END OF MODULE EVALUATION

Throughout this module I have picked up some very valuable skills and learnt a lot about life as an illustrator; for me this has probably been my most successful PP module as i've taken full advantage of the advice and opportunities I have been given. Through visiting lecturers and professional talks I've gained an insight to the creative industry, and I've learnt how diverse the meaning of being an illustrator can be.

Something I found personally to be a huge success was Print Stuff, the print fair I took part in in York as part of a collective, OK Sure. OK Sure is a collective made up of me and four other illustrators from the course, and it has been an extremely positive experience to be part of this; I feel our individual practices differ massively but also compliment each others, and I felt lucky to be surrounded and supported by such amazing practitioners. I found that especially during the print fair it felt a lot less daunting having the support of the collective. The print fair itself was also a really positive experience not just for us as a collective but for me personally; I found it really inspiring seeing other illustrators work and it was a good opportunity for me to talk to them about what life is like as an illustrator after university. The conversation I had with Marcroy Smith at Print Stuff was one I found particularly useful, and he gave me a lot of advice about my practise and the creative industry in general.

Pushing myself to get my work out there has also been something which has effected me positively. In the past I have lacked a lot of confidence in my work and in all honestly I think my practise has only just fallen into place; feeling happy with the work you are creating makes it much easier to put it out there for everyone to see. Something which was slightly out of my comfort zone was the Instagram takeover I did for a manchester based publication; I posted 6 pieces of my work on their account alongside captions about me and my practise. This was a really good opportunity for me to promote my instagram account and reach some other creatives I wouldn't have done otherwise. Instagram in general this year has been a really useful tool for me as an illustrator. I have made sure to post more frequently and think about the content I'm posting a lot more. I love how it works as a mini portfolio of work, and you have the ability to reach a huge creative audience. Beach London posting some of my work on their account has been another helpful aid in gaining reach on my account, and it also gave me a lot of confidence within my work.

Taking part in some exhibitions and showcasing my work to the public has also given me a good opportunity to get my work out there. This is something I said I wanted to concentrate on at the start of the year, and showcasing my work at The Old Red Bus Station in Leeds and the Fossgate Social in York has lead up to some potential commissions and sales, which shows they have been worthwhile and important for me and my practise.
Dealing with clients this year has been helpful as well as slightly disheartening; I've learnt that it's not always an easy road and there are going to be some set backs along the way. For example, the fact that many people often expect you to work for free/a small fee has been quite difficult; but it's made me realise how difficult being an illustrator can be, but also more determined.

This year I've also tried to further my professional practise by creating a website, which looking back is something I do feel like I should have done sooner. After researching other practitioners websites I decided I wanted to create a simple yet interesting looking website, with clear links to different parts and making sure I included all relevant contact information. I think my online presence is a strong visual representation of my practise as I've tried to stick with colours which can be seen frequently within my work. I'm pleased with my website and I think i'll feel a lot more confident when I'm applying to internships/jobs being able to show it. I do need to remember it's a work in progress though and to make sure I don't put anything work up i'm unhappy with for the sake of it.

My practical work progressing over the past year, and finding out ways of working I love, for example screen printing, has massively effected me as an artist and consequently had a positive effect on my professional practise, giving me confidence in myself as an illustrator. I never thought I'd feel ready to leave university, but this course and this module in particular has shaped me into a confident practitioner who is excited about what the future could hold.

