Visiting Professional - Laura Carlin

Notes from the talk (which I found particularly interesting):

• For inspiration and authenticity within work, think back to the imagery which surrounded you as a child.
• Stop looking at social media - make work that is solely me, instead of being influenced by other on instagram.
• Sketchbooks = a personal insight into the "studio" of an artist or illustrator. People are often awestruck by sketchbooks
• Be honest about your work. Invest in honest friends who will give honest critiques of my work, what works and what doesn't etc...this external insight is extremely valuable to have as a practitioner.
• Laura began omitting what isn't necessary in communicating the message. exaggerating shapes, height ad perspective of images to reflect atmosphere and feeling. Gives a personal and unique perspective - this is the aim of an illustrator.
• Don't just do a landscape
• Ideas don't have to be rocket science or highly conceptual, illustrations can be just that - a way of seeing an engaging an audience into that way of seeing.
• On Inspiration - Laura keeps folders full of work that evokes emotion and gets her brain going. This inspiration almost takes the form of scrapbooks - a collection of her work along with anyone else's and anything else which she find inspiring.
• Work which is authentic and playful is great - bring the playful to the adults.
• Look closely and observes the smaller details which others may have missed. Use these details to my advantage in visual communication and composition. Be playful
• Don't just illustrate the most obvious or draw directly fro the text. Gove more than the obvious or the description. Provide the image as a culmination of what is seen and felt and also what is missing from between the lines.
• Folio society bookstore - visit there!
  - They don't have a house style and are open to seeing and displaying new work.
• Children are an honest audience. 
• Lauras process for creating publication work:
• Procrastinate
• Check other practitioners social media 
• Then throws everything and every possibility at a project.
• Storyboard for idea of pace and flow. Each frame / composition within the storyboard on a separate sheet of paper so one whole story board is laid out, different frames can be re-arranged.
• The storyboarding at this stage is focusing on loose shapes, composition, text areas and white space - the point being to get an idea of compositional space and how much paint is needed per page.
• Then photocopies storyboard and creates a mock up
• always thinking seeing and doing book as a whole - to get a true feel for the pace, flow, visuals and storytelling aspects.
• When working on a project - likes to keep 3 projects going at one time.
• Keeps Laura working quickly, reduces the pressure and keeps energy level and pace up so that her creativity towards one project doesn't become stale
• Constantly trying to reduce the pressure of "the final piece"
• Works on lots at once to keep everything moving, new, exciting, fluid
• Likes to work on large sheets of paper when first starting a project whilst drawing the same things over and over until the right outcome has been achieved.
• 30 drawing of the same thing helps practice that aspect of the pice / publication (say a specific character or focal element) - this then strengthens your practice, you are more likely to achieve the desired look and then all this practice creates a nice backlog of work to reuse / become inspired by.
• All illustrators have their "tweaky" way of doing things - its about being true to who you are as practitioner - making things easier for yourself (not harder) and finding what works
• Being content as a practitioner one day then having a disastrous identity crisis the next is completely normal.
• Illustration is the power to show people how I look at the world and better yet - communicate it.
• We should all be looking at things differently as there is no "correct" way.
• Illusion - That creatives are all inspired all of the time. THIS IS NOT THE CASE.
• Laura is inspired and enjoys storytelling through tactile tapestries and pottery.
• Be ope to trying other mediums when things feel or become a little "stale".
• It is best to be brave when bravery is needed most. (during a creative block!)
• Newspaper club - large scale printing for cheap
• Consider exhibiting from a house are always fun, intriguing, relaxed and CHEAP

My thoughts on the talk:

• Having Laura visit us in the studio was really enlightening and I have great admiration for her sense of self, playfulness, connection with children and how honest she is about the hardships encountered in this industry.
• I feel her experiences have contributed to her growth and confidence and I found her points of view incredibly refreshing.
• What I found most beneficial from the talk was hearing how Laura likes to approach a new project, brief or publication. Being an illustrator who often has so many ideas floating around in my head that I often become bored with a project - it was nice to hear how someone else overcomes this by attempting several projects at once - on a little rotation - to keep things fluid.