My selected competition.

I have decided to the international contemporary printmakers competition. This is because I am currently experiencing a struggle with my creativeity and need to try experimenting with new ways of working to help reinspire me. I feel that developing my print making skills will be a good way for me to reinvogorate my work, and as this competition has an open brief it does not restrict me in any way.

At the end of the illustrative practises module i aim to have a series of prints which may be submitted for the competition or may require further development before the deadline of the competition - which is 12th June 2011. What I aiming for most importantly is a development and experimentation of with my printing skills, and hopefully the production of some prints which I am really proud of.

Plans for the remaining four weeks of the illustrative practises module.

I aim to spend at least 2 hours each week working within the print studio at college (the development of prints - such as physical lino cutting will be done outside the studio). I will start by experimenting with different finishes that I can achieve through different print making techniques and how paper, texture and colour can effect these. I will to other printmakers to gain inspiration and influence for this.

I am also hoping to visit some local galleries to gather inspiration (as suggested by Simone Lia when I emailed her asking her approach to dealing with a creative block) as well as mood boarding and mind mapping potentials for the content of the prints.

Previous winners of the A4 printmakers competition

This is last years winner of the A4 printmakers competition. Entitled 'Pearl' it is a dry point etching produce by Reti Saks from Estonia.

This piece seems to focus on the imagery which can be produced through the physical print making process as oppose to the print subject matter. This is a very contemporary print which shows details  only be achieved through printing making.

Here are some of the other winning entries...

Second place - 'Exodus' print produced by Barry Contrell. I must admit to not particular;ly liking this or the first prize winning print which I feel do not really do printmking full justice in terms of the effects which can be achieveable.

Third place -  'Then'  Mezotint produced by Cleo Wilkinson - a print I particularly like and is more traditional in it's approach to subject matter - which is clearly defined.

Elizabeth Dove - 'Small world experiement' - The simplicity of this highly commended entry make it really striking - it shows that selected prints do not have to be highly complex.

Maria Heed - 'Gifts' - This exhibited entry is again quite different in it's style and subject matter, suggesting a freedom of style and imagery of prints submitted.

Jill Mckeown - 'Cold Splash'

This again is another highly commended entry which I like. Having looked through the website at the winning and exhibited entries, it does not seem that there is any particular preferance for style, type or subject matter of the selected prints.   This is encouraging as I feel like if I were to enter then I would be free to experiment with any subject matter and printmaking technique that I wished. The only thing which worries me about entering this competition is my lack of printmaking experience, given that entry would be against people who have been printmaking all their lives. However, I would like to try and view this as a challenge to  further my work within a new area.

AOI images competition - Student catergory

Competition Brief

This is an open brief, with no direct requirements other than submitting an illustration which you feel is your best. (There are no restrictions on style, medium or genre within the student catergory)

Submission details

1. The entrant must register with the AOI (you are provided with email confirmation and login details after completing this)
2. For each image create:
   1 x low-res RGB JPG or Gif at 72 dpi, longest dimension set to 1200 pixels, use the 'save for web' dialog if available.
3. Submit an online entry form with the images. 

Entry Fee - £36 for a non memeber student

Images is an annual event, repeated at the same time each year:

• Call for Entries opens in April/May
  
• Deadline for entries is July/August
  
• Exhibition, and publication of annual: the following August/September

Competition deadline - (tbc) July / August 2011 

The deadline for last years competition (Images 35) was 15th September 2010, so I am assuming that the deadline for this years competition - which has not been posted on the website yet, will be on a similar date.

Illustrative Practises module deadline - 11th March 2011.

The deadline for this competition is well after the illustrative practises module deadline meaning that I can complete my entry for this competition for the illustrative practises module deadline and then if needs be I can reconsider my entry later on to see if I have produced something more successful.

Competition judges

The AOI images competition spans lots of different catergories of illustration (student is just one of 8). Last year there were 9 judges in total, (made up of contemporary illustrators, art directors and those within the creative industry) each judging multiple catergories of the images competition.

Given the vast array and number of judges, then it seems that the communication of an original idea will be the key thing to consider when entering this competition. As there is likely to be a high number of entries, it will be important to create an illustration that will stand out from the rest. It is unlikely that any particular style / subject content or meduim will be favored by the judges, giving free reign to the illustration that can be produced for entry.

Competition prizes

Award winners receive - Images New Talent Refresh! Award. Sponsored by The Coningsby Gallery worth Gold: £500, Silver: £250 and Bronze: £150. 