DESIGN BOARDS

Digital portfolio

Presentation

Presentation notes

SLIDE 1:

• intro slide

SLIDE 2:

• started the year on a slightly rocky note. at one point I wasn't even sure whether I was going to be continuing the course, but after that blip and realising it's what I really wanted to do I made sure I got completely stuck into the course and my practise
• Feel like I had a turning point last year within my practise, but I really feel like this year I have found my 'thing' as it were
• This year is probably the year I have most enjoyed as I feel like i'm finally starting to realise what it's like to be an illustrator

SLIDE 3:

• COP!
• feel like I always say the same thing about this module
• I found juggling my cop module with extended practise and felt as though I fell behind a bit in my practical work while I was completing this module 
• I explored the idea of open work in my extended essay which I found really interesting, but I did find it quite difficult to produce a practical outcome which had a strong link 
• i've kind of accepted after three essays essay writing will never be one of my strong suits
• feel like I can speak for everyone when I say there was a huge sigh of relief after it was handed in and I could get stuck back into practical work

SLIDE 4:

• At the beginning of this year I mentioned in my manifesto I wanted to explore shape, colour and composition further as I feel like these are probably the three key aspects of my practise
• I've made sure to think about these three thing carefully while i've been creating images, and i think they were especially successful in these screen prints i did for Batsford Prize
• for me this is probably my favourite piece of work i've created this year

SLIDE 5:

• screen printing
• another part of my manifesto was to try and explore a range of different image making process; I especially wanted to get into screen printing as I love the aesthetic but after a few bad attempts I got put off
• I forced myself to give it another go and loved it which is something i never thought i'd say
• It's definitely become a very important part of my practise and some of my favourite outcomes this year have been screen printed
• its something i want to carry on with in the future 

SLIDE 6:

• something else I never thought i'd really enjoy that much is collaborating, after last years collaboration which felt very forced and didn't go too well I was a bit put off by the idea
• But I got approached by Beth off of graphic design and decided to give it another go and it turned out to be a success
• the brief was to re-brand a small coffee shop in leeds called Pump N Grind. The deliverables were to create a mural, a new menu design, and a new window display as well as re-designing the logo for the coffee bags and also re-doing the chalk boards sings in the shop. We decided to make some stickers as well for a little extra
• we worked efficiently together to meet tight deadlines communicated well throughout the whole project and worked really well as a team. I'm happy with the finished re-brand and definitely couldn't have done it without Beth
• This has made me a lot more open to collaborations in the future as I can now see how beneficial it can be

SLIDE 7:

• and here are the finished images 

SLIDE 8:

• something I have loved taking part in this year was a stall me and my friends ran as a collective at Print Stuff in York
• Our collective was made up of 5 of us and it was really nice to experience this alongside them. 
• For the fair I concentrated on producing some screen prints to try and sell; thought on reflection it was evident that the things that sold the most were the smaller items such as ceramics and pin badges
• I did sell a few prints though which was exciting and it's given me a lot of confidence in my work and enough confidence to potentially take part in more print fairs in the future
• It was also great to be in a room full of such amazing practitioners and to be able to go and speak to them about their practitioners and life as an illustrator 
• I worked on a small piece of branding for my prints which links directly to the branding on my website

SLIDE 9:

• which is something i've finally made this year!
• I feel like I put it off for so long as I thought it was going to be a mammoth task, but after hearing over and over the importance of a website while applying for jobs and internships I finally made one
• I wanted to keep it fairly simple but contemporary. I kept a simple theme and colour scheme and made sure it wasn't too busy with clear links to different parts of the website
• It does feel slightly empty at the moment but I need to keep telling myself its a work in progess

SLIDE 10:

• another part of my online presence i've worked on a lot more this year is my instagram account
• I've made sure to post a lot more regularly and I've been thinking about what I've been posting more and when to post
• I feel like instagram is very important as an illustrator and can be vital for commissions and getting your work out there. it almost works as a mini portfolio but it's nice that you can make it a bit more personal
• I want to keep my feed bright and colourful to best reflect my practise as a whole. 

