Spotted at the V&A

Look what I spotted in the V&A giftshop this weekend...my 'I love getting lost with you' cards from Ohh Deer! If you want to bag one yourself (or a print) head over here, there's 20% off at the moment too as it's Ohh Deer's second birthday today!  http://ohhdeer.com/artists/emmeline-pidgen

Design Manchester 13 - conference review

Thursday 31st October saw the Design Manchester 13 festival come to a height with a half day conference full of talks, portfolios and interesting issues centering around the theme of longevity in design.

Some of the creative industry's top dogs came together in the gorgeous Manchester Town Hall to discuss these themes and give their takes on what makes design timeless both aesthetically and ergonomically.  There was a full crowd in attendance, students and professionals alike and it was great to see such enthusiasm for the creative arts and the issues surrounding it in this area.

I was lucky enough to win a ticket to these talks from Design Week who were sponsoring the event (thanks to them!); and it was fab to see the G F Smith paper team supporting another brilliant creative event after they also sponsored the Artcrank Manchester exhibition I was recently involved in.  

The schedule consisted of a number of talks from the likes of Andrew Shoben from Greyworld (great interactive public design), Kate Moross (super trendy "jack of all trades" illustrator, film-maker and music designer), Ant and Ed from Colophon (a great little type foundry who I really admire for not taking shortcuts), Nat Hunter and Mark Shayler from The Great Recovery (founders of a really interesting project promoting design change to save the world) and music graphic designer Mark Farrow in conversation with Angus Montgomery of Design Week.

I found Nat and Mark's talk particularly interesting; they really had strong ideas on the practical uses of design that lasts, as well as products specifically designed with a view to creating items with a life cycle (easier disassembly, reuse and recycling) rather than a standard linear model in today's consumer-orientated world ("Buy this new shiny thing now! Throw away your old one that still works! Because you can!").  I do feel passionately that we as designers really do have a responsibility and a part to play in designing with these issues in mind.  As a book illustrator it can often be hard, but I have jumped at the chance to work with publishers who have pledged to plant a tree for each book sold and I'm always keen to work with and support environmentally friendly companies and causes.  Find out more about their cause at greatrecovery.org.uk

I really enjoyed Kate Moross's talk, out of all the guest speaking designers I feel that her work is in the most similar vein to mine as her projects often cross into illustration.  It was upbeat and interesting, touching on the idea of the longevity of careers and adapting to survive in the industry.  It did seem though that at some points that Kate was advocating the idea of working for free, as she had done in her early career, and I have to say that I really do disagree with that. 

I know that there have been people who's success has been based on that one client who saw that piece they did for free, and that in some cases it works for them and might really be worth it, but in the bigger picture I feel it's a problem.  The issue is that a lot of clients who can actually afford to pay designers know that they can get illustration work for free, so why would they ever pay a fair wage? If there will always be a stream of illustrators willing to work for "exposure" then the pool of fair-paying clients will reach some seriously low levels, and aren't those the clients we're all aiming for in the first place?  How can we ensure the longevity of a fair creative industry and our own careers if there are so many clients that don't need to pay you for your work? 

The creative industries are so over-saturated as it is, we need to work together to make sure we can all actually make a living out of our businesses and keep the very, very important creative sectors alive.  It's all too easy to feel like work in return for "exposure" or crowd-sourced competitions are your only options as a graduate but it's not always the case, try to focus on building your portfolio and style yourself through mock-commissions and personal projects until the right commission comes along - there are clients out there who will pay you, and it's only fair.  

I feel that this is a really important issue that the design conference could have discussed more, especially with the longevity theme, but if you have any thoughts do comment and we'll have a chat ourselves!

There was a great little Q&A session at the end of the talks, with all the guest speakers as well as Peter Saville and professor David Crow. This, along with the slot just before it where Angus Montgomery interviewed Mark Farrow, gave the structure of the conference a nice shake up. It felt a lot more natural to have the speakers discuss together what longevity in design means, and to answer some of the questions from the audience (I did ask about the work for free issue!). 

