VR Girl

girlhellohi

I’m an illustrator living in South London and last year I graduated from Kingston. I do most of my work from my bedroom, but me and my house-mates have kind of turned our front room into a studio which is working out pretty well. We all work a lot on computers so we don’t even have to worry about making a mess, it’s good to have a work hub.

Eva

It feels like I kind of reinvent my process for every new project, it always just depends what the brief calls for. A few patterns have been emerging though, especially when I have a fast turnover on a project. I always start in my sketchbook, no matter what, and I’ll usually look through all old sketchbooks first to try and kick off with an idea that’s a little disjointed from the topic, then work my way back.

In terms of things that inspire me, I really like things that are slightly unsettling. I’d like to find a way to make this a little more commercially applicable, I’m really gunning to step up my work in sense of scale and slickness, but somehow keep that mysterious edge that I’m drawn to. I have a blog where I collect images that inspire me, I refer to that a lot when I decide the kind of imagery I want to create, it reminds me of the vibe I like and makes me feel excited to work.

Activia Benz Poster

Smoke Dog

I’ve been making a lot of animation and moving image stuff recently; I really feel like I want to be as diverse as possible to get work. My dream agency to be a part of would be Hugo & Marie in New York as they have such an engaging relationship with their artists, and their clients always seem to give the artists such freedom. I’ve noticed that the agency seems to encourage the artists to work in new ways, Micah Lidberg (one of their illustrators) recently did a highly polished music video with Mario Hugo for Coldplay; I just think it’s amazing that an agency would encourage collaboration between the artists like that. This is something I’m all about; I really think those guys have got it right in every way, from what I’ve seen.

Floating Pyramids (print)

Basketball (print)

The Loop Computer Club (print)

I don’t have much in the way of things to promote but I’m selling prints at the moment through these great guys based in Angel in London, Printer of Dreams. I’ve also just completed a record cover for a release on Brighton based record label, Donkey Pitch, which I’m pretty stoked to show people.

More: Website | Blog | Twitter

Rob Swain is an artist, designer and DJ who runs and curates Gamma Proforma, a London based art’s label and publisher. Born in Belfast, he’s lived in various cities around the world including Edinburgh, Melbourne, Hong Kong and London. This is what he recommends.

Music: Chrome (1975)

I’ll bet most reading this haven’t heard of Chrome (i love a generalisation or two). For me, they are one of the most important bands of all time. Tracks from their 1979 ‘Half Machine Lip Moves’ album still sound beyond our time. They were formed in San Francisco in 1975 by Damon Edge and Gary Spain, later joined by John Lambdin and Mike Low who was later replaced by Helios Creed. Edge and Creed were the movers, together they worked magic!

Having had their initial demo rejected, Edge set up his own label (Siren Records) to release their music, this go your own way spirit is evident throughout their recordings. The music is raucous, experimental, futuristic and completely outside the box. Chopped up samples (before samplers), synthesised layered drums, alien-swagger vocals, diverse movements within tracks and all round lawless punk attitude. They were punk on stage and in the studio… There has never been anything quite like Chrome. And they totally moved heads and bumped hips!

Chrome Video – Static Gravity

Film: Dark Days – Marc Singer (2000)

I’m sure a lot of you will know this, it was a well received documentary of it’s time (deservedly so) and featured music from DJ Shadow. The story follows a collection of characters who live under the New York subway system in abandoned tunnels. These down and out men and women tell their tales through the lens of Marc Singer who spent years living amongst them to make the film. More than a documentary, Dark Days is a stunning, heart wrenching film that examines how we perceive each other and the reality of how we treat each other in one of the most advanced civilisations on earth. If this film doesn’t twist you up inside, you’re obviously already dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=vrUvQEG_djg

Art: James Choules (AKA sheOne)

Choules’ work, like all good urban art, makes subtle use of its environment. It’s about a highly advanced technique of lifting detail from the surface with subtle flourishes of light and shade. Having watched him at work, I’m always amazed by where he paints and how he does it, on one occasion i saw him paint alongside several other artists on a long wall in east London. Most of the artists chose the flattest, smoothest surfaces for their piece whilst Choules went straight for a crumbling, crooked and semi hidden wall (the last place you’d choose if you wanted people to see your work). He then set about utilising the crumbling stone and peeling paint, lifting it out further with his trademark black flourishes. On another occasion i saw him paint in a burnt out paint factory, moving through the space adding little details to old signs, doorways and even an abandoned forklift truck. Unlike a lot of the street art mob, Choules isn’t on a mission to become famous. He’s an artist traveller who uniquely inflects his persona with subtlety on the world around him. One of a kind…

sheOne’s Tumblr | sheOne’s Instagram

Book: Futurism 2.0

Time for a shameless plug, I was fortunate to work with a lot of outstanding artists from a new wave of abstract urban art for Futurism 2.0, which looks at the current landscape and reflects on parallels between now and emerging art of the 20th century.

