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Hello! We’re looking for creative people to join our studio. We're in the New England Quarter near the train station. 

We have two studio spaces available:

Space 1: Available Feb

2x3m approx £185 PCM + deposit.  (All bills included – the space in the photo)

Space 2: Available end of March. 2x2m. £100 pcm + deposit. Can be used as either studio space or as storage space. (All bills included)

We have fibre broadband and a communal kitchen and eating area with sink, fridge and table. Both studios will be cleared and a black area for you to create your own working space. We're a mix of illustrators, painter and creative researcher. 

Please call 07812 929 048 or email separately to info@rhyswootton.com to find out more information and arrange a viewing. When contacting please tell us a bit about the work you do and include any web links.

Ideally we’re looking for people working in the creative industries to join us (artists, designers, writers etc) – but we’re open to hearing what you do. Please spread the word if you know someone who'd like the space.

Thank you

Rhys

We celebrate our 30th anniversary this year, which is a fantastic achievement worth celebrating. Over that time we have provided a continual programme of rich and diverse meetings, parties and social events as well as a website showcasing members’ portfolios. BIG has played a unique role in the lives of many Brighton illustrators, both professionally and socially and it’s been fun!

We’d love you to join us for a BIG celebration.

Share a complimentary drink and snacks. It’s your chance to offer feedback and suggestions for the future of the group or just have a drink with friends.

All are welcome. 

 
Wednesday 28 November
7.30pm
68 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL

The video and images linked below are from a recent project I worked on with a UK non-governmental organisation called ‘Rethinking Security’. I created a series of illustrations to help visualise points made in the video about the challenges of global security – how current strategies are perpetuating a climate of instability and what alternative strategies could be implemented to change things for the better.

In addition to the video, the illustrations will be used in social media posts and in supporting documentation, intended to raise awareness and encourage discussion by individuals and other organisations.

Over many years most of my design work has been in the not-for-profit sector and collaborating on projects such as this are a real privilege and something I really enjoy. If other illustrators have not thought of working in this sector (sometimes referred to as the ‘third sector’) then I highly recommend it.

Rethinking Security is a network of organisations, academics and activists who share a concern about the current approach to national security in the UK and globally – it aims to promote a different approach to progress on a range of progressive agendas for peace, justice and ecological sustainability.

You can find out more about Rethinking Security on its website

You can follow Rethinking Security on Twitter

You may have noticed a friendly invasion of wonderful giant snails around the city. Have you wondered how they got there and who designed them? 

BiG members Phil Weyman (Mister Phil), Guy Parker-Rees and Jo Moore will be joined by Danni Smith and Martha Mitchell to discuss how they became snail artists for The Martlets Snailspace trail. Find out about the whole process from design submission to final installation. Hear about the particular demands of painting a large 3D snail in 30 degree heat! An informal panel discussion with your chance to hear about the experience directly from the snail artists. The artists come from diverse backgrounds and experiences and have been brought together for the Snailspace project.

All welcome. Members free as always;  £2 for non-members

Wednesday 3 October 2018 - 7.30pm

68 Middle Street

About 40 kids between 7 and 11 years old will write their own poetry based on the theme of the Brighton Festival, and perform the poems in the Jubilee Library in May with local illustrators using a visualiser to project the drawings onto a screen next to the children.  The audience of parents and library visitors is always a full house!  

Illustrators will be given a copy the poems in advance so they can get ideas going and make the show spontaneous but not too terrifying for the artists.  

It is hoped to give contributors £50-£100 for the gig. You can see poems, photos, animations and illustrations from the last three years here: www.rapnrhymers.com and reply directly to Kay Walton at   heartsarts@outlook.com

A drawing exercise I like doing is to use a big marker pen or brush to draw really quickly straight onto a sheet of paper or in a sketchbook while watching a TV show or movie – without sketching anything in pencil first. I try and get something down really quick – maybe in just one or two minutes, using what I’m watching on screen as a springboard to making the drawing. It’s not an exercise intended to create a perfect likeness of the scene or characters I’m watching – it’s more about creating a fluid feeling while drawing – drawing without thinking.

One fun test was doing this while watching the live action Marvel Jessica Jones show on Netflix – I thought I’d try making some simple drawings of three of the key characters, but really you can do this watching anything.

