Samantha Landells

This blog was created to document and demonstrate my development and growth over the course of my years studying Ba Illustration. Over the course of the two years a lot has happened including the Covid-19 pandemic where it seemed the whole world was turned upside down. However, despite these external factors my growth and development as an artist has clearly shone through. I have really enjoyed the use of this blog during my time on my course, at the beginning of my projects I was excited to begin working on my blog alongside, as during my first year of study I found this really helpful for idea generation and identification of my strengths and weaknesses at the time. Due to this I was hoping to continue this throughout my second year. Unfortunately back in December I fractured my dominant hand which caused a lot of problems all round for the completion of my projects as I was unable to use my hand until late February. I was forced to take a step back from my blog and focus on my more ...

Following my explorations into the artist Wilmer Murillo from my review of the 'Pictoplasma: Character Portraits ’ book I decided I wanted to explore the creation of my own symmetrical character mask formed by inspiration from Native American tribal masks, as used by Murillo in his designs. I love how each of these designs shown in their Pictoplasma submissions have a face when the character is face both up and down. Through the use of symmetry and inspiration from Native American masks they have been able to create two characters in one and I found this extremely interesting and wanted to explore this myself. Although the colours used by Murillo are rather muted, I wanted to go with a psychedelic approach for my design as I felt I could create some interesting visuals from this. Originally I created the line work in black and converted it to white before adding the black background underneath as I wanted it to be clear against the vibrancy of the rest of the design. I create...

The book describes the history of Pictoplasma and how they wanted to form a new collection ‘The Character’ to ensure over time, no matter what the character’s medium it can be collected and shared for generations to come, safe from adaptation and reinterpretation. I found this really interesting as it aims to collect all forms of characters and bring them together as one, building bridges and communications between artists of all kinds. I bought this book as I have started to obtain quite a collection of Pictoplasma character compendiums, I love the way these books incorporate a wide variety of visual mediums from photography to knitting! All characters count! Due to this I often gather a lot of inspiration when looking through these books and felt it would be the perfect time to revitalise my imagination since I am coming to the end of this year of university, to ensure I remain motivated during the summer. I chose to look at 4 artists from this ginormous compendium of characters ...

I am really impressed by not only the quantity of illustrations I managed to create for this project, but also the quality maintained throughout all of the designs. I have never before managed to complete multiple illustrations to such a short time period, this is definitely an area I want to continue working on as if I am able to work more quickly and effectively this will be beneficial in my future endeavours. One area I am especially happy with the development of was my front cover of the book, considering the quality of my illustration for a book cover during Level 4, it is clear to see the level of improvement I have achieved so far over this year. I am really happy with the narrative I feel I managed to achieve during this project, despite having to make multiple alterations to my script and storyline. I am heavily invested in continuing with the progression of this story and making alterations in future so I can complete the whole story I had originally intended with the use...

Following my research into the artist Aman Khanna during my investigations into the Pictoplasma magazine, #1 Face Value edition, I decided to experiment with the creation of my own clay characters. I wanted to go with something really simple for the design similarly to the style of Khanna but also I felt this would be the most appropriate starting point for my first attempts attempting this with the medium. I used polymer clay which needed to be baked once I was happy with the final designs of my little characters. I used the technique of scoring sections of my characters heads in order to bond their accessories successfully as this ensured the clay had a textured format to cling to once wet. I quite like the charm these characters came out with; I went for the theme of ghosts as I felt it was something simplistic yet could be developed in future to make more intricate designs if I wanted to. However I really like how it was Khanna who inspired me to explore the use of a new medium...

Some of my favourite artists within this edition include Jun Seo Hahm, Aman Khanna and Rilla Alexander. Jun Seo Hahm: The illustrations presented for this artist were eye catching due to their 3D forms contrasting such simplistic expressions. I love these illustrations as they hold a strangely childish appearance due to the overly simplified expressions on each of the 4 characters. I find it interesting how the expressions of the characters within the ‘globule’ creatures are barely visible to ensure the main focus is the outer creature first before allowing the viewer to explore the rest of the design. I would love to be able to work in 3D however in the past I have struggled greatly trying to comprehend these software’s, and currently don’t have access to a device capable of downloading one since I have to work from home during the pandemic. However, 3D character design would definitely be something I would love to challenge myself with in the future as I feel the visual results can...

I must admit I really struggled with the academic writing portion of this module as I found it difficult to discuss my topic from a 3 rd person perspective. However, I made sure to attend meetings with an academic coach at my university in order to support me through this. I found this really useful especially considering my limited understanding of how to Harvard Reference as they were able to clearly explain the structures and requirements to me. I also made sure to set up tutorials with my tutor as much as possible so we could read over my essay and make necessary alterations before my final submission to help me boost my grade further. I am unsure how successful I will be in this module as it is my first time attempting academic writing however despite this I am grateful for the amount of knowledge I have obtained through the research portion of this task. I found it extremely interesting being able to devise my research around topics I found personally interesting and using t...

Whilst working between my 3 current modules: personal professional development, commercial illustration and contextual studies. I chsoe to update my time plan to help me re-work the layout of my tasks as things hadn’t gone to plan over the Easter holidays as I ended up needing to work on further research for my contextual essay rather than staring my initial write up as I had planned. Due to this, it caused disarray between the schedules of my other tasks as well so I felt the best way to try and resolve this would be to recreate my time plan, blanking out all of the dates which have already passed. This would enable me to identify how much time I was working with before each individual deadline so I could organise my tasks accordingly. I found this really useful in helping me remain confident and motivated to complete my tasks on time as it was a visual reminder of how long I could spend on each individual task, helping make sure I worked efficiently and effectively to meet these ...

