My work is often described as sci-entific in nature. I draw inspiration heavily from the realm of science, particularly the natural sciences, as I am particularly interested in these topics, and consequently it provides the most fodder for creat-ing artwork. This may be because I enjoy including data within my work and science is essen-tially about the discovery of data. I especially enjoy the challenge of creating work about abstract and invisible concepts in science, en-deavouring to make them tangible and accessible to the audience.

This interest in using scientific subject matter in my artwork may have started in my first year of uni-versity, when I randomly selected the word ‘water’ out of a hat to cre-ate a CD cover about. Considering

drawings of water to be a trite and obvious solution to the brief, I ap-proached it from a scientific point of view. I allowed water to react to different papers and mediums, as well as researching the structure of water molecules.

My interest in including data in my work started in my foundation course. I found it more engaging including data within work, as it gave it another dimension and set it apart from purely represen-tational work that many people seemed more interested in. I like the power that data has to trans-form a work that may not seem visually significant into something that is conceptually extraordinary, although obviously I aim for my work to be both visually and con-ceptually interesting.

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“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

– Albert Einstein

“The clashing point of two subjects, two disciplines, two cul-tures of two galaxies, so far as that goes ought to produce

creative chances.” – C.P. Snow

I enjoy setting myself expansive scientific briefs, such as the big bang, neuroscience, time and light. I have found this to be a success-ful formula, as it gives me a large amount of information to play with. I also feel a great deal of sat-

isfaction paring down huge com-plex topics into often quite mini-mal and simplistic artworks. My outcomes tend to be quite visually abstract, as I often feel that these topics cannot be encapsulated in representational artworks.

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“Art and science have their meeting point in method.” - Robert Bulwer-Lytton

My working method is a broad and experimental approach to a subject. I undertake extensive research into a particular topic and identify key areas of interest to develop into a wide range of visual ideas, primarily drawings and pho-tographs. I then further develop the most successful experiments into a final outcome. In some re-spects my methodology itself par-

allels scientific experimentation, with the progression from research to experimentation and analysis of what has been successful. This can often be quite time consuming, so I prefer briefs that last for at least a few months so I have a chance to explore the many possibilities that such rich scientific topics can generate.

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“Commissioners rarely take a leap of faith.” – Adam Simpson.

In my foundation course, what I found most exciting was com-ing up with ideas to respond to the different brief that were set. I had trouble coming up with my own briefs, so pursued illustra-tion as a way of responding to set briefs. The Illustration course at Bournemouth has been perfect for me, as it has been very open in its definition of illustration, allowing for me to try a variety of different techniques.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe the current illustration industry is quite as willing to accept the more experimental works that I like to create. Adam Simpson, a profes-sional illustrator with the world-renowned Heart Agency, explained in a guest lecture that art directors will commission an illustrator

based on what’s in their portfolio, often using a specific picture as a point of reference and asking them to create something similar. My work is all very specific to the brief I’m working on at the time, so my work can vary quite wildly, though it all tends to be quite abstract and conceptual.

I don’t think that the illustration industry would be entirely reticent to accept abstract and conceptual illustration as a whole; however my working method does not particularly lend itself to illustra-tion. I use an experimental process to find an end product. This would require the person or organisation who commissions me to have an awful lot of faith in me and my work, with perhaps a longer time frame than most illustrators are

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

Contexts For My Work

known for and probably a lack of accurate drafts that are usually a required prior to the finished product.

Realistically, I don’t think the work I prefer to make is particularly suitable for many traditional con-texts of illustration. If art directors were willing to use me as an illus-trator, I think the most appropriate context would be editorial work for science magazines such as New Scientist and Scientific American. However in recent years illustra-tions in these publications seem to have favoured the usage of pho-tography and photo manipulation over illustration, so I’m uncertain how large this market is. I’m also uncertain how abstracted they are willing for their illustrations to be, although they have used some wonderful abstract illustrationwws in the past, as shown below.

