The Pitch

RISOGRAPH PRINTING

Risograph printing is the technique of using a risograph printer and creating stencil duplicates of an image, it was created by The Riso Kagaku Corporation originally for business printing and is known for its environmentally friendly materials and cost effectiveness. 

Risograph machines work with plates inside the machine, and prints on the material by using one colour after the other and each layer of colour has to be put through the Risograph machine one at a time. It's a stencil printer that is mainly used for high volume photocopying as well as duplication processes and printing. 

The inks that the Risograph machine uses are soya based and each screen is made from banana paper which is a paper that is created using the bark of a banana plant, this shows the natural based materials that the Risograph uses. It takes a single print to fully cover the print in ink, and each time the Risograph creates a heat based master screen for every colour it uses which it wraps around a metal drum inside the machine which then prints onto the paper that runs through it. 

The ink is pushed through tiny holes in the screen and onto the paper which is fed through the machine flat before being wrapped around the drum, the entire time the drum rotates at a high speed so that it can print onto the paper. 
Prints with a variety of colours have to be put through the machine one at a time as each time you have to change the drum colour to add up layers of colour. 

You scan your image through on top of the Risograph machine and the machine will print out the scan in block colours, thus if you wanted to add another colour this is why you would change the drum colour and put the print through again once it has dried, as well as the machine only prints in blocks you cannot have any kind of gradient effect. 

The Risograph machine currently only works with a small selection of colours, though you can blend these colours together to create new ones or different shades.
http://riso.deconstructed.org.uk

RISOGRAPH BASED COMPANIES

Ditto Print, Triptych
http://www.dittopress.co.uk/design/

Ditto Print

Ditto was one of the first companies in the UK to use Risograph artistically, they create warm and vivid designs.

The Consumer

CONSUMERISM

Consumerism is an economic theory based around people buying things they don't necessarily need, such as decorations and overpriced tables with elaborate designs. 
To find your target consumer, you have to look at the type of people that you think will be buying your work or who your primary consumer will be.
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~kelle20m/classweb/wp/page2.html

The key things you need to know about your target consumer are;

-The type of class your consumer will be, this will help you price your work so that it is affordable for them. 
- Where they live, this could help a number of things such as you can reference locations and tourist attractions within your work which would make them want to buy it for sentimental value. 
- Who your consumers are, this would help know the type of artwork they buy which you can cater to in your own way.

There are three main types of markets for consumerism; the consumer market, the industrial market and the reseller market. 

A consumer market is the people that buy products based on their wants or needs. 
An industrial market is usually a company that buys your product to help produce their own such as machinery or materials. 
A reseller market is retailers and shops who buy your product to resell it to the public to make a profit. 

My main focus will be the consumer market as I will be selling prints or artwork directly to them. Freelance artists generally focus on the consumer market and the reseller market, there are companies online such as RedBubble, Society6 and Etsy. 
There are a lot of different websites that you can sell your work from online, however they do generally take a large commission from it. 

To find out my target consumer, I've looked at what my work has to offer which would be mainly decoration. Therefore I need to find the type of consumer that mainly buys artwork for decoration, this is generally artistic people that have an interest in art or have art be part of their life somehow, such as art teachers, art based students, illustrators, graphic designers etc. It's important that I don't try to cater to as many consumers as I can because then the work wont be as interesting to any one group of consumers. 
http://edwardlowe.org/digital-library/how-to-identify-a-target-market-and-prepare-a-customer-profile/

Based on this information I think that my target consumer would be younger possibly upper class artists and illustrators such as other university students, that live in a similar location to me. 

Publishing

PUBLISHING IN ILLUSTRATION 

Publishing in Illustration is getting harder and harder to get into, publishers are constantly being sent in work from illustrators and artists to look through so making your work stand out is the key thing to do to get through with them. 

 http://www.amandahall-illustration.com/faqs/approaching-publishers/

HACHETTE PUBLISHING

Hachette UK is a publishing company based in the UK, it's made up of different publishing companies such as Headline Publishing Group, Hodder & Stroughton and others, and publish a wide variety of children's books.
https://www.hachette.co.uk/Articles/HUK%20Group%20Structure.page

BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING

Bloomsbury Publishing is a UK based independent publishing company that have a multitude of different book genres like non-fiction, fiction, children's books etc. 

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/company/about-us/

Industry Structure

WHAT IS THE INDUSTRY 

The Illustration Industry is one of the biggest and most profitable art based industries, with freelance illustration and book illustration, it's a growing 1.4 billion profit in the UK.

WHAT IS FREELANCE ILLUSTRATION

Freelance illustration is basically where an illustrator works for themselves, finding their own briefs and doing their own marketing and networking or a lot of freelance illustrators use agencies and the agencies can help them with either finding bigger clients, pricing their work or simply help with the business side of things. 
Breaking Into Freelance Illustration by Holly DeWolf, Page

PROS OF GOING FREELANCE

- You have the freedom to choose which briefs you take on
- If you don't have an agent you don't have to pay commission fees 
- Some briefs can be in different locations where the client pays for your travel expenses etc. 
- You can get payment in advance which helps with material costs etc.