My sketches of Jessica Jones (left in brushed ink) and 'Kilgrave' (right, in marker pen)

I would watch for a while then when I saw something I liked visually, I’d start drawing and rewind and play the scene again, sometimes several times while I made several really quick drawings. Of course, you could pause the movie and concentrate on a single frame – that certainly makes it easier to draw what’s on screen accurately. But I find drawing while the movie is playing gives you a better sense of the character’s personality and dynamics of the scene.

My sketches of Luke Cage (left) and Jessica Jones (right) in marker pen

Jessica Jones (in brushed ink)

Adapting sketches to vector format

I often re-trace my pen and ink drawings in Adobe Illustrator so I can use them in larger designs or recolour them to suit whatever project I’m working on. This is great if you want to use the drawings at a very large scale or use parts of them for design layout with text and other graphics.

Because of the source material for the sketches I’d made while watching Jessica Jones is based on Marvel comic books, I decided to use my re-traced vector drawings as simple two and three colour images, reminiscent of brightly coloured and bold stereotypical comic book art. To do this I scaned the drawings first at a very high resolution (600dpi) and then used the Adobe Illustrator trace function – adjusting the trace settings appropriately to keep the final line art as close to the original as possible.

There are of course other was of achieving similar results – you could adjust the colours in Adobe Photoshop without retracing the drawing or even use the scanned drawings to make up screens for silk screen printing. But for speed and simplicity’s sake I focused on using Adobe Illustrator.

I’ve always liked political satire and satirical illustration and have fond memories of watching ‘Spitting Image’ on telly in the 1980s – the extreme (and sometimes mildly shocking) humour and visual style was exciting and cutting edge at the time. It was savage and pulled no punches.

Photo from the ITV Spitting Image TV series (which ran from 1986 – 1996)

I wanted to start experimenting more with topical subjects – something I don’t often do in my illustration work, but is commonplace in my graphic design work with international NGOs, charities and other clients, dealing with social issues such as the impact of HIV/AIDS, conflict, human rights and access to health care – so I felt I had plenty of scope for choosing a subject area.

Deciding to focus on the NHS and specifically, the issue of privatisation seemed both currently topical (frankly, when isn’t it!) and something I personally felt strongly about. So with a topic decided, I then started to think about what sort of illustration I would make and which of my three illustration styles would be best suited. I decided that it would be an editorial illustration – so something that would be used in a printed magazine or online news blog. Having looked at a number of articles about privatisation of the NHS, I decided on one with a great headline title: ‘What were you doing while the NHS was being destroyed’. I also knew I wanted to use caricature – something suitable for the subject matter and also something inspired by my memories of 1980s Spitting Image TV series.

NHS Rampage!

For some reason the classic 1980s video arcade game ‘Rampage’ kept popping in my head. For those readers not familiar with ‘Rampage’ – it was a (very popular) ‘smash ‘em up’ type of game where you play a giant monster (giant ape, giant lizard, giant wolf) let lose on a city – destroying the buildings and causing mayhem – a bit like King Kong, Godzilla or those 1950s B-movies where an oversized squid or lizard turns up and tears down famous landmarks.

From top left to bottom right: original 1980s Rampage arcade game / Rampage movie poster / 'It came from beneath the sea b-movie poster / One of my Pixel Love Art greeting card designs.

It was usually a multi-player game so you and a group or your mates would crowd around the video arcade cabinet and each play a different monster at the same time. If you’re not familiar with the game then you may have heard of (or even seen) the recent movie ‘Rampage’ – based on the arcade game. I thought of a few different ways this could be done but I decided on using my ‘Pixel Love Art’ style of illustration, which is heavily influenced by early video and computer games.

Creating caricatures

I thought using my Pixel Love Art style would also provide some interesting possibilities for creating caricatures of politicians to feature in the illustration – turning them into the giant monsters based on those featured in the original arcade game. However, as I’d also decided that my version of Rampage was going to feature four monsters and not just the original three, I had to create a completely new monster for Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – and for some reason decided that a vampire bat would be appropriate. I also took some serious creative liberty concerning how I interpreted the monsters as well – for example, Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade, is portrayed as a giant ‘were fox’ instead of the giant wolf featured in the original game.

Examples of the four caricatures I created for the NHS Rampage illustration.

I also decided to focus on key Conservative politicians as the article I was using for the basis of the illustration focused largely on their policies, but also because most people’s understanding of, and experience of public service privatisation, is connected to the Conservative party. Also, privatisation policies are often thought of as specifically relating to 1980s Conservative policies – and this seemed to fit well with my decision to use the 1980s Rampage arcade game as a vehicle for the illustration.

Examples of some rough initial sketches for the NHS Rampage caricatures.