Some of my work could also be perceived as a pattern and could have commercial applications on fabrics or products, but I feel that reducing the images to a purely decorative function would lose the meaning behind it. This is not to say that I would not take the opportunity to create more com-mercial work if given the chance, but I think my work is more suited to the fine art sector.

I think that my work would be most appropriate in a gallery set-ting, where I believe there is more room for emphasis on concept as opposed to aesthetics, which is what many illustrators focus on. Therefore I will be concentrating most of my efforts into exhibiting work at galleries. Living close to London there are a wide range of wonderful art galleries close by that I can contact. There are also a number of specialist institutions

that encourage collabora-tion between the arts

and sciences that may be willing

to offer me grants, placements or other

opportunities.

Tim Knowles

I’ve been a great admirer of Tim Knowles’ work for quite some time. Like my work, his draw-ings are very process-driven. He has created works using a variety of techniques including allowing trees and vehicles to dictate how the material moves across the pa-per. I think these are very similar, both aesthetically and in terms of process, to some of my drawings. I am particularly interested in how Knowles displays these works in galleries, as I have had significant trouble in the past conveying the intention and process behind my work when it is in this abstract form. Knowles accompanies his drawings with photos or live video showing how the drawing was achieved.

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Jo Berry

I find Jo Berry quite interesting as someone who studied illustration and now has moved more into the fine art sphere, including mov-ing image and sculpture as well as digital drawing in her broad port-folio of work. She also often works with scientific subject matter and imagery, particularly microscopic structures, which she uses to create stark graphic imagery. I admire her resolve to ‘break down subject barriers,’ which is also a goal I also have for my continuing practice.

Daro Montag

Daro Montag has been a great in-spiration to me as a science artist. Like me he likes to explore the un-seen, though he prefers to explore the microscopic world of bacteria. He explores this in an extraordi-nary way, allowing the bacteria to consume different materials and show the magnitude of their effect to his audience. The results works are extraordinarily beautiful and almost cosmic in nature, allowing the viewer to consider the largest structures in the universe as well as some of the smallest. His work is a celebration of that which is not ordinarily seen or thought about, which is an ambition that I share for my work.

Annie Cattrell

I first came across the work of Annie Cattrell at the Wellcome Collection in London, where her sculpture ‘SENSE’ was part of the permanent exhibition ‘Medicine Now.’ She can also be described as a ‘sci-artist,’ as she communicates scientific ideas in her work, usu-ally about the human body. Her work is largely sculptural, which may not appear to be particularly relevant to my work, but the idea of externalising the internal is re-ally exciting to me. I also attempt to capture the ethereal in a solid form, though my work is usually drawing. Her work has made me really consider the possibilities of sci-art, particularly when in col-laboration with scientists, which is something I hope to explore in the future.

Piet Mondrian

I continue to be inspired by the work of the prolific painter Mon-drian. I am fascinated by his transition from representational paintings to pure abstraction, as his work was what inspired me to make a similar transition and embrace the possibilities of the abstract. His method of distill-ing paintings down to the very fundamental elements of lines and primary colours is extraordinary, and I constantly aim for work that is as beautiful in its simplicity as that of Mondrian’s work.

“You can look anywhere and find inspiration.” - Frank Gehry

As a creative practitioner I feel that it’s important to have a wide variety of influences to draw from, apart from that of other artists. Though I am obviously primarily interested in scientific achieve-ments, discoveries and news, I find inspiration in a variety of sources. These include abstract patterns found in natural world and urban environments, as well as interest-ing objects and structures. I often find museums are a good source for interesting objects and ideas. I enjoy digital photography and take my camera with me everywhere I go to document anything inter-esting I might see. This is how I often begin to work on a brief, by gathering eclectic photographic resources.

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I decided to stick with my pre-ferred name ‘Lizzy Cunliffe-Jones’ for my branding. This may not be the wisest step, as a double-barrelled surname may be difficult to remember and spell, as well as different variations in the spell-ing of ‘Lizzy’. However I thought that my long name may actually be beneficial in that it stands out, but most importantly, it is what I would prefer to be called. It was suggested that I could go by ‘Lizzy Cunliffe’ for ease of marketing, but having lived with this name for twenty one years I would feel uneasy if I changed it, even for professional purposes.

