Working in the art and design industry

                Working in the art and design industry

                Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre based in Chichester, West Sussex. It was opened in 1962, it was founded by a local ophthalmic optician and former city mayor, Leslie Evershed-Martin. It is a theatre which presents a mixture of shows, some which have been produced strictly for Chichester Theatre, and some which are on tour, and adapt around the theatre.

There are many different departments around the theatre, creating the necessity for people of different professions.

Designers are used throughout several different departments in this theatre. They employ lighting, sound, costume, set and make up designers. All of these roles are incredibly important when it comes to putting on a show. Each department has to stay in contact with each other through out the design, rehearsal and show period. Watching over all of these people is the Stage Manager. This person will be in contact with all the departments through out a theatre during a show, they will make sure that every one is working well together and that their plans and designs don’t clash.

A large quantity of the artistic team employed in the theatre are employed part time. They will be offered work for the period of a show. Then when the show period is over they will move onto a different production.

The theatre makes a large amount of its money selling drinks and refreshments before the show and during the interval, so having a bar onsite is benefitial to them making profit. It is in their best interest to put as high quality performances on as possible as a consistently good run of shows ensures that they will have people coming to all of the performances.

          

                                                            Marvel comics

Marvel is a well known provider and publisher of comic books. It is owned by Walt Disney after they bought it in 2009.

Marvel specialises in Hero comics. They have publishedcomics such as Spiderman, Fantastic Four, The X-men and the Avengers. These comics are very widely known, most are household names, several of their comics have been turned into films. These films normally do very well, this is partly due to the fact that the comics will often already have a dedicated following.

There have been many reincarnations of some of there characters. Several of their characters have been brought back into the limelight by a new series of comics based on the hero.
There comics are known for being brightlty coloured and eye-catching, making them appealing to a potential customer. Marvel makes their money through the sales of their comics and the advertising that is featured in their comic books. A lot of their profit will come from the money they get through advertising. So the quality of their magazines will reflect on the amount companies will be willing to pay for advertising slots.

              

                                                            Costume designer

A costume designer designs costumes for performances. They are normally employed free lance, and for the period of a show. They will design the costumes for a show with direction from the director and other members of the creative team.

When designing costumes a designer would have to stay incontact with other members of the design team to ensure that their design works in conjunction with the other designer’s work to create a good overall show.  

A costume designer will have to research into the characters they design for, noting period and class, so they can design the costumes to reflect these facts. They will also have to consider a budget, which will be given to them, they will also have to ensure that the costumes won’t restrict a performer from performing their scripted movements and moving freely. One other thing they will have to consider is that the costume will last the duration of the show, a costume is usually made specifically for a show, therefore a designers only concern when it comes to strength of the costume is that it lasts all the way through the show period.

               Photographer

A photographer is a very commonly used professional in the art and design industry. There work is used to advertise all different types of products and document many different things. An example of a job a photographer can be employed to do is wedding photography. The photographer will be employed to take photos of the event, and perhaps some pre-event shots. This is a very well paid job, and is a good career choice, because people will pay a lot of money for their wedding photographs. The photographer would have to be reliable and would have to have some good examples of their work so that their clients have a reason to pick him over the many different photographers offering their services.

If you wish to go into the profession of wedding photography no particular qualifications are necessary, but having a degree in photography would always be a useful thing to have as it would give potential clients confidence that the job you will do will be done to a high standard. But one of the most useful thing for a wedding photographer to have is a broad and impressive portfolio of work. I have done some research into different wedding and event photographers, a lot of photographers use an online webpage to advertise their work. They will post pictures of previous work they have done as examples of the kind of work they can produce. Using an online webpage can prove to be very useful for an event photographer, as it makes them easy to find and it makes examples of their work and previous experience easily viewable for potential clients.

      

                Illustrator

Illustrators, like many other people in the art and design industry can be employed full time or free lance. They may have a full time position at some sort of publisher or magazine company, or they may just be employed for a short period of time to complete certain jobs. A large majority of illustrators work for themselves doing free lance work.

Illustrators often have other jobs while trying to build up their business as an illustrator. Most illustrators have a degree in illustration or another art related subject, although there is no set entry requirements to become an illustrator.
Illustration is used through many different modern day media companies. You can find illustrations as cover art in magazines, on packaging, in newspapers and in many many more places. Illustration is a eye-catching and fun way to draw somebody towards something. like a product of some sort. A bright interesting looking package is much more appealing when put next to a dull boring looking package, so illustration can be used to make products more appealing to a potential buyer just by making the packaging more interesting.

