PROFESSIONALPRACTICE

www.professional-practice.tumblr.com

FINN O’BRIEN

MMXI

Fearof

failure

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything”

Tyler Durden - Fight Club

Failure is my greatest achievementI have so often been restricted by my own success; once you succeeded you never want to fail again. The fear of failure is something that I have been trying to remove from my practice for a long time. I find that I cannot start or finish a piece for fear of messing it up, the result being a half realised image, that hasn’t been pushed or developed. A ‘safe’ image. This is neither success nor failure, but a disappointing middle ground.My goal for this final project was to put more of my personality and character into the imagery, create a unique voice for myself and push the work so that it is more visually stimulating but on attempting this I was always confronted by the prospect of failing. Only when I decided to embrace failure did the work start to develop. In many ways the act of failing would be to make a mistake, but in seeking to put more of my own character into the work this so called mess up would be a success. What is more natural than a rectified mistake? A scribble or a smudge, a messed up print or dripped ink. These so called failures all create an image, forcing my validation of failure to change.

Failure is also the strongest learning tool, and the steepest learning curve. I learn more form my mistakes then my triumphs; a successful image would be one that was completed to my expectations, in which case nothing was learnt or developed.

I have recently been producing work that is far out of my comfort zone, much more graphical work than usual and have been very lost at times. I feel like there is no direction, no goal, I cannot visualise the work that I want to do and it is terrifying. This is the moment that the greatest developments are made, having no direction to go is the direction to take, cutting free of all preconceived conceptions of ‘my work’ and free to produce anything… Even if it is all crap.The mistake becomes the work; the failure is not really a failure but a journey, complete with ups and downs, the key is to learn how to embrace the failure and carry on.

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Projects fail all the time because we unwittingly bake the end solution into our initial objective. Rather than enduring an uncomfortable (but highly necessary) period of ambiguity, we fall into the trap of limiting our creativity by setting a project goal that is too narrowly defined from the start. Mathers, A, Glei, J and Belsky, S

the99percent.com

PROMOTION&

PRESENTATION

“It’s not who you are underneath… It’s what you do that defines you”Batman Returns (2005)

Due to the Internet self promotion has never been easier, and presentation has never been more importantHaving an online presence is vital as the digital portfolio becomes more popular, and the digital promotional platforms increase. There are many social networks and forums to use as promotion of work, and getting my name on many of these platforms is a useful promotional tool.

Twitter@finnobrien

Blogfinnobrien.wordpress.com

Web sitefinn-obrien.com

All these platforms provide exposure for my work, to different people and in different ways. From the informal approach of Twitter and Blogs to a more professional LinkedIn profile and Web site. Self promotion is vital and giving the work as much exposure to as many people as possible is all important. Keeping Blogs current and fresh is key to showing off my developmental work, I consider my blog as an online sketchbook where ideas are explored and my thought process is obvious.

“It’s not about the end result (…) its the journey and the thought process that interests us”Luke Bonner – Thinking Juice.

LinkedInlinkedin.com/pub/finn-obrien

Flickrflickr.com/photos/finnobrien

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h o w D O T H E Y S E E M E ?I A M A B R A N D ®

Creating a concise online identity is important to keeping continuity across the multiple digital platforms.

"everyone gets Googled"Matt Desmier

Simple things like keeping my name consistent rather than using abbreviations or nick names, and having my name in the title of any web site url.

This all helps to create a brand image for myself, rather than a fractured identity diluted across the Internet. We are a community of visual people and will recognise and remember images rather than names faster so attaching my name to a logo helps that process.

Over the last year I have become more aware of the difference between physical work and its digital representation or printed reproduction.Presentation of work is just as important as its promotion and achieving a high quality representation of work is vital. I have been trying out different methods of photographing pieces that best shows off my work whilst also complimenting it. A lot of my physical work is highly textured, which is an integral element to my practice and identity as an illustrator. Texture is part of my ‘brand’, something that can be recognised as Finn O’Brien so I always try to make that clear or at least suggested in my promotional material.

self promotion after graduationgetting the job

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The plan:My book will act as my portfolio and promotional material. I will produce A5 coppies of the original and send them to different companies and individuals, via post and, where possible, in person to make the initial connection. I will approach design agencies and independant shops as well, widening my promotion from just deigners, who will be drowned by students promotional material.The book itself is very comercially viable, combigning my illustration skills with graphic tendancies, it spans both areas.