SLIDE 11:

• working on some live briefs and commissions this year has meant i've been able to see my work in the real world
• this was a set of commissions I worked on for Banger Magazine which is a music listings magazine. I have especially enjoyed working on these briefs because of the outcomes of the magazine. I love the graphic design and feel like the pages compliment my illustrations quite well! It's also been nice to see my work alongside graphic design and other illustrators work 
• I'm hoping I can continue making work for this magazine 

SLIDE 12:

• another part of my manifesto was to push myself to get my work out there. This has meant i've been submitting work to more exhibitions and trying to give myself opportunity's to showcase my work
• the first image is of my work at the fossgate social in york which was part of the run up to Print Stuff; I got a commission off the back of this after someone had seen my print in there which shows it was successful
• the second image is of my work at Anything Goes, an exhibition set up by a couple of people off of visual communication
• the last image is of my work in Further North, which came after me and some fiends exhibited some work in North Bar in Leeds last year

SLIDE 13:

• where my practise is now is completely different to where I started in first year. I can't believe how far my practise has come and I feel so happy to be truly enjoying making work. 
• I have recently been exploring wood cutting and making 3D objects of my figures which I am finding really enjoyable 
• it's so nice to be able to create physical objects which I can hold in my hands, and I feel like this is a direction I'd like to take my work in 

SLIDE 14:

• what next?
• Over the summer I really want to try and find a creative internship or some work experience so I can start building up a creative CV to start applying for jobs
• I really want to be living in London so this is a goal for me and where i'll be looking for internships etc 
• My short terms goals are to just continue making work, and to make sure I don't stop now that uni is over. I need to keep the momentum going and carry on exploring my practise. I'm really happy with the way things are going recently so for me the future feels quite exciting (but also very daunting of course)

SLIDE 15:

• thanks! any questions?

Beach London 5 A Day

Recently on instagram I noticed that Beach London were posting 5 images of different artists work for something they call #BeachFiveADay! They post these 5 examples of the artists work and underneath caption it:

'We want your submission for #BeachFiveADay! Send us 5 images, MP4's, anything - could be a look at an exhibition, promo for an event, a panorama, a book...anything! Please send submissions to info@beachlondon.co.uk'

Here are some examples of their posts featuring artists James Christopher & Raul Soria:

I thought I might as well submit some images to them to be in with a chance, it would be a pretty good opportunity to gain some exposure as they have over 21,000 instagram followers! Here are the five images I submitted to them alongside a short email:

I thought these 5 images demonstrated a few different parts of my practise, and I wanted to keep them all in the square format as I feel like this best suits instagram. I made sure to mention to them that there were different methods of image making involved, which were digital, 3D and screen prints. I send the image of my wood cut 3D figure first as this would probably be the image i'd want them to post as the first one. 

I didn't think anything would come from it as i'm sure they get a lot of submissions daily, but a couple days later I got an instagram notification that they had posted my images!! I felt really excited as soon as I saw it as a lot of illustrators I really admire follow their account so there would be a possibility they would see my work! I'm sure they also have a lot of creatives following them so it was exciting that my work would be seen by this kind of audience.

Here is my post:

They tagged my instagram in their caption and also in each of the images they posted, which meant I actually gained quite a lot of followers from their post which is great. I think little instagram submissions like this are really good for illustrators trying to build up their instagram, as I'm sure a lot of the people who saw the post and followed me probably wouldn't have come across my account otherwise! Beach London also followed me which i'm super happy about. 

MY INSTAGRAM

• throughout this year I have used my instagram as the main way to showcase my work. I think it's a really good way to get your work out there as it's so universal and most people do have an account 
• I've learnt that hash tagging posts can increase the reach a lot, so I've been using relative hashtags on my posts, for example if I post a screen print I'll hashtag things such as #screenprinting & #traditionalprint and make sure to tag all my posts with relevant illustration tags such as #illustratorsoninstagram & #illustrationgram
• I've also learnt the best sort of times to post an image because of the algorithm it can be difficult to reach a large audience. I usually post around 5pm on weekdays or early in the morning around 8am
• I've been trying to post a lot more frequently than I used to and it's definitely reflected on my followers, which have gone up to nearly 500 this year which is exciting! I try to post a range of finished images and process shots but I do think I should post a couple personal pictures for example my desk spaces or maybe a photo which i'm in 
• I try to keep my instagram feed as colourful as possible to reflect my practise as best as I can. Also this is usually what people first look at when they look on your instagram instead of scrolling down the individual images

