Today Bryony and I went to see Jord and Dom (of Foursight). It's encouraging to see familiar faces making a name for themselves in the industry, and for the first time out of the college in their own studio!
It started well when they liked my portfolio folder; I've chosen a dark blue one that holds loose sheets of work, so people who view it can take it out/shuffle it around easily if they want to. It also meant I didn't have to worry about the order being too strict as making the work appear coherent with facing pages seemed a little challenging based on the body of work I've assembled so far.
Overall both Dom and Jord were very complimentary about it.
Jord asked how I constructed the image, (looking at my image for Life Stories), so it's good to know there's hopefully a bit of mystery about it, if the methodology of my illustration isn't immediately obvious. I pointed out that I was a little insecure about including my 8 x 8 work, as I feel the drawings are weaker than they could have been, but they thought it was still effective.
The piece that seemed to get the best reaction was Leon. I think this is easily the piece of work I would feel the most confident in showing off, because it shows my 'making' skills at their best. It seems to shine through how much I cared for and enjoyed creating this lion.
The final piece in my portfolio was 'Mini Monty', one of my first animal creations in this style. Again, I was tentative about the reaction I'd get about this because I was unable to get it photographed in the studio like the lion. But, as has been mentioned before when a graduate from our course had a look at my work, they quite liked how I had photographed him in a domestic context (with the kitchen for a background).
After they had looked at all the work in the portfolio, I asked if there was anything they thought shouldn't have been included, or wasn't very good. They couldn't pick out anything in particular to criticise. They thought that it showed off my two ways of working, and the main piece of advice was to continue making and producing images as much as possible, so that we will have plenty of strong work to choose from for our final portfolios when we graduate.
Although I'm happy it seemed to go very well, I am slightly concerned that my portfolio divides my work into two very separate ways of working. My made animals stand well on their own as sculptural pieces, but I am hoping to integrate my drawing and making together in a stronger way, so that neither aspect appears forced or incongruent next to the other. I think I am capable of doing this, I just need more work that proves it in my portfolio!
Another memorable point that Jord made was that we would find it easier to make good work if we do what we really want to do. This struck a chord with me as I have always felt I work the best when I am able to make a strong personal connection to a project...if I am able to see a way into something that makes me really care for it, then the ideas start coming and I treat it as something special. I felt this way especially when I created 'Mini Monty', my lion, my totem, my picture for Life Stories and my work for Little White Lies (which I will add to my portfolio as soon as I'm able).
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