Otto

Otto has been working as a freelance illustrator since 1991 and mainly works with clients in editorial but also advertising and book publishing. He likes to produce a choice of roughs before deciding on a final artwork, he says a piece can take between up to 3 hours  or several weeks. He talked to us about how advertisements in newspapers can take attention of his illustrations and he showed us some of his books and told us the stories behind the pictures. He had been using an old coloured photocopier to get the effects he wanted at the time.

He was born in Germany but studied graphic design in Bristol and illustration and screen printing MA in London. he takes a lot of his inspiration from German and Polish posters, film posters, sci fi and horror. I really like his style of working and his illustrations are really outstanding. His website is really good and displays all his illustration work, past and present.

http://www.ottoillustration.com/

Tracy Kendall

A lot of Tracy Kendall’s work is very organic she uses things like feathers, leafs and plants and she often will take inspiration from things such as paving stones or book stacks, of which she has gone on to produce work from. One of her most famous prints is her knife and forks wallpaper. From then she went on to printing on lampshades too. she says her wallpapers are just strating points and are often element already in the room and covey a strong design concept. one which interacts with an interiors identity, but without dominating it. 

She explained in the lecture that she rarely uses colour and will often use text. She talked about her fascination with her sister’s handwriting and how it was used on a wallpaper using stitch as apposed to printing. She has produced a lot of work using sequins of which she took inspiration from a 1920 dress. Another wallpaper design by her I really like is covered in real jigsaw pieces, which I have used as one of my example pictures.

she says her wallpapers probably looks so different because she is not trying to mass produce anything. this is a point I agree with.  This is a strong point as no one wants the same wallpaper and her designs are so unique.

Her hand produced graphic range started in 1996 with a large scale design intended at first for her own kitchen, after this she designed a floral. Both designs were spotted by Isla Crawford in the same year. Isla Crawford featured the prints in 'English Elle Decoration Magazine' more and more magazine started to feature her work and people began to order them. she has been selling her graphic designs ever since