Chris Howker at MUSIC

It was the turn of Chris Howker to create a installation for a design agency in Manchester, 'Music'. Chris painted directly onto glass - which is not an easy task.... especially at a large scale and reversed! Chris explains "I had to paint on the inside of the room rather than the outside so that it wasn't scratched easily".

Rose wins GOLD at A.O.I

Rose Lloyd a graduate of the Illustration course from 2009 has won Gold at the Association of Images (AOI) Images 35 Awards. Rose attended the Images 35 Awards evening at the Bankside Gallery. She was awarded the Gold award in the Advertising category for her image "Spring Family Concert" which was commissioned for the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, this job was actually born out of a meeting with an agency from the 'Are we there yet' bus trip that some students were part of to promote their degree show.

'Images' is the UK's leading illustration competition, annual, awards show, and touring exhibition dedicated to showcasing the very best contemporary illustration published in the UK. The work selected to appear in 'Images' is judged by a highly regarded panel of industry experts, spanning multiple categories, and is an annual competition.

This is such wonderful news.

Manchester and Salford Illustrated

In October 2011 (27th October – 10th November to be precise) the very first Manchester and Salford Illustrated exhibition (#MASI) will be held at 52 Princess Street, Manchester. It will be a showcase of the very best commercial artists and illustrators in the area and has been created to raise funds and awareness for a Manchester based charity. Some of our graduates are involved and students are also invited to submit work.

Winner of Folio Society / House of Illustration

Our friend (and hero!) of the course Matthew Richardson has won the Folio Society / House of Illustration Competition. The prize was a commission to work on "The Outsider" by Albert Camus. Here are a couple of the images from the book. Well done Matthew.

Puffin Children's Prize

The winners have been announced on the penguin website of the Puffin Children's Prize, to competition, to design a book cover for James and The Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Unleashed: The best in the North

The Judges Janet Kershaw: Preservation Bear
Jane Richardson: Ralph

This competition ran last year by the infamous Manchester public house, Mr Thomas's Chop House, - follow the link for the Top 25 image gallery and more information about the event. It's designed to create opportunities for the latest talent emerging from the region’s art schools – and to raise much-needed funds for the North West Air Ambulance. It was a roaring success and was repeated this year. As a college we entered 20 pieces. All the work will be shown in an exhibition and an auction and sale of the best student artwork in the North, 2011 will follow. Congratulations to Jane Richardson and Janet Kershaw, from Year 3 whose work has been selected for the Top 25 shortlist of illustration work in the Northwest. From Thursday 23rd June there will be 3 weeks of public display, private viewings, auction previews and creative industry nights. Then on Thursday 14th July an Awards Night, Gala Dinner and Charity Auction – featuring the judges’ top-ranked work.

50 Watts Competition Winner

Congratulations to ex-student Ben Jones! He has been announced as the winner for the 50 Watts' Polish Book Cover Contest, which asked contestants to design the "Polish edition" of their favorite book. This is such an achievement and had entries from over the world. Ben is passionate about Polish design which I do believe his interest in it began at Stockport College. Ben really deserves this and we are very proud. Well done

Penguin Design Award 2011 Shortlist announced.

Congratulations to Year 2 student Philippa Lightburn, who has made it through to the shortlist of this year's Puffin category to design a book cover for 'James and the Giant Peach' by Quentin Blake. There were a record 1196 entrants this year of which just 10 people were shortlisted. The award ceremony will be held at the Penguin offices in London on the 22nd June, which Philippa is invited to and the winner will be announced a the event.

Polish Book Cover Competition

A dream competition...... "Design the Polish edition of your favorite book". As you know we are partial to the odd polish design - they always make me feel weak at the knees! Look at this link to see how you could design the cover of your favourite book - you choose the title and do it in the style of this great period of design. Deadline 20th May.

New Newsletter

I would be interested to hear from any of you who would like to put forward ideas for the new cover of the 'Picturebox' newsletter. It is a great chance to get work printed and put in your portfolio.

The theme should be centered around TRANSFORMATION - as Year 3 are about to transform themselves from students to professionals. The other years also make a transformation when they move up a level and this time of year sees many transformations in nature (spring time is on its' way!)

At this stage we would like to see rough ideas. Using type is completely optional - use it if it is part of your idea / design. We are very open to YOUR submissions. All you have to think about is the fact that it will be used as a POSTER so should be punchy with a clear level of communication.

The size that wold go to print would be A2 (594 x 420 mm). At this stage you can work in any size proportional to this.
Final artwork would be printed in one colour - (tints and shades!!).

You should submit a rough by next Monday 28th Feb by 12.30pm.
A rough should be enough to tell the tale. If you need to develop it further to give us more of an impression of what it would look like then please do so. You can submit as many rough ideas as you like.

Email me if you would like to submit a rough and ask if you need further guidance.

D&AD WINNER!

Yesterday Chris Howker and Ian Murray attended the prestigious D&AD student award ceremony at Spitalfields Market in London. It was announced that Chris came 1st! He is pictured above with 'the pencil' and alongside with Patrick Burgoyne editor of Creative Review and Phil Nutley from Corridor.

The entrants were asked to create an image on the theme of Resistance, with the winning design printed on 80,000 of the iconic Don’t Panic pack posters.

