Laser Cut Brooch

My new laser cut brooch available in my Etsy store! Handcrafted by my self and measures at 6cm x 6cm.

Bucks & Does

After a long long wait, I finally bring you Bucks and Does! A zine dedicated to species of the Cervidae family. A collective of Edinburgh College of Art Illustration, Fine Art and Animation. Lovingly hand bound by myself and Thomas Fraser.

Laura Griffin

Sam Caldwell

Seamus McKillick

Julie Ritchie

Thomas Fraser

your imagination is known to wander, but mine is staying.

“You Knew I Wouldn’t Wait Around Forever”

Oh my, where to start!

My poor little journal has been badly neglected again. I really need to start practising doing regular updates as I always feel like every time I come back to this I'm preparing to write an epic novel.

To cut a long story short – since I finished up from Edinburgh College of Art for this term, I’ve been working two jobs and in my little spare time, I’ve been trying to cram in as much illustration work as I can (although I have been a little more productive on that front recently!) Not forgetting to mention having some kind of social life with family, friends and boyfriend.

I moved to a beautiful large flat with the lovely Clair Stirling, a fellow Illustration student and LuckyMe DJ (Check out her tunes here: http://www.mixcloud.com/eclairfifi/SoundCloud). As of course, find this a great opportunity to show you where I work and things I'm inspired by.

My humble abode.

My bedroom with my typewriter, vanity lights, and knitted acorn!

Squid Stirling - the most minature cat ever!

I was invited to the openings of Duncan of Jordanstone and Edinburgh College of Art Degree Shows. It was such a pleasure to see my friends graduating and view their work on display, so pleased for them and wish them all the best of luck. I found it interesting to compare the two Illustration Degree Shows and I was deeply impressed with both. A lot of the people I knew and admired this year received firsts which makes me realise I have a lot to learn to get to where I want to be!

Overall, I did get 6 A’s and 3 B’s for my results this year which I am very pleased about but still feel like I could improve so much more. My goal for the end of summer was to focus on doing more illustration work. I have finally gotten round to opening my Etsy store (lauragriffindraws.etsy.com) and you can follow me on Twitter (lauragriffindraws). Yes, got to love a bit of shameless self promotion! I have big plans on making a range of different products including laser cut jewellery, tote bags and pillows hopefully. Keep your eye out!

‘Bucks and Does’ is almost finished now, I have all the submissions bar one. As soon as I get a day off need to make the actual product but fingers crossed, it should be finished up shortly. The image above is a sneak preview of my submission for the zine.

So far this summer, I went to Florence to visit my friend Zen who attends Angels Academy – a private classical art school which teaches you high technical skills in the same styles as that of Da Vinci or Carravagio. I think I've seen enough Renaissance art and sculptures to do for the rest of my lifetime. I wouldn’t of said Florence was particularly catching for design, but it has inspired me to put some kind of insiders illustrated travel guide to Florence. I have started writing it up so just need to start putting that together as another side project for myself. I also visited Germany with my other half and went to see family which was a nice break from all the 'normal' work I’ve been doing…! Here are a few photos from my travel adventures...

Pet Store in Koblenz, Germany

Moselle River, Bernkastel Kues

Florence Train Station

here comes the summer.

It's been a very busy month of final submissions, moving house, exhibitions, degree show parties whilst also in the process of forming an ECA Illustration/Painting collaborative, doing new drawings and self initiated projects. I forgot to mention the very hectic social life of playing and working hard also!

Amelia Gregory and her new book
Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

On Tuesday, I went to the Fruitmarket Gallery with a few Illustration friends to see the very multidisciplinary Amelia Gregory, founder of Amelia's Magazine who is currently on tour promoting her new book, Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. Her talk was really inspiring and makes me realise what a long way I have to go in terms of experience! Amelia discussed a variety of different topics from eco fashion; becoming a self publisher and setting up Amelia's Magazine and the stages it developed through; how to showcase and promote your work as an Illustrator; sponsorship; and the benefits of using a variety of different social networking mediums to build awareness of your work.

