Samantha Dance

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Samantha Dance

Professional Practice

Samantha Dance

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Contents

Practice 3

Inspiration 6

Projects 8

Getting out there 12

The Future 17

Find me online 18

Bibliography 19

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Practice ‘I believe that all art is essentially illustration, that all work is narrative. Some

artists may object vehemently to this classification, but I am content to call

myself an illustrator’ (Woulidge, 2001).

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Who and What

Social and psychological issues are a key part of my illustration practice. I think it is important to

raise awareness to the injustice of our political system or the struggle people have if, for example,

they have a mental health issue, and therefore I tend to incorporate these elements in my work. I

am passionate about creating art that brings about mindfulness to others with my most recent

focus being around social issues surrounding tax scandals and the housing crisis in the United

Kingdom. I feel that illustration is a great way to communicate these issues to others so that people

are better able to understand the sometimes immoral aspects of the world we live in today.

Of course these subject areas can be quite difficult to deal with for an audience, and also for myself,

which is why I tend to express my topics in a less direct manner, choosing a fairy tale to suggest an

abusive relationship (fig 1) or in my most recent project; choosing to focus on buildings and

architecture to explain the inequality of wealth distribution (specifically within London) (Fig 2). This

approach can be quite challenging but that in itself leads to a more satisfying outcome for myself.

I do like to use a range of media in my work but I find that ink and watercolours are usually the most

enjoyable to use and I tend to create my most successful work when using them.

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Inspiration ‘I’ve been addicted to drawing as long as I can remember and always try to keep a sketchbook with me

for drawing in my spare time, whenever I have the opportunity.’ (Baldini, 2011, pg. 30)

As previously stated my main source of inspiration comes from my interest in psychology and also

politics and these interests are often part of my practice, but I also have a love of location drawing

which informs my illustrations whatever the brief.

I like going out with a sketchbook and drawing the things around me. I am a huge fan of

architecture and so for my major project I chose to focus on this interest for my outcome.

London (Fig 3)

I went on a short trip to London to record the different architectural styles and accommodation for

both the rich and the poor. The stark contrasts in not only the buildings themselves but also in the

general upkeep of the area seemed to reinforce my view of how extremely unfair the situation for

poorer people in London were. I focused my time around Elephant and Castle, Brixton, Bank and

Kensington and Chelsea so that I would have a diverse range of reference material. The trip itself

was very insightful as if I go to London usually it would be to the more touristy parts. I managed to

get a lot of photos to work from and a bit of sketching done despite the fact that it was freezing.

Paris (Fig 4)

In February I had the opportunity to go to Paris with the university which enabled me to further

expand my location drawing skills and explore the Parisian architecture and atmosphere for a week.

I enjoyed the experience greatly as travel is another thing that really inspires me and makes me

want to create exciting work and the Paris trip was no different. I was able to fill a sketchbook full of

people and place and because my major project involved buildings it meant that the work I had

done throughout that week was also helpful once I returned. Overall it was a really brilliant and

useful experience.

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Projects

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Projects

‘As an illustrator it is really important to focus your portfolio on the area that you most want to work’.

(Wray, 2013)

Pre-major Project

The pre-major project was quite a

difficult one for me but ultimately

an incredibly helpful experience

as I had a severe case of creative

block at the beginning of the

project. To deal with this I decide

to use it as my initial starting

point in an attempt to get myself

back into the flow of my work. I

started by documenting how I

was feeling using collage which

then enabled me to move on to

painting simply what I liked which

led to me coming up with a good

starting point for my major

project. The end result of this

project being a series of utopian

scenes and buildings (Fig 5) in a

range of styles that I would

continue with for the last unit.

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Major Project

For the major project I started by looking at my previous unit work

and also the book Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves (Fig 6) which plot

revolves around London as a moving or ‘traction’ town. I quickly

picked up the theme of class within the novel and decided to focus

on that and on London’s architecture rather than the book itself,

moving away from fantasy and narrative and back into the social

elements that I am interested in. From there I did a lot of research

on London’s economy, housing, various boroughs and general

financial out-look. I also went on the trip to London to get first hand

imagery and a general feel for the atmosphere of parts of London.

All this research enabled me to decide finally on illustrating to raise

awareness of the extreme class divide and other issues including the

government’s lack of support for the working class and their

dismissal of the super-rich avoiding tax using off shore havens. I also

wanted to raise awareness of the UKs housing crisis.

I drew inspiration early on from the work of artists such as Jacek

Yerka (Fig 7) and Sunga Park (Fig 8) but the key turning point in my

work for this unit came after the lecture with Sir Peter Cook (Fig 9)

who enabled me to work out what I really wanted my work to look

like and be about. His work itself is truly awe-inspiring and the

lecture enabled me to push through the issues I was having towards

the middle of the project.