The first task was to create some sort of logo that could be used fairly consistently throughout vari-ous platforms to promote myself. Being not particularly competent

with hand-rendered lettering, I decided to base my design around digital type. Inspired by experi-mentation during my light pro-ject, I attempted to photograph my name in different typefaces through a prism. Though I enjoyed the effect, it was not clean enough to use as a logo. I decided to repli-cate the effect digitally, by overlay-ing cyan magenta and yellow and offsetting them slightly.

I feel that this logo represents my work fairly well, as I am very inter-ested in the use of colour, as well as breaking subjects down into different elements. I used this logo consistently throughout my pro-motional materials; on my website, Tumblr and business cards, as well as a smaller version featuring the first letter ‘L’ for my Twitter, Vimeo, and on certain stickers.

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My website was the first promo-tional tool that I created, as I felt it was the most important. Most illustrators rely heavily on their website to draw in clients, but it is also a platform for work that is accessible to everyone. I registered www.lizzycunliffejones.com as well as www.lizzycunliffejones.co.uk to redirect to the same site, in case someone is unaware of the cor-rect extension, they can’t go wrong with the two most popular in the United Kingdom.

I decided to create a Wordpress website, as I have used Wordpress many times before for individual unit blogs and am very confident with its interface. I preferred the customisability of Wordpress to that of the Cargo Collective, which I also briefly considered. I felt that variety of themes and widgets on Wordpress meant that I could make a website specifically tailored to me, with the features I wanted, as well as being visibly different from the Cargo Collective websites which tend to look quite similar.

What Wordpress lacked in com-parison to the Cargo Collective was a social networking aspect, but I felt this could be made up for on other platforms such as Twitter. I paid a little extra for a Wordpress theme that I felt was better than the themes that were available for free, as this was also responsive, meaning it could shrink efficiently when viewed on phones and tab-lets.

I deleted my old Twitter account which was full of nonsense and created a new profile. Unfortu-nately lizzycunliffejones was too long for a Twitter name, so I chose lcunliffejones. I found it really beneficial to directly connect and chat with other artists, illustrators and galleries in an informal envi-ronment. I also found a number of opportunities to develop my practice, such as competitions, residencies and art blogs looking for submissions through Twitter, so I’m very glad I created a new account for professional purposes.

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I also began a blog on Tumblr, which has surprised me with the large amount of creative users that are active. I felt this would be beneficial as an extra platform to showcase my work on, for those that aren’t on any of the other platforms I use. Tumblr also has the added advantage of re-blogging, so people that appreciate my work can share it with others. I think any blog in general is im-portant for an illustrator, as it allows clients to see what you’re currently doing, as well as showcasing work that may not be entirely portfolio-ready.

My Vimeo page, where I had uploaded a number of videos for previous projects, ap-peared quite high in the Google search results for my name. I decided to invest in a one year subscription to Vimeo Plus, which has the abil-ity to hide my many work-in-progress

videos but still embed them in my various unit blogs. This left my page free of clutter, just showcas-

ing the more finalised videos that I am most proud of.

I created a LinkedIn ac-count for a more formal professional presentation of my work experience and skills. This was really the only place where I didn’t use some variation of my logo, as I felt a pho-tograph would be more appropriate, as is the norm for LinkedIn users.

Advice from Arabella Lewis-SmithThe founder and director of ‘Salad Crea-tive’ advised us on methods of self-pro-motion. She identified seven key things in order to self promote successfully.• Enthusiasm• Persistence• Can-doattitude• Punctuality• Drive• Self-belief• Passion

I decided to order some business cards from the outstanding web-site www.moo.com, as they have excellent quality cards with a great degree of customisation at fairly affordable prices, but most impor-tantly the ability to have a range of different backs to the business cards. Looking at the thumbnails on my website, I noticed a pattern of bright colours on white for sev-eral images, which I decided to use as the backs of my business cards. I felt that this would make them

appear clean and professional, as well as a cohesive set.