Scott Bakal Talk

During the Scott Bakal talk I found it an interesting insight into a practitioner with such a huge amount of creative experience. He showed us his creative journey and we got to see how far he had progressed within his practice. It was amazing to see how far he had come and how different his recent work is from when he first started it; it's made me think about where I could be 10 or 20 years down the line- will my work be similar? or will it be completely different? what kind of work will I be creating and for who? It's quite a strange thing to think about the amount that could change in the future. I'm glad we got the opportunity to listen to such a successful illustrator, he continues to work for some huge clients which just shows that commitment is key.

Estimate Sheet

• recently asked a friend of mine on graphic design to design me an estimate sheet I could send over to clients as I had a few commissions coming up
• I wanted something super simplified so this is what he created for me. The estimate will obviously change depending on the client and the job but necessary changes can be tailored to different jobs when necessary 
• I wanted to keep a little bit of branding at the top of the page to make it feel more personal

OK SURE

our instagram logo made by kieran!

• Last year me and my friends & housemates formed a little illustration collective to showcase our work together. As we felt the posts we had made on our instagram account was a little out-dated in terms of our practices, we decided to delete them all and start over
• we also had Print Stuff coming up where we had a table as a collective so we wanted to post some of our recent work so people could have a look through if they wanted to
• we made sure to tag our respective instagram accounts whenever we posted one of our images so people could look through our own instagrams as well

SELF PORTRAIT FOR EOYS & D&AD

I wanted to create something totally new for the end of year show postcard pack and my D&AD image. I had originally thought about making two different images, but I am really pleased with how this screen print looks so I've decided to use it for both!

STRENGTHS:

• I developed my self portrait from a coloured pencil drawing I did at the beginning of the year. It was an image I really liked but sort of neglected it until now, so I thought it would be perfect to use it for my self portrait as I feel like it represents my practise well
• I wanted to almost match it to my other work as I thought this is the way I could best represent everything. I stuck to quite a simple colour scheme but used some colours which I frequently use
• I wanted to make it slightly quirky to make for a more interesting image which is why I included the long twisty arms
• I used a couple of different colours of stock to see how it would look. I do think the white stock is probably the strongest image so this is what I have used for my final, although I think the coloured ones will make quite nice mini prints which I could think about selling

WEAKNESSES:

• Although I think it reflects my practise well, it's not really a great 'self portrait' as it doesn't look anything like me; which I'm not sure is really a weakness as the task was more about producing something to represent my work

Elliot Snowman

• I came across Elliot Snowman's work after Beach London had posted an instagram showcasing his work. 
• I was immediately drawn to it I think mainly because of the colours and the striking imagery he uses. I love the weird and wonderful nature of it and it's something which feels quite unique
• Although his practise differs quite a lot from my own I feel inspired by the ambiguous and playful tone of voice which comes across and I think this resonates with my practise in some ways

Collaboration

• recently I have taken part in a collaboration with a graphic designer which I've felt has been a vital part of my professional practise
• After last years collaboration I felt a bit disheartened by the thought of doing it again as I thought it didn't work out very well.
• I having been working on a brief re-branding a coffee shop in Leeds called Pump N Grind alongside graphic designer Beth Ewens
• It has been a breath of fresh air collaborating with Beth. She is organised and hard working and we have worked efficiently together working towards tight deadlines
• The communication throughout was strong and made it easier to make decisions collectively. 
• I am now far more open to collaborations in the future and I think it has been so important for me to experience this

Chat with Marcroy Smith

Recently I had been briefly emailing Marcroy Smith, who is the director and founder of People of Print. He has freelanced as well as working for some established print studios, and is also the founding editor and art director for 'Print Isn't Dead' magazine alonside 'Posterzine' which are published by People of Print; this has made him a pretty well-known name in the printing world.