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The final outcome of this project was a series of ink paintings that illustrated various details of

wealthy buildings which incorporated text such as ‘super rich’ and ‘housing crisis’ (Fig 10) which

suggested the inequality found within our society and the injustice that is frequently seen within our

governments policy where by the wealthy are constantly gaining and the poor are losing out. The

work would sit nicely in a magazine or newspaper article and reinforce these social issues.

For the London exhibition I decided to frame my illustrations and create postcards to promote

myself as an illustrator.

On the whole I feel that this project enabled me to truly explore what sort of work I want to create

as an Illustrator which would hopefully by work that communicates and explores areas of the world

which I deem to be unjust or unfair and making others aware of these issues.

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Getting out There ‘the illustrator has been leaving his or her lair to meet peers, admirers and idols, in worldwide sketch

crawls, at comic conventions, lectures and debates, figure-drawing sessions or just for a beer. Hopefully

to get another illustration in the making’ (Porto, 2011 pg. 7).

Social Media

In order to promote myself as an Illustrator it is important for me to have a strong online presence,

so with this in mind I decided to get involved with as many social media as possible.

Instagram

The most immediate way to get my work out into the public eye is through Instagram as it is a

primarily image based social media, which would enable me to show my illustrations to a wide

audience and potentially gain more publicity as an illustrator. I have mainly use this site to promote

finished pieces of work and I have had some success using this site as I have quite a few followers

and some positive comments which is great.

Facebook

I made a Facebook page to promote myself, using it to create albums of my work and also give a

more thorough insight on what I have been creating and what has inspired me.

Twitter

I have got involved in twitter and continue to use it however I have found it the least useful for my

practice at present. I feel it may become more useful as I become more established and also for

networking in the future.

Tumblr

As Tumblr is mostly for general blogging I use it to document my progress throughout projects

rather than for simply uploading final illustrations. This is by far the site I use the most as it enables

me to keep track and also share my progress whilst also enabling me to revisit research I have done

if necessary.

Pinterest

I use Pinterest mainly for collecting imagery that inspires me and have found it to be incredibly

useful throughout the course. I have also started to add my own work to the site in order to create

more of an interest for my work.

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Self-Promotion

As well as using multiple social media sites I have also created my own website, portfolio and business cards as well as entering the Reportager competition to further promote myself.

Website (Fig 11)

My website basically displays my most successful projects in a succinct and clear way and is also away for me to promote my other online platforms. I use my website to show finished outcomes like a digital portfolio.

Portfolio

It is also important to have a physical Portfolio which only shows my most current and successful work which I can take to interviews to showcase my work. Unlike my website, the Portfolio is more precise in terms of the quantity of images and which work is included.

Business Cards (Fig 12)

Business cards are extremely useful to have as they enable you to give your details to clients quickly and, more importantly, in a professional manner. For mine I chose a few of my current illustrations to put on the front to make them a bit more interesting and individual looking.

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Exhibitions I have exhibited work in a university exhibition; ‘Cinq Jours, Quatre Nuits’ about the work from the

Paris trip (Fig 13)

I will be part of and have taken part in getting together of ‘The Observatory’ graduation show in

London on the 8th to the 12th of July 2015 in The Rag Factory.

Competitions

Since I enjoy reportage I entered the ‘Reportager award 2015’ using my work from Paris. The

category winners will be announced on the 11 Ma

Commissions

Throughout this term I have had a few paid commissions for my watercolour paintings. The most

recent of which was for a painting of their grandfathers oak tree. Although these were only small

projects it was great to get some experience working for other people and on quite a personal basis

as they were not big companies but individuals.

Another Commission I had was for a the online zine ‘Pebble’ Issue four, to do three illustrations for

an article called ‘Social Networking for the Skies’(Fig 14). This was a great opportunity to experience

a brief with a short deadline as I only had three days to complete the illustrations.

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CV (Fig 15)

As well as a portfolio it is important to have an art specific CV which shows your skills, experiences

and is well designed.

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The Future ‘we need a shift in perspective that allows us to move forward’ (Dadich, 2014)

Once I have finished my degree course I plan to continue working as an Illustrator, most likely part

time at first. I want to build my portfolio and skills more and continue to update my website and

social media sites in the hopes that they will get my work out there.

I know that the illustration industry is a hard one to get into (especially full time) but my plan is to

eventually become a full time Freelance Illustrator that will work on editorial pieces for newspapers,

ideally those like The Guardian. I would also like to do some work for campaigns if possible so that

my work can be used to affect change and bring awareness to issues around wealth and poverty,

politics and mental health. At the moment I want to continue working towards raising awareness

about the inequality we have in our system for those who have very little so I plan to look into

working with campaigns like ‘People Before profit’* that want fair housing prices in London. This

campaign is perfect for my current project which I would like to continue pursuing so to be able to

link my work with a campaign like this would be amazing.