The A5 bookwill be printed on high weight paper, using the Risograph process provided by Ditto Press. This will mimic the screen printed original and help keep its image as a bespoke artists book. Keeping the promotion of my brand consistent and to a high quality. A high quality book like this will be more likely to be kept on a designers bookshelf aswell, so I will always be in the back of their mind. Keeping in peeples heads is crucial to getting jobs.

When talking to John MacFaul he suggested producing the book on monthly or bi-monthly editions. Keeping people interested and hungry for more work will get me work.On graduation this will keep me busy and focussed over the first few months, as I usually become distracted by other things, having a project will inspire motivation.

The books will be sent complete with a business card and fold out poster; the idea that at least one of these items will be kept and displayed; keeping 'Finn O'Brien' ever present in people's studios and offices.

"its a great book... but I want more" John MacFaul

contentover

appearance

" G e t t i n g t h e a r t ' r i g h t ' c o m e s o n ly a f t e r d e s pa i r w e a r s d o w n

a e s t h e t i c a m b i t i o n . . .

I n t h e c o n t i n u a l e d i t i n g p r o c e s s, e n t h u s i a s t i c a n d h o p e f u l r e s u lt s

u s u a l ly m u s t b e d i s c a r d e d.T h e a r t i s t o f t e n a b a n d o n s o r i s

a b a n d o n e d by t h e e x p l o i tat i o n o f h i s o w n c r e at i v e a e s t h e t i c s.

L e f t i n a s tat e o f d e s pa i r , n o w d i s a r m e d, a n i m a g i n at i v e

r e c o n s t r u c t i o n c a n o c c u r . "Robert Natkin (1993)

The destructive pursuit of the aesthetic

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Content is vitally important and should drive the work. Inform the aesthetic and construct the image, the backbone

of the image is the message.

My work is heavily influenced by content and theoretical research. I find that without a concise idea or theme behind the work I start to wonder and lack direction. This current project is all about the viewer’s interaction with the imagery and the body of work is heavily content driven. It is often very easy to get caught up in the aesthetic of a piece, moving elements millimetres around a Photoshop page, but I have learnt to step away from relying on computers to produce imagery. This frees me from the temptation of total accuracy, and often produces more interesting results. Photoshop is a tool and should be used as one, not an influence on the work.Aesthetic should be a natural process that develops from the content. Its only when all preconceived ideas of a final piece are removed that I am free to produce effective work, no longer distracted by the pursuit of the aesthetic.

I am very passionate about producing well designed, aesthetically pleasing imagery, as the bottom line is that if it looks bad, it wont be received. However learning to let the work evolve from the content is a hard skill to develop, but as Papanek said; our responsibilities are with content not aesthetic.

I often place the aesthetic before content, but this always produces hollow imagery, much like the Miss World Competition… Look great but nothing going on upstairs.

"Only a small part of our responsibility lies in the area of aesthetics" Victor Papanek (1971) - Design for the Real World

Anthony Burrell’s ‘OIL AND WATER DO NOT MIX’ posters are a good example of content informing aesthetic.

Using oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill he screen-prints the text, creating a beautiful sandy brown colour full of texture. This aesthetic was born from the idea of using oil to campaign against it; concept creating form.

paper jukeboxcollective

“paper jukebox... whats that?”Most people (present)

Paper Jukebox Collective Inspire, Create, Pay the Studio Rent

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I started up the Paper Jukebox Collective in November 2010. It is a group of illustrators with a wide range of skills and styles. I wanted the group to be diverse and different, both for business possibilities and creative input. It was my initial set up but we have evolved into a self sufficient group, each with their own specialities and interests, covering all bases from marketing to web site maintenance.

I initially wanted to get a group of us to work together on collaborative projects, using the 1st year as testing and development and then taking the collective to London after graduation. In a way it is a safety blanket, providing support after graduation to maintain productivity and inspiration; my biggest fear is loosing inspiration and being slowly crushed by the inevitable ‘day job’ to pay the rent.

A lot of the time in my work I find motivation an issue, and as a result of this get caught in a cycle of low inspiration and lack of belief in my own practice. This then has a snowball effect and produces low quality work, which in turn makes things worse!

Paper Jukebox provides a constant source of inspiration and determination, spurred on by the others in the group it’s like a springboard for work and productivity. It also acts as a small network spread between London and Bristol, and with 12 people that is a lot of possible contacts; increasing my potential client list 12x. Long term I want to see the group develop into a studio team, effectively being our own agency.

illustration&

my practice

“illustration is just artists selling out”

Unknown

illustration provides an opening to everything

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Only pursuing the ‘Illustration’ path would be both naive and stupid, financially and personally. I believe that Illustration provides me with a wide avenue of choices; and this is just the start of my education in the field. It is very hard to make a living from illustration, and many people burn out or become disillusioned with the job after not too long.The problem with illustration is that the lucrative work is very rarely your own, but has been poked and prodded from all angles by men in suits until your original idea has been replaced by a mainstream advertising campaign.

