Links

Here are some links to my other sites etc

www.charmainemcdonoughillustration.com

charmainetheillustrator.tumblr.com

www.facebook.com/charmainemcdonoughillustration

https://uk.pinterest.com/charmainemcdono/

Industry Contact Target List

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Industry Contact Target List

Based on your research for this module, identify at least 10 target industry contacts. Contacts may include Illustration agencies, publishing houses, direct clients, retail outlets, collaborators and mentors. These contacts should be carefully selected and relevant to your portfolio and aspirations.

	Name of organization or individual/s	Category (local/national/ global contacts)	Contact name (art director, designer etc.)	Contact Details & Submissions Policy	Rationale for selecting this industry target
1	Hallmark	National/Global		http://www.hallmark.co.uk Hallmark House Bingley Road Bradford West Yorkshire BD9 6SD Telephone: 01274 252000 Application: We've got a large and diverse creative team here at Hallmark with lots of opportunities to develop yourself and your career - if you'd like to be part of it please send us your CV, a sample of your portfolio and tell us what kind of role you're looking for. We'll get in touch if we think you could be part of our team.	Having completed a two week placement at Hallmark I am confident I would thrive in kind of environment. The work is challenging yet creative and it really opened my eyes to the more commercial side of illustration. You do not need to hone one particular style for this sort of job. Being a part of the creative team at Hallmark means being flexible with your skills and being open to learning new processes etc which I am!
2	Tiger Print	National/Global		www.tigerprint.uk.com Hallmark House Bingley Road Bradford West Yorkshire BD9 6SD Telephone: 01274 252000 1st Floor Evelyn House 142-144 New Cavendish Street London W1W 6YF Telephone: 0207 2917860 Application: Freelance- Tigerprint love working with freelancers from across the globe, we are always looking for new skills and styles. Please email the studiowith a CV, short portfolio and links to website / portfolio site.  In house jobs are applied for in the same way as Hallmark when available.	At the New Designers prepare day some of the Tigerprint team gave a short presentation about the company, who they are and what they do. As a sister brand of Hallmark, their studio seems to function in a similar way and I just feel I would like to work in that sort of creative team environment. They have people within Tigerprint who specialize in many different kinds of creative crafts, including 3D modeling which is of particular interest to me.
3	Anorak	National	Cathy Olmedillas (Founder and Creative Director) Rob Lowe (Art Director)	www.anorakmagazine.co.uk anorakmagazine@gmail.com Submissions: If you would like to send examples of your work, simply send a link to your portfolio via our contact page. Please note that we unfortunately do not run any internships programme.	Most of the illustration work I do has a young audience, whether intended or not, which is not a bad thing. Anorak magazine is a high quality magazine for children which encourages learning but not in a condescending way. The illustrations they use in the publication are fresh, the paper and print quality is high and these tend to feel more like an archival magazine, something to be kept for the content and the artwork. It would also be great to have some editorial illustration in my portfolio.
4	Aardman Animation	Global		www.aardman.com hello@aardman.com Aardman Animations Gas Ferry Road, Bristol, BS1 6UN. Submissions: Send portfolio/show reel (by post only) to above address. * academy@aardman.com* NTFS 12 week intensive animation course- stop motion!	I have been thinking about my 3D models and so far the only application I have really considered is selling them as specialist products online and at fairs etc.  However, I have always had a fascination with stop motion animation and I think if I could learn some animation skills I could maybe use my modeling skills, illustration and enthusiasm to work in this specialism.
5	YCN (You Can Now)	Global		www.ycn.org hello@ycn.org 72 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY Submissions: Apply online for a membership then able to upload portfolio etc studio@ycn.org	A YCN membership would be a great way to gain more contacts but also have some support along the way. YCN has a huge range of resources and materials available for it’s members and runs lots of illustration competitions which is another good way of getting work out there to be seen.
6	Creative Review	Global		www.creativereview.co.uk Submissions: Submit work via the Feed online, first need to register. Or send to Creative Review 79 Wells Street London W1T 3QN	Uploading images to Creative Review seems to be a simple process and it “inspires, informs and stimulates debate across the fields of advertising, design and visual culture worldwide.” It’s a great way to get work seen but also have people interact with it. Also, Creative Review is available on many platforms, digitally, as a publication etc.
7	Beehive Illustration	Global	Paul-General Manager Christina- Project Manager	www.beehiveillustration.co.uk Oakley House, Tetbury Road, Circencester, Gloscestershire, GL7 1US 01285 885149 Submissions: Submit 6 low res jpegs via the online form.	Due to my wanting to pursue children’s book illustration it seemed only natural to look at an agency that specializes in this genre of illustration. I think this would be an effective way of getting some illustration work that I want to do, fill my portfolio and make new contacts within this certain part of the industry.
8	Little Tiger Press	Global		www.littletiger.co.uk 020 7385 6333 Submissions: Send samples and covering letter to: Submissions Department Little Tiger Press 1 The Coda Centre 189 Munster Road London SW6 6AW	I feel that my portfolio clearly shows an intended young audience for my work and I also think that some of my most recent illustrations would fit in with the work already being published by Little Tiger Press. I hope that the range/merging of commercial and specialist work in my portfolio would show how I can create characters and stories and let the publishers see that I can respond to projects with a unique but dependable visual language.
9	Okido Magazine	National/Global	Dr Sophie Dauvois (Editor) Rachel Ortas (Creative Director) Alex Barrow (Art Director) Maggie Li (Design and Illustration)	www.okido.co.uk 020 3757 4614 Okido Studios 33 Parkgate Road SW11 4NP sophie@okido.co.uk Submissions: ???!!! Okido run regular competitions for illustrators and designers to have their work published in certain issues of their magazine.	Okido, like Anorak, is a quality children’s publication that utilizes contemporary illustration to teach children in a fun and visual way. I do not have much editorial illustration so it would be great to work on something of this quality. I feel that my style and passion for what I do, and my past in childcare/education, could benefit a publication like Okido.
10	Paper Rose	National/Global		www.paperrose.co.uk 0115 986 0115 info@paperrose.co.uk Paper Rose Riverside House Centurion way Nottingham NG2 1RW Submissions: Jobs: Apply for specific positions (when available) online by sending a CV and examples of work to katev@paperrose.co.uk	Having completed my placement at Hallmark I have realised how I am not so opposed to the greetings card industry as an outlet for my illustration. I have some commercial work now in my portfolio that I think would suit the examples of work that they produce. I also would love to work in a studio environment and I feel that the different forms my illustrations take would suit the visual language they already use at Paper Rose. Having already seen, at Hallmark, how my 3D characters can be used in a more commercial way, I am confident that my work would fit in well at Paper Rose.

