Business card designs and considerations

I started thinking about my business cards back in February, I started by ordering a sample pack from Moo and deciding on their minicards. I loved the feel and look of the luxe minicards but because I wanted to attach a plush character (I call him Clarence) to the cards it would mean having to punch a hole. Even though I really like the luxe it would have probably been to thick to punch a hole through. So I ended up going for the original matte minicards.

Upon further feedback I have decided to match the characters bow to the colouring of the card design, and I have decided to only make 10 cards with plushies attached and to make sure the designs can hold their own.

First draft 

First Draft and Second Draft

Final Clarences (without bows)

For my final Clarences I switched the handmade pom poms out for pre-made ones, making the process a lot faster and the final outcome a lot neater.

For the cards I choose two designs from work I had already done, the design on the left was for my research project but the version put into my research project has been edited further to be a better fit. The second design is from my personal work and I added the purple to make the design fit in more with the other design.

Thoughts For Final Show

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the final show and what I want to display and I feel my uni work is just not making the cut for me personally. So I have started to produce work outside of uni that I would rather display. 

I want to display work that I genuinely enjoy making because I feel that it really shows in the finished pieces. I am setting RaelDanger up as a brand rather than just me being an illustrator and the degree show will be a good place to showcase my brand. After Fig Taylor came in I felt like I was left with very few options with where my work could take me, but after thinking about it for the past few months I have decided I want to put my artwork onto apparel. I feel like the graphic and vibrant nature of my work really lends itself to t-shirts, dresses etc.

Brands I feel that are good examples for what I would like to do is 

Iron Fist

Carries a lot of bold and vibrant designs aimed at teens and young adults.

Emily Strange

Emily Strange is a particularly good example since not only is Emily Strange a clothing brand, but they have produced comics, books, figures, plush toys, prints etc. And the brand is centred around a character called Emily Strange and her four black cats. Much like my work

"She first appeared on a sticker distributed at concerts, record stores and skate shops to promote Cosmic Debris, the clothing line founded by artist and skateboarder Rob Reger, racecar driver Matt Reed and Nathan Carrico, who designed Emily in 1991 for Santa Cruz Skateboards in Santa Cruz, California."

I can see how my brand could work in a similar way since my artwork is very character centric . 

Context and Style Clash

I have found throughout my degree I find it really difficult to gel both context and my practice into my projects.

I'm passionate about what I try to do with my artwork ie tackling difficult subjects such as homelessness and mental health but my style which I am equally passionate about more often than not doesn't fit the subject in trying to tackle.

This has been the second project in a row where I have felt like I'm forcing the two together when they just don't fit. Part of me wants to throw in the towel and create fake band posters or just something a bit less socially driven and more interest driven.

Graduate panel

Back in January we had a panel discussion with Chris Madden, Barney Ibbotson and Emma Reynolds.

It wasn't all that useful in terms of advice for me personally because my work isn't really suited to editorial illustration. They didn't have much experience selling online and were rather negative about selling online. It left me feeling panicked about what I can do with my art.

On a positive note they brought some events to my attention, cake and doodle being one of them along with draw northwest. And attending cake and doodle made me aware of exhibitions and other events which are taking place.

Cake and Doodle 17/02/16

After the Chris Madden, Barney Ibbotson and Emma Reynolds talk (which will be detailed in my next post) I looked into Draw Northwest and some of the other artistic gatherings which take place in Manchester, this lead me to Cake and Doodle.

This week I decided I would attend the Cake and Doodle gathering. It takes place every Wednesday at Ziferblat on Edge Street at 7:30pm, Ziferblat is a unique venue in the fact that tea, coffee, cake, soft drinks, juice, biscuits, cereal etc is free you are charged based on how much time you spend. The rate is 6p a minute so that's £3.60 an hour. So if you are planning on attending keep in mind you will be charged for your time spent.

The gathering is a good way to make industry contacts in fact one of the women who attended works with Emma Reynolds. It's a very open environment and you will often be asked what you are working on and given advice and critique if you express you are open to it. It's a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. And in addition it's a great way to find out about exhibitions and events around Manchester and it isn't just limited to illustration. Through this weeks Cake and Doodle I learned about O!PLA 2015 which is a night of polish animation on Friday 4th March 7:30 -9:30pm at Ada house, 77 Thompson Street, Manchester. It requires a ticket since seats are limited.

I would definitely recommend attending Cake and Doodle not many attend every week so just come along if you happen to have a free evening.

Exploring Wonderland Exhibition

On the 8/02/16 I visited an show in the Manchester Craft and Design Centre called Exploring Wonderland which was a celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in wonderland. There was a large variety of work including home decor, jewellery, illustration, installation, sculpture, ceramics and paper cut.    

Since I did a project on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland last year it was interesting to see other peoples take on it especially since the work on display spanned so many disciplines.

I especially loved the paper cut by Fairy Made Paperart

More of her work can be found on her facebook page FairyMadePaperart

Gallery Visit: Richard Goodall Gallery

Yesterday I visited the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester. I was really impressed by the work on display and I could see my work fitting in there. They sold work from a range of artists and my parents ended up purchasing a print.

I discovered two new artists the first being Jay Ryan.

Jay Ryan is an American artist specializing in screen printed posters for rock bands and concerts. I love the quirkiness of his characters, they are cute but not overly cute and it inspires me that he has actually produced artwork for bands and he has even produced album artwork and track illustrations. Being a big fan of music I would love to produce work for bands.

The second artist I discovered goes by the name of Daniel Danger.

Daniel Danger is based in the New England region of America, I love his use of colour and the subject matter of his work. I have recently discovered that I find old abandoned buildings absolutely fascinating so his work instantly appealed to me. His work is almost akin to documentation, you will find many urban explorers love to document abandoned buildings before they get demolished and are gone for good. By the looks of his instagram @tinymediaempire he does dabble in urban exploration.