Post-D&AD&AD&AD&AD

Did the run down to London today to get to the D&AD New Blood exhib for a few hours. Was chuffed to see my own work up even though it made little impact on the quality and professionalism sweated out by other hundreds of other entrants. The networking aspect didn't work out as well as I thought it would (because I probably went down on the least popular day). It was a great show and glad I went down.

BUT! The main reason I went down was to check out what the cream of the crop from other universities had been up to, and eff-me it opened my eyes! I could recite a list of so many other new designers and illustrators who inspired me from the work I saw today.

The main thing I learnt though was that I need to develop my own practises and work on putting more love into my work, as it hit me that I mostly only make work because I find it quick and easy. But if I really put some personality and feeling into it it'd be something else.

Big well done to Westminster Uni, you wiped the floor with everything else and really deserved the Best of Show slot!

Anyways, great to be in London, great to get away from the depressing Hull scene and great to drink free beers with about a hundred other designers whilst watching the world cup. That was the best socializing/networking aspect of the day ;)......even though England lost.

As mentioned before I'm out of the country for a week. I've got a lot of fresh stuff on my mind right now and I'll be scribbling down new ideas and shit when I'm away so expect new uploads and portfolio pieces in the coming month. Time to sort my working practice out and move closer towards being the best I've ever been.

In a bit

Temps

Here's my online portfolio thus far...

http://dead-fuzz.daportfolio.com

I decided to go with a DA portfolio because they're just so simple and look really sharp. I do have my own website which was built as a module requirement for uni.

http://www.illustration.artdesignhull.ac.uk/jfenwick/

But I really only threw it together quickly just to pass. One day I'll get around to buying my own domain name and building a fresh site but until then I'm happy with the blog and the free portfolio sites which are lying around.

But yeah, the daportfolio so far is only a temporary design until I've finished travelling about for the next week or so.

Run

An update of an old-ish design. Finally happy with it because I (sort of) finally gave it a context.

London here I come! (for a few hours)

Right, so completely negating what that last post said I'm now going down to London for the D&AD New Blood show.

The plan - get the train into King's Cross for about 12, then taxi it over to Brick Lane where the show actually is. Mince my way through the crowds and blag myself to as many people as possible...as fast as possible. The get the train out of London to a place I'm don't even know the name of and drive back up to Hull.

Sunday is going to be so, so, sooooooo painfully busy. However, I might not get a chance like this for a long time...and I'd hate to look back and remember how I didn't turn up to a pretty big industry event with a lot of creative opportunities available for the taking when I had the chance.

So basically for the next week I'm stockpiling a load of Pro Plus and getting my shit together to make sure I'm ready for it.

MP3 player....I need you now more than I've ever needed your sexy face before.

More paints...

Another live paint taking part a week after the Vista Festival. This one was in a car park behind a new indoor market. I think we were supposed to be guinea pigs for something Hull City Council is planning but I'm not really sure what, I mean they're organizing a city-wide graffiti clean up and then they give us permission to do this? I don't know, I'm not a fan of theirs and I'm not buying it but it was still fun couple of days.

A great mixture of artists turned up and did their bit, really impressive display.

Photos by Karl Thomas.

Vista Festival live paint

Here's a couple of shots of me doing a live paint at the annual Vista Festival on Princes' Ave, Hull UK. Was a really fun day. 4 of us traveled down there with a massive wooden box in a van and took a side to paint each. Got to say I was pretty pleased with the result considering I made it up on the spot :/

Big thanks to everybody who made it down and for all the admirers ;)

Degree show pics

Here's a few pics of what my stall in the show looked like inc. one very beaten up coffee table I used to sit my stechbooks/business cards on.

Big thanks to Bex Eden for taking pics of the whole setting up proccess!

More sleeves

More 12" vinyl sleeves I cooked up to finish the set in time for my degree show. Really pleased with the way they turned out, and I've discovered album artwork is something I love getting creative with. NOTE: These aren't official covers, just my own interpretation of the music I listen to at the moment.

Bukowski no.3 (end of project!)

The last Bukowski poem I'm illustrating. "A Radio With Guts".

Business cards ahoy!

My business card designs which I'm chuffed as hell with :D Cheers moo.com

Therapy Vol. 1

Here's a few example pages from a sketchbook I began a while back simply called "Therapy". I work far too digital these days so it's sometimes good just to bring everything back their roots and thrash out a bit with paint and pens. This is just an experimental project to keep the creativity flowing after I suffered a massive block on work after Christmas, I'll get more posts up when the books full.