That's Us.

I’m back! I feel terrible my resolution was to try and maintain this blog to the best of my abilities, but alas. It’s difficult keeping up with a million different social media platforms on a regular basis. I think I need to set one evening aside where I actually write about my current Illustration work!

I have begun to feel a bit more motivated to engage with the world and try to showcase my work more frequently. It's just like any marriage, it needs constant maintenance! It’s strange but since I have been at ECA it’s actually made me less inclined to promote my work on the Internet than I had realised.

So, where to begin! I guess I’ve done a few editorial pieces for The Skinny in the last few months and some other freelance work here and there. I also got my website up and running which you can see here: www.lauragriffinillustration.co.uk

It has a lot of my new and current work up there from the last few months. I’ve realised I’ve begun to run out of illustrated merchandise. Such as my wooden brooches which is something I want to pick up again over the summer. For my final project for third year, I’m focusing on making three bespoke Lazertran laser-cut Perspex clutch bags inspired by VHS cases and heroines from films with an Existentialist theme. I've ordered some stickers of my Existential Silver Beauties which I'll post up on my Etsy when they arrive! I'm planning on stocking my shop with lots of new prints too.

Anna Karina - Alphaville

Sean Young - Blade Runner

Nastassja Kinski - Paris, Texas

In other news, I also just got back from Berlin. I went to the Pictoplasma Contemporary Character Festival for a wee Illustration class trip. Pictoplasma was definitely an interesting experience and good to see so many people in the industry making it by drawing! Some really interesting talks and it put me at ease to think I am not totally alone in the way I research or work.

Berlin was one of the most inspiring places I’ve ever visited. I have totally fallen in love with Berlin. I can’t say that about a lot of places I’ve visited, but Berlin seems to be my calling. I’ve decided I’m going to move there if I can’t find a job once I’ve graduated. It just seems like the perfect place to be an freelance illustrator and easier to get a jobs in design or the arts than living in the UK.

I’m going to keep this post short and sweet for the time being! I’ll try and post up some images from my Berlin trip and some new work soon.

I've also created a new Facebook page where you can keep up to date with tidbits of my current and upcoming projects! I am doing a giveaway on some of prints and one of my laser cut brooches, so feel free to like and share the above image! 

Don't Believe.

OK, this isn't really illustration related so much. But, I just wanted to show off my boyfriend's wonderful talents - but more importantly say that my other half is so sweet and made me this beautiful light box with his own hands. I feel so lucky!

I've been using it for lots of projects recently... My latest project has made me staying up until 7am in the morning, stressed beyond belief. I think its because the tutor and all the feedback I've had so far this semester about my work from tutors hasn't been particularly positive. I know I need to become more experimental and be able to develop my work further. I've been playing with lino printing, mono printing, collage and even PVA and glitter for my current project. The problem with experimenting with work with such short time scales is that it can be really limiting and I know other people can do it, but when you acquire the skills of Photoshop life becomes so much easier and yes, I will say it, a bit lazier. 

I have been suffering from insomnia, working way too much, smoking too many cigarettes, probably not eating properly and listening to Vashti Bunyan to try and find a sense of calm within jumbling around a lot of things going on. This is what my living room has looked like for about two days now:

And here is some of my development work which I've been doing for my final piece on my current project:

At present I am doing an essay on the theme of Existentialism and the film/book Never Let Me Go (which I think I mentioned in my previous post). I have a huge pile of books on Existentialism which I need to read and try to understand (yes, it's heavy stuff) - and a whole bunch of other films to watch for my design theory. Although finally I have felt my practical and design theory are beginning to find ways into my illustration work which I am thrilled about. It's even made me interested in going to more film lectures after this semester. (Yes, I am that much of a nerd.) I'm using Blade Runner as one of my references which I have never seen before until recently and I am now mesmerised by the entire style and narrative of this film. 

It reminds me a little of Wong Kar Wai's 2046 and Jean Luc Godard's Alphaville. I can't believe I've never managed to watch Blade Runner before, but yes, I like finding inspirational moments like that. My two characters in the image above are loosely inspired from Blade Runner. My friend Jess (DressMeBest), made a sweet reference to Wall-E and it also reminded me of another short film by Spike Jonze called 'I'm Here' I watched a few years ago which I really liked in terms of narrative and style.

I also got an iPhone 5 very recently so I think it may be easier for me to now 'connect' better to the internet world and keep a record of my daily work and yes you can even get to read more about my daily aimless ramblings. I jest. 

I also forgot, I got featured on Amelia's Magazine recently. Please feel free to view the article here about Kate Sibley's eco friendly jewellery. In my next post I'll add some information behind the ideas of the editorial piece, and I'll show my ideas, thought processes, and physical development of a book cover which I created for an upcoming ECA Illustration exhibition at West Port Books in Edinburgh. 

MOSCA.

I have returned from my adventures in the capital of Russia, Moscow. If I had to summarise my adventure in three words - bewildering, stunning and inspiring. I have to say even though it was cold, I would definitely consider going to Moscow again although it would have been easier if I had a Russian speaking guide as the language and alphabet can be quite confusing to the silly foreigner (i.e. myself).

 I felt like a true tourist in Moscow, but it was a wonderful place to visit despite warnings of unfriendly Muscovites which is true to an extent. In contrast to NYC it was so different.

On our first day we visited Red Square and ventured inside St. Basils Cathedral –I have to say it is definitely one of the best buildings I have ever seen in all my travels. Beautiful would be an understatement. We then managed to find our way around the Kremlin to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts featuring a large collection of ancient artifacts from Egyptian to Greek culture and various others.  It also had a special exhibition of Le Corbusier’s work ranging from painting, textile, photography and architectural drawings that were really interesting also.