Mocking up layout for editorial illustrations – why it’s useful and helps promote your work.

I created a simple mock-up of a ‘magazine’ layout for the illustration to see how they could be used in context with the article and also for some graphics that could potentially be used online as social media or blog posts. This helped to see if any further revisions were needed to the draft illustration. I decided that it did need some revisions to help it fit better in the spaces I’d made available in the article layout, and there were a number of elements I didn’t use, as well as details I chose to focus on and blow-up. For example, in one daft of the illustration I included the ghostly spectral image of Margaret Thatcher in the background to signify the legacy of 1980s privatisation policies and their continued prevalence today. However, in retrospect, I decided to drop that aspect of the illustration, as it seemed to be one element more than the illustration really needed.

Final mock-up of the NHS Rampage illustration with the article.

For the magazine and graphic mock-ups I used Adobe InDesign – an application I’m very familiar with as I use it all the time in my graphic design work, but I also use it for laying out some of my illustrations as well. InDesign is the industry standard tool for page design layout, used for book, magazine, poster and other design layout the world over.

An alternative version of NHS Rampage including the spectral Margaret Thatcher in the background.

If you’re creating illustrations for your portfolio (as this NHS Rampage illustration is intended for mine), then I think it’s really important to show the illustration in context – whether it’s a book cover, magazine article, online article, product packaging or marketing material etc. This helps an illustrator really think about how their artwork can be used and is a useful exercise in developing design and concept skills. It also shows potential clients that you can illustrate for a specific format, product or purpose, rather than just creating a nice looking picture – but of course there’s nothing wrong in doing that either, but I think it really helps to think about how your artwork will be used.

Over the last year I've been redeveloping the illustrations and rules to a fantasy role-playing game I first created and published in 1992, called Faerie Wood. It’s based on and inspired by European folklore and faerie tales. It is a fun light-hearted game but also draws on the darker and scarier side of faerie tales.

I first developed the game in the late 1980s, back in the days when lots of small publishers and individuals were creating their own bespoke fantasy role-playing games, inspired by other, bigger publishers such as TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons. Faerie Wood was published by Pixie Publications, which I set up specifically with my editor to provide a vehicle for this new range of games. The initial publication of Faerie Wood enjoyed some modest success, positive reviews and a number of other game books were published.

Draft illustrations and designs for the new Faerie Wood character sheets
 

What is a fantasy role-playing game?

The most famous example of this type of game is ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ published by TSR that became very popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. For readers who are fans of recent TV shows such as ‘Stranger Things’ (on Netflix) set in the 1980s, you will know that Dungeons and Dragons is referenced a lot during the show.

Dungeons and Dragons was broadly developed from the hobby of table top war games – where two players would command opposing armies (such as in The Napoleonic Wars of the 19th Century) replicated on a large table with small painted miniatures.

Draft map for the new edition of Faerie Wood

But TSR took this idea and shrunk the focus of their game to one where a group of players would play the roles of individual soldiers, then went even further by making the ‘battles’ and 'adventures' take place in fictional worlds and stories involving knights and dragons. Eventually these ‘role-playing’ games evolved into much more sophisticated games resembling a form of shared group story telling and a board game – each player taking the role of a ‘character’ in the story.

What is Faerie Wood about?

In my Faerie Wood Game, players take on the roles of Faerie Folk and can choose from 10 core races including Gnomes, Tree Elves, Fauns, Fire Nymphs, shape changing Kobolds and Deerfolk (2 foot tall centaur-like creatures that resemble woodland deer).

Concept illustration for a 'Root Elf' from the new edition of Faerie Wood

The players explore the magical world of Faerie Wood, travel to the land of humans, cause mischief, defeat evil Witches, terrorise humans and develop magical powers and abilities. In addition they must decide whether they become agents of Light or Dark magic, assisting the forces of good or evil in the World.

Faerie Wood game blog

I started a blog last year as a way of documenting Faerie Wood’s journey into the world of modern gaming and it features some of my new concept illustrations as well as some of my original illustrations from the first edition published in 1992. The blog also includes lots of fun facts about faerie folk and other material that inspired the game.

If you like fantasy or folk-inspired artwork, or games, then check out the Faerie Wood blog and let me know what you think.

Concept illustration for a 'Flower Elf'' from the new edition of Faerie Wood

Concept illustration for an 'Apple Tree Elf' from the new edition of Faerie Wood

Concept illustration for a 'Deefolk' from the new edition of Faerie Wood

All illustrations and design © Garry Robson 2018.

