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My work is a fun mix of bright colour schemes and dynamic shapes. I like to work digitally, using illustrator to draw out curves and angles within a scene and then add digital textures on top to give depth and perspective. I am a problem solver. My work naturally falls in to a more commercial scene, and I enjoy getting a brief and trying to find the most imaginative solution to the problem. These innovative ideas are often resolved in to large scale illustrations, as I enjoy working on bigger scales. I would love to be able to create shop displays and murals that inspire people and I hope to work in a visual advertising career in the future.
During my fourth year I have concentrated on finding ways to create really impactful work. This has lead to large laser printed murals, as well as colourful, graphic letterpress projects. Most of my projects centre around clear environmental themes, touching on global warming and conservation, as well as endangered or threatened animals.
You can find most of my work at www.pearce.studio, and I post daily projects on instagram under @pearce.studio
I’ve spent the last twelve months creating and developing creatures that live on the Moon. My degree show will feature an encyclopaedia that contains everything you would ever need to know about each of these species.
Their characters are based on behaviours that I’ve seen and recognised in myself and other people. This project has forced me to pay closer attention to the way people act and ask why that is. The characters are aliens, and some of them only have a close visual resemblance to humans, but they are based entirely on the worst and best aspects of human behaviour.
I have always considered drawing by hand to be absolutely central to my practice, using biro pens as my preferred media.
I have recently tried hard to break away from using biro by screen printing, ink and watercolour to try and inject some colour into my work. However, the struggle served to prove that, at least for my creatures, biro is best way to tell their stories.
Alongside my encyclopaedia I’ve been working on monochromatic, wordless comics, in which my aliens are going about their daily routines. I try and tell the most basic of stories with intense mood and drama, just to see how far it’s possible to dramatise the mundane.
Arran’s instagram – @azzastamp and website – www.azzastamp.com
There are 18 weeks left before we present this year’s degree show to the world. In preparation we are starting a blog series to feature our soon-to-be 4th year and Masters graduates.
Today, meet Lovely Laura Sayers!
I’ve been working with paper for quite a number of years now after I was given a project in school when I was about 16 that asked us to make a black and white paper sculpture based on a myth. I went straight in with a pair of scissors and found that I loved being able to glide them through a sheet and make new patterns and shapes from something so simple. Since then I’ve neatened up my way of working, discovered my eye for colour and my pieces have naturally ended up a lot smaller and more detailed. I’m still using the same trusty pair of 89p scissors though!
I’m currently reworking a little children’s book about a character called Hi Vis Vincent who is a chubby little guy who’s job it is to paint the words ‘bus stop’ on the side of the road, but he gets bored of painting the same thing and lets his imagination run wild instead.
I’ve become really interested in simple characters who live their dreams as a result of being bored – I love the concept of making fun out of mundane situations. I found a pencil sketch of Vincent in an old sketchbook that I’d forgotten about and I liked the look of him, so this is what he’s developing into.
A lot of my work centres around personalities and physical spaces as I feel this is what my style is best suited to. Literature plays a big part too, whether it’s a story or a poem that I’ve written myself or a piece of classic literature, I like the challenge of visualising the characters and bringing something new to their stories.
In my final year I’m also making some of my own handmade paper, keeping a journal and making patterns from the scraps left over from my pieces, and soon I’ll be starting a project which at the moment looks like it’ll be based on stories about the ugly offices that our studio faces onto.
Our first year illustrators have taken pen to paper and made their own series of illustrated poetry while exploring inventive layout, new methods of research and experimental image-making.
Inspiration was found in different genres of poetry, such as personal, nonsensical, satirical, political, dada, surrealist and beat poetry to name a few. Illustrations were based on students own writing, some of which was generated through word games, and explored the complex relationship between word and image.
During visits to the Scottish poetry library, ECA’s artists’ books collection as well as a drawing and research trip along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile students were able to gather further inspiration and make first-hand observations which fed directly into their projects.
For many of the group the project served as a first introduction to creative writing and digital page layout. At the end of the project students were asked to submit a printed artefact which frames all the work they have done; to build a sequence or structure which communicates their creative journey.