Continuing my research into available sustainable printing companies I located an interview on ‘Ethical.Net’ discussing a company called ‘Happy Pineapple’. Within their interview they noted how the company in discussion used sustainable paper methods, recycled paper and vegetable based inks, which had me invested. I decided to visit the website of ‘Happy Pineapple’ to find out more,   upon visiting the website it appeared to offer similar options as ‘Ashley House’ had, although the information on the website was much more difficult to interpret. At first glance it seems their website is focused on discussing their goals and what their company is achieving in terms of working sustainably and advertises it being a printing company. However, there are no clear directions as to how an individual could go about exploring the services they offer without first making contact with the provider. I feel this isn’t as effective as the methods used on ‘Ashley House’ which make the consumer f...

Following on from my inspiration from Penguin publishing and my recent investigations into eco-friendly printing companies, I wanted to discover a company which could be used to print the completion of my upcoming module ‘Commercial Illustration’ where I am designing a children’s book. I felt this would be extremely relevant to my future practices and wanted to investigate further whether the printing of an eco-friendly book would be possible within the UK. For this I found a company called ‘Ashley House: Printing Company’ where I discovered they are actually knows as “One of the most eco-friendly printing companies in the UK” (Eco Print | Eco-friendly Printing | Green Printing | Ashley House, 2020) which was supported within their websites ‘Eco Printing’ page which discussed their ‘zero landfill policy’ and replantation of woodland resources used to create their products. I really enjoyed the theme and purpose of this website, not only is it there to enable people and businesses ...

Considering my first load of research focused on the use of sustainable printing methods and how I could imply that within my work, both now and in the future as I strive to become a children’s book illustrator and writer I thought the next best stage to research would be pre-existing publishing houses and any steps they are taking in order to be more eco-friendly and print using sustainable methods. For this I decided to research the well-known publishing house, Penguin who luckily had a whole section in their ‘About Us’ page dedicated to their approach on sustainability. I felt Penguin shared some promising commitments to not only altering their own carbon emissions as a publishing house, but also through their choices of publication which in their words have “power to change minds and behaviour” (Sustainability, n.d.) . Due to this they have a wide selection of books to help a variety of individual’s at different ages to understand their impact on society and have now even “establ...

For my upcoming Contextual Studies essay I have decided to focus my argument around sustainability as an illustrator / publisher as I felt these were two areas which heavily relate to my chosen specialism and my impact within the environment. As an artist it can often be hard to work sustainably due to large printing quantities, the types of ink we need to use to obtain the results desired and the necessity to sketch on large amounts of paper yearly. I began by researching what printer ink is currently commonly made from and found out it consists of many harmful ingredients such as resins, solvents and inorganic varnish bases. Due to this it would seem logical to search for an alternative and compare the cost to see whether a more sustainable method is possible for a small illustrator. On amazon the current price for my printer ink is £24 on sale. However, as I attempted to explore a home use printer which utilises vegetable based inks for printing, I was unable to locate one. All of...

My course provided me with tickets to the first ever online INTL : International Festival which provided an assembly of different graphic artists from around the world who discussed their experiences with Covid-19 and lockdown as well as an introduction to their artwork and practices. There were 9 artists in total including; Veronica from Hey Studio, Elijah Anderson, Nono, Edmond and Jennifer from Two Times Elliot, Amber Weaver, Nam Huynh, Mitzi Okou, Rich Tu, Eva Cremers and Thierry Blancpain from Grilla Type. The two artist’s work I really loved were Veronica from Hey Studio who creates her graphics utilising traditional drip painting or paper crafting techniques, resulting in beautiful one of a kind designs unique to their clients. They are based in Barcelona but work with clients worldwide and create some truly beautiful creations. I was so intrigued by Veronica’s work as I often feel due to the development in technology handmade projects are often overlooked within the creative ...

I have incorporated an image of my Bibliography for the Contextual Studies task as when I attempted to import it as a PDF or direct text it would either be incompatible or remove the layout settings I had utilised.  I found the best way to include this would be via a screenshot although it does mean the hyperlinks aren’t able to be copied directly but can be written in the search bar. I found this task really hard initially as I didn’t understand how to accurately layout all of the information, however through the help of multiple resources I feel I have definitely began to understand this process a lot better and feel much more confident trying to apply it within my final Contextual Studies essay. I have however booked in for an appointment with an Academic Tutor in the near future to go over this bibliography and identify whether my methods are correct and useable within my final bibliography, as well as to look over the structure of my essay’s first draft. I feel this will b...

Entering this site immediately created a sense of joy and wonder which is why I felt so strongly compelled to complete research regarding this agency. I found out that ‘Flying Eye Books’ is actually a child company of the well-known ‘Nobrow’ publishing, I could definitely see this by the standard of the website and books available. I found out they are also an international company which allows them to translate books into various languages so their books can be enjoyed worldwide. I chose three books which I felt inspired by to base my research on which were all located from ‘Flying Eye Books’. I realised I had actually seen some of these books before, which was interesting, such as Hilda which is as stated a series on Netflix. I loved the fact I was able to relate to at least one or more books available on their site, as it showed me how wide an audience range they have managed to create, despite specifying as a children’s publishing company. I chose to look at these 3 stories...