Category: Student Success

Macmillan Prize 2019: student success

Two of our recent graduates have every reason to celebrate:

Seobhan Hope’s book ‘Summer’s Sleep’ has been highly commended and Amy Steele has won 3rd prize for her book ‘The Lunchbox’. In this blog post Seobhan and Amy speak about their books and how it feels to be shortlisted for / awarded this prestigious picture book prize.

Shortlisted: Seobhan Hope 

“Summer’s Sleep’ is the story of Summer, the giant, who can’t go to sleep. I spent my final year falling in love with and researching folk tales from around Scotland, and was particularly taken by the Story of Samhuinn, or Halloween, where tales tell of a summer and winter king, who fight to see who will be next to rule the kingdom each year in Autumn. I reinterpreted the old tale, wanting to create a meaningful story that was going to encapsulate ideas of sustainability and raise awareness around climate change and global warming in a gentle way. In my story, we find a giant called Summer exhausted, not being able to sleep, and not knowing what to do. He personifies the warm season, which can not end because its gotten too warm for winter to come. Included in the story is also a diverse group of little characters who -slightly cluelessly- set out to help the tired giant. The final result is a colorful, hopefully amusing and thought provoking wee book. The process of coming up with the story, creating the characters and assembling the book was so much fun, and I am delighted it came highly commended at the Macmillan Prize Competition!”

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Winner of 3rd prize: Amy Steele

“The Lunchbook is about a banana who lives in the fruit bowl but dreams of making it into the lunchbox. Like all fruit, he wants to be taken to school and eaten up, every bit. But being a banana has its difficulties and Banana ends up lonely in the lunchbox as all his new friends get eaten. As the story goes on, Banana gets more and more forlorn and begins to rot as he struggles with his emotions. The book aims to differ from other books with food characters because these characters WANT to get eaten, which (I hope) makes people laugh.

Being chosen for 3rd place in the Macmillan prize was super exciting and actually, relieving, because I had been so worried about the story all year – the main character essentially dies – so it was a good boost to know that publishers like the idea even though it’s absolutely bonkers! I went down to London for the private view which was really interesting. I enjoyed getting to see all the other entries and chatting to the illustrators – everyone was so talented! Macmillan also asked me to come into their offices and have a chat about my book and my portfolio while I was down, which I did, and it was SO helpful to hear their feedback and encouraging words about my work.”

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At the award ceremony

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Edinburgh in Colour

Written by 3rd year Illustration student Savannah Petrie, the main illustrator of ‘Edinburgh in Colour’.

I first heard about the ‘Edinburgh in Colour’ colouring book project through an email that was sent around: the organisers were running an illustration competition. I thought that seeing as I do a lot of line drawing that could be the right style for a colouring book, I’d give it a go. I think it’s great to try to do competitions or commissions outside of your course work because it gives you a chance to expand your portfolio, and try things you might not have done before. I really enjoyed creating illustrations for various places around Edinburgh, and it’s exciting to see my work printed in a book!

The colouring book was organised by a group of business students at Edinburgh University, as a way to raise money for Children 1st, a Scottish children’s charity. The books are now printed and for sale, and over £2500 has been raised already! Many artists/illustrators from ECA have submitted work to this book, and there’s also lots of information about the charity and Edinburgh itself.

The fundraising colouring book project was mentioned in the following articles: Edinburgh College of Art and The University of Edinburgh and is available to buy through Etsy and other shops around Edinburgh including the EUSA shop and local galleries in Edinburgh (Fruitmarket gallery and Summer Hall) as well as Pop-up shops at Edinburgh Grassmarket.

The illustrations below were submitted by Savannah Petrie and Ella Bruty.

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MA student wins Penguin Design Award

We would like to congratulate our MA student Ailsa Johnson, who has won this year’s highly competitive Penguin Design Award in the Children’s book cover category.

