HiFest 2017
Brief: Produce an animation, zine to be featured as part of Hi Fest, along side getting involved with variable opportunities offered.
In its third year running Hastings Illustration Festival gathers together an array of creatives for a weekend of workshops, talks, exhibits and selling of work; this year offered a chance to get involved with Hi Fest through a variety of avenues. Possible opportunities to engage with, ranged from submitting or producing a new piece of work, creating a window mural, working as a volunteer and manning a stall space. I was very interested in helping run the stall space as well as the window mural, as it would offer interaction with the public and other creatives, in turn allowing opportunities to build contacts and gain an insight into the professional world.
In preparation for Hi Fest I was keen to produce some new work to exhibit and possibly sell. To start with I thought about creating a new short animation, however time didn't prevail; so I focused on making a lino-cut print in collaboration with my fellow course mate Charlie, alongside a series of illustrative christmas cards. We chose to work in lino-cut because we felt it was suitable for our subject matter of Hastings pier, but also it was a process that had become lost to myself, and in turn wanted to explore its potentials again. We settled on Hastings pier as a our inspiration, because we felt it was fitting for Hifest but also commercially we thought we could raise more money if it was a relatable image with the local event. The cat christmas cards I designed was an exploration of playfulness, I wanted a design that was enjoyable and original, but moreover would stand out on the stall to the customer.
The window display was a great experience to be apart of, the whole process was completely new to me, I had never drawn on a window before - so in preparation I practiced on our studio windows to familiarise myself with the logistics of it. I shared the window with two other students and between us, we felt it was appropriate to work in collaboration; so we sketched up some ideas and eventually settled for a christmas theme. We decided to approach the window with an element of freeness, we didn't want to be restricted to a set design as we wanted to inject our own personal styles instinctively on the day. The actual process of drawing live was unsettling to begin with as we had an audience, however on reflection it a refreshing mode of working. The final window mural is a fun and quirky collaborative piece, the two inside windows are my designs and depict a festive scene of decorative presents and santa’s!
The opportunities offered from Hi Fest 2017, enabled myself to work in collaboration but also to evolve my own personal illustration practice. I thoroughly enjoyed manning the CC stall, I gained and learnt a better understanding of the creative world both professionally and independently, through talking to fellow professional artist and designers but ultimately through engaging with the public; talking about works and ideas. Through including my own works and live drawing, I developed my visual experimental and exploration skills, but overall realised the potential opportunities you can make for yourself. My involvement in Hi Fest opened my eyes to a glimpse of what becoming a professional, artist, designer, illustrator or filmmaker is about, from producing the work to engaging with the public and allowing your work to communicate to a real audience.