Our second day, we went to the Tretyakov Gallery which featured lots of traditional Russian art in a style similar to the Renaissance painters. The architecture in Moscow, I was in complete awe of - it chops and changes from beautiful decorative buildings to Soviet style buildings, each as grand of the other as their own polar opposites.

Friday - We went to the Memorial of Cosmonauts, another absolutely breathtaking spectacle of awe for myself of a gigantic steel rocket monument and a array of sculpture figures to commemorate Soviet cosmonauts. It is the entrance to the Space Museum – which features a large exhibition of space related items that I found fascinating with a certain kitsch feel to it of being in a set of a 1960s sci-fi film. It also has Belka and Strelka immortalized in taxidermy, the two space dogs which survived their space voyage and landed safely back to earth.  We also had a cycle on a two-person bicycle around the All Russia Exhibition Centre that had a variety of an odd collection of buildings and a theme park. I also visited Leo Tolstoy's house which was also filled with beautiful crafts made by his own family.

I found some lovely children’s illustration books in Izmailovsky Market – the best place in Moscow for cheap Russian souvenirs, antiques and lots of other curiosities for all kinds of tastes. I purchased a Laika postcard from 1958, Russian stamps and badges. You could easily spend a whole day there rummaging around and find some wonderful Soviet and Russian items. There are a few other places I haven't had a chance to mention but overall my trip to Moscow was a bizarre but very culturally interesting and I hope I can return again. 

Shop Til You Drop

Yes, this is me - looking pretty tired!

Today has been quite a long day, with myself being in school from 8:30 today! As much as I love the art of Illustration, it definitely has it up and down days. I sometimes think being at art school has turned me into a slight schizophrenic – some days I’m manically happy, the next absolutely miserable. At the moment though, I’m happy to say the least even though there has been a few hiccups with projects I’ve been working on and juggling uni around with my part time job and a design theory essay deadline looming.

I was featured in Shop Til You Drop magazine in Australia as you can see - which I received in the post a few days ago from my lovely cousin. I feel I’ve been waiting so long to see it in print!

I’ve been working really hard with my group for our Press Print artist books’ project but it should be finished in the next couple of days, and is looking good from the Photoshop mock up. We’re going to screen print it in a black blue, salmon and light chestnut brown colour. I also did another project with Gylemuir primary school which was a nice change getting to work with children – although I don’t think I could do it as a full time job!

I’m going to postpone my images of the Press Print for now, as I’d rather wait till they’re printed and in their laser etched boxes! I’m doing laser cutting tomorrow (at a small fortune) and planning on doing my fox brooch in walnut so it should be up in my Etsy store soon.

There are a few exciting things coming up and my last project of the year is an eight week one, with the theme of “Character”. I haven’t had a chance to think what I’d like to do yet for it, but I’m planning on doing printmaking if I can!

My Working Process

As you can see, I tend to work from my bedroom. I am guilty of being an illustration hermit but I find I get distracted easily in the studio. I worked from photographs I did with my friend Seb Singh on Saturday using my lovely friend Jess (Dress Me Best) as my model. This is the series of images I'm working on for my Böö Press Print Project at Edinburgh College of Art for the Glasgow Artist Book Fair in April.

The theme is Shamanism, so I'm working from a range of contemporary and historical influences. The end result should hopefully be screen printed in a limited colour palette, (at the moment I've chosen brown , black and pink). There are four others in my group, Emma Alqvhist, Danielle Callaghan, Emily Katagiri, and Sorcha Fitzergerald. I've used some different techniques in my work for this print, using inky pens for the feather hair band and some digital colouring. We hope to have the work as A5 screen prints and put them inside a handmade box with tissue paper tp separate the images. We may have a laser etched logo of some kind on the cover or even a laser cut stamp. I'm really excited for this project so hope we can pull it off well! Pictures to come.

Enter the Dragon

OK, I know it’s a cheesy way to introduce a new post. But after being very disengaged from the internet world (apart from sadly to tell the truth, rummaging through Urban Outfitters & Topshop online and Facebook), I am going to try and make more out of my blogging again. (I really dislike the word ‘blogging’ - it just sounds so distasteful.)

It is coming into the year of the Dragon - my year - which makes it that little bit extra special for me as I am a little bit auspicious. Must be the Asian genes. I’ve had some good news in terms of my illustration work… I’m being featured in Shop Til You Drop magazine in Australia next month and I am hopefully going to produce some new items for my Etsy store, some of which may be sent down to the Nook & Cranny store in Liverpool’s Blue Coat Gallery very soon.

I have and haven’t enjoyed the first semester of my second year of ECA. We did a project with William Goldsmith and Michael Kirkham - both of their illustration work I can admire although drastically different from my own. The first three projects consisted of two sequential illustration projects and a more self-directed project of ‘Edinburgh as a Utopia’ working within a digital medium. This semester I have started the gradual progression to working digitally. I even got a Macbook Pro, which I now adore (yes I am trying to become a ‘real’ designer/illustrator!). A first for me; but is making work a lot more efficient and definitely a new learning curve for myself.

2012 has been a bit of whirlwind so far. I went to Amsterdam last week with my significant other, although I didn’t do anything that cultural except smoke and eat cakes and go to the Erotic Museum and get paranoid in Burger King. The most cultural part (and indulgent) of my holiday was our visit to Artis Zoo, which I loved. It even had an aquarium and butterfly farm. The marmosets were definitely one of my favourites, although I never found the sloths in the open area zoo.

In other news, I also found out a few days ago, that I won a competition from Vice magazine - so in the space of two weeks I’m off travelling again down with my other half to London to go on the Eurostar to Paris to see Woodkid perform on the Eiffel Tower. I can’t wait! My plan is to do lots of drawing, a bit of dancing and eat Laduree macarons. Yum.

Shall keep you posted.

Laura x