DPS YEAR BLOG
The ongoing record of my Diploma in Professional Studies...
Blog Date: XMAS SPECIAL!
Over the holiday period, I set myself work for the DPS period, this included developing the SIP 54321, and applying to more creative roles and internships. Over the break I have applied to the internships or creative roles of: Anderson Tours, Ziggurat XYZ, ICA youth forum, the YouPress ASPIRE Program, Advocate Art and Claret Press. Some of these were cut and dry internships and some of these were companies that I found opportunities with, but some were outdated or the role didn’t specifically align with what I want to which I would then reach out otherwise and enquire about leads they might have for creative roles.
The biggest task I had to complete was to map out and create my prototype issue of ‘FiveFourThreeTwoOne.’ As I may have mentioned in my previous blog entry to begin our SIP both Fred and I conducted interviews with each other and planned to use this as the basis for shorter, prototype editions of the magazine. In the final week of school Fred and I found a quiet corner in the illustration department and I interviewed Fred, him having interviewed me at an earlier time. The interview comes out to about an hour and twenty minutes, this initially seemed daunting as I’ve never taken on a transcription task like this before, but as I got stuck in it became more entertaining hearing Fred and I’s back and forth after the fact.
I got two books as well over the period which helped inform my design; a book on the history of analogue fonts, and one on Colors magazine under its original editor Tibor Kalman. It’s very helpful to refer to design that I do like, especially when working in a medium that I am generally unfamiliar with. Creating this prototype I found especially fun because there are no rules, I’m carving out styles and experimenting with elements which could go on to be iconic or fundamental to our future issues. For example, each of the five albums Fred chose, underneath I left a subtitle “An album for…” where I would make a little joke or say something about the album. Quaranta by Danny Brown, a retrospective on the artist’s sobriety and age I marked “An album for: Reevaluating your life and stopping the romanticization of your 40s you old fogey!” I also really enjoyed this delve into creative writing and writing in a journalistic style. Obviously most of my practice has always been concerned with image making but I have always enjoyed writing and talking and joking so this has been very exciting and is something I might want to pursue further down the line.
Blog Date: 12/01/24
It’s the first week back after the holidays and I’ve been mostly developing my 54321 work along with some applying for interning work and artist development camps. The major deadlines we had set when we got back were the development of work for a mid-year DPS exhibition, and a short piece of writing for a collaborative DPS blog. The focus for the illustrators in the exhibition was sequential imagery, and the work I decided to submit was my coronation images, as they were the most sequential, and the most relevant to my DPS work. Unfortunately I wasn't able to display the original works so I had to scan them in, edit the images and represent them. Luckily this translated well for me as I’ve been honing my skills in Photoshop.
On the side of the essay, I originally was quite stuck as to what to cover for the essay. I found the brief a little confusing with lots of different descriptions on what to cover, for injustices to sustainability and decolonization, to specific elements of the work we had done so far on DPS. What I eventually settled on and I feel quite confident about this now, was to talk about my experience at the coronation for the Topolski Gallery and how it relates to the continuing conversation around the royal family and the movement to decolonize, or rather to look like decolonising the institution. The essay was only 1000 words maximum and I feelI’m a very confident writer so luckily once I got down to it I managed to pull through without too much of a struggle.
Alongside this I’ve also been making an effort to spend a lot more time in person at the university, to help me with my work ethic which I struggled with in the last term. It’s been helpful for me so far and it’s allowed me to continue work on the prototype edition of 54321. Now I’m back in university with access to the facilities I’ve been able to scan in my work and lineart and convert the work into PNGs on Photoshop. With this I’ve also been thinking about the tone I want to create in the book, with text and illustrations fitting what works with Fred’s selection of media.
Blog Date: 26/01/24
The past fortnight I’ve been not only working on the SIP but also I’ve been given a commission to work on, which I am currently working towards conceptualising, but the most important thing that I have been doing for DPS is the Chronicle project for the Topolski Gallery.
