Men Who Lack Supervision...

...or advanced problem solving? Take your pick.

Cumbria Band Names™ (Edition V)

It's been a good long time since we posted any Band Names for you aspirant 'musos' out there.

If you remember, we are in the habit of creating highly viable and, lets face it, desirable band names during feedback and assessment tutorials as we give rich and varied advice to our students.

Here are some from a Year 1 tutorial last Friday.

Identical Ducks

Ghost of a Margin

Pix-elating the Buggery

The Winston Churchill Twins

Magnets of Darkness

Man del Brot and the Fractal Generators

As always, you don't need to pay us for the use but do send us a photo and a few MP3s.

Tigerprint packaging competition Claire Wood Runner up

For the second year in a row, one of our students is enjoying the taste of sweet success via Tigerprint. Claire Wood, yr3 illustration, recently received a top ten placement AND a runners up prize with the above packaging designs.

The brief was 'To investigate how a special occasion can be enhanced through the redesign of an envelope or gift packaging.'

The box (top) received the runner's up prize and this is what the judges had to say - "A gorgeous entry by Claire and very commercial. The judges felt this concept would translate well across our different categories."

Well done Claire
see more of Claire's work...

Some New Year 3 Illustration Work

It's a long time since we blogged about the Folio Society illustration competition. If you remember the subject of this year's competition was Angela Carter's book 'The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories'.

Here's some work produced by our Year 3 Illustration students in answer to the competition brief to illustrate three of the stories (The Bloody Chamber, The Company of Wolves and Puss-in-Boots).


Jenny Cox (21)


Louise Hubbard (21)

A spring shearing

Is it this time in the academic year that a young designer's thoughts turn to outlandish haircuts? Or, has our fresh faced Isaac (21) been mistaken for a Herdwick in the clipping sheds of Cumbria?

eBay Bargains - The Sketchbooks of John Harrison

'You can't judge a book by its cover' is a saying that Grillust doesn't really believe in as you usually can!



However, the lack of an exciting exterior didn't stop illustration and Design lecturer Tony Peart (33) putting his hand in his pocket and purchasing these four, elderly Winsor & Newton sketchbooks on eBay.

Why did he buy them?
Well, as you will have guessed by now, it was for the contents, not the covers.

Here are four pocket sketchbooks owned and used by a long forgotten illustrator called John R Harrison.



Harrison specialised in producing illustrations for the automotive and air industries (see business card above) and was active during the 1920's, 30's and 40's.



He worked for The Motor Owner magazine in October 1928 (above) and also worked for the Rootes group producing sales catalogue art. He also produced illustrations for Humber and Hillman cars in the 1930’s. Sadly, nothing more is known about him.

His remaining sketchbooks, produced in the early 1920's, remain as a concrete and moving testimony to his commitment and passion for recording his fellow man (and woman) on what must have been a daily basis. They provide us with a rare glimpse back to a time when observational drawing underpinned everything that an illustrator did...





















If you would like to have a closer look at the originals, they will be in Tony and Dwayne's office for the next few days. Just ask.

Paint Jenga (It'll End in Tears...)

The reigning Epson 'Reprographics Princess' Helen Milroy with her wall of paint

The ever helpful Helen Milroy (33) runs our in-studio reprographics department, ably assisted by the equally helpful Lesley Harding (also 33).

To offer an even greater service to our students, Helen has decided to keep a stock of art materials in the office she shares with Lesley, which can be sold to students at those times when our faculty 'Artists' Materials Shop' is closed to the public.

Helen (a former Cumbrian shop-window display champion) has rediscovered her creative side and produced an outstanding window display of great originality, featuring a multicolour 'wall of paint' (see photo below).


4.5m and counting, the tower goes up and up...

Seduced by the vivacity of her primary coloured masterpiece, the building went on and on and the wall went up and up....

It is well known that once the height of a wall is greater than its width it officially becomes a tower and with a current altitude of 4.5m we can now report that Helen has become the proprietor of a 'tower of paint'.

Sadly, with no means of reaching paint stacked at the top of the tower, any paint purchased has to be (very) carefully removed from the lower rows in a technique reminiscent of the game 'Jenga'.

So far the structural integrity of the tower is intact but how long can this go on for?

Helen accepts that at some point the tower will topple and is quite happy to deal with the consequences. Lesley (whose desk sits directly below the tower) is less phlegmatic about the situation...

"It's b****y ridiculous", Ms. Harding is quoted as saying, adding; "I mean, it could go at any time. All we need is for an illustration student to come along and ask for two cadmium reds and she'll topple". The concerned Lesley added; "Now I know how the people of Herculaneum must have felt on August 24, AD 79 just before Vesuvius started erupting. I'm in a rainbow coloured volcano scenario and the consequences aren't worth contemplating!"

When/If the tower topples you'll be the first to know dear reader...

Scenes From the Life Room

We Like These: The Aesthetics of the Russian Constructivists

Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Naum Gabo, Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky (or 'El' as he is known around here) are just a few of our many design heroes and heroines. They are synonymous with a style of art & design known as 'constructivism'

It's wonderful that an idealistic art that was forged in the heat of a genuine revolution (Russian) and was designed 'for the people by the people', still echoes on down the decades. It feels as 'modern' today as it did when it was first produced nearly one hundred years ago.

Our only regret is that it's no longer used to induce the workers to increase wheat production or warn of the dangers of the decadent, bourgeois capitalist system....

Here are two 'modern' takes on that dynamic, angular aesthetic pioneered by the Constructivist Artists and Designers all those years ago.




Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out by stevanhogg

Don't Try This at Home!

It's with heavy heart that we have to report that charismatic Illustration lecturer and illustrator Dwayne Bell (33) has (probably) broken his hand. As we write this he's away at the hospital to have it checked out.

Our thoughts are with him and we wish him a speedy recovery.

It's well known that Dwayne leads an actively energetic 'outdoors' life, both as a man of the forest and as a dedicated downhill mountain biker. You may well assume, as we did, that his accident was probably the result of a 'chainsaw malfunction' or a 'bike meets tree at velocity' scenario but if you did you'd be very wrong.


Dwayne with his friend Neil (left) in a small forest yesterday

Truth, as they say, is often stranger than fiction and in this case the truth is strange indeed...

Although Dwayne has perfected a seemingly natural, windswept look, it can only be achieved by the liberal application of 'product'.

This morning as usual, Dwayne was applying a quick burst of 'Harmony Hair Spray' to his fringe whilst in the confines of his shower cubicle. Tragically, the spray mechanism of the can jammed open, turning the enclosed shower space into effectively, a perfumed gas chamber.

Disorientated and groggy from the fumes, Dwayne accidentally trod on a bar of Cussons 'Imperial Leather' soap, slipped and tumbled out of the shower. His hard landing on the tiled bathroom floor, resulting in the probable broken hand.

Strangest Thing of the Week (Amorous Rock Stars Part II)

We've already brought you the jaw dropping image of Ronnie Wood 'puckering up' for his old pal Rod Stewart.

Not content with that, Rosie Leather (Year 1 Illustration), brings you Mancunian motormouth and general all-round bad boy Liam Gallagher (formerly of Oasis), smooching with a certain Ms. Kate Bush!

There must be something in the water up here...

Scenes From the Life Room

Emma - Year 1 Illustration


Stephen Arthur - Year 3 Illustration


Ami - Year 1 Graphic Design - works part-time for a coal delivery business...


Jasper VLB - Year 1 Illustration




Lee - Year 1 Illustration


Louise Hubbard - Year 3 Illustration


Sam's double-snazzy sneakers!




The result of a hard afternoon's work.