BA(Hons) Illustration Showcase
Student Work
Success Stories - BA (Hons) Illustration
First-class honours student wins prestigious 'New Designers' Hallmark Cards award
Charlotte Hiesley, who achieved a First Class Honours in Illustration won the prestigious New Designers Hallmark Cards Award at New Designers. Through winning this award Charlotte is heading to Bradford to embark on a four weeks paid placement at Hallmark, which will not only provide her with essential experience but will enable her to establish herself in the industry.
New Designers is the foremost event in graduate design showcasing the work, energy and talent of some 4000 designers every July at the Business Design Centre, London. The Judges chose Charlotte’s piece ‘Pink Cakes and Lovely Scones’ because of her “fun, fresh approach to illustration, exhibiting a good breadth of commercial design skills.”
Since graduating Charlotte has also been commissioned to design a good luck card and an anniversary card. She views her three years spent at Lincoln as “an excellent experience, which not only taught her the design skills needed to be an illustrator but helped to nourish her passion for illustration:
'When I first started at Lincoln University, I knew I enjoyed drawing and painting but that was it, I had no idea which area of illustration I wanted to go into.
Encouragement from tutors and having time to develop my own personal style helped me decide which area of illustration I wanted to focus on. Development of your signature style is important as it is what people will be paying you to do when you leave.
The course is designed to slowly give you more freedom to pursue the things you really want to do, which is really good, as it gives you time to experiment, make mistakes and learn from them. So by the time you are in your third year you can develop a full and exciting portfolio with confidence.
Being in a studio environment also really helped me, input from others is essential to progress your ideas. It's really important to listen to what others say about your work; group critiques can be really helpful and you shouldn't be afraid to give a real opinion and take other peoples opinion into account, as it can help to move your work forward.
One piece of advice I would give new students is be good at time management, being at university isn't just about getting a degree, if you can manage your time then you’re in for the best time of your life!”
Prize draw for illustrator Nat
Lincoln student Nat Everard has won first prize in the British Design and Art Direction Student Awards.
Nat (21), who studies Illustration at the Lincoln School of Art & Design, won the illustration award at the Commonwealth Institute in London last night (Tuesday).
His prize is a coveted ‘yellow pencil’ trophy - the Oscar of the design world – and a £1,000 cash prize.
“It still hasn’t sunk in,” said Nat. “It was an amazing night and I was really surprised to have won first prize.
“At dinner I was sitting next to the creative director of Good Housekeeping magazine and lots of other top designers and illustrators – it was fantastic.”
Nat intends to invest his prize money in a new computer and then keep himself available after graduating for any commissions that come in. “I made a lot of good contacts at the ceremony and I’m hoping that being in the D&AD book and on the website will get me noticed,” he said.
Howard Pemberton, subject leader for Illustration at the Lincoln School of Art and Design, said Nat’s award was recognition for the quality of the Illustration course.
“The D&AD Student Awards are the premier showcase for design students in Europe, and the ‘yellow pencil’ is like the Oscar of the design world – design groups spend years trying to get one and Nat has won one at the age of 21,” he said.
Students with designs on success
Two Illustration students who graduate at Lincoln Cathedral, have signed with two of the industries top agencies.
Final-year BA (Hons) Illustration students Rebecca Sands and Wayne Lockwood were approached by agency scouts whilst taking part in the New Designers Awards exhibition at London’s Business Design Centre.
The exhibition took place across two weeks in June and July, with all the major design disciplines including illustration and animation, photography and ceramics and glass represented in either part one or part two.
Leading industry figures judged the exhibits, selecting the award winners from the 4,000 graduates whose work was showcased.
Rebecca Sands from Scothern scooped the New Designers Tigerprint Award Part Two. She was awarded £1,500 and has just completed a four-week work placement at Tigerprint which is a division of Hallmark Cards plc.
The 22-year-old also won the New Designers International Greetings Award, receiving £1,000, and is due to start a four-week placement at International Greetings.
“Working for Hallmark has given me a useful insight into the greetings cards industry,” said Rebecca. “I would really love to have a career in illustration and this is a great starting point.”
Meanwhile 34-year-old Wayne Lockwood, from Lincoln, has signed with leading Staffordshire-based agency Eye Candy. So far he’s had work published in The Guardian, Recruiter Magazine, Money Wise, the Health Service Journal and Nursing Standard.