Emerging from last term was the work I did with the Topolski Gallery, and a potential printing of a modern version of the Chronicle, Felix Topolski’s long standing publication. Recently we had a meeting where I among a couple other students on DPS and off started to outline how we would tackle this challenge. The plan is to print two issues of the Chronicle, one surrounding the coronation and using our existing work with some text, and a second one based on a different key issue which we selected in the meeting. In the gallery I loved taking a look at older versions of the Chronicle, and publications that had been produced in the vain of it more recently. Specifically I took a lot from a Chronicle-esque publication based around the 2015 general election. I think it really struck a chord with me because it felt like a modern version that really ran with the single issue topic, it illustrated lots of key communities and issues surrounding the elections, with a clear focus on the voters which I enjoyed, and it also illustrated a door-to-door campaigner in the form of short comics which I think worked really well.
The group around the Chronicle was mostly students from the GMD course, with a couple of journalists and Fred and I as illustrators, I was a little frustrated that there couldn’t be more focus on the illustrators since the Chronicle has always been an illustrative publication, and I felt that the GMD students carried a voter base that surpassed illustrators and journalists who would actually be creating the majority of the content.
Overall though I feel my ideas were taken into account, for example I said that we should be sending out illustrators and journalists together in pairs to build up content, and also I don’t think anybody’s opinions for the Chronicle were not useful.
When it came to deciding the key topic for the second issue we were somewhat divided at first. My idea was to focus on the buildup of political tension in the leadup to the upcoming general election, somewhat inspired by the 2015 Chronicle but also an absurd news story about conscripting UK civilians, going around to different communities and illustrating and learning. Fred’s idea was to focus the issue around gender, going to underground events and illustrating subcultures, building on the backdrop of the political conversation around gender. I think these both pay respect to the original issues of the Chronicle which were about a man exploring the world and illustrating the various cultures and societies he came across. All the present illustrators or journalists were on board with this idea but we were outvoted by the GMD students to focus on the topic of Palestine.
I was originally frustrated with this, I think firstly that this is the most prominent news story at the moment, so many people more qualified than us are talking about it and we would not be able to add anything to the conversation, and in a way it would be too easy to choose this topic. Also by the fact that we are all students in one city very far from the Middle East, we can’t provide a relevant voice. Though I may have my frustrations with this I still want to create my best work, and I do think this is an important topic to discuss by anybody. Even though I didn’t vote for it I still want to make it clear to the other members of our group that I am enthusiastic to take it on. I made some suggestions about different rallies we could go to and different communities we could visit to make this clear. Overall right now I am very excited to build on this project, I really enjoyed working on the Chronicle at the coronation and now I want to take it forward.
Blog Date: 09/02/24
In the past two weeks there were two major things that took place in my work, alongside my development of the 54321 SIP was my developing work for the Chronicle, and a paid commission work I did.
Firstly the Chronicle, after doing some research me and my fellow illustrator Fred went to a UAL and Goldsmiths rally for Palestine. We drew scenes from across Camberwell, Peckham and New Cross. We met a lot of interesting people, and were there to see the public support for the rally, the police presence and the tension between the protesters, and some fringe groups in attendance. This was one of the first times I was getting to grips with drawing on the scene, which was numbingly cold, and also one of the first times I was using a new collection of pens I feel I’m getting to grips with very well. A week before I went to Trafalgar Square and down to Westminster to practise and it really helped me grapple onto the skill.
Reportage illustration is a great method to build up illustrative skills and even if I wasn’t working for a project like this it’s an activity I would like to continue.
I was also working on a commission this week for a friend so I’ve been working to conceptualise that. This is one of the first times I’ve had to work out how much my work is worth so I had some conversations with others and had to do some research about how much to charge for my work. The paid work also included me doing some tasks that I’m less familiar with, printing and framing. Obviously these aren’t too taxing but I think it’s relevant to mention as it gives me more of an understanding of the other less artistic tasks that make up commissioning.
