The First Years are Introduced to 'Hardcore' Typography

The Typographer Royal™ (with full regalia) dispenses words of wisdom to Lucie and Rachel (both 21)


It's that time of year when The University of Cumbria's very own Typographer Royal™, H.R.H. Rhiannon Robinson, spends a lot of quality time with our first year students.

Rhiannon was crowned Typographer Royal™ by our very own queen, H.R.H Elizabeth II, in an elaborate ceremony, held in Typographers Hall (City of London) in June 1990. The position ofTypographer Royal™ is not to be underestimated and Rhiannon takes her official duties very seriously.Her role behooves her to undertake the following:

1. Banish poor letter spacing, leading and tracking from all four corners of the kingdom
2. Seek out and destroy all 'widows' and 'orphans' in documents near and far
3. Challenge all developers of Microsoft Word Art to single, mortal combat
4. Round-up, imprison in Newgate and finally hang by the neck until dead, all look-alike, generic fonts and that evil malefactor, known to the wider population as 'Comic Sans'
5. Teach kick-arse typography skills to students of The University of Cumbria

Quality time with H.R.H.T.T.R.


We design on paper first and then make it look sexy on the Mac.

Check back in a week or so to see the finished work...

First Years, Seventh Project - Film Pastiche and Title Sequence

The first year's latest project was divided into two parts. First, we taught them basic film making techniques and asked them to study a specific movie genre (pulled at random from our 'envelope of destiny').  To complete part one they had to create their own 30 - 60 second long pastiche film of their chosen genre. 

To accomplish this they also had to produce a detailed storyboard before they started shooting. Here are some examples:

We then went on to teach them the basics of Adobe After Effects and asked them to create a title sequence to accompany their film. Incredibly they only had three weeks in which to complete this massive challenge.

Did they succeed?... More than in our wildest dreams! 

Here's the 'action' film made from the storyboards above:

But hold on a minute... Graphic Designers and Illustrators making films? Are we mad?

No, quite the opposite. As technologies merge (these films were mostly made in Photoshop by the way!?) and, as TV and streaming media expand exponentially, who will be there at the cutting edge, producing well designed, intelligent content? Designers and Illustrators, of course

This project marks the start of a journey for those students who have a strong interest in exploiting video, film and animation as their chosen media.

In the meantime; put you feet up, turn down the lights, open a carton of Kia-Ora and scatter popcorn down your front as you enjoy the fruits of their labour...

Studio Randoms

We're not sure if this was a cry of protest or a generous offer...

Scenes from the Life Room 2

This week we were looking at drawing using brush and ink.















Most of the poses are only held for 30 minutes or less. This week we introduced some even quicker, four minute action poses...



...and here are some of the artists we suggested the students study:

Kathe Kollwitz 

 Rembrandt

 Goya

Scenes from the Life Room

The first year illustration students have just started twelve weeks of life drawing...



Last week we introduced them to measuring, sighting and simplifying the body into simple shapes. This week we started to consider tone - these are line and tone drawings.

 In semi-darkness we explored using tone in isolation (no line).

Followed by focusing on understanding (and simplifying) the head...

...and finally, the body.

First Years, Sixth Project - Working in the Style of...

Gabby was Max Huber for two weeks...

This is the project the students completed at the end of their first semester with us. They worked very hard and the outcomes were very impressive, clearly demonstrating the many things they've learned since starting in September.


All our Year 1 projects are about teaching (and understanding) the important foundation elements of Graphic Design and Illustration and this one was about the importance of looking at, and learning from designers, illustrators and artists who are better than you.

Isabel was David Carson for two weeks...

It’s impossible to do original design by locking yourself in an ‘ivory tower’. A designer or illustrator’s individuality is always a strange, chaotic mixture of all the designers and artists that have influenced them. It’s good (and sensible) to learn from the work of others. It’s also inspiring and helps you gauge your own development.

Never be downhearted if you see work that you don’t think you could achieve. You might not be there yet, but if you put in the time and effort you could be! Seeing great work spurs us onward.

Each student spent a week researching the work of their selected designer, illustrator or artist and then had a week to design a bookjacket in their style. Let's see how they got on...

Becky was Herbert Bayer for two weeks...

Abbie was Pete Zwart for two weeks...

Amy spent two weeks doing lino cuts and became...

Edward Bawden!

C.J. became Chris Ware

     
Emily walked 'in the shoes of'... 

...Joan Eardley

Jim was Tibor Kalman for two weeks...

Molly became Julien Vallee

Jemma found inspiration in Stanley Spencer

Josh was Hans Schleger (aka 'Zero')

Laura turned herself into...

...Shaun Tan

Liam got in touch with his feminine side and became Paula Scher

Lucie learned from Abram Games

Natalie from Alan Fletcher

Qia got to know Percy Kelley

Rebecca looked into the dark world of Eric Fraser

and finally, Sam became Swiss by learning from Joseph Müller-Brockmann

It's Probably Best Not to Ask...

The first years have just started an intensive, three-week film and title sequence project.

We commenced with a three hour 'warm up' exercise - working in small teams, they had to devise and shoot footage for a Dance-Off movie.