small promo mailer idea.

Here's an idea Im playing with as a send out or a leave behind to showcase a small amount of my work.

Open publication - Free publishing - More jaypee

The idea behind it is that I always work in blackbooks when im sketching, and as an illustrator I've recognised that as quite an important part of my practice, so its for that reason that i chose the book cover texture for the mailer. I have only shown a small amount of work in this, which I dont think is quite right yet, and im not totally happy with the layour either. Its a good start though, and adds a little bit of diversity to my identity, using a reverse out rather than a black on white, which can look a bit boring.

I am going to develop this a bit more along with the rest of my branded identity, so I will be posting more up on this later.

Final logo & business cards from E printing

http://www.jonnypackham.co.uk

I ended up going for a web printer for my business cards, mainly because I didnt have a lot to spend. Luckily, E printing did a good job (im pretty impressed) and i got some sort of lamination/ UV on the front too for a pretty low price. 250 of these bad boys!

Planning for PPD, Slides and a little evaluation.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

- Skills I have developed

Recording and documenting my work to a high standard… this is a skill I feel i now understand the value of because it improves work organisation (personal and professional) and presents you well to the outside world or viewers of your work.

knowledge on print production like bespoke and pre print… This information is key to know if you intend to work in the creative industry because it entails understanding all the considerations to successfully get a job printed.  knowing about CMYK, stocks and formats, bespoke print processes like screen printing  are key (and very helpful) things to know if intending to work in the creative industry. (which i do)

In depth understanding of how to use design software - this is a key part in the development and production of design work, but it has also become a key part of my practice as an illustrator, helping me to finish illustration work off to a high standard that looks professional. 

These are skills that I see as invaluable to my development as a creative professional and I see them as doubly important key things to know as an aspiring freelance illustrator.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKENSSES

here are a few important strengths and weaknesses of mine.

my biggest strength is illustration, and i've built on that during this course by harnessing software like illustrator and photoshop. being able to use a waccom tablet has opened up new possibilities for where i can take my illustration.

A weakness of mine is rushing concept generation stages of projects, and this can be addressed by being clear about what the brief is, and taking more time to plan and explore concepts.

COLLABORATION

I have done a few collaborations since being on the course,  at first I  struggled working with others but the best way i can describe how I feel about benefiting from a collaboration is that you have two of these (ears) and one of these (mouth) so use them accordingly. Collaboration has helped me to be able to bounce ideas off others to get the strongest possible result. The benefits of collaboration are endless because with every new person you collaborate with, you learn new skills, techniques and related industry which in turn adds to your knowledge and skills, diversifies the work in your portfolio and generally improves on and makes you reflect on what you do as a creative.

RESEARCH VISITS

I wanted to find out about print resources and facilities in leeds that I can use when I am a freelance illustrator, I decided after visiting a large printing business (duffield) that I should visit and contact some different types of printer across leeds to see what is available to me. Before talking about these places, i want to briefly talk about duffield because i imagine we all know what they do very well by now.

DUFFIELD

Duffield are a large digital and litho print company that have ethical and environmental awareness for their services, and produce high quality print resolutions, so the price reflects that, but they would definitely be good to use for a client with a high budget, they turn digital jobs around in a morning so they are a quick service also. (plug plug plug!)

FACTORY 4

Factory 4 are a non profit organisation who own a screen printing facility as well as a framing, woodwork and upholstery facility. They operate on a booked pay as you go basis for use of the space which is ideal for going in and producing print work for IE craft fairs or book fairs when small runs of bespoke work is needed. 

SUCCESS PRINT

Success print is a small business where i spent a few days watching how  smaller businesses develop client relationships. This was a useful experience for me.

BUILDING CONTACTS

I have been building a list of contacts of my own which consists of businesses, agencies, business associates, potential clients and fellow creatives. Im doing this to almost make sure i know that people know who i am, what I do and how to reach me, its also a really good way to network with people to get jobs and exposure for your work. Its also a great way of having a dialogue with people in your support network to keep them aware of you and to outsource with.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Over the easter holiday I have been getting my branded identity up to scratch and putting together stationary, a solid foundation for a web prescence which has the potential to grow and starting to promote my work to outlets like computer arts, creative review and more creative blogs and magazines.

BRANDED IDENTITY

I wanted to create an identity for myself that was really simple, and that could in time become easily recognisable as me and the freelance illustration service i will be providing. I did this by developing first a simple, bold logotype using avant garde bold and regular, the full stop is actually custom, because avant garde's full stops were square..?

