Now I've made my website I feel that the next logical step in my creative presence journey is to make some business cards, especially for Colours May Vary, and the final major show in June. In terms of design, I was really pleased with my hypothetical cards that I created for the submission last year, which i'd like to take inspiration from for this year's creative presence brief:
Business Card and CV Design
I really want my cards to have a professional finish, perhaps using gloss or raised surfaces, so I will be getting them made via a printing company like moo.com. Some designs I have found on pinterest/behance that I think look really effective:
I've recently been really trying to get started on getting my work out into the public view.
I've been looking into which platform is best for Online Portfolios/Art & Design websites, and from my research I have found that Squarespace is looking so far so good. I know alot of people that use squarespace for their personal websites and they look really effective. Aswell, I have learnt that squarespace is good because of how it connects with behance, which is another effective platform that I need to utilise.
To get started I watched this video which made the process seem alot simpler.
My website, not yet up and running. I'm really happy with the way it looks, taking inspiration from my amateur tumblr site created last year - now I just need some more work to start filling it up! I really like the font I've chosen to use at the top for my name aswell as I think it looks quite traditional and established?
On my About page I really struggled to write a professional bio that didn't seem too studenty, but I will be revisiting it very soon.
I have purchased the domain dangilmartin.com and am currently waiting for it to transfer over to my new site. I feel that now I've got a website and an established platform, I can now start making business cards and promoting myself online alot more!
A paris based collective that I've just discovered, who make work with a similar illustrative quality to mine (use of shape and digital texture) which i absolutely love. I discovered them through their video 'Unsatisfying'. I really enjoy the aesthetic quality of the animation, but also the simplicity of the compositions/animation; there is only small subtle movements in each scene, however it still communicates. I also really enjoy the square frame, which is alot more appropriate for social media.
So I have just handed in my COP module along with the dissertation, and I'm happy with what I've submitted.
I was slightly disappointed with my visual outcome for the module because it didn't really fit in with my portfolio of illustrations what so ever. At the start of the module it was my interest in the advertising industry that pushed me to create an Advertising campaign for Lush Cosmetics which involved digital artists attempting to subvert the idea that digital art cannot be Authentic. The way I approached the outcome was in my head the only way, and "Illustration"/images didn't seem to fit with my concept whatsoever - resulting in a completely Graphical outcome. I'm only disappointed because of the amount of time and research that went into the project, to achieve something that does not fit in my portfolio whatsoever, is slightly disheartening.
I really did enjoy creating the design for this campaign though which turned out to be successful, which has lead me to question my role of an Illustrator? Can I be an Illustrator and designer? Or should I keep the 2 pathways separate?
This is really bugging me because I can't seem to think of a logical way that graphic design and illustration can look good in one portfolio - I need to research into practitioners that call themselves "illustrator & designer" to see what kind of projects they do and how they go about answering briefs.