I emailed him initially about some potential work experience and for some advice, and he replied that we should organise a meeting one day to have a chat. While we were at Print Stuff I realised that People of Print had a table, so I emailed him again to let him know that I was going to be there too and whether we could have a chat, to which he replied 'great! see you there. :)'

Once I was at Print Stuff I felt pretty nervous to go down and have a chat with him, but knew it was be worth it- so I went down and introduced myself and we had a long chat about the industry and my practise and he gave me a lot of helpful advice:

• He mentioned that when contacting professionals or print studios it's much better to research the person/the company beforehand so you know what they do/what they're about and they'll be much more inclined to reply
• I showed him my instagram and bits of my work and he seemed to really like it. He also gave me a lot of advice about the printing process and how I could make my prints more refined. He said it might help to overlap each edge of my colours in my prints to avoid getting the small white gap between colours you can sometimes see in my print. He did also say he was very impressed with the registration of my prints
• He asked whether i'd want to continue screen printing after uni which I said I wanted to. So he gave me me some advice on which screen printing studios to go to in London, and said that it was better to go for the smaller print studios as the more well-known ones were a lot messier
• Speaking about my practise and what directions I should go in, he gave me some advice on what sort of things I could think about producing. He mentioned that my work would really suit an enamel pin badge, and if it was something I ever wanted to go they could sort it out for me and told me to let him know when I had a deign ready
• I also told him that I was currently producing some wooden figurines, and he said he thought they would make some really cool book-ends for book shelves
• At the end he told me that their Brighton studio was currently getting re-done but he'd keep me in mind for any internships or work experience, or even just coming down one day to have a look around which is exciting!

I thoroughly enjoyed the chat we had and it's given me a lot of confidence in my work, and I found it really useful chatting to someone who had so much experience in the creative industry. After we finished talking he came upstairs where out stall was and had a look at my work which was really nice. He also followed me on my illustration account on instagram so hopefully we'll keep in contact!

PRINT STUFF!

• A couple of days ago was Print Stuff in York where me and my friends and course mates had a table to sell our work as our collective, OK Sure
• Overall the day went really well and I think we were all really pleased at how much we had sold! I said to myself before that I'd be more than happy if I just sold one print but I ended up selling a few which was really nice. I did notice the things that seemed to sell better were the smaller bits like the pin badges, ceramic bits and greetings cards as they weren't as expensive; I think it is more difficult to sell screen prints especially at print fairs as they have to be priced slightly higher and we were also only accepting cash
• I also swapped one of my prints for another illustrators print & greeting card, Hattie Clark. I noticed her table was a few down from ours and she had also followed me on instagram a couple of days before so I went to speak to her and she said she'd love to do a swap and I was happy to
• It was nice to be in a room full of such amazing practitioners and also get the opportunity to speak to some of them about life as an illustrator 
• I also really enjoyed manning our table so we were able to speak to customers about our work and being able to answer questions about it
• I'm super glad we decided to do this as it's great experience for future potential print fairs. I'd feel a lot more confident in getting a table myself in the future and setting everything up
• I still have quite a few packaged prints left over so I might think about setting up a little online shop to try and sell them!

a happy customer!

As well as selling some of my bits, I bought some things from other illustrators for myself as well; these include prints, pin badges, stickers, a tote bag and a greetings card from Hattie Clark, Look Up Prints, Adam Higton, Annie Merrick & Dom Kesterton 

ANYTHING GOES Exhibition

recently I had a couple of bits of my work exhibitions in Anything Goes which was a small exhibition  in The Old Red Bus Station run by a couple of visual communication students. The initial call for submissions was for artwork in the vegan cafe upstairs, but they emailed me back and said that all work submitted would be showcased in the exhibition. I decided to submit a couple of my existing screen prints which I was quite proud of, as I felt happy for these to be seen by people. The exhibition was open to anyone from any course so there was a huge diversity of work which was nice. I'm happy I got to take part in this, and I did say at the beginning of the year this is the type of thing I wanted to do more of! I also got a lovely email from someone who saw my work at The Old Red Bus station and wanted to buy one of my prints which was a nice little confidence boost!

