It's Fun To Stay At The YMCA
I have just recovered from a thrilling and exhausting trip to New York with the rest of my illustration/surface design group. After a 17 hour journey from Stockport in Manchester, we finally arrived at JFK incredibly excited for the week ahead. As we approached the bridge over to Manhattan, we could see the oh so famous view of the skyline ahead. The YMCA on 63rd Street was our first stop so that we could drop of our luggage before heading out to explore.
Communal showers and toilets were a temporary shock, though we didn't dwell on the hostel facilities for too long as we stepped out in to the city and realised we were surrounded by gigantic buildings and the blissful central park which was just around the corner.
On tuesday the 6th of November we took the subway over to Brooklyn to visit Andre Da loba's studio. We could never have hoped for more! He welcomed us in to the building and let us view the current exhibition at ground floor level before taking us through a 'secret route' via a huge lift, to the 2nd floor where we could go and see his actual studio space. We were given permission to explore thoroughly picking up objects and rifling through papers, before we were led up to the top floor where we were joined by Oliver Jeffers, and Andre Da Loba held a mini show for us. He passed around some of his 3D creations whilst explaining the stories behind them and amongst this he unintentionally provided us with some really useful advice.
Left: Me Second left: Oliver Jeffers Second from right: Bryony Hopkins Right: Andre Da Loba
Many of his illustrations used stereotypes, which he told us were useful because people will always recognise them and be able to relate to them, it's also fun to play around with ideological charachters, they don't always have to serve for much.
He spoke about how 'it's all about the story' and how you must always be willing to fail. When referring to some of his illustrations he said, 'most of these things are failures. It's a big part of being an illustrator.'
It was also reassuring to hear that he is a believer of illustrators ideas being more valuable that the way the produce a piece of work and he told us that we need to be confident and find where we are in the world. We shouldn't think we're not good enough; someone has to get the job....so why not me?
And finally...
'Mash things together in a way that you understand the world. Train and train until it becomes second nature, just like a footballer does'
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