Assignment one Pt1

Say Hello

Part 1 – discovering me

Hi! Hola! Ciao! Salaam! Jambo! Bonjour! Guten tag! Namaste! Ni Hau! Ahn-Young-H-Se-Yo! Ohayo!

There are countless ways to say hello, how can I say hello?

Even I say I’m quite complex individual and feel I’m often misunderstood.
I’m not good at opening up and explaining myself very well, one thing I’m “forcing” myself to do in hope as well as from a learning view point, is to also discover my creative voice.

One thing I was aware of was I need to be me but at times even I’m confused who I am most of the time!

Best way to understand the way I think is most likely to understand the INFJ personality, I highly recommend anyone who unsure of themselves to do this test as it did help me understand myself better. https://www.16personalities.com/
While this test isn’t the whole slope of a persons personalty, it gave me a greater understanding of why I do some things and how I can have a healthier mindset when comes to my life, work and art.

So thinking another way to tackle this is in simple layman terms what I like, what drives me in life. Maybe treat myself as a client with an open brief and do research on myself.
So I went though my old artwork, art being important to me I felt it make get a feel of what is important to me after all sometimes its not what we say but it is in what we do that says more about us.
Maybe this method will mean I discover more about myself, and help me on my creative path to finding that voice as an illustrator!
So in adobe bridge I went though my art since 2017, I selected a few pieces that spoke to me, some selected because it means something, others I’m proud of it or I felt I pushed myself, these are all also personal pieces.

(Above) Pretty much I relate to faces and portraits, its the first thing I remember drawing as a child so can understand me selecting these.
Being a mother is also important so I think the first will always have a place in my art, this is based loosely on my first born (My son).
(Below) these here my aim is to showcase that I also like to experiment, challenge myself and try new things. The landscape was a personal memory, the young girl holding a bunny is my daughter, the king was an idea for a design, the feather I wanted to try a loose style and I love peacock and their colour palette, next we have an abstract this was a personal challenge I enjoyed as made it about just creating. After my short abstract period I created the jellyfish this was a mood image and one of three. Lastly back to my heart with a portrait and again my daughter.

Now lets do a short artist bio on myslef, lets see if can emotionally detach myself and just state the facts for a moment, could be an interesting exercise that may help with this assessment.

Emma Clements (Emma Simpson) born in 1982 in Sheffield to Linda and Derek Simpson. Middle child of three with an older and younger brother. At the age of three Emma was diagnosed with hearing loss, which is believed to be due to the childhood illness chicken pot which damaged her inner ear nerves. Emma grew up in a hearing world, wearing hearing aids and lipreading.
Emma then attended Loxley college and studied a GNVQ in art and design. After college Emma worked in various admin roles for 10 years, she got married in 2009 and went on to have two children. After the birth of second child, Emma became a working from home mum, running a small business and art commission along with facepainting.
Which brings us to 2019 when Emma started a degree at open college of art in Illustration.
Next we move on to some brain storming / mind map (main sketchbook)
I’m trying to find some key words that inspires a design or at least a direction I wish to explore.

Research on card design

and notes for now and future reference

The UK spends 1.4 billion a year on greeting cards

I’ve just spent a decent amount of time on this site http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk/ I found it well informed and useful.
As I’m looking and gathering information I’m very aware most of what I’m learning will not apply to this assignment as am not designing for the public but for two “clients” that is really “me” and my tutor.
But, still it’s interesting and important to have some knowledge in the subject of card design. Like I’ve learnt that the top part of cards are important as it is what is on display, it catches the customers eye, it makes sense and I never really “saw” that before.

I went to a local supermarket, tends to be the place I personality pick up a lot of cards from and took some pictures.

Card Sizes
While these day seems cards come in all shapes and sizes, I would need to be aware for costing, selling point of view the standard card sizes.
I came across an interesting blog post and with some fun illustrations to explain https://www.cardsforcauses.com/blog/what-are-the-standard-greeting-card-sizes/

I think I’m going to design this card in A4 size as plan to get printed in A5 and A6 size as a final piece.

References and research

Card design and tips –
http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk/resources/for-artists/designing-for-greeting-cards
https://www.printplace.com/blog/greeting-card-design-tips/
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/artists/advice/179/preparing-your-portfolio/identifying-your-audience/the-greeting-card-industry
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/92137/12-secrets-greeting-card-designers
https://www.uprinting.com/blog/consider-design-greeting-card/