CONS OF GOING FREELANCE

- You can go months without getting a brief therefore making no profit
- You have to work harder because you're looking for your own work
- If you don't have an agent you have to network more which takes up more of your time
- You have to work hard and constantly to make a living
https://fineillustrator.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/pros-and-cons-of-being-a-freelance-illustrator/

Frances Moffatt, The First Days of Spring

FREELANCE ILLUSTRATORS

Frances Moffatt

Frances Moffatt is a freelance illustrator, she did first work for an agency but when finding her own client and being paid for it, the agency still took a cut of the profit so she decided to become freelance. 

From the talk from Frances Moffatt

Frances Moffatt, The First Days of Spring

Design House

WHAT IS A DESIGN HOUSE?

A Design House is a design based company or house that specializes in dealing with briefs from companies that work in a certain style with reference to the other artists that work there. 

Hunting Town Design

Hunting Town Design is a design house based in Manchester that features printing, illustration, graphic design etc.  
Since being created it has expanded into a professional design house that specializes in graphic design for web and print media as well as illustration and branding services. 
They've worked with Converse, Virgin Media, London Horror Festival, Google, Jack Daniels and many other companies. http://www.huntingtowndesign.com/about/

Their Ethos

'We're crazy enthusiastic about the work that we do and the people we work with. We approach all of our projects with the ethos, "this has to be our best work yet". After all, a design house is only as good as it's last project. Making sure that the designs you're getting are at their very best is ensuring that Hunting Town is at its very best.' http://www.huntingtowndesign.com/about/

Hunting Town Design is also interested in artists contacting them with new ideas as well as new starting businesses. You can contact them on their contact details with ideas. 

Exhibitions

types of exhibitions

Oxford Dictionary Definition:

'A public display of works of art or items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair' http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/exhibition

There are a lot of different types of exhibitions, you can have public or private, you can have them shown in an art gallery or have them at an art fair, or even have them in a random warehouse with an elephant in it if you want to go down the Banksy route. 

Photo by True 2 Death on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/true2death/252870011/

Commercial Exhibitions 

Commercial exhibitions are there to sell work and make a profit on it. 

Non-Commercial Exhibitions

Non-commercial exhibitions are there to show off skill and talent. 

http://www.thegreenbook.com/exhibitions.htm

EXHIBITIONS I'VE ATTENDED

Lilian Lijn, Woman of War
http://www.lilianelijn.com/archive/wom01.html

LILIANE LIJN: COSMIC DRAMAS

Lijn uses a range of new materials, techniques and technology to create sculptures that are modern and innovative but have references to old mythological beings. 
I attended this exhibition with a friend and it was one of the most amazing exhibitions I've attended, there was soft music playing and the sculptures moved during and began to open up like a flower before aiming towards each other and shooting a light. It was a beautiful intense exhibition and I would love to be able to see it again. 
I've found a video of the sculptures here.
http://www.visitmima.com/whats-on/single/liliane-lijn-cosmic-dramas/

Lilian Lijn, The Electric Bride
http://www.lilianelijn.com/archive/ele01.html

Lilian Lijn, Bride
http://www.lilianelijn.com/archive/bri03.html

Lilian Lijn, Lady of The Wild Things
http://www.lilianelijn.com/archive/lad01.html

Lilian Lijn, Women of War
http://www.lilianelijn.com/archive/wom02.html

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Goya, Wicked Woman (1819-23)

GOYA: THE WITCHES & OLD WOMEN ALBUM

Goya Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, in Somerset House, London. This exhibition is on until May the 25th. This exhibition would be interesting to attend because of Goya's reverance among artists and I would like to know more about him and see his art in person. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/11432484/Goya-the-Witches-and-Old-Women-Album-Courtauld-review-remarkable.html

Marlene Dumas, The Widow (2013)

MARLENE DUMAS: THE IMAGE AS BURDEN

Marlene Dumas exhibition at Tate Modern in London, up until May 10th. This exhibition would be interesting to attend because of Dumas' painting style and colour choices, her figures have a strange way of looking as if they're moving. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/11384280/Marlene-Dumas-Tate-Modern-review-Not-a-barrel-of-laughs.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/11384280/Marlene-Dumas-Tate-Modern-review-Not-a-barrel-of-laughs.html

MIMA ART GALLERY 

Mima, Middlesbrough
http://www.visitmima.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/mima-building-banner.jpg

Mima is an art gallery in Middlesbrough that holds a lot of different exhibitions, it has a large space downstairs where they usually hold at least five different artists works and another room upstairs with even more artists works. It works with Tate and sometimes has exhibitions showcasing some of the work from the Tate Modern. 

http://www.visitmima.com/about/

TATE MODERN 

Tate Modern, London
http://www.visitbankside.com/sites/default/files/gallery/tate2.jpg?1401285010

Tate Modern is an art gallery in London that holds over 50,000 different pieces of artwork. Its pieces range from 1500 to present day art and it is a massive tourist attraction in London. It is mainly a charity and raises funds from different things like sponsorship and donations, as well as taking 40% of its funding from the government.

http://www.tate.org.uk/about 

BALTIC 

BALTIC, Gateshead
https://www.balticmill.com/about/contact

The BALTIC is an international center based in Gateshead for contemporary art. Its collection changes every so often and it hosts a range of exhibitions and events. The BALTIC has 4 gallery spaces that change their exhibitions, it doesn't have a permanent collection of art. The BALTIC is programmed two years in advance and if you submit your work it will be looked at by one of their team to see if its fitting or professional enough to exhibit. https://www.balticmill.com/about

Copyright

Copyright Logo

What is Copyright?