After the talk, I had a chance to have a quick chat with Amelia Gregory herself who has greatly emphasised twitter to me which I must organise as soon as I can! Amelia managed to create a lovely atmosphere, bringing with her a variety of wares such as her two books Amelia's Anthology of Illustration and Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration, Amelia's Mag back issues, and Tatty Devine jewellery and lots of free postcards!

There was also lovely free Dr. Hauschka goodies, party rings, iced gems and Juiceology juice to indulge on. I had the Apple, Lime and Mint which reminded me of a tasty mojito. Mmm!

Rachel McBrinn and Julie Ritchie

Seamus Killick
Rachel McBrinn, Julie Ritchie and Sam Caldwell

Amongst all this, I am collaborating with my fellow class mates Julie Ritchie, Rachel McBrinn (former Art Director of Trisickle magazine), Seamus Killick, Thomas Grant, and Sam Caldwell to create a small zine dedicated to the theme of Bucks and Does. We are aiming to get it online and into a variety of different outlets in Edinburgh and possibly for around the Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show. Watch this space.

There is also the opening of the Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show tomorrow night which I am highly looking forward to. A lot of my friends from Jewellery, Fine Art, Textiles, Graphic Design and Illustration are graduating so can't wait to see their end of year show and of course all the parties...!

slow loving and teacakes

At the moment I'm still very much in the midst of my final Illustration project at ECA and I have been one busy pup. I am in the process of making three different books which I don't want to publish on my blog as of yet but I will keep all updated once I've managed to complete them!
For now, here is a small illustration I did for a friends' birthday of snails and a Tunnocks teacake. I framed it with a Tunnocks teacake box with carrot cupcakes. Yes, the life of being an illustrator can have its' perks!

and drag it up to the deer farm.

Gemma Correll

Gemma Correll

Gemma Correll is a Norwich soon to be Berlin based Illustrator who was kind enough to answer some questions for me on her work and professional practice.

What are the key influences and inspirations behind your work?

I can be inspired by anything really, but it's a mixture of my
imagination and observation. So I can be inspired by people or animals
that I meet, conversations that I overhear, movies, music or books. My
Pug, Mr Pickles, is an endless source of inspiration and my friends
are a funny bunch who are always providing me with material. The rest
just comes from somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my mind.

What types of skills do you think as an Illustrator do you need to
showcase your work effectively?

Beyond the ability to illustrate, I think it's important to have a
good sense of design (for creating your portfolio and website) and
also a good idea of how to market yourself. You need to be able to use
social media to your advantage and to connect with other people in the
industry. I think it also helps to show your personality- the most
effective blogs are the ones where you get to see a bit more of the
illustrator's life beyond their work. You need to update as often as
possible, with new work, new photos and updates.

What makes yourself different from others in your field?

I'm not sure that I'm all that different but I think that my style is
fairly individual. What made me different from the other graduates in
my year who are not working as illustrators was not talent (there were
people who were a lot more talented than me) but perseverance. It took
me 5 years of hard work and part/full time jobs and not having a
social life to get to where I am now.

Who are your audience, customers or clients that you are seeking to
reach? Are you local or global?

I work with clients all over the world and my blog is read by people
in various countries. It's all down to the internet, it's really
amazing how easy it is to connect with other people, internationally.

Where would you show your work? Real or virtual space? Public or
private venue? Is there one type of outlet or a variety?

I'm happy to show my work anywhere really. It's nice to exhibit in a
real space, beyond the confines of the internet. I'm always a little
nervous about displaying my work publicly, which is silly really
because I do exactly that online.

How do you earn your income? Do you offer a product, service or
mixture of both?

It's a mixture of commissioned Illustration work and products for
sale. I sell things like greetings cards, tote bags and zines
featuring my designs- both myself (in an online shop) and through
retail outlets around the world. It's probably about 50/50 in terms of
where my income comes from.