I think sometimes in a big conference like this it's hard for the speakers to break away from being reliant on showing the portfolio, rather than getting really in depth about how each section might apply to the theme and the issues around it, I think this would be the case with most people - still, it was great to see a breadth of work from each speaker, especially from those in design fields slightly different from my own.

The Manchester Town Hall itself is an absolutely gorgeous building, with huge arches, lavishly painted ceilings and spiral staircases almost everywhere. It was pretty hard for me to resist the temptation to sneak around the corridors feeling like I was on some sort of quest. There was a great atmosphere at the conference, and we all gorged ourselves on brews and biscuits in the mid-conference break. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long at the after-conference social at Kosmonaut, but I think that would have been a nice opportunity to have a chat with both the speakers and attendee designers - let me know how it went!

Design Manchester 13 was a great opportunity to re-connect with the local design community and discuss some really important issues that affects all of us in the industry. Thanks so much to all the organisers, supporters, sponsors and attendees! I'm looking forward to the events next year!

New website coming soon!

A little sketch

Italian marketplace illustration

New Italian marketplace illustration! It was great for me to work a little differently and try out unusual compositions for this idea - I find it oh-so-hard to stay away from drawing faces sometimes!  Halfway through drawing my millionth tomato I did slightly regret my choices - but it's great for me to tackle food themes as well, I've been meaning to for a long time indeed.

I've been thinking a lot about the settings of my illustrations recently; working with vibrant places with bold colours, smells and sounds.  I've been seriously upping my vegetable intake lately (and heading to markets to buy them tends to be much more interesting than the supermarket!) I love the bustle of a busy marketplace - the colours and characters are fantastic!

What do you guys think? Do you want to see more work like this from me?

Emmeline

Win! 'One More Candle' picture book giveaway

Right guys!

It's not long now until the huge launch of the newest picture book I've illustrated: One More Candle.  In the run up to it's release on September 1st 2013, you can be in with the chance of winning a copy for yourself.

Together with the author Merry Susiarjo, we're offering up one gorgeous hardback edition and one shiny second prize paperback to two lucky winners anywhere in the world!

About the book:

Nola is just over a year younger than her sister Betty, and they decide to have one big, shared birthday party every year rather than each having a smaller one. But poor Nola gets upset that Betty always has one more candle than her, and fruitlessly seeks help from all the light-giving things she finds in the world outside. But just as she begins to accept the reality of their different ages, the solution comes as an enchantingly simple surprise. Emmeline Pidgen's authentic and imaginative illustrations bring this sweet and gentle picture book story magically to life.

It's had a ton of absolutely top-notch reviews across the board so far, so I'm incredibly excited for it's release! It was certainly one of the most fun (and relaxing!) commissions I've worked on in a long time, and I think that really comes through in the illustrations.  If you get hold of a copy (or if you're lucky enough to win one!) do let me know what you or your little'uns think.

How to enter:

It's easy peasy to enter through a variety of methods using the widget below. 
So tell your buddies! Best of luck!

Hello shoppers! (sneak peek)

Just a quick sneak preview at a few character designs I've been working on recently. You'll be able to see a few more of these super-shoppers very soon! Keep an eye out.

Up for grabs!

Just to let you know my 'Wild Ride' screenprint for the Artcrank show is now up for grabs in the 2022NQ online shop! Get your mits on a ltd edition, signed and numbered print with a portion of the profits going to Simply Cycling charity.

Get 'em here! http://shop.2022nq.co.uk/product/artcrank-emmeline-pidgen-wild-ride (or if you want to wait: in my shop mid-august)

Prints are a gorgeous bright Orange colour on slightly cream paper. 270gsm, A3 size- signed and numbered in pencil.

Kids and books

I have to say, seeing photos like this of kids on the other side of the world enjoying a book you've illustrated is SUCH a brilliant feeling.  It's not an easy job (seriously) but this sort of thing makes it worth it.

