Third year graphics, first project

After a long hot summer watching daytime TV, going to festivals, playing the latest video games, raiding the family fridge and other traditional student pursuits; the return to University can be a shock to the system. In this project, students produced directed research based on a single word and then designed and produced a monograph using that research directly...

Everything starts on layout paper of course. Kyle Bridson (21)

..before layouts are taken into the digital realm. Kyle Bridson (21)

Two experimental spreads by Emma Davidson (21)

Will Fuller (21) gets all 3D visually

Metamophosis. Becca Lettice (21)

Experimental type spreads, Becca Lettice (21)

Gravity, James Musson (21)

Experimental typography, James Musson (21)

Experimental typographic spreads by Elinor Prescott (21)

Aldi Tat-Aisle Disaster

Nothing brings joy to the hearts of Grillust lecturers Dwayne, Jim and Tony (all 33), quite like a visit to The hallowed Aldi tat-aisle. Whether it's an opportune purchase of a Rio Olympics branded shell suit, unearthing a military grade, cold-war era, soviet nail gun and associated air compression unit buried in a pit of unlicensed hello kitty duffle coats or simply picking up the latest fad in kitchen utensil ('as seen on TV' Vegetable Spiralizer anyone?) they absolutely LOVE IT!

It's in the very 'unknown' of what might be held in those twin lanes of promise that grasps their attention and commands their loyalty so keenly.

However, sad times awaited one lecturer in particular. Today, it's our unfortunate duty to report back with this sad image, taken by Dwayne Bell (illustration lecturer and clothing for builders enthusiast), who, when we were able to coax words from him had this to say, "Nowt. They were empty. I got off my bus 6 stops early, as I do every Wednesday, to take in the glory of the tat aisles. I was hoping to find a gas powered roof felting tool; there's been rumours online (Dwayne's an avid 'Aldi tat-aisle forum user. username: Tat'll-do-nicely) of someone finding one at the Aldi in Dumfries recently. I was particularly excited. I don't even know what a gas powered roof felting tool is. To walk in and find this! Well, the bottom fell out of my world".

Dwayne tried to make the best of the situation by purchasing some polish strawberry chocolates and a large decorative box of turkish delights but, in his own words "it's just not the same".

We contacted Aldi who pointed out that there is still a large amount of winter clothing available for purchase or simply comedic 'trying on' sessions; including ponchos and 'kinda cowboy-ish looking hats'. They have extended an invite to Dwayne to return to the shop to take advantage of this.

Meanwhile, rumours abound of a shipment of North Korean work-boots that might be showing up in these very aisles in the near future. Is this the calm before the storm?

Famous Artworks Ruined By Clients Who Think They Know It All

Supremo Grillust graduate, Petra Blahova, sent us a link to a recent post on graphiene.com - the title of this thread says it all...

Here's a link to the original post on graphiene.com...

...and another to Petra's own website, chocked full of visual treats!


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First Years Second Project - Old School (Yeah!)

It's been a very busy last two 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 Designer or Illustrator's life. Think of all that packaging that needs to be mocked-up or presentation boards that need to be professionally assembled. 

Say Aaaaaaaaah!

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 impressive copies of great illustrator's work.

Here's a small selection of what they did...

Create a perfect, 70mm high cube

You're fired!!!

Window mount a postcard. 

Use the correct tool (knife) and this can be achieved beautifully (left). Use the wrong tool (hamster) and the results can be a little disappointing (right).

Cut a perfect, freehand circle 

(Neil Armstrong walking on my face, Buzz Aldrin walking on my face...)

Two attempts at a stab-stitched book with elaborate graduated hole motif. 

One excellent, one not so excellent (can you tell which is which)?

A tidy piece of Orthographic Projection

Mmmh, lovely crisp embossing

Stretched paper containing a colour wheel and tonal scales

Exercises for Graphic Design Students

If you follow these instructions you should produce...

...this

Hand-rendered type (pencil on tracing paper)

Original poster (gouache on paper) by Ludwig Hohlwein...

...copies by our students

Freehand drawing with a brush

Exercises for Illustration Students

Original by John William Waterhouse...

...student copies

Original woodcut by Clare Leighton...

...Scraperboard copies

And again

Watercolour by Arthur Melville...


...and its copy 

 Original acrylic painting by the great Brad Holland...

...and the copies

After working so hard we gave them the whole weekend off (to recover). Come Monday it was back to work and they are now busy on a two week animation project. 

Field Trip to The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival

On Saturday 15 October we took a bus packed with students to The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in Kendal for the day.

Here's some of what we saw...

Martin Rowson a multi-award winning cartoonist and writer, whose work over the past 30 years has appeared regularly in The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror, The Spectator, The Independent on Sunday and many other publications painting a savage political mural just off Kendal's main drag.

The University of Cumbria's Comic Book Collective stand in the Clock Tower manned by Edwin 'I'm a Tiger!" Burrow. 

  Oliver East (of Elbow cover art fame) signs one of his book for a fan.   

 Hotting up at the UOCCBC stand.

 Sponsored by The University of Cumbria...

 Here's a comic car.

 Ken Niimura 'Making a Scene' at The Brewery Arts Centre


Ken Niimura.


José María Ken Niimura del Barrio was born in Madrid in 1981, he’s lived and worked in Brussels, Paris, Montreal and Madrid under the pen-name Ken Niimura. Three years ago he moved to Tokyo

 Various big-name talks were attended including Mick McMahon and Tom Gauld (above)


Tom Gauld is a cartoonist and illustrator who lives and works in London. He has weekly comic strips in The Guardian and New Scientist and his comics have been published in The New York Times and The Believer.In addition to his graphic novels Goliath and You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, he has designed a number of book covers.

His most recent book is September 2016’s Mooncop, published by Drawn & Quarterly, which recounts the deadpan adventures of the last police officer on the moon.

 Happy (and tired) campers spilling out into the twilight back at our Brampton Road campus.

Olivier Kugler visits Grillust Towers

As it says on his website, Olivier Kugler loves to draw on location. Sounds simple. Is simple. Often the very best things are.

If you're not aware of Olivier's work, a quick google image search will show you just how much work the London based German illustrator produces. Prolific indeed. Google has, handily, put Olivier front and centre on his own image search.

Olivier's work is typified by global subject matter. Glasgow, London, Burkina Faso - he's drawn them all and then some! His lines are both accurate and kinetic. He doesn't create a simple snapshot moment but rather a multidimensional collection of moments that tell an entire story in a single image. Handwritten notes are incorporated into images as are quotes from the people who Olivier meets on his journeys and who become his subjects. For all his global travels, it's still the human connection that is core to Olivier's work and our engagement with it.

Glasgow

London


Burkina Faso


Recently Olivier's been working with Doctor's Without Borders, proving once again that illustration has the potential to make the unpalatable palatable, to bring home uncomfortable world truths in an incredibly humane, poignant and direct form. We're not going to publish any pics of the work that Olivier showed, as clearances are yet to be confirmed and the work yet to be published. Suffice to say that illustrator's talks aren't usually this emotional.

Olivier Kugler, in action. Not pictured - a packed room of not only illustration but also graphic design, fine artist and games design students.

Here's a couple of pieces...

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Olivier for the visit - despite the 5am arrival!!! It was a real statement of the power of illustration to do so much more than decorate or beautify our world and it was a pleasure to welcome Olivier to Grillust Towers.