The task was to illustrate and design a book cover for ‘Emil and the Detectives’ by German author Erich Kästner, a classic novel for Children set in 1930’s Berlin. To see the original brief and the shortlisted entries and to read the judges’ thoughts please follow this link. Here is what one of the judges, acclaimed writer and illustrator of children’s books, Anthony Browne, had to say about Ailsa’s entry:

‘The design conveys a real sense of story, inviting us into the book – making us want to find out what’s going on. Very clever and very funny. Beautifully designed, this would attract attention on the bookshop shelves. I’ve never seen a cover that looks like this before’

Ailsa will be graduating from Edinburgh College of Art with an MA in Illustration this August and while we wish her best of luck for her future we have no doubt that a busy and very creative time awaits her!

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Mapbooks

‘In order to be able to function in the world humans have found it essential to map their surroundings in order to impart information to others and to understand the world for themselves. However, it has not always only for practical reasons that maps have been made. People, from childhood, have a natural urge to make them and maps are fascinating to look at. They draw the viewer in and anyone who makes a map demonstrates their thought process through the way it is laid out and designed and their preferences in what they choose to map.’
In this project our second year students were asked to produce a piece of work in book form – this could be taken in as broad a sense as they wished. The book had to contain maps and or diagrams that explained a place. This place could be somewhere they knew intimately, somewhere they were keen to explore or learn about through mapping it, or an imaginary place. Whichever they chose, students had to make a book that gave as much information to the viewer as possible using mainly images.

The images could be made using any medium, students chose to draw, paint, print or use digital techniques to produce there final books. The second years pushed boundaries in both there thought processes and practical techniques, resulting in a unique range of beautiful and provoking books. See below for a selection of our students completed ‘map books’.

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Ryan Hamill

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Rachel Donaldson

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Ann MacLeod

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William Hughes

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Arran Stamper

Many thanks to the University Special Collections for inviting us to view a selection of rare books that have inspired many of our students to develop there book binding skills.

The Last Great Voyage of Discovery  

One hundred years ago, in 1914 Ernest Shackleton set sail with a team on the last Polar expedition of its kind, his aim to cross Antarctica via the Pole. This was the last great adventure of discovery, exploration today is rooted in scientific endeavor, and it is a story littered with intriguing details of reindeer skin sleeping bags, penguins, tinned food and lots of ice.

First year students from the Illustration Programme at Edinburgh College of Art were asked to respond to the story of the Endurance expedition and create an illustrated map of the journey. In addition to this they were asked to construct an artifact that illustrated an element of the narrative.

Maps come in all shapes and sizes. They are made for a specific purpose and include particular information that informs us, or take us on a journey. Students were asked to draw as many ideas as they could from the maps they studied in the immense collection of the National Library of Scotland – this included colour, textures used to mark terrain, timelines, lettering, borders, contour lines, latitude/longitude grids, references, size, shape….and of course the frying pan shape of Antarctica!

The results are currently exhibited in the National Library of Scotland, giving students the opportunity to share there illustrated discoveries with the public. A huge thank you to the National Library of Scotland for collaborating with us on this adventurous, challenging and greatly rewarding project.

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Student Exhibition at Simpson House

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Simpson House Show

Illustration students from Edinburgh College of Art are collaborating with the Simpson House counseling center to meet their desire to have some fresh, original artwork to permanently fill their center. Twelve illustration students have created work to donate to the center, which will be installed during Innovative Learning Week.

To celebrate these artists contribution and to raise awareness for the wonderful services the Simpson House provides to the community we are holding a showcase evening at the Simpson House.  The show will be on Thursday, February 19th from 5:30-7:00 at the Simpson House, which is located at 52 Queen Street.  All are welcome to attend, have a cuppa, a chat, and see some lovely illustrations.

