Leeds Film Festival

Last week I went to Leeds films festival which took place in Bradford, in the National Media Museum. There was a range of exhibits, such as animation, photography, film and work shops.

One of the main attractions was the art of Joanna Quinn. She has a sharp, witty hand drawn style that replicates human character. I loved how 'real' and dimensional she makes her characters by emphasising facial features that other illustrators might try to make look pretty.

My favourite part of the festival was the workshop we did with Curtis Jobling who created Bob The Builder. He showed us through his many different characters about how to create successful caricature through emphasising about 3 of the facial features. He looks at the prominent shapes that make someones face unique.

Below are two of the caricatures that I drew myself of two of the people that I met whilst at the workshop. I tried to emphasis the different shapes and how close/far way each facial feature was.

Curtis Jobling told us how he creates his characters out of shapes e.g. Bob is made out of a circle for his head and a rectangular body. Also he said he often changes the original design, always looking for improvement no matter how simple they are. As you can see below he has taken away the moustache to stop Bob looking like he's from the YMCA!
Jobling's main topic apart from his portfolio was how to network and the benefits it gives you. His main tips were to-

• Do your sketches all the time to generate your ideas and build your portfolio.
• Visit publishing houses, studios, send emails, find out who teh art director is and get their feedback along with a meeting.
• Put yourself in the right place at the right time.