Winners work is displyed in the annual exhibition in London during the following summer and is printed within the images annual published at the same time and distributed to 4,000 illustration / design commissioners.

Successful student entrants will have the opportunity to show work at dandad.org /talentpool,  All student award winners will be given a year's free, unlimited use of directory lists produced by the AOI.

The prizes for this competition sound fantastic. Winning would provide plenty of opportunity to develop new contacts within the world of contemporary illustration and could open up many possibilities for future work. The prestige that winning this competition provides is far superior to the cash prizes, which seem almost insignificant comparitively.

Although it seems impossible to win entering this competition would be a beneficial experience as it would provide a chance to get work seen by industry greats. This would hopefully provide me enough inspiration to try and further my work - to create my best illustration yet, something I can be proud of, that I feel it suitable to show to some of the best in the contemporary illustration industry.

As the deadline for this competition is after I complete my second degree year, I may want to enter a piece from my final major study for this, rather than entering this competition for the illustrative practises module.

The International Contemporary Printmakers Competition

Competition brief:

There is no specific brief, other than all of the images supplied must be produced through a printmaking proccess.

This competition is quite appealing as printmaking is something that I enjoy and I would like to develop my skills in this area further. I have a limited experience of lino, screen, mono and dry etch printing and feel that experiementation within these areas (and how I can combine them) could result in the production of some images which are suitable to enter into this competition.

Submisssion details -

1. Up to 3 prints may be entered
2. Prints to be no larger than A4 in size (if smaller then these should be mounted on to A4 paper/card)
3. Prints to be named, signed and sent in a hard copy format, along with an artists CV and submission form. (Competition address - Pat King,  Comedy Studio,  Main Road,  Christian Malford,  Wiltshire,  SN15 4BS,  U.K.)
4. An email must also be supplied, including JPEG images of each print, and a 400 word artists statement

Entry Fee - £40

Competition deadline - 12th June 2011

Illustrative practises module deadline - 11th March 2011

The illustrative practises module deadline is before this competition deadline, meaning that although I would need to complete my selection of prints for competition entry before the module deadline, if I wanted to develop these prints further at a later time I would be able to.

Competition judges

Pat King BA  Curator        

Jesse Leroy Smith RA    

John Howard RE              

The above are all contemporary printmakers and painters. If I were to enter this competition then I feel that it would be important to research the work of these printmakers to find out the style of prints they produce and if this influenecs their evaluation of other work. I also feel it will be important to look at previous winning entries and see if there appars to be any trend in the style of work selected and commended by the judges.

Competition prizes (More awards to be announced)

First prize
The winning print, will be reproduced in full colour in the catalogue, together with your details.  This artist is invited to have a show the following summer in Cornwall, with a full page in the catalogue of all the submitted works, and will be invited, to act as part of the jury for the A4 Print International the following year.

A4 Special prize

Subscription to printmaking today

Best Emerging Talent Prize

2 day workshop at the Hand Print Studio Penzance

Although these prizes are not as prestigious as any of the other competition prizes I have looked at, I feel that the freedom of the brief in this competition and its nature make this currently the most appealing competition I have looked at. Winning this competition may not generate the contacts or work which would be provided by winning another of the competitions I have researched, but it would be a good edition to my CV and portfolio, allowing me to show a breadth of different working styles. This competition could provide a foothold into the printmaking industry and provide work generated in this area.

I feel quite inspired by this competition. It would allow me to experiement within this area and develop my work further. The freedom provided by this competition brief would hopefully mean that I can regain my creative interest in illustration.

Presently, I feel that to begin considering an entry for this competition I need to first research the judges of the competition and previous winning entries. It is also important to begin experimenting again with each of the print maing techniques I have knowledge of and to find out the types of imagery I can produce with these.

Choosing competitions

I am currently experiencing a creative block, and am finding it hard to feel inspired by any of my work. I feel that in order to try and solve this problem, I need to begin experimenting with my methods of producing imagery, and the ways I am working.

All the competitions which I have researched so far (excluding the V and A student illustrator awards) have a defined genre within which the illustrations must be produced, or a specific illustrative brief . Although I was oringally interested in entering the children's macmillan book prize or the bolgna book fair competition, I currently feel that entering these would restrict me too much, and may result in my work not being at its best.

I have spoke about this with Mel, and have found another two competitions to research further - the AOI images competition and the International Contemporary printmakers Competition. I currently feel that it is important not to enter a competition which has a very restricted brief, as this will allow me to experiment with my style and hopefully to become creatively inspired with my image making once again.