AD 33 Evaluation

Professional Conclusion

Evaluation

I feel I have got a lot out of this project as an illustrator. I chose two projects that required very different skill sets and both challenged me in terms of what I thought I knew and what I could physically create.

I was quite confident with my first project, the resin models, because I had already tried the process before so I knew what to expect, what materials would cost and how to source them. However, it was still a difficult task because although I understood the process it is still physically demanding and needs a lot of preparation time, good initial designs and patience! I think I did well with my time management for this project; I used the easter break to do most of the physical work of making my resin models which meant I had easy access to ventilated areas, all the materials I needed were there and luckily enough the weather was on my side also so I was able to spend a lot of time outside, finishing them before I had thought I would. I was glad to be able to complete the whole process of creating these models at home because I wanted to demonstrate, mainly for myself, that I was able to design and make a specialist, handmade, designer product from my home which was suitable to sell or exhibit. There are not many outlets for illustrators who make resin or any other types of toys/models, mainly online shops, and with career aspirations in mind I wanted to assure myself this could be a viable option to complement my income as an illustrator.

I am very pleased with the outcomes of this project, I feel that the models are of a standard that I would be confident in selling them, online or at fairs etc.

I was much less confident in terms of my abilities for the second project only because I have never attempted to create a picturebook before. This didn’t stop me from trying, however, because I am confident that this is what I would like to see myself doing in the future. It was a long and demanding process and, being me, I think I got ahead of myself a few times and didn’t allow enough time for the development stage of this task. I should have put more time and effort into the early draft/thumbnail stage of this project because this would of given me a stronger idea of the outcome I was striving for. In the end though I created a set of 4 spreads for a picturebook, wrote my own narrative and I am pleased with the outcomes. Some of the images could be improved but I think that in terms of composition they are strong images. When I think about this project in terms of showing it to potential publishing houses, I am glad I do not have a complete and refined outcome because I know that many edits would take place and I know that the story may likely change too, so having a loose outline of the general story arc and aesthetic style is enough, I think.

This task was really challenging, there were a lot of elements to creating a picturebook that I was not even aware of before but it has by no means changed my opinion about wanting to do more of this sort of work. I loved working with watercolour, creating characters and having fun with a simple story.

My third project turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks at Hallmark and it has really made me think about the different avenues my work could take me in. I made some 3D models out of clay, painted them and had them photographed and manipulated them digitally to correspond with a certain trend I was working on. This was completed within the first week and it was great to see a project from start to finish in such a small amount of time! Usually I think that my 3D models are quite specialist and I would not have thought about using them as a greetings card concept but applying them to a card range made my models more commercial, but in a positive way. It was fun and exciting to be working in a way that was familiar in some respects but also new in others, creating work that I would never have done if not for the briefs that the creative team set for me.

The second task they set me was to create some hand lettering and I was really excited about this brief. I had never had an interest in typography before really. I used it to accent my work but never used it as a focal point. The main aim of this brief was to create designs which held the type as the focal point and the illustrations were to set it in place and help with composition etc. I used watercolours for the type because of the trend I was asked to follow which was very soft and feminine. I am really pleased with the results and I created a range of card designs that are a great addition to my portfolio.

Working at Hallmark made me see that I really would not mind working in this sort of environment. The studio is a fantastic creative space and there are so many different styles of illustration used by the company. Although my main goal is to illustrate children’s books I have seen some amazing examples of illustrations which are intended for a young audience being created at Hallmark and I think it would be a great way to create a body of work for my portfolio that would reflect the kind of illustrator I want to be.

Sometimes when I think about how different my three projects are, and the outcomes produced by them, I wonder which avenue I should take or where I would fit in within the illustration industry. However, after thinking it through, I think it is a good thing I have different applications of my work. My main goal may be to illustrate for children but I can also produce models and toys based from my illustrations which can help to supplement my income as well as showing prospective clients/employers that I have a diverse skill set and have fun with what I do. I think that by maintaining my illustrative style across these different applications gives me a unique body of work and hopefully is different from many other illustrators in the industry.