Dundee Illustrators 3rd Mar 2009
I was back in the Illustration department at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art today to wrap-up the Ink Blot brief the 2nd years had been working on and was mighty impressed by all their inky goings-on. This was the second year we'd run this brief, and dare I say it, I think the overall quality of ideas, drawings and finished designs this time round were just that wee bit more polished.
I tweaked the brief this year to put a bit more emphasis on what the illustration was actually for, instead of asking the students to just draw a pretty picture inspired by ink blots. The result was a plethora of brilliantly printed t-shirts, wallpapers, patterned bathroom tiles, CD artwork, printed fabrics, furniture upholstery, fashion illustrations, gift wraps, tattoos, a Dunny doll concept (a new one on me!) and even a packaging idea for sea monkeys!
The drawings themselves were brilliantly diverse - it astonishes me how 30 students can all work in a shared small studio, yet come up with such radically different responses to the same brief - proving once again that the raw talent of our art school students is a far more powerful commodity than that of the jaded commercial designer.
Here's a taster of what was going on:
For more images and info on this motley crew's illustrative talents, take a sneak peek at their blogs:
www.seanchristieillustrator.blogspot.com
www.gavinexplosion.blogspot.com
www.onethousandwolves.blogspot.com
www.claireborwell.blogspot.com
www.gillianramsay.blogspot.com
www.jamie-johnson.blogspot.com
www.ailsa-illustration.blogspot.com
(Anyone who I've missed out but would like their name added, drop me an email and I'll add a link for you).
And finally, I think the students enjoyed the brief too, which is always a huge bonus. I'm not long out of Art School myself and there's nothing worse than ploughing your way through some uninspired, ridiculous task and wondering what the hell the point is. This little gem was spotted on one of their blog relating to the brief:
‘for once Im actually doing work that isnt making me feel so frustrated that I could eat my own hands. Which is definitely a plus. Especially if you happen to be my hands.'
Only fellow art students and graduates will understand just how true this is! Truth.
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