Major project, Graduation and post univeristy life!

Alot has happened since my last blog post! I achieved a 1st for the Historic Dockyard Chatham project which I was very pleased about, got a 2:1 for my Dissertation as well as a 2:1 for my major project entitled "British Piers" and finally I graduated univeristy in July 2012 with a 2:1 in Illustration! A very successful year for me and a time which will be remembered fondley. Most of my last term at uni was spent working away at every chance I had (hence the lack of blog posts) and it has only been recently that life has calmed down abit. I entered the Puffin design 2012 competition with a book cover for The Brothers Grimm, which was very different for me; it went through a lot of changes but was ultimatley something which I was very pleased with and got a good mark on, and the tutors even liked it enough to put on the wall!

My major project was a reportage project based on the piers of the local coast line, focusing on the way they inhabit the modern world of the declining sea side industry, and looking at how some are thriving while others are left decaying, their future uncertain. This is probably one of the more demanding reportage projects Ive ever undertaken having to visit 8 piers all the way from Bognor Regis to Southend which took a lot of time out of my project just getting in all the site visits. Once again the history buff in me read up and learnt as much as I could about the history of these fascinating structures and this culminated in a series of 16 A2 charcoal images bound in a hand made portfolio with a small information page on the history of each pier. Again I got very into this project and was pleased with the result. Below are 3 of my favourites from the final piece as well as how the portfolio looked displayed in uni.

So life after finishing uni has involved showing work at D&AD New Blood, working full time at the Historic Dockyard Chatham and looking for full time work in the creative industry. Its a long process but one thats going relatively well; for now Im enjoying life being a little bit easier since graduating and trying to get my work out there! Theres a few interesting things in the works as far as my Illustration work goes so keep an eye out for blog posts in the near future...