More info at www.futurism2-0.com

A DJ mix from Rob Swain:

DJ Rob Swain – Don’t Panic Mix (Gamma Proforma / Methodblack) by Gamma Proforma on Mixcloud

More: Gamma Proforma | Facebook | Instagram

Neville Brody is the first Creative in a prestigious series of four, to discusses his inspirations and challenges past, present and future. See all four chapters of this here.

Why we like it:
The Blank Sheet Project also runs sub-projects including Minute to Leave Your Mark where you can get your 1 minute inspiration (such as the clip with Designer, Kate Moross below) and the Time Capsule which is accepting submissions for where you imagine design technology to be in the year 2023.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

The souvenirs, designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland, aim to offer a lasting material legacy of both major events.

The following artists, designers and companies have made prototypes: Atelier and Marc Camille Chaimowicz with Begg Scotland and McRostie of Glasgow, Claire Duffy with Tunnock’s, Emlyn Firth and Angharad McLaren with Johnstons of Elgin, FOUND with Chemikal Underground, Katy West with Highland Stoneware and Rogano Oyster Bar, Neil McGuire and Marianne Anderson with Carlton Die Casting and Jewellery Prototyping Services.

The souvenirs will be developed for sale as a part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Games. They will be available to buy in Glasgow and across Scotland in 2014.

Scotland Can Make It! is commissioned as part of Scotland’s Cultural Programme for London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.

Left to Right: Neil McGuire, Emlyn Firth, Marianne Anderson, Fiona Hyslop, Kirsty Cunningham (Johnstons of Elgin), Lucy McEachen, Stewart Henderson (Chemikal Underground), Catriona Duffy. Photo: Neil Thomas Douglas.

Find out more:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

Browse through our event bulletin to find more events.

Bread Collective is a creative collective based in East London, made up of illustrators, graphic designers, art directors, set designers, photographers and filmmakers. We have four core members: Luke James, Owen Phillips, Victoria Walmsley and Jo Lee, regularly collaborating with a wider network of creatives.

The Walls Have Ears Murals

The Walls Have Ears Murals

Having worked with each other in the past, we began as a group of friends discussing how we could stretch ourselves creatively and work on more ambitious projects by combining our different skills. We chose the name Bread, as we liked the idea ‘to break bread’, meaning the idea of a friendly social interaction where something is shared.

Golden Moments Art Direction

Bread was officially established in 2012 after we were awarded funding by the London Legacy Development Corporation for a community project to improve the area where we all live in Hackney Wick, just outside the Olympic park. The project was enthusiastically received by local residents and attracted media attention by the Guardian, the BBC and a list of top design magazines and blogs, such as Creative Review.

Carhartt Installation

As the year has progressed, we have been extremely lucky to work with a variety of great clients, including: Carhartt, Maharishi, Monkstone Knitwear, Samsung, Beck’s, Lovebox Festival and Cnwd.

Monkstone AW12 Video Lookbook

Where possible, we strive to work on worthy projects that we believe in, and we’ve enjoyed running workshops with the public. This has led us to work on inspirational projects such as the Do Lectures, and Kaleidoscope Festival which launches at the Barbican in November.

Monkstone AW12 Video Lookbook

We’re always keen to hear from people who would like to collaborate with or commission us, so please feel free to give us a shout at:
Website | Blog | Vimeo | Facebook | Twitter

//////

See more arts collectives we’ve featured on the site. Think we should feature your collective? Get in touch.

Who:
Step into the Parlour is a blog by Graphic Designer Melanie Smith.

Why we like it:
Melanie posts finished designs as well as her work in progress, which lets her followers clearly see her development.

Hidden treasure:
We uncovered Melanie’s postage stamp design below celebrating the centenary of Alan Turing’s birth with elements relating to secrets and code-breaking.

Alan Turing Postage Stamp Design, 2011.

Where to find out more:
Blog | Facebook | Pinterest

//////

Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.

Touch My Texture is by Somhairle MacDonald – a photographer and designer who lives in Glasgow. This is just one of the textures from his site we picked out. Have a look at the rest here.

Behance | Website | Vimeo | Facebook | Twitter

//////

Discover more work by creatives we’ve featured, here.
If you have a Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Behance or Cargo account connect with us.

Hi, my name is Fi Scott, and I’m the founder, and design director of a start up called Make/Works.

Make/Works is an organisation that facilitates and celebrates the making and manufacture of creative work in Scotland. It is primarily focussed on the creation of a digital service, The Make/Works Directory; a database of makers, manufacturers, material suppliers and facilities to be openly accessible for the needs of the creative industries. Make/Works was based on a simple observation; that when it comes to the physical fabrication of work (across any creative discipline) in Scotland, it is often difficult, confusing and time consuming. Make/Works aims to change this, and to empower the creative industries to be able to locally manufacture with ease.

