While Kieran was away in Germany, I went to a 3 day Design conference in Dublin.
I adored it. I want to go back again and again.
There were alot of illustrators there, mixed in with graphic design, photographers, and alot of other creative talent. It went from 10pm till 7pm for 3 days, and I lapped up as much as I could.
One of my Favourite speakers was an illustrator from London, Emily Forgot. She reminded me alot of myself. She wanted to do things, just because she loved what it looked like. There wasn't alot of concept to the beginnings in her work, though it evolved and changed into a concept.
She hated clients limiting her, which is my pet hate. But without Clients, there would be no industry.
She taught me to put your personality into your work. If we didn't put our personalities into our work, we wouldn't have grpahic designers. All design would be the same. I may have been doing this, but realised I could be doing it alot more. Let youself evolve and change, don't think you are just one thing, and you should stick to it. A good designer/artist/illustrator explores as much as they can.
She talked about being stuck in a commercial rut. You do things because you need the money, but the work really isn't what you love. Which means you really need to go and find youself in other work, maybe art classes maybe just your own art diary, but make sure you have that outlet.
She was up on stage, flicking through slides, and up popped some slides that she could not explain. Her reason for it "I put it in there because I liked it". FINALLY, I realise, its ok to do that. Art school, along with the 4 art teachers that I had, taught me I have to have a concept for everything, I need to find the meaning behind it all. I can't just 'like something' . Well sorry art school, but your wrong.
Some of her work, I loved, some of her work, I didn't. I loved her as a person, more than her work. Alot of people come into our unit, and look at my little art/office space (this consists of a table, a chair, and 2 bits of wall covered with things I love) and ask why do I have things like robots on the table, and drawings up on the wall. Simple answer, because I like them. My boss asked a couple of months ago, why do I draw pictures........I know her mind is not one bit creative, (I discovered this after she told me she didn't like toy story 3, and thought the short movie at the start of it was rubbish.....which is totally ridiculous) so I knew I wouldn't get anywhere with explaining anything to her, so I answered, "because i like to". Emily forgot made me feel its ok not have try and have a concept behind everything. The 3 words "I like it" are ok to use.
Here is a link to her site
Nate Williams was also another illustrator I loved. He lives in Remote Argentina, where he has to drive 1 hour to trasnfer a file to a client, then drive back again. His work is very much inspired by his sourroundings. and he has a distinct style. He is also colour blind, and has dyslexia......he inspired because, because even though he was 2 HUGE things against him as an illustrator, his work is awesome. He taught me the best way to come up with ideas is to create experiences. Get out there and do things. Take you camera every step of the way.
Here is a link to his site
I could go on forever about the speakers, but here are a couple of photos from the conference.
Emily forgot and some illustrations she did on some plates
The stage
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