Professional practice

Hannah Barratt

“At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the sto-ry comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the ‘what if - what then’ approach to writing and illustration.”

Chris Van Allsburg

Introduction

Illustration, for me, has always

been my primary method of

exploring concepts around me,

clarifying them in a way that

leaves me engaged. Being able

to enjoy a moment of escap-

ism and having something visual

appealing and worthwhile at the

end is simply something I cannot

live without.

My work

In my illustration practice I like to work tradi-

tionally, as I find working directly with pencils

on paper very gratifying in a way which few

other mediums are. The texture of the mate-

rials, accidental discolouration and unintended

marks all provide a charm and personality,

which I feel, enhances my outcomes

When working I start my pieces as very light pencil sketches,

based off prior sketches and tests. Then using the pencil sketch

as a guide, I either go over the image with black ink or a

darker layer of colour pencil, depending on whether I want the

image to be in colour. Regardless of which method is used, it

means that large errors can often not be fixed with ease, en-

suring that I have to put more consideration and planning into

the drawing before hand. However, with minor errors, such as

their being a few unwanted lines, can be fixed digitally, without

ruining the image’s integrity.

Inspiration and

influencesI’ve always enjoyed working with narratives, and considering design as-

pects for the characters within. Character design is by far my favourite

aspect of illustration, as it requires drawing on both people from your

life, and in the media, to create something familiar, yet new.

One large aspect of my work is drawing inspiration from people who

deviate from conventional beauty standards, particularly with their natu-

ral features.

One thing that I really love to draw is women with large noses, as

it can tap into both notions of absurd exaggeration and genuine ob-

servation. Exploring characters beyond using common design tropes

often times allows for interesting outcomes, be they for better or

worse. Personally I feel like these less successful designs are worth

suffering if they can help lead to even a few striking ones.

What’s the point?(Balancing viewer enjoyment and need to

make artistic and political statements)

The idea that art needn’t be

beautiful is one that I’ve sub-

scribed to for many years;

the importance of conveying a

message is greater than the

need for pleasurable aesthet-

ics. However, while I still feel

this concept retains merit, I’ve

recently found myself finding

an increasing amount of inspi-

ration from things that almost

exclusively exist for the sake

of bringing the viewer joy.

Other art forms like pop songs, fashion, and “cute”

home décor, may often lack profound meaning, in-

stead striving to improve the quality of someone’s

mood, if only for a moment. Having come from a

family where depression and mental illnesses are

very prevalent, to me the importance of art that

makes someone smile has become paramount.

I try to reflect both of these con-

cepts in my recent work, which explore

themes of mental illness, beauty stand-

ards and isolation, while at the same

time retain consideration of pleasurable

colour schemes and aesthetics. Allowing

visuals that are somewhat grotesque to

co-exist with ones that are just pretty.

I feel that by doing this I can convey

ideas that are important to me without

being too heavy handed, and allow my

work to be appreciated beyond a politi-

cal or sociological context.

Online presence

Maintaining a constant

body of work online is

a crucial aspect of my

illustration practice, as it

gives my work a larger

platform than any oth-

er modern medium. I

have four blogs relating

to my work which I keep

as uniform in design as

the websites will allow.

The first being my main

website which purely hosts

finished work and provides

information and contact

details for potential clients.

My second is a tumblr blog, which is more in-

formal, contains finished work as well as incom-

plete work, sketches, and the occasional person

posts to maintain a friendly atmosphere.

The twitter page works to a similar effect as the tumblr, only

using a more constricted format, meaning that posts are shorter

and straight to the point. Finally the facebook page only shows

pieces of finished work and provide updates on various projects.

In the future I also plan on expanding to other sites, particu-

larly sales platforms, such as Etsy, where I hope to sell copies

of my books and zines once they are printed.

Earning a living online

There are many ways to make

money off of artwork, aside

from obviously selling physical

books and zines. An increasingly

popular method for artists is us-

ing the site patreon, which allows

fans/viewers to pledge a certain

amount of money for the con-

tent that you upload. This keeps

the work open to the public, and

means that other people can still

view the work free of charge.

Artists can also opt to have the

work released early to those

who are pledging money, creat-

ing a greater incentive to donate

money.

This latter aspect could be

beneficial to my narrative

based work, as viewers will

have a greater level of in-

vestment if the new work is

continuing a story, making it a

good platform for supporting

web-comics. For these reasons

I will be setting up a patreon

account in the upcoming months.

If I eventually need financial

support for a larger project I

have the option of using kick-

starter, which allows you to set

a goal amount for donations

and allows the money to be

attained while the project is still

on going.

It also requires constant communication with the donors, giv-

ing clear status updates on the project and often creating and

sending out extra content for those who pledged certain amounts

of money. For a project to succeed on this platform, there

needs to be a well-informed community backing it.

Kickstarter is certainly a very viable option, but will likely have

to wait until I have gained a larger online following and have

started a project grand enough to merit such support.

One particular tactic for earning money off of web-comics I’ve

observed online is by offering additional content. This can take

many forms.

Sometimes the content is exclusively for the paying customers,

creating a greater incentive for viewers to pay. Another method

I’ve observed is by presenting ideas for multiple side stories and

allowing the viewers to bid on which side-story gets produced. The

one with the most bids after a certain length of time will then be

publically posted for all the community to access.