To compliment this logo and to use as a more creative form of identity, which really says what I'm about, i developed a simple visual icon of my own head in character form. I made it so I can change the emotions , heres a small selection.

I think the two compliment each other together, as well as work well separate which was important to me in my considerations when i was designing them both. 

LOGOS PLACE: STATIONARY, professional

ICONS PLACE: WEB & PROMO, creative

at the moment vie got business cards printed.

PROMO / EXPOSURE

Promtion thinking about it for a few weeks

website online

social functions and sites eg twitter, linkedin Facebook

emailing magazines and blogs for exposure

one reply so far, computer arts feature in exposure section of mag - came quick, surprise! only just got site online and already got that

good start, but keep ball rolling

regularly update sites + finish press pack ready to send

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

At the moment my plans consist of networking more and building my contact list up, because i do feel that I am now in a position to start asking design agencies to bare me in mind when they are looking for an illustrator, I'm aware that my approach will not suit all jobs, so I also need to make sure that I am advertising my services properly, being clear about exactly what it is that i do, i have been doing this in conversation with potential clients at the moment, but I think if this was clear in for example a promo press pack, it would be much better.

street art is something Im also going to start pursuing once I'm off the course, only really in a sense, to advertise my work, and i do understand the risks involved here. Some examples of why I see this as an option for my work.

A personal note:

The MOST important thing that this course has done for me, is that it has made me realise what I am - I am an illustrator, who has good knowledge of the design process, software and client liaison. This course isn't a means to an end for me, but it has become more of a stepping stone, which has opened up a world of possibilities and shown me how and where to find the opportunities that will help to define my place in the creative industry.

Open publication - Free publishing - More christ


The presentation whent really well, and it just goes to show how much a bit of planning can boost your confidence when it comes to a presentation. I whent first out of everyone to get it out of the way, but once i was up there, i actually really enjoyed talking openly, candidly and honestly about my progress on the course, and my plans for after the course. For me, it was a really enjoyable two days, just listening to everyone speak and to find out what they have all been up to. What astounded me was how different everyones presentations were, but also how clearly you could see what everyone was about through their presentations. 

Live brief has just come through.

Ive secured a live brief via my web prescence. exciting times! I've been in negotiations with this client for a couple of weeks, but it seems like we are almost ready to go. Here is a rough of the brief I have written up. I sent the client most of this brief along with some personal requirements e.g the supply of addition copyright information and track listing information. A price and payment method has also been negotiated so I'm pretty excited about it all.

I'm going to put up another post promoting the agency and the band that got in touch, (also I will be including all emails in my project file at the end of the module) but for now, here is the brief.

Illustration for Operation Nothing

The brief

To produce an Illustration (& album artworks) to be put across the debut album of a pop punk band by the name of operation nothing. In addition to being applied to album art format, a variation of the illustration produced needs to be produced for additional merchandise (T-shirt & zip Hoodie ).

Background

Christoffer, an agent from Purple Lion studios, has contacted you about producing work for the Band Operation Nothing. They are a Swedish Pop Punk band. Chris and the band liked the Kraken illustration on the website. The album I am producing work for is due for realise this summer. (2011)

Concept

The band want an illustration depicting a giant robot destroying a big city on the album cover, with an adaptation of this for shirts. They have also asked I approach it in the same way as i did the Kraken illustration on my website.

Considerations

Christoffer has supplied logo type

The album is called 'The Anagram'

Track listing has been supplied

simple background has been asked for for inside of booklet.

Colourways, limited colour? use of both?

Deadline unspecified

Deliverables

1 x concept driven illustration for album cover

1 x variation for shirts and merch.

1 x album cover 

inside booklet

As I say, I'm one email away from starting this brief based on the information i have at the moment and what I'm waiting for, I think contact has been a bit slow just because of the plethora of bloody bank holidays weve had for the most important people in the country... but for the moment I will just be planning and preparing what this is going to look like, formats and colourways to make sure I'm clear and the client is clear on how its going. The next step from here is to send the client an email containing the idea, illustration direction and a contemporary example. so i better get to it.

Illustrator - Fon Fon - design context contributor

Fon is a Leeds based Illustrator, whos work is often seen in street art & graffiti, but fon also has a website and picks up live briefs from clients, one example of who Fon has worked with is barnados. Fons approach is quite broad, as she makes plush toys, one off canvases and illustration for her online portfolio and exhibitions. Fon had a recent exhibtion at North bar, Leeds, called Zombies monsters and guts OH MY!

