Alan Aldridge

Try to get down to this exhibition at the design museum. See this link for more info:

Alan Aldridge   You could also look at James Marsh an illustrator from the 70s/80s who was obviously heavily influenced by Aldridge. (especially his work for a band called Talk Talk see above)

Kate Slater

I found Kate Slaters' work on www.illustrationmundo.com. She makes her illustrations by suspending separate, collaged elements from a framework on the wall, and then photographing this image to create the final illustration. This unique way of working came about while she was experimenting with cutouts and shadows in a sunny window. She has always enjoyed working in 3D and thinks she has discovered the perfect, if peculiar, combination. Yet despite being a paper-hoarding collage-holic, Kate also fills sketchbooks with pencil drawings. For her degree show she made elements at a much larger scale.

Mexican Wood Carvings

I thought this Mexican wood carving was like the work you found at Camden market. I have a book with them in at home. A lot of skill must go into carving and painting them.

Don't forget to use your blog to document correspondence with people in industry, show that you are engaged with current issues in the profession by reading journals / magazines and document what is relevant to you or has had an impact on your work.

Keep up to date with reviews of guest lectures such as Gillain Blease's, this should be thorough and should include: following up some of the leads that she gave of her influences, how she got a foot on the ladder as an illustrator, how she promotes her work and how she has diversified.

It would also be good to see you posting some of your own work on her with reflections on your progress.

Personal Project

My personal project is based on Symbiosis; the relationship between two diferent species that are interdependant, in some cases relying on each otehr for survival. Iv chosen this because i was interested in studying nature or conservation but wanted to look at it from an interesting angle. The first example i thought of was Bees and Flowers, which seemed too obvious and boring, untill i read further and found that Einstein had predicted that if bees were to die out, humans could be extinct within four years. It had never really occured to me that bees gave us any benefits other than honey, when in fact most plants rely on them for reproduction, including everything we eat, feed out animals on, and make our clothes from. As reports of bees declining all over the world have been in the media recently, i felt that this would be a fascinating subject to study.

I found these at Camden market, the girl selling them was asleep so i didnt bother waking her up to find out who did them..... i liked the idea of making stuff out of cans though.

Carlo Giovanni

Iv always enjoyed making things but its only in the last six months that iv been illustrating in this way, so obviously the whole idea is fairly new to me. Work like this is so inspiring because it reminds me to experiment with different materials, not just what i know is safe. These are brilliant in their simplicity, i love the sweet potato pig!

Peter Callesen

Its not just the skill of these paper sculptures thats attracted me to Peter Callesens work, its the fact that theyre more than just an attractive piece - each one looks as though theres a story behind it; i think the idea of the skeleton contemplating his former self is brilliant, and i love the way theres almost a feeling of suspense about what will happen to that little house.

Jen Stark

I love these explosions of colour! All made from paper, she produces alot of geometric shapes and has done some kaleidoscope style animations. Iv always been into psychedelic stuff , i think this is amazing when you think shes made this whole thing out of coloured paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHCGN2nGusI

Hiroko Ohmori

Japanese artist Hiroko Ohmori creates pop up designs for cards, sculptures and accessories. This piece is so delicate and complicated, i cant imagine the amount of time and patience it must have taken to produce. The backlighting allows the shadow to be in front of the image, contrasting with the white of the page; i really love this technique.