CAMBERWELL COLLEGE OF ARTS / CCW BA [HONS] ILLUSTRATION PRIMER / 3RD YEAR COURSE PROJECT / UNIT 10 / 22.06.

2011 Introduction: The Third Year is an opportunity to develop a body of work that describes your interest, ambitions and professional potential as an illustrator /creative practitioner. Through Units 9 [context], 10 and 11 you will identify areas of personal interest through the personal, course and external projects, gain an understanding of the contexts for your practice and work towards the development and production of a professional portfolio. Over the previous two years you have undertaken a structured and productive course that guides /encourages you through a series of experiences defining the subject, introducing you to key aspects of the theory and subject history and giving you a solid understanding of the fundamental, practical principles that underpin illustration practice. The third year is the opportunity to bring that knowledge, excitement, curiosity, skill together through a set of resolved, well executed, innovative, playful and ambitious projects. Your way of researching and developing ideas is a critically important part of the Third Year experience. This primer is intended to help kick start that process. Research for practitioners can mean many things and as illustrators we are naturally fed by content that exists outside of us. Research should = the gathering of abstract information, facts, stories, ideas, opinions but importantly research for us should also be about production. This primer is therefore intended to ask you to make work as part of that process of research and the development of an idea. Primary research is about the production of original material, in other words things that you have generated. Whilst this can refer to written thoughts and ideas, as a visual, creative practitioner the emphasis should be on producing and acquiring visual matter. Finally, the Third Year is the time when you move towards becoming more independent, self-sustaining practitioners. Do not be afraid to seek out solutions and answers to questions yourself. Have faith in what you know and what you can do and draw upon the experiences you have had already, work hard and have fun! Good luck.
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SELECT ONE OF THE PRIMER TASKS TO COMPLETE OVER THE SUMMER.

PRIMER TASKS: 1. WALK A project which encompasses many different approaches to the city, its places and people by walking, thinking, writing, drawing, photographing, filming, collecting, recording, listening. To think, make, do: Choose one small part of central London and make it yours by researching something of the histories of the area, its architecture, character and people. Start the process by looking at these resources: London Walks / http://www.londonfootprints.co.uk/walkslist.htm Iain Sinclair / http://www.iainsinclair.org.uk/ Museum of London / http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk British Museum / http://www.britishmuseum.org/ British Library (particularly the map room) http://www.bl.uk/ Local museums By the end of the summer you should aim to have substantial [at least a sketchbook] visual material that you have originated. You should be clear about what you are going to say through the work, i.e. what your story is. You should be able to describe the project concept in 1 or 2 sentences and you should have enough research material to begin the development of ideas in relation to the brief from the first day back in the college.
Other references /thoughts: London, City of Disappearances, Iain Sinclair London, The Biography, Peter Ackroyd Pyschogeography Walter Benjamins Arcades Project http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674008021 The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino Guy Debord and ideas of the drive in the Situationist International Anthology. Historic fiction: Dickens novels such as David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Tale of Two Cities etc

Films:

Contemporary fiction: Brick Lane, Monica Ali White Teeth, Zadie Smith Unlundun, China Miville Saturday, Ian McEwan The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Muriel Spark Absolute Beginners, Colin MacInnes Olivier Kugler Paul Hogarth Blow Up, Antonioni (fashion photographer/60s London) London and Robinson in Space, Patrick Kieller Up the Junction, Peter Collinson (1968, set in Clapham Junction) Shopping, Paul W.S.Anderson (1994) The London Nobody Knows Norman Cohen [1969] Crash David Cronenburg [1996]

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2. BOOK A straight forward Illustration project that asks you to look at narrative, character, mood, tone and pace To think, make, do: Read two of the books from the list images and gather research/resource the summer period. By the end of the summer you should substantial [at least a sketchbook] that you have originated. You will at the beginning of the year but at should have a substantial amount of to work with.
Please see book list.

and produce materials over aim to have visual material be fully briefed that stage you visual material

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3. PLAY LEARN An interactive learning project that asks you to produce an object, experience or thing that teaches an audience something concrete To think, make, do: Select one of the subjects for research from the list below and investigate it remorselessly the aim by the end of the summer should be to have produced and gathered AND UNDERSTOOD as much about the subject as possible. You should be able to simply, clearly and factually explain it. By the end of the summer you should aim to have substantial [at least a sketchbook] visual material that you have originated. Subjects: Game Theory The Aurora Borealis The Offside Rule in football The Human Digestion System Black Holes
Other references /thoughts: Green Porno with Isabella Rossilini Johnny Kelly [The seed, film] Bruno Munari Heath Robinson Der Lauf der Dinge [ Fischli and Weiss] Edward R Tufte Paul Rand Galt Toys [60s] Friedrich Froebel [designed the modern kindergarten system] Kolb [pedagogic theorist] Ken Robinson [see TED talks] TED talks Lizzie Towndrows Bear Jimmy Patricks tectonic machine Katie Wheelers tentacle Jean Tinguely

Panamarenko Allofus UVA Jason Bruges Studio The Light surgeons John Maeda 8VO and Hamish Muir http://www.howstuffworks.com All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace Adam Curtis [2011]

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Make Work! Research is a fundamentally important part of the Third Year process. You need to record everything that you have read, looked at and referenced. So remember to keep a Bibliography and maintain it in the Harvard standard [see notes, this is mandatory for the Unit 9, 10, 11 submission]. If you start this process now your assessment hand-ins will be much more straightforward. Drawing, making, photographing, reading, experimenting, testing = research. Make something every day. Having something that you have produced in front of you, however small or large will be a spur. Production allows ideas to flourish and grow! You will always think that you have more time than you really do! Dont fall in to that trap and get caught out at critical points in the year. Hit your deadlines, be disciplined, be professional. Make a timetable and stick to it. Make lists, give yourself targets for output and achievement including places to visit and experience and things to produce in those places. Make reflection and evaluation a regular part of your output. Use your blogs [or equivalent] to record your research and development, take some time [5 minutes per day] to describe what is important, interesting and relevant about the material that you have seen and made.