First Years, Second Project - Old School

It's been a very busy last couple of weeks for our first year students as they completed the visual and technical 'assault course' that we call Old School...

Manual skills still underpin much of any working Graphic Designers life. Think of all that packaging that needs to be mocked-up or presentation boards that need to be professionally assembled. 

Great Illustration is not only underpinned by an ability to draw well but also by great technical skills. The reality here is there are no 'quick fixes'. It takes years to become a really good painter, or pen & ink artist, or printmaker or...

'Old School' is our opportunity to allow the students to find out how good, bad or ugly their making/drawing/gluing/painting skills actually are right at the start of their course. It helps them identify what they're good at and much more importantly focusses their attention and concentration on working hard to develop those areas that they're not so good at. 

Happily, we can report that the overall standard was very good. For a generation who hasn't done any technical drawing or that much painting, we were particularly impressed with their ability to handle constructed letters, draw straight lines, wield a compass accurately, understand the complexities of oblique, isometric and orthographic projection and produce fairly faithful copies of great illustrator's work.

Here are lots of lovely photos from the last two weeks...

Danielle (21) demonstrates the correct use of masking tape

Here's a big constructed letter M freshly inked in with a brush

 Sun and Sebrina (both 21) share a palette while copying a Brad Holland illustration.

 Marisa's (21) 'Brad Holland' in progress...

... and finished. 

Even the Graphic Designers had to paint. Here's Sarah (21) at work on an E McKnight Kauffer poster. 

 A perfectly constructed 3D letter R. Well done, have 100 house points.

 Hayleigh (21) doing a Scraperboard illustration in her special Scraperboard hat.

 James and Will (both 21) proudly display their constructed letter Ms. But which one is best I wonder?

Here's a small collection of perfect(ish) white(ish) cubes.

 A pyramid of 3D Rs. Becki (left, 21) impressed, Issie (right, 21) nonchalant... 

Three McKnight Kauffer posters.

 What by any other name would smell as sweet?

It wasn't all perfection. Here's some particularly 'rough' colour work. So rough in fact that we've hidden the student's faces to preserve their total anonymity.

Sebrina (21) shows Tom Selwood (21) and Lewis White (21) how the colour exercises should be done.

 Here's some exceptionally good freehand brush drawing.

Two copies of a Peter Blake watercolour illustration for 'alice'.

Some particularly 'crisp' freehand embossing.

Finally, two dip pen and brush copies of an original W. Heath Robinson illustration.