Being someone who does often write many backstories and side-

plots in my work, I feel like this is a very relevant approach. Not

only does it help financially, but it also allows me to gage what

fans of my work find the most interesting. Once I have started

my web-comic, I plan on using a similar method to this in addition

to patreon to help support my practice.

My practice is firmly rooted in in creating comics and picture

books, which if I am to initially pursue as a full-time career

would lend it towards working for book publishers such as Boom

studios, who produce various comics and books from less well-

known artists, with many of their products being aimed towards

teenagers and young-adults. Working directly with a publisher is

an ideal situation, ensuring a fairly steady income, and while

I do fully intend on contacting these publishing houses, I also

recognise that it can being accepted as an in-house illustrator is

unlikely to happen within the next three years.

Therefore, for the time of writing, it would be accurate to la-

bel myself as a freelance illustrator. This role won’t provide a

regular, substantial income, but it will allow me greater creative

control over my content, within the limits of the host websites’

rules and restrictions.

My position within the industry

Post-graduation(How to avoid starving to death)

After graduation I intend on selling copies

of my recent book on Etsy, which I plan

on having printed in bulk, that being at

least fifty copies. I have received price

quotes for this number of copies, stating

that I could have them printed for rough-

ly £4.00 each, or if I doubled the print

quantity, around £3.26 per book. These

print costs mean I could potentially sell

the books for between £7-£10 each, which

should hopefully create enough profit

to cover the cost of postage, or trav-

el, should the books be taken to events.

I am also in the process of producing

additional items, including cards and post-

cards, which cost 90p and 52p per item

respectively. These will be marked up to

around £2.00-£2.50,

as well as being used as promotional mate-

rial to send to publishers. One such publisher

I plan to contact is the aforementioned Boom

studios, which produce books for my target

demographic. Another being Blank slate books,

who publish much less conventional stories,

such as Darryl Cunningham’s “Psychiatric

tales”, which explores the artist’s time spent

inside a psychiatric ward. This suggests that

they may be receptive to the themes preva-

lent in my work, thus making them a reason-

able possibility.

Considering that these publishers do special-

ise in graphic novels, I am considering also

sending A6 size zines to convey greater

relevance. For these particular publishers in

fact, I may entirely replace the cards with

the zines, which would then only be sent

with a business card. Having the content this small and brief should help reduce frustration on

the publishers’ part, and reduce the cost of postage.

As for public events, I am applying to sell my products at various cons and zine fairs,

such as ELCAF, MCM London and the Bristol zine fair. While other practitioners have informed

me that there usually isn’t a massive profit to be made from selling wares at these events,

they are key for advertising my work and myself. To aid this, I will have business cards

to hand, which I have just had printed in bulk, which may be given liberally to attendees. In

recent years, I have also noticed artists at these events giving out other free materials, in-

cluding postcards and even small zines. While this certainly won’t help me in terms of making

an immediate profit, it does go the extra mile in terms of advertising your practice to po-

tential buyers, more so than business cards. This can be especially poignant at more expen-

sive events, such as MCM London, where most products are so expensive that customers are

grateful for any free content. As of the time of writing, I do not have this sort of content

printed and ready to disperse. However, I do have pre-existing short-comics and zines that

are suitable for this purpose

In the mean time, I will also take online art

commissions for character art, ranging from

busts, full-body illustrations and character sheets.

While the cost of a commission will likely be

very much dependant on the specific request, the

going rates seem to be between £10-£45 per

image. A simple character bust, or pencil sketch

being at the £10-£15 price range, and more

substantial illustrations costing around £20-£50.

These asking prices seem fair, considering the

length of time required and the cost of equip-

ment. Again this is an area in which the initial

profit will be low, but it will help in terms of

gaining public interest and attention, which could

be very valuable in the long-term.

To ensure I have a stable financial income dur-

ing this, I will likely be finding part-time work

outside of illustration, and staying with family

members to reduce costs. By doing this I will

be able to focus on my practice and have a

definite working space without having to worry as

much about financial repercussions.

Hopefully with these plans in place I can go

back to focussing on work I want to produce

and creating characters and stories I have

wanted to tell.

Blankslatebooks.co.uk. (2011). Blank Slate Books - New British Comics & Award Winning Translations. [online] Available at: http://www.blankslate-books.co.uk/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].

BrainyQuote. (2016). Illustration Quotes at BrainyQuote. [online] Available at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/illustration.html [Ac-cessed 13 Apr. 2016].

Cunningham, D. (2011). Psychiatric tales. New York: Bloomsbury.Howard, C. (2014). BlondeAtTheFilm. [online] The Blonde at the Film. Avail-able at: https://theblondeatthefilm.com/author/blondeatthefilm/ [Accessed 28 Apr. 2016].

Inkylittlefingers.co.uk. (2006). Inky Little Fingers - home page. [online] Available at: http://www.inkylittlefingers.co.uk/index.php [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].

Moo.com. (n.d.). MOO | Custom Business Cards, MiniCards, Postcards and more... | MOO (United Kingdom). [online] Available at: https://www.moo.com/uk/ [Accessed 14 Apr. 2016].

References

All images used in this report belong to Hannah Barratt.

List of images