Summary of updates and schtuff.

Aloha.

As promised a bit more of a visual-y one of recent shenanigans:

- First up, I was hired to do a commission for a wedding present. It was from a group of friends to the bride, who wanted to re-capture special moments they shared with her. Originally, it was going to be in the format of a book but the timescale would've proved to have been very tight to accomplish this. Instead we settled for a collage illustration of the different memories combined. This would be in the style of an old school, vintage-y pencil feel to help evoke the aesthetic of memories past. I was sent over a rough idea to work from and I developed it from there (Forget how much fun pencil is to use!). I also made a cheeky vine of some parts of it below:

- The Turpentine Ltd down Brixton way is a lovely new shop which has opened on Coldharbour lane. Such a great location and lots of nice bits and bobs. If you're ever in the area you'd be silly not to pop in and admire the treats that are on display. This includes a selection of my greeting cards, let's see how South London fares with them!

- Next up was a commission for a clients friends birthday, it's a illustration based on the original 'We can do it!' poster but re-appropriating it for their friend and with a few added accessories. Really enjoyed doing this. I've been doing more airbrushing over the past few months, it's so addictive building up blends of colour and shape.

 I'm starting to consider combining this method more into my own work. Below are a few screenshots of the work when it was in progress. I'm really drawn to the first screenshot, the rough unfinished look could be quite a nice aesthetic to play with, especially with the element of rogue negative space.

 I've also made a GIF of the process, just wanted to show much can change along the route of making an illustration like this (apologies for the quality of GIF, it really doesn't like computing lots of colours):

- As well as all this I'm in the middle of helping friend, actor and comedian Keir Carroll develop his own showcasing website. Now, I'm not much of web designer in general, I've built two websites from scratch and absolutely loathed it. What we're doing is similar to my own website, we'll build it up using cargo collective templates and then modify bits and bobs with an upgraded account if we wish to do so.
Bish, bosh, bash.
This will be completed in the next month or so, in time for Keir graduating from his MA in Acting at East 15 and taking a twirl in the acting world. Huzzah.

TTFN

Trending insight and freelance advice yo

Well hello,

I realized the other day that I haven't posted here for about a month, I want to apologize to my dedicated fans (Mother) and give an insightful reason why that's been the case.

Well this past month has been crazy busy, I've been making out card orders and invoices, 4 artwork commissions and a host of other small bits and bobs that made me lose track of this beloved blog.

Then it occurred to me.

It's April. Of course. It's so bloody obvious!

I'll elaborate, (slightly nodding to a previous blog post about trends) I've noticed after the last few years of doing freelance (coupled with working in an art gallery/retail environment) That times of the year peak. It seems obvious now you think of it, different parts of the year are obviously more popular than some parts, with some being in particular very slow and inactive. I have made this rather amazing crude line chart based on my experiences, to give a better visual example to what I mean:

You can see that the most popular time of year is April and November - December.

April - beginning of the new tax year, people will be tight leading up to this but soon as you pass go again, it all kicks off.

November - December: Leading up to Christmas, hugely popular and busy.

Least popular months are January and July.

January - Everyone will be a bit sore after Xmas and the New Year, so wouldn't necessarily indulge in art and design bits and bobs.

July - This is a bit of a vague one as June and August can apply too - it's holiday season. The majority of people would rather spend their hard earned cash on a break away and with a few cheeky cocktails in the sun.

Like I said it's seems completely obvious when you notice it, and explains why freelancing in a creative career can not only feel massively inconsistent but can also feel like your career is a living manic depression.

Point is - for anyone who'd like to take my advice that is - don't get discouraged. It's bloody hard, but helping notice the trend in your field (I do feel that chart above can apply to a lot of different areas) can help you address where you need to improve. For me, I needed something that sold consistently which is how the greeting cards came about - because everyone has a birthday! This has proved to be a successful venture as I've sold 480 cards in the past 12 months (more than a card a day!) I'm sure you can find your 'greeting card'..

 

Anyway, enough of me trying to solve life's problems. I'm going to do a follow up blog post later in the week so you can get your fill of stimulant for your visual palette. 

Apologies for a more wordier blog entry than usual - it feels good have to a small break from making/thinking about visuals to be honest. But nonetheless reminds me of what my old tutor used to say me at art school, in his thick Belfast accent:

"We're visual animals Jamie! We need to be taught how to read but not how to look"

Until next time. Toodle do.