I also ordered some stickers with my work on them. While I think business cards are probably best reserved for potential clients, business partners etc., I thought stickers would be nice casual pro-motional items that could be given to anyone that is interested in my work, perhaps as an incentive to look at my various online promo-tional platforms.

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“Use the occasion, for it passes swiftly.” - Ovid

I’ve had a fantastic time at the Arts University Bournemouth; I’ve found it really conducive to crea-tivity being surrounded by like-minded creative people willing to collaborate and feedback on work. I’ve also enjoyed a range of oppor-tunities presented from the course and the university as a whole.

In second year, there were op-portunities around Christmas to sell work at Cafe Boscanova and at the vintage market in Boscombe. I created a batch of individually made Christmas cards to sell at these events. I also created Valen-tine’s cards to sell at the Moontree Gallery the following February. Though this work was not really what I intend to do in the future, it was nice to know that I could create commercially viable work

as well as raise money for the grad show.

At the end of my second year, I did some production art for the AUB animation grad film ‘Cosmo.’ This included some covers for magazines that appeared dur-ing the film, creating the layouts to place the rendered character model into. I also created the film posters for ‘Cosmo’ and ‘Purge,’ that were seen on display in the animation department, as well

ExperienceExperienceExperienceExperienceExperienceExperienceExperience

as given to people who donated money towards production costs. Again, these were mainly using assets already created for the films, including production artwork, scenes from the films, and finished character artwork. However all of these projects were incredibly enjoyable, working alongside my friends. I also found this very useful in terms of taking direction from clients, however informal the guidance was.

In the third year there was again an opportunity to sell work in a stall outside illustration, where I sold more Christmas cards. More recently, there was a silent auction in the Arts Bar, where I success-fully sold a simple digital print of my work. I feel that selling this work has been a positive step, knowing that I can create some commercially viable work as well as my more personal and abstract work. I also feel that I have con-tributed fairly significantly towards the final show in London by taking advantage of these opportunities. I’m looking forward to further increasing my visibility as an artist during the exhibitions in Bourne-mouth and London with personal work that really showcases what I am most interested in.

I’m going to be seeking employ-ment, an internship, or a volunteer position as soon as possible after graduation in order to gain experi-ence and enhance my CV, as I feel I am currently at a disadvantage with my lack of work experience. Ideally I would like to gain work related to art in some fashion, however tangentially, and am particularly interested in working in galleries.

In September 2014 I intend to embark upon a Master’s degree. I am particularly excited by the Art and Science course at Central St. Martins, as it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. I feel that I will be better placed next year to undertake this experience, ideally with some work experience under my belt. I will also have more op-portunity next year to more thor-oughly research the course, visit an open day, and prepare a portfolio. Depending on my success in the job market, I may not undertake a Master’s degree, but next year I will know more definitely if this

is the right step to take. I can also save up money towards the cost of the course which would be a significant help.

Next year I also intend to take more opportunities to enter com-petitions and apply for residen-cies. I intend to enter the Jerwood drawing prize, as the exhibition of the current Jerwood draw-ing prize at the AUB gallery has been particularly inspirational to me, celebrating the wide range of definitions of drawing, including

After GraduationAfter GraduationAfter GraduationAfter GraduationAfter GraduationAfter GraduationAfter Graduation

Advice from Emma Stibbon

Fine artist and printmaker Emma Stib-

bon spoke about the practicalities of

getting residencies and placements as a

fine artist.•Thinkaboutthelog

isticsandpracticali-

ties of a project.

•Don’tbeembarrassedifyou’renotan

expert in something, ask those who are.

•Researchlotsaboutthepositionbef

ore

your application.

•Howwillyouroutcomesinterestthem?

•Thinkaboutyourworkobjectively.

many abstract and more conceptual works. I will be looking out for other opportunities that interest me and undertaking as many as possible to in-crease my visibility as an artist and connect with people who could help develop my career.

http://www.lizzycunliffejones.com

http://lizzycunliffejones.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/LCunliffeJones

https://vimeo.com/lizzycunliffejones