                Fashion Designer

A fashion designer is an individual who designs clothing. It is a very competitive industry, and it takes a lot of skill to do well in the industry. There is no set qualification requirements for this job role. Yet a lot of professional  fashion designers do have degrees in some sort of fashion or art related subjects. Also a lot of designers have experience in fields such as tailoring and pattern cutting, as these skills help them to create effective and realistic designs.
A fashion designer will be employed, either to design a set of clothing or a particular piece through free-lance or part-time work, or they could be employed as a full time designer for a company.
When a fashion designer is given the job of designing a piece for company, a place they could start could be doing research on, perhaps, a theme they had been given by the company or researching other artists work to draw inspiration from. They could then create a series of mood boards and draw up some initial designs drawing inspirations from their different forms of research. From here they could move on to developing their designs and testing materials they could use to make their designs. When they are happy with materials they could next combine some of the best bits of their best designs to create one final design. While going through this process it is highly likely that the designer would have had to present their designs to the company they are designing for, to ensure that the design meets the clients requirements.

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen was a fashion designer. He first got into the fashion design industry without a degree. At the age of 16 he was offered apprenticeships at two different master tailors, one after the other. From here he moved on  to a theatrical costumiers, where he extended his knowledge on dress making. At the age of 20 he was employed by Koji Tatsuno. His second employer was Romeo Gigli, he was employed as a design assistant.

It was only after this, when McQueen returned to London, that he completed  a Masters Degree in Fashion Design. He studied at Central Saint Martin’s.

In his prime, McQueen was a highly celebrated fashion designer. He has received many different awards for his work.

You can see McQueen’s understanding of tailoring in his designs. The cuts of his pieces are all very sharp and neat. This is where his experience in tailoring comes in. Before now, I have looked into the option of following costume design as a career, while looking in to this I was told by many people, that being able to draw a nice design is completely different to being able to draw a design that works. You can see that McQueen has a very thorough understanding of how dress making and tailoring works.

            Banksy   

  Banksy is a highly recognised graffiti artist. His work is not legal, and has many critics. His real identity is a mystery.

His work is usually quite controversial and makes you think about political and social issues. He has become famous through his work, and is a very well known artist. His work has been purchased by celebrities.

Banksy’s work operates very much outside the law. He makes money out by selling his work onto people. It is unknown as to whether he has a job along side the work he does as a graffiti artist because, as I said, his identity is a mystery.

                Andrew Kent

Andrew Kent was a music photographer. He took iconic photographers of people such as David Bowie, Ringo Starr, Iggy Pop and Keith Richards. He began following a career in music photography at the young age of 18. He began as a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Free Press.

He is one of the most highly acclaimed music photographers of the 70’s. He took a lot of black and white candid shots of the stars backstage and onstage. His photos of bowie are definitely the most influential of his photographs. He really does seem to capture Bowie’s personality. He did have a lovely subject for his photography, the stage lighting on the live shows makes lovely still images. Especially in some of the Bowie shots where the light is only on parts of his body.

               

General information:

Many different types of artists can be employed either free lance or full time. The downfall of working free lance is that you are only payed for the hours that you are working, you do not get any sick pay, maternity leave or holiday pay. You are only payed for the hours of work you do, nothing more, nothing less. Some may prefer this to working full time, as you have more choice as to what hours you work and what jopbs you do. But I think that full time employment is a much more stable and reliable form of employment.

An attractive webpage will be a usefull tool for any artist or designer looking for full time or part time employment. As it compells the reader to stay on the page. Also it is benificial that the page is well layed out so a potential employer will find it easy to navigate their way around the page and get the information they need easily.

One thing I have noticed when researching into different roles in the art and design industry is that experience in the field you wish to work is almost equally as useful as having a qualification in the subject. I have started looking for companies involved in art and design who offer work experience or take on volunteers. I know that Chichester Festival Theatre takes on university students studying in the field of technical theatre on for periods of work experience. This kind of experience is useful as you gain a first hand insight into the tasks you will have to perform in a particular line of work.

Jobs in the art and design industry:

I have done research into jobs you can get in the art and design industry. I found details on a company advertising online looking to employ a designer ifor a permanent position. Below I have put a copy of the job description. As you can see in the piece of text below no particular qualifications are required for this position. It is just said that a background in illustration would be ideal and because the job involves a lot of computer work, expertise in computer programs such as photoshop would be needed.

Designer

Job viewed 376

Permanent, Hampshire, TBC

Silver Crane specialise in developing exciting, innovative new tin packaging for biscuits and confectionery - from cute snowman tins to beautiful, upscale products. We supply to major retailers nationwide and internationally and have a global reputation as the best for design. We are looking for a new creative designer to join our growing, world class art team. The role will involve brainstorming new product concepts, creating flat and 3D visuals, mock-ups, and finished artwork. Computer skills are a big part of the role, and the candidate should ideally have an expertise in photoshop and / or illustrator. A background in illustration would be a bonus. The candidate should be very creative, passionate and enthusiastic, and able to fit into a team. They should also be able to arrange their own transport and please note our location on the South Coast, about 15 minutes from Bournemouth.