MICA / / Eric Leland

Today we are sharing the beautiful work of Eric Leland who I met on a recent work trip to the US! I was lucky enough to get to visit Boston & Baltimore, hang out with the team at the Lilla Rogers Studio & teach some workshops & deliver a public lecture at MICA (Maryland Institute College Of Art). It was such an honour to be invited & to teach at such a wonderful college with talented tutors such as Eric.

Eric's design career began in architecture - he spent five years working in that field in Baltimore, Maryland, & passed his registration exams in 2007. However, at the same time, he was overtaken both by wanderlust & by a growing realisation that he was happiest with the part of his work that involved pencil & paintbrush. Eric & his wife took a leap across the Atlantic, and then enrolled in the postgraduate illustration course at University College Falmouth, in Cornwall, England. Since 2009, Eric has been back in Baltimore, where he has now nearly filled his basement with obsolete letterpress printing equipment. Eric produces & markets his own illustrated greeting cards, calendars, books, prints & paper goods, much of which is printed & bound by hand, by me. For the 2013 - 14 academic year, he is also teaching part time on the Illustration Practice MFA course at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

You can visit Eric's lovely website & his Etsy shop to buy his gorgeous illustrations.

MICA / / Rebecca Bradley

Today we are sharing the gorgeous work of Rebecca Bradley who I met on a recent work trip to the US! I was lucky enough to get to visit Boston & Baltimore, hang out with the team at the Lilla Rogers Studio & teach some workshops & deliver a public lecture at MICA (Maryland Institute College Of Art). It was such an honour to be invited by the talented Rebecca Bradley (Rebecca is also one of Lilla's artists as well as myself, & a fantastic tutor) & to teach at such a wonderful college. 

Rebecca Bradley is British & studied at Chelsea College of art in the UK & Savannah College of Art & Design in the USA. She works full time at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, as well as working freelance as an illustrator. She is represented by 'Lilla Rogers' in the USA & by 'Eyecandy Illustration' in the UK. Partial client list includes 'Penguin Books', the 'Boston Globe', 'The Guardian Newspaper', 'BBC books', 'Chronicle books' and 'Hachette books'. To give you an example of the broadness of assignments that she gets, Rebecca has recently worked on illustrations for the official 'Twlight Guide' & has also illustrated soup packaging for Tesco's stores in the UK!

Below is a selection of her beautiful illustrations. You can find more of Rebecca's work on her blog!

ABSPD Module 3 / / Announcing Oysterbaby Live Brief!

We are so excited to share that Module 3 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design: 'Monetising your designs' features a live brief from Oysterbaby, to design patterns for their gorgeous reversible bamboo fibre baby slings!

Oysterbaby is an inspiring young company run by Kate Thorman, who will personally feed back on participants' responses to the brief. 

Module 3 also includes live briefs from other real companies - all will be revealed in class. We have a brilliant track record of course alumni being signed by the companies who provide the live briefs for class, so this is a fantastic opportunity to get your work in front of a real company (& someone may even get a deal from it!) 

What are you waiting for? There is still time to squeeze in to Module 3 here. 

And if that wasn't enough, we also have a live brief for Module 2 students!

If you are at the stage where you need to develop your brand identity, learn more about online & offline marketing, & create your professional identity, then Module 2 is for you. There is still to register for Module 2 if you hurry!

ABPSD Module 2 / / Announcing Create-Ologie Live Brief!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that Module 2 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design: 'Creating your professional identity' will feature a live brief from Jo Packham's delicious new site Create-ologie. The brief will be to design fabric to be featured on one of the products in their online catalogue. Jo Packham will personally feedback on the work, & will choose one design to be produced as Spoonflower fabric, & used in a styled photoshoot for the stunning magazine Where Women Create! Fancy having a go? Take this brilliant opportunity & register here.

If you are at the stage where you need to develop your brand identity, learn more about online & offline marketing, & create your professional identity, then Module 2 is for you. There is still time for you to squeeze into Module 2 here.

And we also have an exciting live brief announcement for Module 3! If you feel ready to start monetising your designs, Module 3 is for you. There is still time to sign up so register for Module 3 here!

USA Work Trip / / Boston & Baltimore

Happy Thursday everyone, I hope you have all had a fun week so far! Today I am super excited to announce that I'll be visiting, working & teaching in the USA very soon! Having only visited two places in the US so far (Las Vegas & New York). I'm thrilled that I will be able to discover both Boston & Baltimore for work, I LOVE MY JOB!

Firstly I'll be working with & hanging out with the talented team at the Lilla Rogers studio & I hope to squeeze in a little sight seeing around the wonderful city of Boston. This will be the first time that I will meet the team in person (since joining the studio at the end of last year). I'm so EXCITED!

After a five night stay in Boston I'll be flying to to Baltimore to teach workshops & deliver a public lecture at MICA Maryland Institute College Of Art. It was such an honour to be invited by the talented Rebecca Bradley (Rebecca is also one of Lilla's artists & a fantastic tutor) to teach at such a wonderful college.

"MICA has become the leader in the education of artists and designers by fostering a community of talented, creative individuals committed to redefining the boundaries of art and design and to expanding their own vision and perspective through rigorous study.

• Ranked in the top 10 of MFA programs in the visual arts, #3 in Graphic Design, and #5 in Painting/Drawing by U.S. News & World Report
• In each of the past six years, MICA has been listed as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars among specialty schools by The Chronicle of Higher Education, and was ranked No. 1 in 2008-09 and in 2012-13
• Named one of the top two studio arts programs in the country by Parade magazine
• Listed among the 25 best U.S. design schools by ID magazine
• Selected as a top 20 U.S. design school by GDUSA magazine
• The Princeton Review named MICA a "Best Northeastern College" each of the last seven years
• Enrolled 100% of Presidential Scholars in visual arts and photography who selected an art college in 2008 and 2012—consistently enrolls the most Presidential Scholars in visual arts
• Founded in 1826—the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art in the nation"

Stay tuned as I will be sharing news, images & blog posts from the trip along with writing a full article in issue six of MOYO magazine.

(The public lecture will be held at 12.15pm on Thursday the 24th of October, Graduate Studio Center Auditorium). 

 

Beautiful examples (above) from Rebecca's portfolio

Licensing Illustration: Industry Insights For Success

I am very excited to announce that today Rachael will be speaking at 'Licensing Illustration: Industry Insights For Success', an amazing one-day event to answer all those illustration questions! The event includes insight into 'applying and licensing illustration work across a range of products and surfaces'.

Rachael is part of an industry expert panel including; the wonderfully talented (& one of our design heroes) paper-cut artist Rob Ryan, Vicki Willden-Lebrecht of Bright Art Licensing Agency, illustrator Helz Cuppleditch & lawyer Robert Lands. 

The event has been organised by the Association of Illustrators (AOI), which was established in 1973 as a non-profit association dedicated to protecting, encouraging & promoting illustrators & artists.

Open to working illustrators as well as illustration students the event looks to be well attended! Find more information here.

Rachael is super excited & honoured to be speaking at the event so wish her luck!

Kelly :)

Rob Ryan - Illustrator, Paper-cut Artist

'Quirky Mushrooms' by Rachael Taylor - Surface Pattern Designer, Illustrator, Design Studio

Showcased at Surtex 2013

Vicki Willden-Lebrecht - Managing Director & Founder

Bright Art Licensing Agency 

Helz Cuppleditch - Illustrator

Robert Lands - Lawyer