Holly St Clair: 36 Days of Type

• I have been following Holly St Clair on instagram for a while now and recently she has been posting her responses to 36 days of type
• It's totally different to her usually work which is really interesting to see. It's nice to see her work in a more graphic design sense and I think she suits it perfectly 
• It shows how diverse she can be within her practise which I really admire
• I have recently been exploring typography in my own practise as well so it's been good to see such a different take on it
• her characters are always so charming and playful

Researching Screen Print Studios

I've been thinking about contacting some print studios in London, as this is where I'll hopefully be based after I finish uni, and I feel like would be really useful for me to try and gain some work experience or just experience in general within this kind of environment. I know I will definitely want to carry on screen printing after uni so I'll need to find a suitable studio so I can carry it on in my practise. Luckily I do have access to a screen printing studio in Guildford where I live at home which isn't too far from London, so if I'm unable to afford it in the beginning i'll be able to carry on there. I thought it would be good to gather a bit of research on some studios I found so I'm a bit more clued up on what they do when i'm contracting them.

PRINT CLUB LONDON

• established in 2007 and is run by Fred Higginson and Kate Higginson, who work closely to illustrator and creative director Rose Stallard
• As well as running the studio they also curate an annual exhibition called 'Blisters' which is one of the UK's largest poster shows
• They also have desk spaces available next door to them in a creative studio called Millers Junction in Dalston. There is a desk space for over 40 designers and illustrators, and costs £220pm which also includes a free screen printing workshop and 10 hours of screen printing per month
• the screen print studio is open 24 hours a day and you can book up to three 3 hour sessions per week. membership is £100pm

PEOPLE OF PRINT

• established in 2013 by Marcroy Smith but originally started in 2008 as a website directory for illustrators, designers and printers
• each designer is given the opportunity to become a vendor on their online department store marketplace, where they also sell their own items
• they self publish a magazine called 'Print Isn't Dead' alongside 'Posterzine' which is a poster that folds out into a magazine
• you have to apply for a membership so they can first see whether you're suitable to become a member

SONSOLES PRINT STUDIO

• a fully equipped open access screen print studio based in Peckham Rye and it's run by artists based in London Royal College of Art MA Printmaking graduates
• 1 years membership costs £60, but you also have to pay for a compulsory induction which is £25, and you have to pay individually for each session

JEALOUS

• contemporary gallery, print publisher and printing studio based in shoreditch
• although you can't join as a member they do run educational workshops and live printing events
• they run an on-going project called 'Jealous Needs You' which is an open submission for an image which can be turned into a 3-5 colour screen print. they welcome all artists from any point in their career, and choose 30 winners whose work will be made into an edition of 36 screen prints
• another project the run is the 'Jealous Rooftop Mural Project' where you can submit a proposal for a mural which they also welcome well established artists as well as younger up and coming artists

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

• after researching and looking into these studios I am definitely a lot more intrigued. I am thinking about contacting a couple of them but I need to think about the best way to do it. Maybe sending them a screen print?
• I want to ask about any up and coming projects I could potentially help out with to gain some experience
• It's making me think about my options for screen printing after I leave Leeds and move to London. I think it'll be difficult to access financially but hopefully if I can get some work experience or an internship I'll be able to use the facilities 
• I'd love to have a go at entering both the submissions for the two projects that Jealous run

MY WEBSITE

• this is my live website! I decided to go for marnie cox.co.uk 
• I used adobe portfolio and it did take a bit of getting used to but I got the hang of it after a while and it got a bit easier to navigate my way round 
• Although it only had a few different themes to choose from I kind of liked the simplicity of it
• I wanted to have my homepage as a small showcase of my work with links to other parts of my practise. I also made sure to have the sidebar evident within each page so it was easy for people to make their way round

