Orobas by Tim Parker.
Following on from my review of the best graduate illustrators at University College Falmouth and Plymouth College of Art here’s what I discovered at the New Designers 2012 stands from Nottingham Trent University and Cambridge College of Art. At Nottingham Trent University the graduates specialise in both illustration and graphic design so many of their projects focus on the commercial potential of illustration for products and branding which is a rarity at graduate shows and brilliant to see – I wish more colleges would do this because let’s face it, there are only so many children’s books and magazine editorials to go around. These are my faves from a selection of work that was of exceptionally high standard in both fields.
Herb Heads by Sarah Whiteway.
Delicious food graphics by Beth Douglas.
Lovely typography from Daisy Gatehouse
Bold iconography by John Bell has a child-like joy.
Laura Hopewell has a website under the name Scouts Honour, where you can find a wonderful array of artwork created in different media.
Alex Walker‘s fine vector illustration works well for infographics and on the Grimm’s Fairy Tales cover, for which he won 3rd prize in the Penguin Design Award. Alex describes his design thus: ‘My book cover design is a collection of common fairy-tale motifs and characters arranged in a composition reminiscent of an adventure map. Because the Grimms’ fairy tales are so deeply rooted in European tradition, my illustration references the naive, geometric style of European folk art. To keep the design looking modern and sophisticated, I tried to use only geometric shapes, a limited colour palette and a subtle use of shading. Choosing a geometric blackletter as the title typeface helped to unify this reductive style with the folk art influences.‘
Maddox Philpot specialises in bright graphic images.
Nicola Robson‘s cute character illustrations could happily be applied to cards.
At Cambridge School of Art there was strong work from Tim Parker, who puts monsters in human clothing. He won the Penguin Design Award with his cover for Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Of the design guest judge Raymond Briggs said ‘A clear winner – strong design, fierce without being frightening, super lettering and typography, a huge wolf head on the front contrasting with the small child figure on the back. The idea of the tongue becoming a path was ingenious. If you had been told about it in words you might have thought “contrived” but it isn’t, it works perfectly. Ingenious and witty. Triffic!’
Sarah Battista illustrated cats and Roald Dahl‘s Umbrella Man.
Ines Vilares showed these lovely prints inspired by Judith Hermann’s Alice.
Emily Barrell‘s engaging poster of British birds.
Endangered species by Sophie Harris come as a collectable set of postcards.
Jasmina Harris favours abstracted geometric designs and is also responsible for this fun bowtie design.
Next up, my remaining illustration discoveries…
Tags:
2012, Alex Walker, Alice, Beth Douglas, Cambridge College of Art, Daisy Gatehouse, Emily Barrell, Grimm's Fairy Tales, illustration, Ines Vilares, Jasmina Harris, John Bell, Judith Hermann, Laura Hopewell, Maddox Philpot, New Designers, Nicola Robson, Nottingham Trent University, Orobas, Penguin Design Award, Raymond Briggs, review, Roald Dahl, Sarah Battista, Sarah Whiteway, Scouts Honour, Sophie Harris, Tim Parker, typography, Umbrella Man
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