The process of the commission has incorporated the work I’ve been doing with pens and reportage for the Topolski Gallery. Working with my commissioner I was able to do some sketches, adding what I thought I was comfortable with, fleshing out the ideas given to me until we were happy with an image. Then I take this image from the sketchbook to a watercolour paper with a combination of fountain pen inks and more fine pens. My commissioner didn’t want a coloured image which was good for me so I only had to scan this image in, make the whites white and the blacks black and make it work for printing. At this stage I am just about to go to print and then look for a frame over the weekend. This has been a good experience and definitely has helped me recontextualise my work as a product.
Blog Date: 23/02/24
In the past two weeks I’ve continued to work on my commission, as well as another one that I’ve been commissioned to do, alongside this I’ve been continuing to develop 54321 with Fred and prepared for the SIP. Since our last progress meeting we’ve both realised that the prototype zine has taken us a lot longer than we both expected. I think this is partly because we are balancing the other projects we are working on, but also because the workload for the zine was more than we expected.
Alongside this I also applied to have my work shown in a zine called Seedlings, a totally analogue publication. I submitted my reportage work and as of now I’m yet to hear back from them.
Similarly small I’ve also been keeping tabs on the development of the Chronicle, most recently looking at the format that the graphic students have been preparing for our work. I am also looking at digitising my pages, something I’ve been doing more and more this year as I become more comfortable with Photoshop.
In the last two weeks I’ve finished off the commission I did, and also completed a new one I received. This was relatively similar stuff, working with caricatures with a similar process. Compared to the last one though, I tightened up the process so I would mostly be using pes rather than the fountain pens and ink which requires higher quality paper earlier on even though it won’t contribute to the result. I’ve also done more for the polishing of the work in the digital phase. In my last commission I kept it white with a subtle halftone pattern in the background. For this commission I gave the whole piece an off-white colour and leaned into tones and shadow in the piece which I think subtly really took the piece to the next level. This required me to separate the line from the background in the scan which I have experience with, but I’ve taken it to new levels compared to what I have done in the past.
Circling back to my SIP, Fred and I have been working to find mentors to advise us on our SIP. Since there are two of us working on the same project we are looking for more than one person to advise us. I found Gareth Brooks, a graphic novelist and illustrator that I saw talk at LCC as part of one of our comics collective events. We also sought out Danny Miller, the CEO of Human After All, a publishing company turned design agency. We had a meeting with him earlier this week where we discussed where we discussed what we would need help with. Danny Miller has a lot of experience in the administrative part of the industry so we asked him a lot about copyright law for images used, colour and various ways to elevate our brand and visual image.
Alongside this we also prepared a presentation to the rest of the DPS year about the progress of our SIPs, where we could critique, network and generally get an understanding about the SIP in general. The presentation helped us collate all our work together and assess what we’ve created. While I don’t think we got much feedback which has encouraged us to take a look at the SIP from a different angle, it was a reaffirmation on the way our SIP was with our audience, as the DPS students are all young arty-types that we hope will be interested in our brand.
Blog Date: 08/03/24
In the past two weeks I have continued to work on the Chronicle, both in developing imagery for the events surrounding Palestine and some text for the coronation. Adding to this I also have applied to and been in the interviewing stage for an illustration agency, Handsome Frank.
Along with an illustrator and a journalist, I went to Westminster on a very wet Wednesday morning to complete reportage illustrations for the Chronicle. The day coincided with SNP opposition day where in Parliament was debating legislation to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign had organised a lobby at Parliament which was filled with hundreds of protestors. I arrived early to get the lay of the land alone and begin some of my sketches. I got to see some of the other fringe factions and the police on horseback around Parliament until the others got there. We started by taking some sketches from across the road of the crowd, before getting stuck in and interviewing the crowd. It’s the first time I’ve properly engaged with interviewing the public and it was an experience I really enjoyed. Our journalist was a first year student so there were a couple times where I felt I was taking the lead in trying to keep the conversation going and asking more interesting questions.