MAKING A WEBSITE

• planning on sitting down and making a website over the next couple of days which is something I definitely should have already done but, better late than never
• I've looked around at a few different website builders like squarespace & wix, but recently found out theres a website builder you can get with creative cloud which you don't have to pay any extra for, so i'm going to look into this a bit more
• I think i'm going to go for marniecox.co.uk for my domain. I thought about matching it to my instagram @ which is illustrationmarn but I thought it would be better if I just went with my name as it seems more professional, and I've been thinking about changing my instagram name anyway
• I want to think about a strong colour scheme to go with but don't want it to be too complicated. i'm thinking about using red as the dominant colour as it's a colour that can be seen frequently within my work
• As i haven't really had any experience in making websites before I want to give myself a full day to sit and try and work it all out. I'm also going to message a friend who I know has used adobe portolfio for her website to see if she can give me any tips

WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE IN MY WEBSITE

• simplicity. simple colour scheme but make sure it's still eye-catching, simple font
• I want it to be easy to navigate with clear links to different parts of the website
• I think I want to split it up in categories; for example have a different page for screen prints & different projects etc
• to make sure it includes all my personal information like my email address & instagram amount and links to these things so it's easy for people to contact me if they want to
• make sure to only put work up I feel is good enough. I don't want to put things up I'm not proud of just for the sake of filling it up. It's an ongoing process

The Fossgate Social

As part of the print fair we have coming up, Print Stuff, they have put on a small exhibition/showcase of some of our prints we'll be selling at the fair at a small cafe in York; here's my print alongside Annie and Char's from our collective OK Sure. It was optional whether we wanted to do it or not, but I thought it would be a really good opportunity for people to see my work before the print fair, and it also might encourage some York locals to come along. Our names were included as well as our contact details, and I actually got an email from someone who had seen my print and was asking about a commission which is really exciting!

PACKAGING MY PRINTS FOR PRINT STUFF

I decided I wanted to keep my branding pretty simple for the info cards to go on the back of my prints. I did make some for when I went to Hanbury but I didn't think these were very successful design wise, and thought they were a bit boring. For these ones I wanted to keep the branding similar to my website, so I actually used the same font (Proxima Nova Extrabold) and the same colour red as I did on my website. I wanted to include my name, instagram, website and email so people could easily contact me or have a look at my work if they wanted to. To make the cards a little more interesting I added in a smiley face in place of the O in my surname as I thought this made them a bit more personal & playful. I also printed the cards out on to a couple of different colours of paper and used some coloured and patterned washi tape to stick them onto the back of my prints. 

To package the prints, I took them home with me over Easter and took them to the picture framers I used to work at to mount and acetate them professionally. Last year I ordered some clear bags to package my prints in but they ended up being the wrong size which made them look quite messy, so i'm quite happy about how neat these turned out.

Cluny MCR insta takeover

This is how their feed looked after I had posted each one of my images! I think they work well as a 6 and i'm glad I chose the ones I did. I did mock up some possible layouts on photoshop using a screenshot of their instagram page to get a sense of how they would look once I had posted so that definitely helped. Below are each of the individual posts including the captions etc:

What i've taken away from this experience/positives:

• I think I managed to get some good engagement which I was really happy about! Before I had this weird fear that I would get zero likes and feel really embarrassed, or that their followers wouldn't be that interested in my images. but people seemed to like them!
• I gained quite a few followers from doing the takeover! I don't have many on my illustration account as I haven't had it for too long as I always just used a different account. Also I image the type of people who followed me are creatives which is good
• It's actually made me feel quite a lot more confident about my work, I don't feel as nervous as getting my work out there anymore which is a huge positive for me 
• it's been really good doing something slightly out of my comfort zone; I wasn't sure when they first asked but i'm so glad i went ahead and did it
• it was fun! i really looked forward to posting each day

Cluny MCR insta takeover

So before I started the instagram takeover on the Cluny account, I wanted to decide which pieces of my work I was going to use, and come up with the captions to them as well so it was all sorted before I had to post them. They wanted me to post 6 images over a period of 6 days, and told me the best times to post were usually about 8am and 5pm; I thought the most logical thing to do would be to post one image daily.

below are the 6 images I want to post, and some rough kinda captions. They also told me to make sure to hashtag #clunymcr and any other appropriate hashtags to increase interaction, but i'll do these when I go to post!

