His interests include photography, illustration, graphic design, printmaking, typography, sewing, animation, sculpture and many more - he is always trying something different.
Notes
- For 6 months, he had no briefs and no crits and all of his work was self-initiated
- Look at the Ira Glass podcast
- Do a high volume of work
- Work will soon be as good as your ambition
- It will take a long time
- Doesn't use sketchbooks as he believes a mistake will simply ruin the book
- "Lets make better mistakes tomorrow"
- DO an internship as you learn new things, meet new people, build your confidence and gain opportunities
- Networking is all about collaboration and sharing ideas
- Freelance can be daunting
Things/Artists he likes/that inspire him
All of these artists have a distinct, individual style
'Calvin & Hobbes' - Bill Watterson
- Philosophical
TMNT
- Line drawings
Magnite
- Surrealist artist who trained as a graphic artist
- Robbie did his dissertation on surrealism
Brendan Monroe
- Rich, earthy tones
Jason Munn
- Simple, smart illustrations
Anthony Gormley
- Bodies occupying space inspires his work
Work & Process
- Go back to your old work and redo to see how your style has evolved
- Focuses on storytelling, writing and history
- Collaborates often
'Paperwork'
- Relationship between work/play and adulthood/childhood
- Nostalgia
'Rebuild Poster'
- Published online
- Generated donation money to Japanese tsunami relief fund
- Make the most of what you've got as the best resource if yourself
- Even with client work, generate fun and 'different' ideas - get used to client rejection
Process
- Research into concept/idea
- Look at existing illustrators/designers work in order to be original
- Research into company itself to gain insight into their products/services
- Create as many ideas as possible
- Choose several strong concepts
- Collect reference photographs
- Draw initial concept sketches
- Experiment with layout & composition
- Add colour and create different variations
"You have to try something properly to see if it will be successful"
- Trial & error until happy
"If you cant solve a problem, its because you're playing by the rules"
How to get work
"The secret? Do good work, then put it where people can see." - Austin Kleon
- Make, make, make
- Invite people to see your work
- Get a website up and running (www.robbieporter.co.uk)
- Contact blogs, newspapers, magazines, publishers, shops, agencies etc and showcase your work
- Exhibit/sell your work at market/craft stalls
- Send out christmas cards with your designs
Some websites to look at
Adobe Kuler
TED
Getty Images
Newspaper club
Art Quest
