Karla Burns

Last friday I attended the Drawing Unlimited Workshop in University, it was a workshop that started at 10am and continued until 1pm. It was organised by the Vis Com Illustration tutor Christine Blaney. It was open to 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Vis Com students along with some foundation students. Only two of us 2nd years showed up, but it was a great experience to get to interact with fellow students and get some advice and inspiration from other students. The workshop consisted of many illustrative exercises ranging from image to typography. Many of the exercises consisted of using black ink, a thick paint brush and using the opposite hand to which you write with to give a more quirky image, there were also time constraints of a couple of minutes for each too. Each of the class created one of the letters above using these methods. Below is the first exercise we were given.

We were each given a post-it note and with a thick paint brush and black ink, using our opposite hand to writing we had to draw a self portrait, the outcome was actually quite beautiful and very free, this exercise loosened us up for the following exercises.

Again we had to use a thick paint brush and black ink, using our opposite hand to writing and draw a self portrait. This time we also had to add text that explained our likes. I decided to go more abstract and drew half of my face and focused on the typography coming out of my head in the form of a speech bubble to give a connection between the type and image. It was incredibly difficult to do with a large paint brush and my left hand, but never the less interesting.

We then were given a bit longer and were asked to create a self portrait using any hand, using any materials and I came up with this collage of news print, ink, and crayon, again I stuck with a thick paintbrush as I loved the freedom of it, the 20 mins flew in I thought it was too long at the start, but I really needed more time. It was however a really nice outcome.

and finally we had to create a typographic piece that would present advice to students whom wish to apply for the Vis Com course. This was my typographic poster I created. My advice were the 3 R’s: Remember (all you see and are told), Risk (take risks with your work sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t), Read (with this course you can never read too many design books, you constantly have to feed yourself inspiration).

This was a collection of all the advice from the class! It was an extremely fun workshop and a welcomed break from the chaotic few weeks at university trying to get the publication project finalised.