The Simpson House center provides counseling and support for individuals affected by alcohol and substance abuse within Edinburgh.  To find out more about the center you can visit:  http://www.simpson-house.org

If you have any questions regarding the illustration show email:  froggatt.sarah@gmail.com

Jeans for Genes T-shirt Design Competition: The Pin-Up

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This year Edinburgh College of Art Illustration Department will once agin be collaborating with the fantastic charity Jeans for Genes, designing a limited edition T-shirt to raise crucial funds to support children and families with genetic disorders. Each of our second year students are aiming to design a fashion illustration to embody the key messages of the charity while appealing to a mass market of fashionistas. The selected design will be modelled and promoted by some of our favourite celebrities, creating a fantastic platform for the winners work. Our students are well underway on this challenging and rewarding brief.

This morning we enjoyed a very positive and constructive critic of our students proposed ‘Jeans for Genes’ T-shirt Designs. Special guests, Dr Tessa Hartmann and Laura Patterson joined us to share their extensive knowledge of aesthetics, marketability and current fashion trends. Our students are now eager to take Tessa and Laura’s advice on board as they move forward with their designs. Many thanks to our knowledgable judges, we are all looking forward to seeing the final selection.

To find out more about the charity:

http://www.jeansforgenesday.org/

To see previous winning designs:

http://www.jeansforgenesday.org/pressoffice/tshirtdesigncompetition

15 Things Not To Do With A Baby

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A huge congratulations to Alumni Holly Sterling on the release of her new children’s book ’15 Things Not To Do With A Baby’. Her playful and vibrant illustrations sit perfectly with the text by award-winning author, Margaret McAllister. ’15 Things Not To Do With A Baby’ gives light, loving and humorous advice to new parents and siblings, for instance ‘don’t lend your baby to a kangaroo, plant your baby in the garden, or take to school with you – and definitely don’t send your baby to play with an elephant!’. This exciting collaboration is currently ‘Book of the week’ with the UK’s leading independent children’s book magazine, Books for Keeps. 

Read the shining review from Ferelith Hordon below:

‘Her cheerful illustrations emphasise the underlying closeness of this family, turning what could be very difficult emotions into ones that can be handled with laughter. This effect is enhanced by her soft palette and chunky shapes. Her baby and his older sister bounce off the page with an endearing cheerfulness that demands a positive response. Here is an artist who, like Sarah Garland, is portraying a recognisable family with a freshness that is immediately attractive. The topic may not be new but the presentation is lively and engaging and establishes Sterling as an illustrator to watch.’

Holly Sterling has seen many successes during and following her time with us at ECA, achieving a Highly Commended for the Macmillan Illustration Prize and winning the Seven Stories/Frances Lincoln Illustration Competition in 2013. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for Holly’s flourishing illustration career.

Find more of Holly Sterling’s work below:

http://hollysterling.blogspot.co.uk/

Honourable mention for 3rd Year student in 3×3 International Illustration Competition

A huge congratulations to Liv Wan on her recent success in 3×3 Magazine’s 11th Annual International Illustration Competition, receiving an Honourable Mention for her personal project “Illustrated Travel Guide of Taipei”.

Liv’s work will be published on the 3×3 website in 2015, giving her fantastic exposure which we are sure will open many doors for her Illustration career. Liv shared her experience on her blog:

I got the email from the 3×3 magazine team when I finished work and I was on my way home. I was so excited, especially after a hard late shift at work, that I cried my eyes out in the back of the taxi. I really hope I didn’t freak out the driver! I’m still in the very early stages of my illustration career but ever since I started my HND course I’ve been working non-stop extremely hard. This “Honorable Mention” is the first non-educational nomination or award I have ever received and it’s an international and non student competition. Hopefully this will benefit my illustration career and bring in more clients.

To receive an honourable mention in a professional illustration competition mid way through your studies is a wonderful achievement, we are looking forward to seeing what Liv will conquer next.

Taipei-map-header shilin-night-market-illustration-2 yangmingshan-mountain-hot-spring-illustration maokong-tea-garden-illustration taipei-101-illustration To enjoy more of Liv’s work, please visit: http://livwanillustration.com