Charlie Adlard

 Born in Shrewsbury, England, Charlie Adlard is a highly successful comic artist, mostly known for his work in the Walking of the Dead comic where he is the lead artist. Despite never really reading his comics, I have seen his artwork before & I was really impressed with what he has achieved. This lecture was really interesting & it was a massive privilege to have Adlard doing a presentation at the university.

Charlie Adlard

 Prior to his biggest hits he worked in the UK on 2000 AD series, his first professional long term comic being for the Judge Dredd magazine. Around this time he also worked on project such as Armitage & to this day the series Savage.  English pieces weren't the only language he worked in but also he did work comics for a french company too, his first comic for this language being "Breath of the Windigo". Adlards first American work was "Dances with Demons" which was a rip off of the comic "Dances with Wolves".  In New York he worked for Define Comics under Jim Shooter. He also had other interests outside his work as a comic artist for example he actually used to be a drummer in a band called the Cosmic Rays.

The Walking Dead - one of the most famous works illustration by Charlie Adlard

Adlard mainly works in pen & ink which creates strong contrasts making his illustrations really pop off the page. I'm really impressed with his understanding of lighting & shadows as he perfectly adds the right amount of tone despite only working in black  & white. The sense of perspective is incredible which really inspires me to practice mine as I am awful at drawing backgrounds & creating a sense of depth.

Charlie Adlard is a very talented comic artist, even though I wouldn't consider this as a profession for myself, I would like to aim for his level of success & branch out to America. I need to challenge myself to work on backgrounds & perspective.

The Commission Process

 As I would like to mainly work as a freelance illustrator instead of working in an office for a design company, I decided to attend this lecture run by Jenny Barker. However I was a little disappointed as she was a glass artist rather than an illustrator or designer. On the other hand, the principles that were taught on this lecture were very useful & cause still be applied to the process an illustrator would use.

Networking is a vital way to promote yourself as an artist. If you gather enough contacts with other artists, you will gain many opportunities for interacting with larger, well known artists which create a much more professional image for yourself. This will encourage people to employ you or if you network with the right people they may even offer you a commission themselves.

An excellent way of networking is to create a selection of social media pages such as a Facebook page or a Tumblr. A blog site such as Tumblr is excellent for getting the artwork itself noticed as it's a very visual social site. On the different side of the social media spectrum, there is Twitter. As the messages you can create only have 140 characters, you're not exactly going to be able to create a whole gallery, however most of the artists that I love have a twitter. Because of the short messaging system, it's easy to send them a quick "tweet" & its easy for them to reply. Therefore its a really great way of connecting & making friends with artists you admire. Thanks to Twitter I have met many artist friends in different fields such as gaming & YouTube illustrators.

Glass work by Jenny Barker

 Jenny Barker gave us an excellent example of how doing a great job on a commission can lead to more work. This piece was created for a new pool extension for a couple. They didn't want something tacky printed so they commissioned a unique piece from Barker to make the area unique. A local Children's hospital loved the piece when they viewed it online & requested that she would make glass in the same pieces for the hallway of the children's ward to brighten the area up. But furthermore, she allowed the children to design the pieces by giving them a template to colour in. This was a beautiful example of also changing the design to suit the environment that the piece will be in.

Assessing the situation for the brief is also a vital part of the criteria when making artwork for a client. This piece was also considerate of its environment as she chose the blue tones to match the colour of the water but also she placed it in an area where it would reflect off the water to create a subtle sparkle. 

 It's not as common to create an illustration & to suit off physical environment but the same thought process can be applied. You need to research the client & the meaning of their company, the audience you are designing for & the subject matter itself to really create an in-depth design. Furthermore, by researching this much into a piece, you are able to expand your idea generation which will enable you to have a lot more variety to work with.