After the Storm is an exhibition of fine furniture constructed from timber from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh windblown during Cyclone Andrea in 2012. Highlighting the beauty of Scottish-grown timber and craftsmanship amongst our Scottish furniture makers, the exhibition also focuses on the restorative and rejuvenating effects of storms in nature and trauma upon the natural and human environment.
The work of Jane Hyslop who teaches in illustration and who recently ran ‘Plants of the World’ with our second years focuses around flora and regeneration. For After the Storm she has made a series of drawings based on plants recorded in Gore Glen, Midlothian.
Several trees were destroyed or damaged there in 2012 during Cyclone Andrea and more have followed. The natural process of regeneration is explored through a fascination in the plants and the drawing process. Ranges of species are laid out in compositions created through drawing collected plants in the studio.
Hyslop has also created artist’s books that explore the subject of After the Storm through experimental methods of working with paper that extend previous works. Wood veneered paper vessels containing scrolls depicting plants from the site use the form and format of the artist’s book to exemplify the violence and destruction of the storm while offering a snapshot of regeneration at different stages in Gore Glen.
For the past 5 years the Illustration department has organised a 4 day field trip for its students to Oban, ‘Gateway to the Highlands’.
Our annual field trip to Oban has become an opportunity to focus on collecting and recording within one’s immediate surroundings, often with a lasting impact on the way our students approach drawing and research.
This year the travel group consisted of a mix of 45 second and fourth year students as well as 3 members of staff.
During the 4 days students carried out various activities to help them gain an in-depth understanding of the place. Activities included the random choosing of a location on the map while blind-folded, and then spending a certain amount of time researching this spot. Being directed to residential areas allowed some students to meet locals while others found themselves in the middle of a forrest. In a series of group crits in the hostel students got to present their findings and experience of the day to the rest of the group.
After returning to their ECA studios students were asked to continue developing their chosen line of inquiry as part of a set brief. The outcomes were risograph printed zines for second years and song lyric related work for fourth years, all of which were exhibited at ‘Shaping the View’.
We asked a number of students from both year groups to reflect on their experience of travelling to Oban:
Craig Ewan, 2nd year Illustration
“I had heard a lot of great things about Oban before going there and hoped it would be as exciting a place as I’d imagined. Luckily it was much better than that, I really loved my time Oban. The whole town has such a warm, festive feeling about it that just made me want to draw everything.
The spot I ended up picking at random on the map couldn’t have been better for me. I love nature and peaceful areas so to realise that I had to travel to the top of the hills in the middle of the forest was just perfect. There was so much to capture there and I would recommend this spot to anyone looking for inspiration. I love creating stories and being in the right environment gives me all the tools I need to do this. The forest had some beautiful scenery, wonderful views and incredibly dark areas that I can see being of great influence not only in this project but for future projects as well. I plan to showcase one of the stories that unfolded around me and to perhaps go over this in greater detail when the time is right.
Katrine Lyck, 2nd year Illustration
“The bus ride to Oban already gives you a hint of what awaits you upon your arrival. Golden autumn hills, or ordinary mountains seen through a pair of Danish eyes, with little streams, waterfalls and an old train bridge of stone taken right out of a scene from Harry Potter. Reaching Oban at the shore makes you realise this is not the end of a journey, but a place from which to take several boats to the islands in the distance.
Oban is a friendly little town and I got to chat to a few of the locals. An old widow living in the beautiful former church manse gave me a tour around her overgrown and wild garden, let me draw from her brick-a-brack and gave me flowers to press and feathers from her two regular visiting seagulls.
To explore the islands is a must if in Oban so I left one morning at 6:30am and saw the sunrise from a boat to Staffa. Fingal’s cave which forms part of the island is like a hall of black pillars and its square shapes make perfect seats to draw from. On the boat back we watched the sunset and were quite happy with it all.
Following my research from Oban I’m beginning to form a narrative in my head about the woman I met and her home and how I could combine this with the concept of living in a cave with all of one’s belongings.”