These pictures are from a great little article: Reading with Toddlers and Encouraging Positive Relationships over on OurEverydayThings blog.  It's got a nice little review of my next book One More Candle.  I'm super chuffed that the review focuses on how much the kids loved pointing out and finding all the little details in the illustrations - something that I really thought about when I was illustrating it.

Have a read of the article here: http://bit.ly/13us
One More Candle comes out 1st September 2013.

Artcrank Manchester exhibition

Last Friday saw the launch of the Manchester show from the worldwide art & bike project Artcrank!  Twenty-six local artists were invited to create a set of original screenprinted posters revolving around the themes of bikes, bicycle culture and the love of the ride.

The launch at 2022NQ was a seriously fun evening; with free drinks, DJ's playing tunes, live screenprinting and goody bags from Colorplan stocked full of papery-niceness.  

The place was packed and had a really great atmosphere.  All the prints on display looked absolutely awesome, it's always fantastic to be involved in local events and get to know the pools of talent in the area.  

With my poster I wanted to create an illustration with a fun and light feel to it - one for kids and adults, for people's homes.  I'd recently found a drawing of the leopard in an old forgotten sketchbook (yup, I have a lot of those) and that really inspired the idea.  I kept it simple, but with funny little plays like the size of the elephant on the penny-farthing, or the lion almost chasing the zebra on the tandem.  I had the prints screenprinted by the talented Savwo - I'd worked with him before in 2011 printing my Riot Clean Up charity screenprints, which came out amazingly - so it was great to see that these came out so well too!

Artcrank has had a number of shows worldwide since their 2007 debut in Minneapolis, but this was the first that had headed to the North of England at 2022NQ Manchester, and they got a really great response.  All the ltd edition posters were on sale for £30, with a portion of profits supporting Simply Cycling, a nonprofit organization that works to make cycling more accessible to people with disabilities.  The show continues until the 5th of August, with remaining posters soon to be on sale on the 2022NQ website.

Big thanks to Artcrank for organising the show, the sponsors Retrofuzz and G F Smith papers, 2022nq for having us and Savwo for printing my posters.  You guys are ace.

If you're interested in nabbing one of my ltd edition & signed prints for yourself I may have a few left after the show, so get in touch!

Books in Paris

I reworked this old illustration yesterday.  Sometimes it takes a while to be able to distance yourself from the work and view it critically.  I'm definitely a lot happier with it, and in a way it's nice to see that my working style has improved (well, I think so) within a year. Always learning!

The Design Week Awards 2013

Last week I headed down to London for the Design Week Awards.  I found out a few months ago that I'd been nominated for the Rising Star Award and I have to say, I was jumping around the flat that afternoon. 

The Rising Star Award seeks out the industry's hottest new designers and judges them on both their work and accomplishments in their careers, so it was an absolutely huge honour to be chosen by the judges.

The awards evening was fantastic, and I'll admit I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of industry hot-shots in the place (especially considering I didn't know a soul there when I arrived!).  Meeting the other Rising Star nominees Lydia Leith, Will Southward and Robin Howie; the guys from Magpie studio as well as the team from Studio Recruitment (who were sponsoring the award) was brilliant.  Unfortunately I didn't get to meet the winner Bethan Laura Wood as she couldn't be at the event, but huge congratulations to her!

The evening was hosted by Radio DJ Lauren Laverne, and I was a little taken by surprise to see my photograph shown on two giant screens when the Rising Star Award nominees were being announced.  In fact, I can safely say that I've never seen my face quite so big.  

Extravagant dinners were eaten, cocktails were sipped and fairground rides were ridden.  I even managed to win a pen on a fairground game, not bad eh?

The evening went by so quickly that I didn't get the chance to speak to quite as many people as I would like, it's a tricky thing to approach groups of people deep in industry conversation (it certainly felt like I was the only person who arrived on their own!).  If you were at the awards and I didn't get the chance to shyly say hello it would be great to hear from you.

Hopefully my nomination at the awards will lead on to some great new projects. I'm back at work now, the new book's finished and really looking forward to the next few months of my career. Speak soon!