Raising money to get us to New Designers - We had an auction!

After all of our hard work leading up to the final deadline and with the great success that was the summer show we were all feeling pretty good about ourselves.
We then started our road to New Designers in London which would ultimately give us the best start into the Illustration industry as it would allow us to meet some big name clients as well as exhibit our best work to thousands of people.

One of the most successful schemes was for us to host an illustration auction, we were to have an event which would feature rare prints and one off originals which we could then auction off to raise money. We got very lucky and the student union allowed us to co exhibit in the canteen with them and their P.U.B event which meant that there would be alcohol in the mix! That could have only ended well!




I donned my best Neon green bow tie and stepped up to the challenge of being auctioneer.


I had two main assistants for the evening without whom I would not have remembered the current bids as I got so excited with the festivities at hand, I may have also been a little bit drunk.

Time for a little bit of cheeky promotion on their behalf.

Firstly thank you to Suzanne Sharpe - A wonderful decorative illustrator click me for portfolio site!

Secondly, thanks to Leah Trengove - Another illustrator who is absolutely dotty click me for portfolio site!


And thirdly thanks to my third helper on the far right, Meghan Hill - A delightfully delicate illustrator! Click me for portfolio site!

The event had a great turnout and people were literally fighting over the artwork, it was a wonderful moment and everyone was so enthusiastic!

I mean look at this turnout! this was wondrous indeed, it was good to see a mixture of students there also! 

In the end we made nearly 600 pounds and we all went for a well deserved pint after the festivities, not like I hadn't already hand enough mind!

Great effort from the entire team and it was not possible without every single one of you!

I made a website!

Okay so in the past I posted about the process of making a website and things but it wasn't until the final months of my third year that was website actually started looking nice and full. It is now fully updated and ready to go.

You can view the full site HERE

Still a little more work to go but it's looking sharp!
I want to change the links so that it is written in my own font, that will hopefully happen sometime this year.





Another screen grab of the site, after three years it is honestly satisfying to see all of these tiles filled with my artwork. I was an aspiration of mine when I started first year to have a nice and consistent web gallery, now I have one. May it continue to grow and evolve!

Summer show time!

After the final deadline we were then tasked with setting up our summer show which was only weeks away!
There was painting to do, posters to hang up, promoting to occur and much more before I could even think about having a celebratory end of course pint!
Each student was to be allocated a space on a table as well as a wall space for their images to be showcased. I was lucky enough to score a wall partition which meant that my work would stand alone and away from a wall, only 5 other students got this opportunity so I felt very honoured.
The table had to include our portfolios, a copy of our CV, a quick description about out work and some business cards and postcards, the rest was up to us.

Above is what I went for. Additional things included:
- A copy of my children's book
- A double fold out post card set complete with perforated edges for easy tearing
- My fully functioning children's menu from a previous project

And this...


Is my wall space!




                    

I even got to include some large character cut outs from my children's book.

AWESOME RIGHT?


It took a lot of moving around until me and my lecturers decided on the pyramid shape. I was overjoyed with the way it turned out.



Next up: Private Viewing!

So... I finished my degree!

Greetings all.
I just wanted to make a brief announcement, I have now officially finished my degree and this blog has played a huge part in my journey. It has acted as my virtual sketchbook and it really has racked up the views! I wanted to thank anyone out there who has stumbled across my blog, either by accident or on purpose, it really helps!



SO...

What now?

Well I wanted to continue this blog and update you guys as I venture into the world of freelance illustration.

And in true Jiant fashion I will write in hindsight,

Lets skip back a few months...


Enjoy and thank you for staying tuned!
          

This is from what I remember the first image I created after handed in my final deadline, he is going to be part of a crazy bird series I will work on through the up and coming months.