Phil Nutley from Corridor and one of the deciding judges explained why he felt Chris’ entry deserved the prize, “For me the piece had a strong process of thought and ideas. The final execution was witty, bright and challenged social paradigms.”

For an interview from the man himself click here.

Outdoor Painting anyone?

Just stumbled upon this "competition" through One69A screen printing studio, manchester...

"Our friends over at MadLab on Edge street in the Northern Quarter are running a competition for you to have your very own design on the shutters of their HQ.

If you are interested in designing and painting something please follow the link below..."

information here... http://madlab.org.uk/content/you-could-be-famous-on-google-street-view/

deadline is June 30th

Recent Student Success

Students from the Design and Visual Arts Degree studying on the illustration pathway have achieved success in international design competions and with commissioned work. Chris Oldland a third year student whose work was last year included in the D&AD (Design and Art Direction) student awards book, has follow up his success by being asked to pitch for and then go on to land a prestigious commission from KPMG.Chris’s designs had caught the judge’s eye in the 2009 D&AD competition when his proposed designs for an installation for the new KPMG flagship offices in London of came in the top four.

One year on Chris was contacted by D&AD and KPMG to see if he would like to pitch designs which had the possibility of being used in the newly completed building. Competition would be keen as students from Chelsea College of Art & Design where also pitching for the job.Chris spent two months this year refining and perfecting his design, which use laser cutting equipment to carve out his designs in translucent acrylic sheets. These would then be fixed to the wall using chromed screws and bars. On the 30th of April Chris pitched his design ideas to to a panel of 5 KMPG executives at their head office. Two days later Chris received the good news that he had been commissioned to produce an installation at the London Offices and would be given a budget of £2000 to execute the design and £2750 as his fee.

In feedback from the presentation the KPMG team said

“We very much like your concept, particularly the elegance of it and how light plays with it and changes the design”

Over the next two months Chris will be working on the full size design and implementing it with a team of technicians from KPMG.Pathway leader for Illustration at Stockport College Ian Murray said 'Chris has worked very hard to land this commission. We were very proud of his success last year in the D&AD competition. Chris’s ability to convert this opportunity into a viable commercial project, particularly against such stiff opposition from some of the countries leading art colleges demonstrates once again that the Design and Visual Arts provision at Stockport is amongst some of the best in the country'

In the same week that Chris Oldand's success was announced, staff from the Design and Visual Arts team were delighted to hear that students Natalie Wood and Chris Howker both students on the illustration pathway had success in the 2010 D&AD competition.Both Natalie and Chris had entered the ‘Don’t Panic’ poster competition via D&AD their submissions respond to the theme ‘Resist’. Natalie’s designs were highly commended and will appear in the 2010 D&AD Students Awards book and Chris’s designs have been nominated for a D&AD student award, which has been likened to the design equivalent of the Oscars.

Fergal Kilroy D&AD Student Awards Manager said

‘I would like to stress how proud all students should feel at being selected for In-Book or receiving a Nomination. This year's juries were very strict. Winning entries were selected on the basis that they demonstrated the student could "cut it" in the real world, making success in 2010 a great achievement for both you and your students.’

AOI LTM comp

Cycling in London Competition

London Transport Museum and the Association of Illustrators are delighted to announce a call for illustrations featuring cycling as an emerging mode of transport in London..

Students and professionals are invited to submit entries that demonstrate the environmental, health and/or recreational benefits of cycling. It is the task of entrants to create an illustration that shows cycling as a fun and efficient way to get around the city.

The top three entries will receive a monetary award and may be used in an advertising campaign for cycling. The top 50 entries will be displayed in an exhibition at the London Transport Museum that will open in summer 2010 in conjunction with the launch of TfL’s cycling programmes. For more info see the aoi website.

http://www.theaoi.com/

Thing-a-day 2010

Happy New Year to all.
A little project to get your rusty creativity warmed up again.
Sounds like fun!

JO x

Submit work for NoBrow

Nobrow Press publishes beautifully tactile illustrated books. They are running an open invitation illustration project inspired by Nick White's new Nobrow book People I've Never Met & Conversations I've Never Had:

We thought Nick's book was a good subject to open up to everyone. And if we get some interesting responses they will make another great book!

So Nobrow asks you to submit one image of a person you've never met, and one other image illustrating a conversation you've never had. This can be a drawing, photograph, collage, etching, or whatever medium you want. A selection of the submissions will then be compiled and made into a book published by Nobrow Press.

Please keep your submissions to just the two images per person.

Submission Details:
115mm x 145mm at 350dpi (1585px X 1998px)

To submit a piece please upload it to this group.

We can't wait to see what you come up with!

DEADLINE EXTENDED FEB 15TH!!

See more details here

Following on from Mr Howker's previous post, here is an other competition to have a go at, run by Print magazine in America.

Penguin Design Awards

Just an update on Pete Adlington's winning design - on the Penguin Design Awards website are some comments made the judges as to why this work was selected. You can also see the other entries which include Natalie Wood from Year 2, who was Highly Commended.

3X3 competition

This American competition run by 3x3 illustration magazine is worth looking at to raise your 'profile'


3x3 competition