Sarah Parker, 2nd year Illustration
“I’ve never really been one for observational drawing. To me, making art has always been an exercise in escapism, thriving off the flotsam and jetsam that washes up into my mind’s eye from a simple snatch of daydreaming or in the moments just before falling asleep. I’ve never found comfort in taking down what’s in front of me in such an involved way, or even in just sitting and stopping too long. I’m a restless person; I fidget and need to be walking. The drive to move has helped motivate me into becoming an avid runner, but as far as my emotional health goes it does not let me relax.
Holidays are primarily a shift in landscape and routine, but they are also a shift in perspective. They let us discover familiarity in something new, and help us rediscover what excites us about familiarity: people become both entirely themselves and entirely fresh when seen in a different context. Friendship is strengthened when you watch someone brush their teeth and then pick up a book before bed. A beach is beautiful to walk on alone, but combing it with other people, talking and learning about each other, forming memories, is an entirely different experience. Something is heightened.
Observation becomes a communal experience, something to be shared. I’m no longer disillusioned with drawing what I see, because I understand now that it’s a journalistic process, and a companionable one. You don’t have to draw only from your own perspective, you can learn to record someone else’s, and that is often more valuable.”
Elle McKee
“Despite what our non art school peers might think, an illustration degree is not all drawing. We spend a lot of time coming up with ideas, storyboarding, researching and making careful considerations about audience and client. For me Oban was opportunity to leave all that in the studio and get down to some good old fashioned sketching!
Swapping the same static desk and four walls for the outdoors, where there is constant movement and constant unpredictability, gave a much needed looseness to my drawings. You had to be quick to capture the mood of the sea at a particular time or to sketch a ferry, tootling back and forth. If you were looking the wrong way you might miss a lone goat exploring the beach, or a pensioner riding down the seafront on a bmx (both happened.) On top of this there is the constant risk of a downpour of rain that could put an abrupt end to your drawing at any moment. Far more exciting than working from a photograph!
The town of Oban with its bustling harbour, terrible signage and charming museum, is nestled amongst layers of remote islands that fade back into the horizon. It is known for its Oban whisky (tried and approved) as well its brief moment of viral fame when it’s 30 minute firework display turned into a one minute extravaganza when they were accidentally all set off at once. It’s classic Scottish landscape, wild and exciting and an absolute perfect reminder of how lucky we are to be living in Scotland.”
Scott Davies
“Oban is a place worth visiting for those who keep a sketchbook/ journal and for those who want/ need a reason to switch off and just draw, paint, photograph and reflect. Staying in the quaint and unusual seaside town of Oban was a calming escape experience and has inspired me to journey into the highlands more often – photos definitely underestimate the beauty the highlands have, and it’s all so easy to access when staying in Edinburgh/ Glasgow and other northern cities. Being in Oban allowed easy travel to the surrounding islands, right out into the Outer Hebrides and all it’s natural phenomena and points of historical interest. Oban has frequent ferries from it’s terminal to the unusual Isle of Mull with many points places worth a visit within and beyond. Close surrounding islands and castles are easily accessed via small boats and rafts. If you’re lucky and it’s the right time of year there’s a chance to see basking sharks, whales, puffins and seals. I decided to take a trip out to Staffa – to witness and make work in response to the basalt cave (Fingal’s Cave), the experience of travel was great fun, the tours that are arranged weren’t standard tourist traps at all. The drawing trip being in Oban was an opportunity to do all this with fellow students over a short space of time, would urge anyone to go visit Oban.”
‘Unspoken’ is a first year Illustration project inspired by the Impressionist Room at the Scottish National Gallery. Students were each assigned a painting from the room and asked to create a three piece sequential, wordless narrative based on their research; this included a detailed study of the artwork on location as well as more background research into the artist and his times.
Students were asked to explore composition, and the use of colour and mark-making in their assigned painting. Gestural effects, colour palette and Impressionist painting techniques were explored in a series of workshops, one of which was led by artist in residence Joanna Srokol. Workshop results were then scanned and digitally assembled, and a limited colour palette applied in a first introduction to Photoshop.
The result is a collection of vivid storytelling; below are some examples of student’s work alongside the original paintings.