Note: the photo at the top of this blog post is of the original edition of Faerie Wood published by Pixie Publications in 1992.

A new book project of illustrations that started in Brighton...

Draw The Line: 
114 international comic artists illustrating positive political actions anyone can take to make the world a better place.
Artists include Steven Appleby, Hannah Berry, Kate Charlesworth, Joe Decie, Hunt Emerson, Kate Evans, Karrie Fransman, Lucy Knisley, Dave McKean, Fumio Obata and Nye Wright among many others. (Full disclosure:  I contributed two illustrations to the project myself)
DTL started as a free-to-view website (still online at https://drawthelinecomics.com) and now it’s entering its next exciting phase as a 144-page hardback. 
You can help make this a reality and get your hands on some unique comics swag at https://unbound.com/books/draw-the-line/
All profits go to the charity Help Refugees (https://helprefugees.org) – a pioneering charity leading a new movement in humanitarian aid, with more than 80 projects across Europe and the Middle East. So when you pledge for the book, you will already be taking a positive political action to help people who need it most.
When you pledge you also get the option of exclusive rewards that include bookplates, original artwork and prints of the Draw The Line images, plus the opportunity to have one of the artists come and run a workshop or give a talk for you and your friends! 
Draw The Line is the essential toolkit for anyone feeling powerless in the current political environment... and it’s a fun read, too!  
Pledge today (and if you can't pledge, please help us reach the target by spreading the word)  https://unbound.com/books/draw-the-line/

"The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Illustrator"

We are delighted to welcome Alan Baker to talk about his illustration journey from his start in the mid-seventies to the present day, showing the changes within the industry via a number of his commissions in publishing, advertising and editorial, plus a few oddities thrown in. He will also present some short stop-frame animations and gif animations, including a vast illustration to cover the front of a Knightsbridge office block.

As you will know if you've heard Alan speak before, we can look forward to wonderful anecdotes and he'll be telling us about both disasters and good fortune; he is deliberately not just using this to show off his best work. So all in all, he will be showing a route through the ever-changing industry -- "with me still hanging on " as he says! There will be ample time for Q and A, too.  

Wednesday 28 February
Time: 7.30pm 
Venue: 68 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Come join us at the William the Fourth pub on Church St in Brighton on Thursday the 25th of January from 8pm. Just an informal chance to meet some of your fellow illustrators over a pint!

Paid project offers for illustrators and artists

Dear members,

We have received information about two local art projects which are detailed below. If you have queries about either project please contact the organisations directly.

Snailspace Brighton & Hove

Following the huge success of their Snowdogs by the Sea Snailspace are going to continue to raise awareness and funds for the Martlets Hospice with their Snailway. In 2016 they succeeded in bringing together the artistic, business and local communities who took the Snowdogs to their hearts, and they will be building on this with their beautiful Snails.

During autumn 2018 Snail sculptures will be popping up throughout the city, decorated by talented artists with the support of philanthropic local businesses. Get on board and submit your designs for the chance to take part in this spectacular city-wide art installation!

Designs are welcome in any art form - traditional to new media, fine art to illustrations, graffiti and mosaic. Whatever the art form, they’re keen to add drama, fun and a creative flourish to the Snailspace sculpture trail. If you are commissioned, you will receive an honorarium of £800 upon completion of your artwork, plus association with a major art initiative.

How to apply:

If you’d like to design a snail – or two! – download the artist pack to find out more about what’s involved.

Closing date for entries is 30/03/18.

Artist Inspiration Evening at Phoenix Gallery on Thursday 18TH January

This is your opportunity to meet the giant snails! Come, see and touch these unusual canvases and find out everything you need to know about how to submit a design and how the artist commission process works. Hope you can join us, reserve your place here.

Royal Sussex County Hospital

An Art and Wayfinding project for the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital is currently recruiting 12 artist / illustrators (with a preference for local artists and illustrators). The project is for part of CONNECT, the public art programme. 

The project requires high quality and locally relevant themed artworks for the new hospital. These will be produced as large-scale feature wall prints. These feature wall prints will act as visual way-markers or landmarks. Placed at key junctions – lift lobbies and departmental entrances – they will support intuitive navigation as well as provide visual distraction that is uplifting and welcoming.

How to apply:

For more information about the Art and Wayfinding project take a look at the artist brief and supporting document. Artist design fees range from £1,750 to £5,500 depending on the number and sizes of illustrations required. Applications should be made through Submittable.