So, if you are a designer looking to metal-cast a prototype in Glasgow; the Make/Works directory will be able to source filtered results of facilities, manufacturers and makers that would be of use, and willing to work with you, in the local area. Equally, this is applicable to sourcing materials; (“where do I find a square piece of glass for an exhibition?”) finding processes; (“which printing service is able to perfectly bind this book?”) facilities; (“where in glasgow can you use a ceramic kiln?”) and trade skills (“who is able to spin copper, or teach me how to do it myself?”).

I began the initiative after working as a designer at DMFD in Brooklyn, New York; where I was making cork furniture. The experience made me realise the importance of making and materials – which as well as improving the quality of work itself can also be a empowering and exciting part of the creative process. There is nothing more satisfying than coming home at the end of the day, head to toe covered in cork dust!  So, on returning to Scotland, I combined this idea about the importance of making with my parallel background in service and experience design. I started out by interviewing artists, designers, craftspeople and consultancies (to check my observation wasn’t just a hunch!) and quickly realised there was a gap between those in the creative industries and access to the practical resources that enabled people to realise their projects. The more and more people I interviewed about the problem, the more people were really expressing the need for a service that connected the two.

I continued to develop the idea in my final year at Glasgow School of Art, along with a business plan for the final of the Deutsche Bank Awards in Creative Practice. Now that I’ve graduated, I’m spending my days visiting factories, studios, workshops and designing the Make/Works digital service. I’m making sure I find manufacturers that are wiling to work with the creative industries; as well as co-designing the service with users, so I can really ensure it will work to suit people’s needs. Aside from the directory being a useful resource, the background is really about empowering the creative industries to manufacture locally. Not only is this beneficial to Scotland’s local economy and small businesses, but more sustainable aswell.

What’s next for Make/Works?
At the moment, Make/Works is based at the MAKLAb studio, in the Lighthouse. It’s an awesome place to be, as (despite getting a wee bit distracted by using the machines at times!) there are lots of designers, artists and architects around the place to bounce ideas off of and find leads to new resources. I’m hoping to launch a beta version of the site in April 2013 as a Glasgow pilot, before going Scotland wide.

We can make work in Scotland!

More information:
Website | Twitter

//////

See more blogs by creatives here.

This is work is a film by Alex Tobin which was part of his collection for Embassy‘s “meat force” show in 2010.

Alex Tobin is a freelance artist/designer who works in moving image as well as illustration & sound. Alex is also part of the Yuck ‘n Yum collective.

See more work Alex Tobin from on Vimeo.
Visit Alex’s website here.

/////
Discover more work by creatives on our creative networks here.
If you have a Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Behance or Cargo account connect with us.

But what did he do during his very early career? Find out here.

1. In 8th grade my friend Matt and I realized that we could make a lot of money selling fireworks to our friends at school.  We took the train to chinatown in San Francisco, bought fireworks, and resold them at a huge profit.  The only issue was that fireworks were illegal in California at the time.  I was also a bit of a computer geek, and made the mistake of programming my customer lists onto the teletype computers in the computer lab at my school (this was before computers actually had screens).  What I didn’t realize was that our computers were an experimental project connected to the mainframe at the University of California at Berkeley, which was controlled by the US Defense Department.  Someone discovered that I was selling explosives through government computers.  I was immediately arrested and suspended for a week.

To my father’s credit, he seemed to think what I’d done was more clever than evil.  So I had some days off school and had to promise not to do it again.

2. When I was in 9th grade I was hired to edit one of the first BASIC computer program books.  Basically, it was a book of programs that did different things (saved your recipes, played tic-tac-toe with you).  You had to type the programs into your computer and save them, and you could then use the apps.  None of them worked.  I spent the summer making them not work even more, but since nobody at the company that hired me could use a computer nobody really cared and I was paid anyway.

3. When I was in 11th grade I was hired to design games for the Commodore 64 home computer.  I wrote a very violent take game and was never paid.

4. In college my friend Ben and I designed and sold T-shirts based on our designs, though I have to admit that it was mostly Ben’s artwork as mine mostly sucked.  The t-shirts were massed produced in a garage in random colors of ink and dye.  Very 1908′s.  By the time we’d graduated it was a international business and I’d paid for university.

5. I then screwed around doing various things I don’t want to talk about for a few years, and started a business with my friend Shawn selling used Levis and other vintage clothing to the Japanese.  I once sold a pair of 1940′s stiltwalker levi’s jeans, deadstock, with 14 foot long legs, to a Japanese collector for $35,000.

I could go on, but we’ll stop there.

I eventually ended up founding Kidrobot and my bicycle company Budnitz Bicycles.  We make high-end titanium city bicycles based on my designs and they are truly awesome.

//////////

We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.