Latest Update

Sorry the blogs been looking a little sparse lately, have had a few general life problems which have had a knock on effect on my focus sleeping pattern and general ability to work, (don't worry mum I'm still eating properly..), On top of that, I've just had a really really busy couple of weeks.. and it's not looking like it's going to calm down either!!
Here's a quick update on what I've been upto first of all...

Vis Com Village Fayre
For the VisCom 'Brown Day' we did a village fayre themed fundraiser, which actually went really well, raising £150 to be split between St. Gemma's Hospice and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
This is the poster that Paul got me helping out on, which had some really positive feedback which was really great! Glad my baking skills were put to some good use :)

And here's me and Chris at the Giant iPod stall, request a song for 20p or song and cake for 50p, got some people dancing! I think highlight of the afternoon has to be Amber & Greevy's Human Waterpistol stall, so very entertaining! And I was loving Paul's wrapping paper, (obviously, it's Paul's wrapping paper.. who won't like it...?!) and I bought a lovely little button flower handmade brooch cause I love all things handmade and textiley :) Such a good afternoon!

Send & Receive Workshops
Me and Hannah managed to get our first workshop at the Oncology ward underway, it was a pretty good afternoon, ended up being a card making session with textiles, buttons, cards, paper and a small amount of glue. It was really lovely to meet a couple of patients, as well as some of the families who were visiting. Carrie said it's just as important for them to be involved in our workshops as they're often spending full days at the hospitals themselves, and it's a well deserved break for them. It's really touching seeing and speaking to these people, but so inspirational to be able to offer something to help them with their days.
I'll post some photos up of the cards once I get mine back, (we left them on the ward as a little show of what we'd done to encourage some more patients to come to our next workshops). We did have a session planned for this afternoon, but Carrie suggested coming back next week as the ward's really quiet this week. So next Tuesday we'll take on the animation workshop, playing around with stop motion on a stills camera. We've got some modelling clay, plasticine and some little props for a set, hopefully I can get some of the finished stuff onto youtube.

Doodle Time
Since CommTech2 and looking at a lot of animators works and online portfolios, I noticed how many of them are really busy with illustrations as well. I think it's really important to work this alongside as it helps develop a great visual language to your work, it gives that style and 'uniqueness' to you and your work. I really miss drawing as well, I've hardly done any at all since I've been in Leeds, when painting and drawing was pretty much all we did at ALevels, and which I did a lot of while doing my Foundation...
So I picked up my sketchbook, got me some new pens, and now I'm doodling away when I can't decide what else I should be doing with my night times. Here's some, they're pretty crap but they kill some time, I don't waste it completely...

So .... What's going on now and happening in the near future ....

Visual Language
I'm enjoying animation, so initially I wanted to go straight for animation, but I'm still slightly deterred by the fact the stress of the project is to produce a 'book'. I know animation can be loosely connected to a 'book' by using the elements of character, narrative, chapters, scenes etc etc... but there's also still that part of me that loves my handmade and craft bits and bobs. So... inspired by some of Sarah's concertina books, I had a vision of a series of flip books all hand made in a presentation box - all with a theme of images or a story that they tell.... Just some ideas which I'll fashion together into a more constructive blog post with some images, but just a rough idea of where I'm heading.
Still have to consider a postcard and the wall-mounted piece/moving image for the show reel... think that's where my animation will come in... it can be short and sweet, but I can really put a lot of detail in as it will have to be really really short.
Yep, still all ideas!

Exhibitions
Up and coming is an exhibition in January, I'm working with Paul and Holly to hopefully pull all this together before Christmas as it'll be happening 2 days after we return from Christmas... no pressure hey!
We're going to have a private viewing possibly the night before the opening, where we'll get creative organisations and some professionals invovled to hopefully raise some awareness of the great illustrators on our course.. it's a great experience for the three of us organising this, but obviously the students showing their work will get something positive out of this too.. even if it is just being able to showcase their talents!
Here's the message we sent out on the VLE noticeboard .... any viscommer's interested EMAIL US PLEASE!!! We're helping you out here!!

CALLING ALL VIS COM ILLUSTRATORS!! GET YOUR WORK SEEN!!

We are putting together an exhibition of illustrations by Vis Com students to be held on 13th - 29th January 2010. There will be a private viewing in January with local creative organisations and professionals attending.

The exhibition will be held along the corridor outside the Vis Com studio, with an opportunity of permanent placement for some of the work.

If you want your work to be exhibited, please send a digital preview through your blog/website or an as attachment to our email addresses below.

We have 20 A1 frames available to display your illustrations but work can be displayed in other ways, just let us know what you're thinking. 'Illustration' isn't limited to drawing... screen prints, digital prints etc are welcome!

Work needs to be submitted by Weds 9th December, (this can be old or new work)

Please send an email to either of the addresses below,

Thanks!

Paul Price, Jodie Curley & Holly Raper

davidprice09@googlemail.com

jodie_curley@hotmail.co.uk

We've had a scan through the blogs on the VLE and there's so much work on there we want to get up for everyone else to see, there's so much amazing work going on behind the scenes, it'd be such a shame not to let everyone else have a look at it too!!

Running on from this exhibition, I'll be working on another exhibition with Paul to be around the end of Feb, which will hopefully be in Leeds City Centre and feature illustrators from over the country as well as current/ex-students from the VisCom scene. There's obviously a lot we have to think about around the process of this, the main difference between the two exhibitions though is finding a venue - as the VisCom corridor is already supplied for us, and also the cost - the VisCom budget for exhibitions will cover us for the first event, and hopefully it'll help us keep a tally of how much we might be spending.

 Here's some general notes we made today about the event in January. I keep adding notes of more things we need to think about. Damn it this is hard work, but I'm thinking it's all going to be worthwhile in the end :) ....

So.... busy busy busy!! 

I'm also keeping tabs on my Crit Studies blog, a Send & Receive presentation due in 2 weeks along with the next workshop for the hospital being planned out, my Business & Enterprise portfolio of work, (which isn't going so smoothly), house hunting for next Summer, oh... and did someone say it was Christmas in 3 weeks?

Crikey.