Sherry Ye & Monet’s Boats in Harbour
Kat Cassidy and Cezanne’s Montagne Sainte-Victoire
Claudia Carreras and Sisley’s Molesey Weir, Hempton Court
Geraldine Sawyer and Seurat’s Study for Bathers at Asnières
Vivian Chen and Guigou’s The Olive Trees
Heidi Tamminen and Luce’s Lucie Couturier in her Garden
During a recent visit to the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens our second year students received an introduction to the collections, living (Glass houses), herbarium and library and then were each assigned to a country to explore. The groups then met a taxonomist with specific interest in the country which further inspired their research and exploration of the place and its plants.
Students were asked to consider species they are most interested in and to explore appropriate techniques. Ideas and development needed to be backed up through a wide range of sources and methods. Finally, students were asked to decide how they will apply their research and then to produce 3 finished illustrations in any medium.
The outcomes are illustrations that include plants from the assigned country, supported by broader research looking at plants from a range of sources that will allow students to build a substantial research portfolio.
This year’s event took ‘landscape’ as a starting point, inviting illustrators, mapmakers, printmakers, travelers, tourists, antiquarians, ethnographers and experimental archeologists to share their journeys through Illustration.
Speakers at ‘Shaping the View’ explored complex and various interpretations of Landscape in research, academic study, and professional practice.
From an international submission of abstracts, Jonathan Gibbs and Desdemona McCannon chose 37 academic papers for presentation over two days at ECA.
Five key speakers enhanced this discussion and debate and the symposium concluded with musical pieces, projections and installations of landscape themes in the Wee Red Bar.
As a post-script, Saturday’s site-specific workshops added a new dimension, using the city of Edinburgh to explore further aspects of time, space, and location.
The complementary exhibition in the Sculpture Court has enabled all students and staff to show their work alongside invited artists, leading exponents of Illustration. The exhibition demonstrates a high level of academic study, research, and professional practice.
An international selection of work has been curated for a wider understanding and appreciation of Illustration. Shaping the View has been made possible by research funding from the University of Edinburgh and by Saskia Cameron’s excellent design work of all the exhibition pieces.
Landscape-based work by 2nd and 3rd year students as part of the ‘Shaping the View’ exhibition
Earlier this semsester, first year illustration students began studying the work of Modernist designers. Having investigated the Modernist principles and wider socio-political context underpinning poster design by such artists as A.M Cassandre and Alexander Rodchenko, the students have created their own posters promoting event venues across Edinburgh. Each student chose a different venue and headed out to collect further research and make images and sketches.
They returned to the studio to experiment with collage and paper cutting, simplifying their designs and incorporating typography. Students created their final pieces using Collograph, a printmaking process that involves a mixture of intaglio and relief printing. This process leant itself well to the simple geometric shapes, limited colour palettes and grid-like composition typical of Modernist poster design. The results are varied and impressive, with each student creating unique and interesting printed posters.
The posters are now on display at Edinburgh Central Library, alongside selected prints and sketchbook work by ECA students and staff inspired by the city of Edinburgh. This work can been seen on the Mezzanine level and Ground floor staircase of the library, situated on George IV Bridge, and will be exhibited until 26th November.
Alice Horn
Alise Tipse
Annie Adam
Celia Wood
Craig McEwan
Gavin Gillon
Heather Charters
Izzy Bacon
Katrine Lyck
Molly Wilkinson
Rosie Leech
Seobhan Hope
Landscape-based work by 2nd and 3rd year students as part of the ‘Shaping the View’ exhibition
Roderick Mills, Paddy Molloy, Harvey Dingwall, Geoff Grandfield
Desdemona McCannon and Adrian Holmes
Jonathan Gibbs and Anne Howeson
Bianca Tschaikner on “Mapping imaginary Worlds’
Andrew Baker about ‘Landscape in Comics’
Stephanie Black on the exploration of nostalgia and the contemporary Moon under Water through illustration
Angie Lewin on printmaking, collecting, and finding wildness in unexpected places
A wonderful two days ended with drinks and joy in ECA’s Wee Red Bar