Ben Johnson- My Life in Art

 Not only was Johnson a form student of Glyndwr university, he is also incredibly talented which made this lecture very inspirational towards my future. He is a vital piece of evidence that there isn't prejudice towards which school you gained your BA from but rather people employ solely on your skill & flare instead. This lecture meant a lot to me because of this message as I have very little confidence in myself as an artist.

Ben Johnson 2010 working on details of " Canaletto's The Stone Mason's Yard".

 To most, Johnson's paintings would be seen as photographs from a distance, however this effect was caused by his incredible attention to detail. Each section would carefully be measured out& painted with flat colour to create the illusion of realism in landscape pieces such as these. His "sketching" method in fact became so precise that he also began to create stencils for many sections of his painting to ensure a crisp finish. These images were also on incredibly large on scale meaning it would take years for him to complete. Many of use would question why would one use a technique that would increase the amount of time it took to complete, especially for those who work for comission & work to a deadline, However, Johnson does not do the artwork for the high salary but rather for the enjoyment of the process. He loves the craft & not the wage which is a trait I really admire. I also take a long time to produce my vector pieces. The shading could be done in half of the time in Photoshop. But like Johnson (on the other hand, I am not as talented) I prefer to create my pieces shape by shape & building it up to create my illustrations. I would love to be able to pull that work off but unfortunately, when working with illustration, deadlines are more important so therefore I wouldn't earn enough money to live if I took longer. Johnson's attitude to his craft really inspires me to achieve his reputation to the point where I could pull off creating pieces like this though.

"Crewe, it's Part of my Downfall" - Bedwyr Williams

Bedwyr Williams - Artist & Stand up
(accidental comedian)

  Born of Colwyn Bay, Bedwyr was always seen as a bit of an "oddball" in his youth. He was tall, raised in a religious Methodist family and until about the age of 6, he always had to wear an eye patch on his right eye (this image was most certainly a reference to this misfortune). But with these negatives he turns his emotive responses into art, whether that be revenge or just plain insult to those whom he dislikes.
 
An instance of these responses was portrayed later in life than when the inspiration occurred. When Williams was of the age 9-10 years old, he grew out of playing soccer & joined a model train club. However anxiety haunted him whenever he attended as he would have to pass through the billiard room where the more boisterous boys would play pool. The lads would hold up the train clubs passing by blocking with their pool cue however to fill the silence they often uttered insults to the miniature conductors. Williams held it in his heart & vented by expressing himself with fine art. He took pool cues & snapped them, arranged the pool tables to be tipped & askew. The whole arrangement of this piece is very messy which really produces the aggressive tone that he wanted to release. It's this style of art that shows that Bedwyr isn't one to sit & think about how to perform/ create a piece as intelligently as possible, however, he just creates it on the fly. He lets his emotions carry his pieces which allows the audience to really understand his feelings within the piece. If anything the emotion itself is the piece? He has proven to be a great believer of the concept & ideas are the art rather than the pretty picture itself. I myself have always trusted this also & his pieces (are mostly comical in all honesty) really provides the elements to make audiences stop & actually take him the message his is trying to portray.

Another great example of this passive aggression is this piece he created out of gingerbread & marzipan.

Introduction to Creative Futures

 
 Creative Futures is a week that takes place at Glyndwr University where the students across the creative sectors of the campus, come together to learn about various subjects of which will enable them to understand the tools that they need to success after their time in education. Throughout the course of this even there are roughly 50 seminars that take place which tie into the topics of each course, as well as other lectures that they may find interesting. Furthermore, this provides an excellent opportunity for peers to network amongst others which is excellent practise for the creative industry.

 This blog has been created to record my findings upon said event & to show my acknowledgement of the lessons these talks are to provide. The future of any graduate aiming to work in this area of employment is intimidating, I also come under this factor, so I hope to walk away from this week feeling a little more confident at what there is to come & to further my understanding on how I can prepare myself for the times ahead. It will be a tough climb however by communicating with my peers I will hopefully learn what is needed to keep my head cool & my feet on the ground.