I am not quite sure whether or not I would prefer to have an agent as there are pros and cons to

both being completely independent or using an agency. If I had a good client base and was an

established illustrator it may well be better to go it alone but at this point help from an agency such

as The Heart Agency* or the Association of Illustrators* would be beneficial due to pricing, clients

and improving my portfolio. I have also been looking into slightly smaller agencies such as The

Column Arts agency* which potentially could be better for me as they have a smaller community of

artists.

In the end though, whether I do decide to try and get an agent or not I do want to become an

editorial illustrator and I will continue to self-promote via any means possible. Although the future is

a daunting prospect it is also exciting to know that I am one step closer to achieving my goal of

becoming a successful Illustrator.

*Website information can be found in the bibliography

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Find Me Online

Website: samanthadanceillustration.co.uk

Instagram: samanthadanceillustration

Facebook: /samanthadanceillustration

Twitter: @SD_Illustration

Tumblr: /blog/samanthadancefp

Pinterest: /samanthadance92/

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Bibliography

Baldini, C. (2011) Chico Baldini From Illustration Now!) Italy. TASCHEN Gmbh

Dadich, S. (2014) Why getting it wrong is the future of design. [Online] Available From:

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/wrong-theory/ [Accessed: 26/04/2015]

Porto, B. (2011) Alone in the crowd: The Illustrator now! (From Illustration Now!) Italy. TASCHEN

Gmbh

Woulidge, S. (2001) Cape Review, April 2001. Interview with Sam Woulidge, Cape Review. [Online]

Available from: http://www.pietgrobler.com/biography.htm [Accessed 26/04/2015]

Wray, A. (2013) 5 Steps to becoming an editorial illustrator. [Online] Available from:

http://www.creativebloq.com/career/become-editorial-illustrator-121310155 [Accessed 26/04/2015]

*Visit their websites…

The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/uk‘[Accessed 26/04/2015]

People Before profit’: http://peoplebeforeprofit.org.uk/ [Accessed 26/04/2015]

The Heart Agency: http://www.heartagency.com/ [Accessed 26/04/2015]

Association of Illustrators: http://www.theaoi.com/ [Accessed 26/04/2015]

The Column Arts: http://www.columnartsagency.co.uk/ [Accessed 26/04/2015]

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List of figures

Fig 1: ‘Abusive relationships using the story of Donkey Skin (My work)’ Dance, S. (2014). Donkey Skin [Own image]

Fig 2: ‘Major project work- contrast in housing within London (My Work)’ Dance, S. (2015) Inequality in London’s Housing [own image] Fig 3: ‘Photos of Rich and poor housing in London (my images)’ Dance, S. (2015) London. [Own images]

Fig 4: ‘Photos of Paris (my images)’ Dance, S. (2015) Paris. [Own images]

Fig 5: ‘PMP Utopia outcome (my work)’ Dance, S. (2014) Utopia [own image]

Fig 6: ‘Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve’ Reeve,P. (2012) Motal Engines. [online image] Available from: http://mortalengines.wikia.com/wiki/Mortal_Engines [Accessed 14/04/2015]

Fig 7: ‘Illustration by Jacek Yerka’ Yerka, J. (n/a) Utopian painting.[online image] Available from: http://www.juxtapoz.com/current/the-paintings-of-jacek-yerka [Accessed 14/04/2015]

Fig 8: ‘Illustration by Sunga Park’ Park, S. (2013) Oxford,UK. [online image] Available from: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/09/architectural-watercolors-by-sunga-park/ [Accessed 14/04/2015]

Fig 9: ‘Sir Peter Cook’. Unknown Photographer. (2012) Sir Peter Cook. [online image] Available from: http://www.theartscentregc.com.au/whats-on/whats-on-items/free-public-lecture-sir-peter-cook-the-architecture-of-fun-and-games [Accessed 14/04/2015]

Fig 01 ‘Final illustrations’ (my work)’ Dance, S. (2015) Inequality in London’s Housing [own image]

Fig 11: ‘My Website’ Dance, S. (2015) Samantha Dance Illustration. [online] Available from:

http://www.samanthadanceillustration.co.uk/London-1 [Accessed 22/04/2015]

Fig 12: ‘Business cards’ Dance, S. (2015) Business Card. [Own work]

Fig 13: ‘Cinq Jours, Quatre Nuits’ Dance, S. (2015) ‘Cinq Jours, Quatre Nuits’Exhibition’ [my image]

Fig 14: ‘Social networking or the skies’ Pebble Zine (2013) Social Networking for the Skies, Pebble

Issue 4 [online] Available from: http://issuu.com/pebblezine/docs/issue_four [Accessed 22/04/2015]

Fig 15: ‘My CV’ Dance, S. (2015) Art CV. [My image]

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