MAKING & SELLING - Leeds Teenage Market

PREPARATION & PRODUCTION 

I am in the process of preparing work to sell at Leeds Teenage Market. I took part in the market last year, and had a stall to myself but this year I have teamed up with Lucy Scott to run a stall that is entirely illustration based products. I have prints, cards and postcards from previous projects that I have printed and packaged up, but am also working on some new designs to make a new set of cards and notebooks. 

I have been sketchbooking new characters and shape designs, with children's birthday cards in mind, working within a restricted colour palette and simplistic shapes to achieve immediate, yet playful illustrations. Working to scale, I have drafted 4 new A6 card designs and also 2 different notebook cover designs to produce for the market. 

Alongside my new work, I have been manipulating some existing illustrations and preparing existing prints to be sold too. I have used the characters from my Morris dancing book to create a set of character postcards, alongside trimming and selecting prints from my fan art response. 

CONSIDERATIONS
Costing and packaging has been central to this project as I have had to cost my time, materials and artwork in order to create prices that are appropriate to the items, yet reflective of my work. Awareness of common practice from visiting print fairs regularly has been really helpful and working collaboratively with Lucy has helped to keep costs down by sharing bulk purchases of paper stock, envelopes and cellophane. There is no charge for the table and so we only have printing costs to cover in our sales which has given us more flexibility in the type of products and number of items we can have available in light of the number of sales we might have. 

The market is being hosted in the events space of Leeds Kirkgate Market so I do not anticipate the flow of traffic to be too big, or the audience to that typical of a print fair but this is a great opportunity for us to practice applied illustration, commercial considerations and explore fairs as a potential outlet for our emerging practice. 

ON THE DAY

Unfortunately the market was much quieter than the one I had taken part in the year before and so we didn't make any major sales but we covered all of out costs and have a wealth of items that we could carry forward to more appropriate outlets.

COMPETITION - Leeds Light Night Illustration

Advertised in the student opportunities bulletin was a competition brief for Leeds Light Night and so I have been working on a response in order to propel my commercial practice and professionalism.

REQUIREMENTS OF BRIEF/ CONTEXT

• theme - people and the city
• wide audience
• an event that brings together light and arts in the city
• celebration of culture
• low-res image to be judged
• 3 colours only
• concept statement

The brief demands a 3 colour merchandise design to promote the 2017 event. Working closely within my wider intent for practice, the brief asks for an image that illustrates, or rather celebrates the diversity and heritage of the city. Considering the wider audience, it is imperative that my design operates universally, and as such, demands simplicity and an inclusive visual language.

The brief also notes that the design should be engaging to children whilst working within a restricted colour palette.

DESIGN SUGGESTIONS

My initial design suggestions revolve around an integration between the contemporary event and the heritage of the city, using symbols and shapes to communicate architectural information and humorous characters. Echoing some of the concerns of my Illustrated Self poster, I am hoping to carry over some of the motifs and visual devices.

I am applying my usual method of a digital mimic of screen print, layering textural positives in Photoshop. Due to the commercial nature of the brief, I have had to consider the flexibility of my design for a multitude of outlets. Working with vignettes on a white background seems to work effectively to allow elements to work in isolation. Applying my common practice of a digitally layered image from positives, the image could easily work in digital print or manual screen print depending on the changing needs of the client.

Responding to the brief for a celebratory image of heritage and culture, I have composed an illustration of visual devices that provide a nod to Leeds' industrial heritage whilst capturing the dynamics of Light Night through gestural marks and active characters. Employment of such characters has achieved a playful aesthetic appropriate to the tone of the event and child audiences. 

I feel that the composition has achieved a linear flow through which the text is direct and informative against a clear visual narrative.

CONCEPT STATEMENT FOR ENTRY

Responding to the theme 'People and the City', my response aims to capture an interplay between the people, performers and their city. Using abstract characters, the design aims to be playful and engaging for children whilst achieving a universality appropriate to the wider audience of Light Night. Architectural motifs provide a nod to Leeds' industrial heritage, supported by comical characters which celebrate the energy of Light Night and the city.

I wait to hear . . .