I have asked fon to feature in my design context publication and she kindly agreed. Her work is fun and playful, and i personally am a big fan. Fon also is really good at showing how diverse her approach is, which im sure opens up more doors for her than if she only had one main way of producing and displaying illustration. I havent yet asked fon for any hi res images of her work for the book, but will be doing in the next week or so.

contacting the guardian.

I contacted the contributors inquiry section of the guardian yesterday, because I wanted basically to get feedback about the work I have recently produced based on G2 headlines. I also asked them if I could send them some hard copy versions of the work, just to see what comes out of it. On their website they say if you dont recieve a reply within a couple of days, feel free to phone, so that is the next plan if I hear nothing back. For now though, I directed whoever recieved my email (the adress was pictures@guardian.co.uk) to my website page with the editorial illustrations on them.

http://www.jonnypackham.co.uk/root/editorial/

Hopefully I'll here back from them even if it is just feedback, but it would be great to get something out of this. That or just to be safe in the knowledge that I am in their heads.

I asked If I could send a hard copy because in addition to some hard copies Im going to send them a little promo pack which Im developing at the moment, which has all the illustrations I produced from that project in it. I'll post that up as soon as its finished.

Design context - idea, research activity and contacts

I thought i'd put up a post about where I'm at with my design context project. After my PPD presentation, I decided that the research I am undertaking needs to reflect my practice as a freelance illustrator more than it has been, it was previously more focused on just print places, which isnt all that I want to know about. I decided that I needed to formulate some questions aimed at other freelance illustrators, that were engineered in a way that would give an insight into their practice based on their answers. Ive decided my target audience is going to be young aspiring illustrators who arent sure if illustration as a career is an attainable prospect. Here are the questions I developed - based on what I want to know, as well as what I think could help others gain an insight into the world of freelance illustration.

- First off, could you write a litle bio about yourself you know all the basic stuff like where youre from, what you like doing, the fun stuff! dont worry about how long, we can sort that at a later date! thankyou! 

- When did you realise that illustration/art was what you wanted to do? Is there a back story to it?

- What was your first ever paid brief, who was the client, what was the story, and how'd it go!?

- What is your favourite piece of work you have ever done, is there a few? why do you like this/ these ones?

- What in your eyes, is the best part of being an illustrator?

- In your opinion, and from looking at your work and other people's, what makes a successful illustration?

- How long have you been drawing, and what motivates you do carry on doing it?

- Do you prefer self directed work, or working for a client/ customer... why?

- Who is your all time favourite artists? what do you like about them.

- What inspires your work, how do you get inspiration for what you do?

- What materials and mediums are you most in your element using, and what informs your medium choice from piece to piece?

- Do you ever work to a mantra? If you do, do you mind sharing this mantra?

- If you could sum yourself up as an artist in one sentence, what would you say?


I decided that I needed to send these questions to a range of illustrators each with their own unique approach, in an effort to get a wide range of answers and responses. So far, here is a list of people that I have sent these questions to:


Kid Acne
Fon 
Godmachine
MrBingo
Mark Howe
Loch Ness
Neil Parkinson
SPzero76
Drew Millard


...And Fon, Mr Bingo, SPzero76, Loch Ness and Neil Parkinson have got back to me and are thinking about what they are going to write as we speak. I did also email Si Scott, but im unsure if he will reply based on my ill behaviour! (or just down to how busy he is)  Im going to send these questions to more illustrators, The ones I have in mind at the moment are - JR Goldberg, Kev Grey, Andrew Joyce and Aaron Miller. I say these people because I think there is a chance they may get back to me and love to get involved. I might have been setting my sights a bit to high for the moment, but i suppose time will tell on that front.


Based on all of this, my concept is at the moment: 10 Illustrators, 10 questions. Which will have (hopefully) 10 interviews with illustrators as feature double pages, supplemented by case studies of a range of illustrators with different approaches. I have a design direction in mind, which would be this: 


Simple, clean, fun and engaging.

Produced by Victionary:  http://www.victionary.com


I want the publication I produce to have the same fun and passionate approach to the subject at hand, because I think this is really accessible and engaging to the audience of aspiring illustrators I am aiming to go for. Being one, I know that a fun yet dashing approach is way more likely to have a more profound affect on a reader and lover of illustration than a boring or serious approach.


I'll keep you posted on how my research develops!