Exhibition: New Blood 2013

On Tuesday evening myself and Jessica ventured up to Spittlefields Market to check out this years New Blood show! For those of you who haven't visited New Blood it's a brilliant show put on by D and AD which showcases the work of Graphics and Illustration graduates from universities across the country. It was lovely and inspiring to see the work of upcoming designers so we've picked out a few of our favourites to share with you. We'd definitely recommend visiting and/or getting your students to visit! It's a great chance for students to find out more information and see the work from universities to help them make those final decisions! 

Grace Bond, Helen Player,  Mimi Van Helfteren

Norwich University's whole stand, Yvette Earl

We also grabbed a few business cards from other people we didn't get a chance to snap! 

Amy Mattingley, Louise Byrnes, Charlie Marshall

Luke Thompson, Catherine Prior

Make sure you catch it if you can! It closes today!

- Claire ❤

3W: Marek Haiduk

who: Marek Haiduk

what: illustration/collage 

why: We love the vintage feel of these mixed media digital collages by German illustrator Marek Haiduk. The way she combines bright colours, geometric shapes and patterns and carefully selected imagery - they are simply stunning! 

Marek Haiduk // Flickr // Interview on the Artfuls 

3W: Julia Pott

who: Julia Pott

what: illustration/animation

why: Beautifully detailed drawings with a touch of quirkiness - particularly these bears in knitwear which we love! Julia Potts is not only an incredible illustrator she also does fabulous animations and has worked for an array of cool clients including Bat For Lashes and The Decemberists.

Julia Pott // Animations on vimeo // blog // Flickr

3W: Douglas Alves

who: Douglas Alves

what: beautiful mixed-media illustrations

why: because it's about time he got featured as our 3W of the week! At I Heart Teaching Art we can't resist stunning illustrations on top of a photographic image and Douglas Alves does just that. You may recognise his mixture of bizarre realistic images and unique drawings of the world from known clients such as MTV, Coca Cola and the BBC (if you haven't then check them out!) His illustrations remind us of the front cover of Bjork's album 'Vespertine' where a similar technique of nature, forms and surreal collages has been used. If you have a darkroom in your school/college then try creating your own versions with your students. We get our students to draw up their own illustrations on tracing paper/acetate and then overlay the drawing on top of their photographic enlargement in the darkroom. The results are great and it makes a good contextual comparison for their books!

Behance// Who's Next Blog

3W: Jazmin Berakha

who: Jazmin Berakha

what: drawing & embroidery 

why: because we love the combination of delicate, simple lines and bold patterns achieved through incredible intricate embroidery, the detail of which must take hours to achieve. Jazmin Berakha's talents don't just stop at embroidered illustrations her drawings, design work and installation pieces are equally stunning. 

Jazmin Berakha // blog

Tutorial: How to make a Chris Ede inspired illustration

Chris Ede (Image courtesy of illustrationweb)    

                                      

Following on from my 3W about Chris Ede comes this tutorial which aims to give you an insight into some basic Adobe Photoshop techniques to teach students how to create a simple Chris Ede inspired illustration. I used this tutorial with my Btec National Art & Design students for a project on animal illustration and they loved it! The outcomes were very impressive, some even put my little chicken example to shame! The tutorial shows my own interpretation of how you might create these types of effects and they are by no means the actual techniques used by the artist but meant as a simpler less advanced version for beginner to intermediate level learners.

Hope you enjoy!

- Jess ❤

3W: Erin Petson

who: Erin Petson

what: art/illustration

why: because we love our mixed media! Her work is great to share with students as it shows how the boundaries between art, illustration,fashion and design are often blurred, her illustrations aren't just used in books and magazines but have been used in fashion collections, an animation and she regularly exhibits her artwork too (the V&A even have some of her drawings in their permanent collection!) Her website is definitely worth checking out, it's inspiring stuff! 

Erin Petson // Erin Petson Interview with Vogue Italia

3W: Coco de Paris

who: Coco de Paris

what: mixed-media illustrations

why: because we love anyone that sells lovely creations like this on Etsy. Coco de Paris creates humorous creatures that are each individually hand-painted on old pages from the 1920s Parisian journal, La Petite Illustration. I simply adore Coco's series of French Bulldogs with Bubblegum and can see them working wonderfully above my fireplace at home. Sometimes I need something to make me smile in the morning! Each piece is hand signed and dated so not only do you get a unique piece of art but you also get a little bit of french history in your life. Oh la la!

