Wednesday 6 May 2009

PRACTITIONERS

Damian Gascoigne v Otto Dettmer

I chose to compare these two designers as I feel that they are the most exciting of the speakers that we have had lectures from.
Both are illustrators/ graphic artists but from their talks it is clear that they have some differences as well as similarities. From a visual point of view, Ottos work is more print based, involving a lot of block colours, simple shapes, designs and some photography. Damian works more with line and his work involves a lot of sketching, drawing, and animation. Damian talked about how he works in a team and always has people to help and people that help him. He spoke about how the people around him, and people in general have quite a large impact and influence on his work. He enjoys working on projects with other people with different skills because the end result is always something exciting and something you could not have done individually. Otto on the other hand prefers to work alone, he told us how he didn't like the idea of people copying his work and he liked the space and the freedom of being alone to come up with original ideas and do exactly what he wanted.
Both artists are very much involved in recording everything that is going on around them because they both believe that ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. Damian spoke about how he never leaves the house without either a camera or a sketchbook and Otto explained how he just draws everything.
Both Damian and Otto spend a lot of time on their own personal work. Otto creates his own compositions and images which he puts into books whereas Damian creates sketchbooks of drawings, characters and other ideas with the intention of possibly turning them into animations. They both believe that you should be creating things all the time as an artist, this always comes in handy when you get a commission because you will have a lot of past work and ideas that you can look to for inspiration.
Damian and Otto have two very different personalities, and this comes across in the work they produce. Damian's animations are fast moving, funny, modern, cool and when he gave his talk he was loud, funny and someone who was openly excited by design. Otto was much more quiet and restrained, and the images that he creates are well thought out, sensible and planned.
Otto spoke about the fact that being an illustrator can be tough, sometimes not having any commissions or work and having to think of other ways to make money. He keeps all his previous illustrations on a website where he allows people to buy and reuse his old images at a reduced price as a way of making extra money. He told us that this idea is working out well for him as some companies do not have much money to spend on paying for illustrations or time to wait and so they can choose from his array of past work and use it immediately and cheaply. He spent a while telling us how much he could earn from his work and he also brought up the fact that art is a hard thing to put a price on so he often had to get in touch with the AOI to discuss pricing before he could give a quote for a piece of work. Damian did not say much about his commissions, although the did mention that he is a lot happier when he is given a very wide brief which allows him to work how he wants rather than being restrained by the criteria of a strict brief. He also mentioned though, that unluckily, this does not happen very often. Both designers are happiest when producing work that they enjoy and are interested in, Otto spoke about how quite often his briefs do not give him space to experiment and sometimes everything is set out and he simply has to put the pieces together. He said that this is very easy money but he doesn't feel like he is able to put any of himself into the work.
Otto stressed how important self-promotion is and even though he has been working as an illustrator for years, he still spends a lot of his spare time promoting his work through books and posters which he sends to companies that could possibly commission him to do work. Damian, in the past, has promoted his work through shows and gallery displays. One piece of work that he spoke about in quite some detail was 'the love books'. These sketchbooks/ diaries were turned into an animation which he projected onto an enormous book in an art gallery.
After listening to both talks, I have started to think about whether I would prefer to work in a team with other illustrators, or on my own as a freelance designer. Both have their advantages,  working freelance would give me more freedom to produce and promote the work I like but working as a team in a company would mean a steady income as well as having help there whenever you needed it. I thought that if you worked for a company you wouldn't get as much individual recognition but Damian Gascoigne is fairly well known and he started out working for a company. I guess it doesn't matter as much who you work with as long as the work you produce is good and you make sure to promote yourself well, I now know how important that is. Both talkers made me realise a lot about working in the industry. Beforehand I thought it was all easy and that the work would come to me but if you really want to make it as a designer or illustrator you have to work hard, keep producing your own work and promoting yourself and just live it rather than thinking about it as a nine to five job. 

No comments: