Portfolio Visits Part 2

Fig Taylor

 The first visit I had with the new contents of my portfolio was from Fig Taylor, a portfolio consultant who previously gave the class a presentation with advice about how to be successful in self-promotion. We sat round as a group and she looked through each of our portfolios to give us feedback and to tell us where our territory of work would lie in the industry. She got to mine and had a glance through. She mentioned that my work acquired minimalistic elements and that she wasn't too sure where to categorize it in illustration. I found this both disheartening and positive, because my work clearly has potential in other fields of the industry. It was critical feedback, so I'll use it to my advantage.

Day Job

 When we had our London trip, we visited an illustrator collective called Day Job. They're 10 postgraduates who make work in a empty mill-type environment, and produce zines together for promotional value. I enjoyed the experience of being there and hope to eventually work in a similar space. After we had a group discussion, we each showed them our portfolios one by one to receive feedback. I introduced myself to two of the girls by the names of Grace and Victoria and let them have a look through my portfolio. I gave a brief insight into what most of my work is about, saying that I like to create visual responses from themes within narratives. I told them of my worries too with my work not appearing to obtain a particular context and just being a random assortment of images. Also that the abstraction in my work leads it away from being considered illustration. They responded positively stating that it's always up to the artist who produces the work, and it's all down to personal interpretation. They were both complimentary of what I showed them too saying that it's interesting to see something abstracted for once. This left me feeling a lot more confident about my work because I had previous doubts of whether I should even attempt going into the illustration industry. I told them it was the best feedback I'd received.

Ben Jones

 The most recent review of my portfolio came from Ben Jones, who graduated at Stockport. He helped out in first year and reviewed my work at the end of second. He encouraged me to work more hand-rendered as opposed to using the computer, and it's proven very successful as you can see in The Outsider project. I sent him an email asking if he could give me some feedback on my updated portfolio. He said yes and gave good criticism. He said the technique I picked up from The Outsider project has proven successful in both style and context. He admires my raw perspective and said I should perhaps start to work on canvas on a big scale. This is similar feedback I've had before two other people who said my work could be seen as fine art.

Portfolio Visits

 As part of our assessment for the end of this module, we were told to go out and make contact with professionals of the industry to present our portfolios. I have collated work from both last year and this year to attain a good mixture of work from both development to final outcomes.

'Create' by Natalie Wood

 The first visit I had was from mentor Natalie Wood who is a Stockport College graduate. She is a designer and illustrator and she presented a fantastic range of work for me to look at in her portfolio. I recognised some of her work and made comment of it. Her work is very digital based and she says she mainly does editorials for magazines. She also showed me her work within motion graphics which really suited her style and also incorporated great use of typography.

 We then went on to discuss my state of work so far, so I showed her what was potentially going to be in my portfolio because I unfortunately had misplaced it somewhere... She said she really liked my style and agreed we each had a very different approach to things. My work being so rough and in stages of development, I asked her how I should present this in my portfolio. She replied that I should keep my work ethic going and should keep playing within my sketchbook because the work in there seems more relevant to me than the desired outcome.

 I found her advice to be very helpful and a great insight into what the industry demands. Seeing what she's achieved, the industry seems so vast and freelance jobs seem to be always available somewhere. This gave me greater confidence in myself and respect for my work. She gave me her business card and I surprisingly didn't make the mistake of thinking she was an actress...

'Bummed Portrait' by Central Station Design

 My second portfolio visit was with Pat Carroll from the infamous Mancunian design company, Central Station Design. The group were responsible for livening up Manchester during the 'Madchester' era of the mid 80's to early 90's with their acidic-coloured record sleeve designs for the Happy Mondays. Pat tutored me back in my art foundation year when I was studying visual communication. It was certainly a privilege to be in his company, so I felt I should seek his advice once again on how to present my work.

 I showed him my newly printed portfolio and his reaction was indeed positive. Pat's always admired my work for its use of negative space and raw hand rendering. He praised my work saying that it's evolved and is set on course for a new professional beginning. He also said that the work was giving off a fine art vibe, which was certainly a surprise for my ears! He said he could imagine my work being hung up in a bar or exhibition in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. This idea appealed to me more so than working as a freelance illustrator because it opens up a new world for me to enter.

 A few things he said I could improve were make my whole portfolio portrait, keep my modules together and to display a small explanation/description of what work it is I'm showing. This newly delivered information has excited me more so than I felt before.