Copyright is a right automatically given to you for ownership of your own work, this right gives you the freedom to produce copies of your work, make developments of your work, to display your work in the public and to perform your work. 

Copyright also protects you against plagiarism from your work, it disallows other people to redistribute or copy your work as well as use it publicly unless you give them your permission to do so otherwise they cannot use your work. Copyright in the UK lasts from 70 years from death of the creator, it is like this in most European countries, in Russia it's 25 years after death. 

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/stopping-internet-plagiarism/your-copyrights-online/1-what-is-a-copyright/

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Work in the Public Domain is unprotected from copyright work that can be used by anyone, there are three main reasons behind it not being protected and they are:
- The work is work from the Government
- The copyright has expired on the work
- The creator has failed to achieve satisfactory copyright guidelines for the work
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

To achieve satisfactory copyright guidelines, the work must show a level of skill, labour or judgement and must should be original. 
https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law 

IS COPYRIGHT ENOUGH PROTECTION?

In the past, your work needed the copyright trademark to have a copyright attached to it, this changed though and now every idea is copyrighted by its creator automatically. 

If someone uses your work improperly then they can be lawfully persecuted for it which is generally what puts most people off violating your copyright. 

However there are some people who don't know enough about copyright and can use your work without even realise what they're doing is wrong, usually a cease and desist letter scares them into stopping though so it's not necessary that you sue someone and spend a lot of money on stopping it when a simple letter can stop it. 

http://www.plagiarism.org/ask-the-experts/faq/

Agencies

Joe Snow, Party
Represented by Agency Rush

WHAT IS AN ILLUSTRATION AGENCY?

An illustration agency is an agency that provides management of projects as well as helping with pricing your work whether it be higher fees for your work or a bigger budget for it, finding you projects suitable for your work and finding bigger clients for it, networking, portfolio development, as well as this they can help free up your time so you can focus on your work whilst they do the rest.

Joe Snow, Tea Tarts
Represented by Agency Rush

Agencies can specialize in different varieties of business so it's important to find what you're good at such as networking or pricing and finding an agency that can help you with what you're not good at, as if you're good at networking and they're known for their networking then they may not be up to your expectations or be able to do what you want. 

Agencies are generally looking for an artist with talent, skills, a cleverness with style and usually an approachable person. 

You need to have an articulateness and way of putting across the main point behind your work, be able to answer difficult briefs and take on board the agencies opinions. 

Agencies are generally looking for artists with a consistency to their work and for someone with work that is different to what they already represent, as well as someone with good quality artwork. 
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/creative-business/how-get-illustration-agent-how-keep-one/

BERNSTEIN & ANDRIULLI

Susan Burghart,illustration for Crabtree & Evelyn

Represented by Bernstein & Andriulli 

Susan Burghart, Fierce
Represented by Bernstein & Andriulli

Berntstein & Andruilli is a creative management agency that represents a variety of different art mediums and creative professionals such as illustrators, hair and makeup artists, production companies, photographers and more. 

Susan Burghart, Magnolia
Represented by Bernstein & Andruilli

The main kind of client they aim for is someone with a unique art style that thinks outside the box. They've worked with big clients like Taylor Swift, Oreo etc. This agency is based in London and has an office in Shanghai. 

http://www.ba-reps.com/news

http://www.ba-reps.com/about

AGENCY RUSH

Agency Rush is an Illustration agency holding a variety of illustrators as well as publicists, journalists and academics. 

Margaux Carpentier, Ghosts

It was set up by an agent artist called Helena Rush and has artists like Margaux Carpentier, Joe Snow etc, and has worked with client giants like Tesco, BBC and Dior etc. 

http://agencyrush.com/About_Us/

Margaux Carpentier, Orange Hipster Pirate

Margaux Carpentier, Deep

Print Screen taken from http://agencyrush.com/About_Us/

CONS OF HAVING AN ILLUSTRATION AGENT

Having an agent will cost a lot of money as they typically take a 25% cut from your work however depending on how much work they get you, you can be spending more than you're earning having one. 

Some agents will also take commission from a job that you got of your own accord with no help from them, as they would be entitled to in your contract. 

As you're probably not your agents only client, they wont be entirely focused on you either. Their main focus is getting their commission by getting their clients work out so that could be any one of their clients. 

You're the only person completely focused on your career.

In regards to this too, getting an agent wont immediately jump start your career, they're there for the business side of things and to help represent you and advertise your work, you have to lead them as you're the only person responsible for your career. http://businessofillustration.com/pros-cons-illustration-reps/