1st post:

I wanted to post this 3 colour screen print first as for me it was one of the first pieces of my work I was thoroughly happy with, so I thought it would be a good starting point. I love the simplicity and it reminds me of me and my best friend! I thought i'd give it this pink border to jazz it up a bit, as I wanted my images to really stand out on their instagram (i've done the same thing to a couple of my other pieces!)

caption: hey it's @illustrationmarn & i'm a third year illustration student at LAU. I'll be posting some of my recent work on here until Sunday. This is a three colour print I created while trying to get back into screen printing after many failed attempts, & it reminds me of me and my best pal. I'll be posting a couple more of my screen prints over the next few days as it's become one of my favourite ways of image making. I hope you enjoy my takeover!! Lots of love 

2nd post:

I wanted my second image to totally contrast the first, which is why I chose my commission for banger magazine. I wanted to try and keep an even balance between analogue and digital media for my 6 posts, and try and alternate each one after the other. 

caption: @illustrationmarn insta takeover. this was a quick little commission I did for @banger_magazine depicting @moonduobands's album 'shadow of the sun'. Something a bit different!

3rd post:

Next I decided on another screen print, this time my 5 colour screen prints I did in a couple of different colour-ways. I remembered you could do instagram posts with multiple picture which was perfect for this as I could show both colour schemes without having to pick which one to post. It also meant I could post the picture of me holding them which I thought added some character !

caption: @illustrationmarn insta takeover. These are a couple of 5 colour screen prints I did in two different colour ways. I love playing around with shape and colour. I tend to think a lot about colour especially, I think it can make or break an image. These were part of a self initiated brief, I think I just wanted to create something playful & fun. 

4th post:

another digital image for my fourth post! Again, the original of this image didn't have a red border but I wanted it to stand out a bit more. I thought this would be a good image to post as it explores a little bit of typography as well as illustration, so it might appeal to a graphic design audience as well! I was trying to tie in all my images together with the colours I was using, and red, dark blue and yellow are colours I seem to use pretty often!

caption: @illustrationmarn insta takeover. this is from a self initiated project, where I'm trying to explore type and how it can fit in with my illustrations. I'm having fun with these, and it's helping me get into working digitally which is something I usually struggle with!

5th post:

Another multiple image post for my 5th post! a couple more 4 colour screen prints, and again I wanted to include both of the colour ways I used. I thought about putting a border around each of these but figured they didn't really need them, and from my vision of all 6 of my images they might of looked a bit too busy/colourful if I had put one on. 

caption: @illustrationmarn insta takeover. here are a couple more screen prints. These were inspired by a book called 'a dictionary of colour combinations'. I wanted to experiment with colours I don't usually tend to use. 

6th post:

for my last post I wanted to use something quite fun and energetic, which is why I chose this digital image of some dancing boys and girls. It's probably my most simple piece of work but I thought it would be a nice one to end on, and these are usually the most eye-catching. Also, again, I wanted to tie it in with colours you can see within my previous posts!

caption: @illustrationmarn insta takeover. this will be my last post!! Another self initiated piece exploring type and how it fits with my illustration. I created this while working on some ideas for a music related brief and got a bit carried away. As much as I love screen printing (& will definitely be continuing with the process) i'm enjoying getting into digital work a bit more, so I think this is something i'd like to carry on exploring. This is currently my latest piece of work so we'll see what happens next. Thanks for having me!! lots of love