the fun of it, with the hope that maybe people passing by will enjoy it too. So years later, after playing with my family many years, and after stopping playing with my family for many years, and after living in London and struggling to find a way to continue playing music, I came across the London Underground busking scheme.

There's a waiting list - about 2 years. Then you hear from them, and you get an audition. A pretty intimidating business; two people behind a table - proper X Factor style. Then if all goes well (ie. you don't sound horrendously awful) they give you a license.

Deal is you play about 10 times a month. Unfortunately I get my license just as I start my new, full time, stress out job and have little spare time on my hands. Bad timing. But, music is important and you've got to make the most of something that takes 2 years of waiting.

Since moving to London about 5 years ago, I've struggled to get in to the London music scene. 'Get in to' is probably the wrong phrase. Really I mean; enjoy, or see the point of, or get enthusiastic about. I've gone to open mic nights and if I do well I pick up bad vibes from the other musicians, if I don't do well , the musos are patronising. Maybe I'm just not that good, or not hard nosed enough. Regardless, it feels unwelcoming, and I don't need it. In contrast, I've just finished my second busking slot, and damn it - I'm digging it. It's all organised, so I'm not encroaching on other musicians' space. I'm playing for free so expectation from my rapidly passing audience is zilch, and when people like what you do, they chuck you some coins....which at the time feels like the kindest, most generous act a fellow human being can possibly do. And....AND...most of all, I get to try out new songs that I've been dabbling with for a while, but never had a reason to properly get together until now.

Did I earn much from the experience? Christ no! Less than minimum wage! But if it was about that, I'd start singing crowd pleasers, and that wouldn't be half as fun. SO if you hear someone singing miserable country songs on the London Underground, and they look a bit like me...chuck them a quid and you'll make a buskers day.

UPDATE: 3rd Feb 08
Turns out I didn't need to worry about crowd pleasers - Gillian Welch's Whiskey Girl was raking the pound coins in today. Londoners must be feeling a little melancholy on a Sunday afternoon.

I know it's been a while...

Two months into a job with a heavy workload and my blogging has suffered. But I'm determined to not let my personal projects and freelance work suffer. One project I'm working on again is an animation I started about 2 years ago but didn't finish at the time (long story involving large quantity of drawings making me lose the plot, broken finger, and computer conking out on me and so losing the original edited files). But after playing around with Final Cut over Christmas (that's another story as well - old family band films being edited into one video, I might share that another time) I regained the bug and started rescanning multiple drawings. Here are some stills - you'll have to check back later to see the whole thing (and it will be worth it, believe me!)

It's all about the sketchpad

...at least it is for me.

I'll do more about my sketchpad another time, but here's a before...



... and after.



My best drawings are always drawn straight from life. And for me, there's no point even starting an illustration without a quality drawing in the first place. Different illustrators work in different ways, but I can't get excited about my own work when I don't have an initial drawing I'm really proud of. Drawing from photographs or from my head just doesn't work for me.

Kind of makes a job a little more difficult, but worth it in the end.

What am I working on at the moment...?

I'm in the middle of a project with the British Heart Foundation at the moment and thought it would be interesting to see some of my work in progress...though I musn't give too much away!

MA students celebrate in style

We illustration and animations students don't do things by halves. Oh no. After taking down all our artwork after the last day of the show we celebrated in style....and hit the local chippie. (Fishcoteque in Waterloo - pretty good fish and chips I'll have you know).

But yes, that's it. The End. 2 years of hard work...all done and dusted. Very sad. Have I told you what great tutors Jake and Robin are before? Probably.

Blimey, hard work this blog business

6 days have gone by since my last post...coming up with something to write about is much harder than I thought.

I give myself a D-. Must try harder!

Great opening night at the Bargehouse

What a fantastic opening night for an exhibition. The wine was flowing, the work looked great and the place was rammed! Don't forget the show is running until Saturday 10th November.

I've had such a great time doing my MA and most of that is down to my excellent tutors Robin Harris and Jake Abrams. I'd recommend Kingston University to anyone considering doing MA Illustration.

Sad to finish, and now back to the real world of attempting to make a living... can't wait!

louisekyme.co.uk badge

They're the talk of the town. No hip Londoner would dare be seen without one. Oh yes, I'm talking about the louisekyme.co.uk badge.

Pick one up (and come see my work) at the Bargehouse MA exhibition:
3-10 November
The Bargehouse
Bargehouse Street
Oxo Tower Wharf
London
SE1 9PH

Messy desk

I think, now I've finished my MA, there's a case to be made for tidying my desk...

New website

I have a new website - very exciting! Thanks to the wonderful Jason Baldwin for coding it for me. Check out his site, and commission him to do your site! http://fivepics.com/