OUGD404: Guest speaker - Jo Baker

Jo's style of art is very experimental and hands on, an approach that I would not usually sway towards as I consider Graphic Design to be much more finalised and carefully presented. I found the ways in which she uses sketchbook as an exploration process, rather than as an chronological presentation of her work most useful. 

I also thought it was quite important to not let the label define who you are as a designer, as it is where the work ends up that is the most important part of the design process. 

Sketchbook ownership is a skill that I would like to develop during my time at LCA, it would allow me to get all thoughts from head documented in a visual way. I found it most interesting that when embarking on a project, she gathers sketches from across all of her years of being an artist as inspiration. It has confirmed that I need to make sure that I don't only produce sketchbooks for a specific purpose and that I start to draw influences from more places.

I found it very useful looking through Jo's sketchbooks as I really liked the way that she documented things in a way that would help her thinking process, but would not necessarily make sense to others who are looking at the sketchbooks. 

Many people expressed the fear that they face when starting a sketchbook and the need to keep a consistent style throughout, concentrating on the overall appearance and narrative to others. The sketchbook is for personal development and not for others, so Jo's advice was to "ATTACK IT". We should attack the sketchbook and not be afraid of what it looks like, we need to concentrate on how it is a useful place to visually document our ideas.

A way to spark a new way of thinking and producing work is to try a new material or media. Jo explained how she wanted to try watercolour and would do it each morning when having breakfast, this then lead onto each evening in bed. She said that she was able to produce a large body of paintings and pattern generations to be used to influence her actual projects and these were most successful because she was at her most relaxed and didn't feel as though she had to produce things for a certain reason. I would like to apply this by having a small sketchbook in which I practise continual line drawings of different objects or things I have seen throughout the day. Continual line drawings have always inspired me and by generating my own, I think they could help towards projects in the future. 

Things to use as inspiration:

- form
- photography
- personal experiences
- interpretations of place names
- compositions and overlays

GET OFF MAC AND MAKE MORE BY HAND