Illustration as a discipline is diverse and fluid; spanning the gap between art and graphics. My style recently has become quite ‘graphic’ in appearance; interestingly I think ‘illustration’ as an entity has moved in that direction as well, (which was highlighted at the recent Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House, London), leaving behind the flamboyant swirls and curls to be replaced by an increasingly simple and bold appearance. Personally I think this reflects the economical and political climate we find ourselves in; gone are the flourishes of the economic boom and as we all tighten our wallets the mood of design has changed; more considered and bold, strong in the face of tough times ahead.

I will continue to produce work that I want to, and not be tempted to follow trends or attempt to mimic others, as if the work isn't totally yours it will lack depth and devotion. But at the moment I will ride the 'popular style' wave.

I have always promoted myself as a CREATIVE as opposed to illustrator, and am looking to diversify my practice beyond the impressions of illustration.

On moving to London I will be looking to work in many different creative fields and looking to push my own practice.

Keeping inspired and motivated is key to my personal success, and knowing what I am like I need to be experiencing and trying everything. Illustration is only a small part of my ability and exploring the other sides will keep pushing me to develop. I am not happy unless I am being tested and succeeding in what I do. This is both good and bad as I can become very closed and concentrated on my own work, whilst it gets the job done it also limits my experience and in turn my future development.

Keeping a distance from my work and myself is important, as when work goes bad I become very demoralised. Finding the balance between placing my character in the work and still maintaining the detached critical eye is crucial for my own development. I too often get dragged into work and forget the outside world.

Inspiration is everywhere, and often the best inspiration is as far away from ‘illustration’ as possible.

I try to inform my illustration from everything but other illustrations. I see illustration as a method of communicating the outside world to others in a visual way. The danger with being too submerged in other illustrations is that the work becomes an illustration replicating others, rather than work driven by outside influences which keeps it fresh and interesting.

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s i l k s c r e e n p r i n t i n gScreen-printing is a big part of my practice and influences the design of my work. Much of my work uses photographic imagery, which is then printed and developed. With such a process driven style of work I find there are two stages to creating imagery:

The conceptWhich develops and evolves into the design of the work

The processPrinting takes the design and throws it around, creating new opportunities and aesthetics through the process. No one print is ever the same and the final outcome can never be fully predicted.Printing has taught me to embrace mistakes and accept them as part of the work. Printing is a process and in the process some information is lost and more is added, so being too precious in the design stage is pointless. It frees up the design process, and removes the habit for anal-retentive accuracy and perfection.

Printing has also prevented my development and confidence in drawing, as I hide behind photographic reference material and stencilled shapes. I realise that printing is hard to make personal, it can be hard to present my own character as an illustrator when I limit myself with photographic material, and am looking for ways to

combine print and hand-drawn mark making. My goal is to use the process of hand print and hand drawn in harmony.

Printing also has ‘real world’ implications of time and resources. For quick turn around commissions I will be unable to screen-print the imagery but have to produce a digital render of the aesthetic. This is achievable and has been done many times but I always feel like there is dishonesty in the digital rendering. I print because I enjoy the process, the physical production of an image is far more satisfying and free than clicking a mouse. However it is not practical.Taking what I have learnt from the process and applying it to my work benefits the digital design; keeping in the printing mind-set and not being lured into the shiny world of Photoshop.

Print making is also my way into the creative world in London. I have contacts in ‘The Print Club’ and other printing studios in London and am using that as a networking and inspiration opportunity.

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d e s i g n m a k e s m e h a p p yI went into University expecting to come out the other side as a fully qualified illustrator, complete with contacts, commissions and a style. Whilst I have made steps toward these things the reality is that I am even more confused than before.

I feel like I have been put in some sort of creative blender and shaken around for 3 years

The experience has opened up many questions and uncertainties for my practice, but without these I would not have changed. I realise that to be creative is to be in a constant state of change, one should never be content or bored with their work, it should always be developing and challenged.In this state I am very susceptible to negativity, I'm never totally happy with my practice and always looking to develop it. Maintaining positivity and self confidence even in the face of total rejection is what turns good creatives into great creatives.

"happy makes good design...

good design makes you happy"Finn O'Brien

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