The deadline for applications is Monday 19th February.

Please remember to mention BiG when responding to projects and work opportunities.

Kind regards
BiG

BiG November Event
IS NOW FULL!

Please note that the RSVP for this event is now closed as all attendee spaces have been filled.

Wednesday 29th November:
Time: 7.30PM - 10.30PM
Venue: 68 Middle Street, Brighton, BN1 1AL
Venue website

Dear members,
 
We are excited to announce this month’s BiG event features two great illustrators – Vicky Woodgate and Neil Gower. Both have recently published illustrated books and will be talking about these as well as their experience of working as freelance artists and illustrators.
 As is the case with all BiG events, this is also a great opportunity to meet and catch-up with other BiG members as well as to meet new faces. There will also be free drinks for early arrivals!

Vicky Woodgate

Vicky has been a commercial artist for over 20 years. She has travelled the globe working as a scenic artist in the tv, film and theme-park industry and later moved into illustration. Her biggest mural to date was a whopping 700 metres, created for a Universal Studio Water Park in Spain – the size of a football pitch!

She then went on to illustrate for publishing (education and non fiction), editorial for magazines and newspapers and images for design and advertising campaigns.

Recently Vicky has moved into children’s book publishing as a writer and illustrator, her first book – Urban Jungle, the huge city map book is out in the Autumn of 2017, published by Big Picture Press, stemming from her passion for wildlife and travel – what’s not to like, maps and animals! She currently has two more books in development, the next one – A World of Birds is due out in 2018.

Vicky Woodgate's website

Neil Gower

Neil is an internationally acclaimed graphic artist, working in a wide range of media and styles. Over the past 30 years his clients have included most major publishing houses in the UK & US, Faber & Faber, Penguin, Transworld and magazines such as The New Yorker, The Economist and Vanity Fair. He spent 10 years as Contributing Artist to Conde Nast Traveler in New York. He has also recently engaged in private commissions for Raymond Blanc and Sir Roy Strong.

Neil’s recent Illustrated book, written by Alex Preston is called As Kingfishers Catch Fire, a stunning exploration of birds in literature from Ted Hughes to Ovid. It is a book to love and to hold, to return to again and again, to marvel at the way that authors across the centuries have captured the endless grace and variety of birds.

Neil Gower's website

See you there!

Best wishes, BiG

Newsletter image by Neil Gower

I'll be selling at the next Bright Craft Fair!

Lots of local artists & makers.

Illustration / Craft / Design / Gifts / Jewellery / Christmas Ideas

Saturday 11th November, 11am - 5pm.

Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton, BN1 1EY.

See you there!

Scott (Manic Minotaur) manicminotaurshop.co.uk

Bright Craft Fair Facebook Event

Volunteer opportunity for illustrators to work with Brighton children’s charity

Little Green Pig is a Brighton-based children's creative writing and mentoring charity that run 'Storymaking Workshops'. Volunteers work with groups of children to write a collaborative story. Illustrators work alongside with the collaborative story making, drawing the things the children come up with. It's a lot of fun, and the children really get a kick out of seeing their stories come to life before their eyes.

The level of commitment is up to the individual  - a workshop usually lasts about an hour. No particular experience required, but an interest in working with children / young people and the confidence to draw live in front of them is important.

For more information please contact Catherine O'Sullivan at Little Green Pig directly:

• Email: catherine@littlegreenpig.org.uk
• Website: https://www.littlegreenpig.org.uk/

Brighton Illustration Fair 2017

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October
Time: All day from 10am
Venue: University of Brighton gallery spaces & Sallis Benney Theatre.
Venue website

Dear members,

We are excited to let you know that the Brighton Illustration Fair (BIF) is here again! Two days of guests, exhibitors, workshops, screenings, talks, illustration, animation, printing, comics, prints, zines, apparel and much more!
 
There is a weekend full of guests including David Shrigley, Tuesday Bassen, Jordy Van Den Nieuwendijk, Brie Monroe, Akvile Magicdust, Breakdown Press and Brighton selected guest Lucy Sherston, to name just a few.

Ticket to the main festival includes access to free workshops, exhibitor’s rooms and non-payable talks.

Buy tickets on Eventbrite

See more about this event on the Brighton Illustration Fair website and Facebook.

BiG October Event: CANCELLED

Thursday 26th October

Dear members,

Unfortunately we have needed to cancel the Six by Six event scheduled for Thursday 26th October.

Best wishes, BiG

Newsletter illustration by Amy Rogers