Coco de Paris Etsy page

- Kirsty ❤

3W: Alex T Smith

who: Alex T Smith

what: quirky and humorous illustration

why: because his children's books are brilliantly funny and he is also a blogging fan with his very own blog depicting humorous anecdotes and fabulous sketches galore! Alex only graduated in 2006 with a first class honours degree in illustration from Coventry University, and has already had many of his own books published and nominated for awards. We saw him do a talk at the Association of Illustrators Children's Book Seminar where he stole the show with his funny, engaging and inspiring talk. His top tips for budding illustrators were that 'life is too short for elbows' saying that he rarely draws them, and that you should ditch the life drawing and concentrate on developing your characters drawing inspiration from real life and characterising people you see all around! A very talented young man and a lovely personality to boot, he is definitely a rising star and one to watch...❤

Alex T Smith// Agent

3W: Kat Heyes

who: Kat Heyes

what: stylish and infinitely fashionable illustration

why: because her work is effortlessly stylish and having studied womenswear at Central St. Martins it's not a wonder why! Having studied under the tutelage of Howard Tangye, himself an established illustrator, her first illustration commission came from non other than Gucci. Alongside commissions from some of the top fashion houses Kat is also a talented photographer and writer having published a book on that other awesome love of ours, camping.  'The Happy Campers' which Heyes wrote with her sister in law Tessa Carr is published by Bloomsbury and is packed full of practical tips and inspirational ideas perfect for the impending summer, just don't forget your wellies!...❤

Kat Heyes// Agent

3W: Alexandra Ball

image courtesy of Alexandra Ball

who: Alexandra Ball

what: illustration

why: because she is a friend of ours and we like to promote our own! Alex's gorgeous children's illustrations feature cutesy animals, clever composition, and much for little eye's to seek out. Alex's style consists of a contemporary fusion of brilliant pencil drawing and interesting textural / patterned photoshop layering. Even more fantastic is the news that she has recently illustrated a children's book called 'Care for Our World' on sale soon!

Website // Agent // Twitter 

3W: Hattie Stewart

who: Hattie Stewart
what: doodle bombs
why: because she's cheeky! Hattie Stewart graduated from Kingston University with a BA (Hons) Illustration degree and is already under high demand from some of the funkiest brands around. She is best known for her doodled magazine covers but has recently created branding for vitamin water! Check it all out on her blog and twitter below.

Blog // Twitter

3W: Ashley Percival

who: Ashley Percival

what: Illustration

why: because we love his quirky animal illustrations (particularly the birds). Ashley hails from fabulous Falmouth where he completed a degree in illustration (same as one of our contributing bloggers!) and has had his prints licensed for t-shirts by Urban Outfitters. You can purchase prints of his work on his Etsy shop which are on special offer for a limited time only, so what are you waiting for?!

3W: peepshow collective

who: peepshow collective

what: art direction/illustration/animation collective 

why: too many reasons! peepshow collective is made up of 10 incredible illustrators/artists/designers in their own right so the collaboration of them all is immense! There's too much great work to select just one thing but we are rather partial to the animation above! 

peepshow collective // vimeo // blog

3W: Lizzie Stewart

who: Lizzie Stewart
what: illustration

why: We adore her (claire even owns the print above) her use of water-colour/ink/pencil is wonderful. She also has a great online presence and it's easy to gain an insight into how and why she creates her work, on her own blog as well as interviews that give great insight to her studio space and sketchbooks (pikaland and shiny squirrel) which are brilliant for vocational students. She also has a brilliant zine 'Paintings that I did not paint' which we'd recommend for a new take on art history research and pastiche like assignments to inspire students to develop their own style within the work they look at. 

Lizzie Stewart // blog // flickr

3W: Niki Pilkington

who: Niki Pilkington
what: illustration/mixed media
why: we first saw Niki's work at Pick Me Up and fell instantly in love! What's not to like? Beautifully detailed pencil drawings combined with playful collage/mixed media pieces which literally come out of the drawings - wonderful!

Niki Pilkington // Niki's Blog

3W: Melissa Castrillon

who: Melissa Castrillon

what: illustration

why: beautiful mark-making 

Melissa Castrillon // Melissa's Blog // Melissa's Flickr

3W: Quentin Jones

who: Quentin Jones

what: mixed media illustration, film and installation with strong fashion influence 

why: we love her work! Perhaps the coolest thing we've ever come across and the more we search the more incredible things we find! Videos, illustrations, installations and more! There's lots of different approaches you can take to make Quentin's work inspiring and relevant to your projects (we used it as an initial idea starter and our students created an installation piece and animated gifs, pictures and gifs here) There's also a whole host of video work that can be used for starters/background inspiration like this one for Victoria Beckham's S/S 2012 collection...  

Quentin Jones // Video work // A day in the life (video interview)