The process on this day however I can’t say was totally superior from before. Drawing people with the expressed time limit of the interview, and also being under the pressure from the interviewer who often will judge what you’ve created were elements that I didn’t enjoy. My reportage style right now focuses more on larger environments and individuals focusing more on the figure and the shapes and shadows than recording the likeness of a person which is what we were being asked to do here. Overall however I had a great experience, I would really like to take interviewing and reportage further.
After the day I have been taking a look back on the pictures I took on the day, seeing which characters and settings I can refine into other pieces. This I think has satisfied my worries about my work on that day, that it was incomplete or poor attempts at caricature. I lessen the bad and boost the good.
Alongside my work on the Chronicle this week I am also applying for an internship at Handsome Frank, an illustration agency in London. I learnt about it through the DPS internships board, along with another job at a gallery on Columbia Road, Nelly Duff which I also applied to but never heard back from. This Friday I visited the offices for an informal interview. It was very interesting to see inside their office, which I gathered they had moved into quite recently, and learn about how they generally run the company, which is a mix of from the office and online as their illustrator collection is from all over the world. While I brought in examples of my practice to show some of my work, the role they had in mind was much more administrative, this was not made totally clear in the initial job listing but I wasn’t bothered by it at all. I think I was calm and made my value clear in the interview. There was one specific moment where we were talking about their brand presentation and I mentioned the brand blog and inquired about how useful it tends to be. I think I made a good impression of someone who wouldn’t just do the job quietly but who wants to understand the process and critique it if it could be made more efficient. Right now I am waiting to hear back from them, they gave me a complimentary tea towel on the way out so in a way I’ve already succeeded.
Blog Date: 22/03/24
For the SIP Fred and I have come together to evaluate both of the prototypes we created and build together a “zine bible” to outline the rules when we create our first issue. We’ve now outlined the contents, amount of pages, some visual rules and general colours and fonts we want to follow. Building off the feedback I got in the SIP meeting I did some sketches and worked on the hand as a mascot or visual key to the zine.
We’ve also been entered into the Bambuu incubator for SIPs on the course, a 10 week course to enhance our ideas for which I was at the first meeting last Thursday. This was very exciting for us since we were able to network with some of the other DPS students on opportunities to collaborate. I talked to a student working on creating a font based on the old letterboxes in the Eastern Bloc era , possibly creating a font for 54321. I am glad we have been included in this course and I think it will help add discipline to the ongoing development of the SIP.
With this I’ve also been following the developments of the Chronicle which will be going to print next month. Unfortunately the previous idea that both issues would be printed at once has been reduced to just the issue on the Chronicle. I find this quite disappointing as I have been working extensively on reportage for Palestine and I really enjoyed the times we spent conducting interviews. I’m not sure why exactly the workload has shrunk, but I think I have been creating good work and if it won’t be used by the Chronicle I think it can be used elsewhere. For the coronation issue of the Chronicle however I also worked on and submitted an article which could be included in the issue. This is the first time I’ve engaged in creative writing for something of this standard but I have always had a skill in it and I hope there is space for it to be included. I decided to take a different approach to what was suggested, while not only going through the key events of the day I spent at the coronation I also talked about the history of the event and what it can tell us about the present. This is based on my own knowledge and interests and I hope it brings up the text to another level.
This week I have also heard back from Handsome Frank, they have decided not to hire anyone as they need to reconsider what they are looking for as an intern. This is not ideal but I understand and I appreciate the opportunity to see their studio and be in the interview setting. I have also come to understand that the work I submitted to Seedlings will not be used, as they have begun printing and I haven’t heard from them.
I am continuing to apply for more opportunities, this week applying for an opportunity at a gallery in Southwark, Bold Tendencies.
Now entering a small week's break over Easter I have a chance to relax a little and approach my work from a different angle. Over the holiday I will be setting my sights on the SIP and taking some time to apply for other potential roles. We will be conducting the interview in the next two weeks and I hope in the final week of the holiday we can build the foundations of the zine. Working on the prototypes alone during the holidays in winter allowed me to complete a lot, it was only when we were back at uni that work slowed. After we come back I will consider the comics collective that we were working on in the winter term, alongside the development of the SIP.