The Skulls Collective Volume 1

VOLUME

FREE

manchester

IN THIS ISSUEBEN FRISBEEJOE SHERIDANZOE & ZARATHE AVOCETSliam waltonVALERIE SAVCHITSLUKE MOSS DESIGNSHAN B. PHOTOGRAPHY

music. art. design. culture.

the skulls co. volume 0011

credits.

Contents.

Editor - Luke Moss

Design - Luke Moss

Digital - Luke Moss

Cover Image - Shan B.

Contributing Photographers - Shan B., Joe Sheridan

2&3. welcome

4&5. BEN FRISBEE

6-9. JOE SHERIDAN

10&11. SHAN B.

12&13. LIam walton

14&15. zoe & zara

16&17. the avocets

18&19. valerie savchits

20-23. luke moss design

p 6-9

p 4&5

p 10&11


WELCOME TO THE SKULLS COLLECTIVEMANCHESTER'S latest lifestyle & culture magazine

Hello and welcome to Volume 1 of he Skulls Collective, Manches-ter’s latest lifestyle and culture magazine.

he Skulls Collective has been put together as a way of creating an output for creative and local talent in Manchester, and enabling up and coming creatives, musicians, artists, photographers and writers to combine their skills across a print and web based platform, al-lowing networking opportunities for all of the diferent pathways.

Our vision at he Skulls Collective is to create something that hasn’t been done before, a free magazine created and distributed by young creatives for young creatives, displaying a constant low of work whether it be through university projects, freelance projects, com-mercial work or portfolio’s. We want to bring together a collective of determined individuals .

My name is Luke Moss, I am the creator of he Skulls Collective and the reason I wanted to start this magazine was as a way of creating a network of people in similar situations to myself where I have been trying hard to promote myself as a designer and get my work seen by a larger audience.

Having worked hard as a freelance designer and student for the last 3 years, I found it hard to get my work out there and be made acces-sible by many.

Having made connections over the last 3 years in music, nightlife, design and photography I knew that others shared my desire to try and promote themselves and so I have taken it upon myself to create something to connect people via a local magazine, providing

contact information and promotion as well as a website that will work as a continuous feed showcasing the talent Manchester has to ofer.

As this magazine grows I am looking to involve more and more pathways and hope to have more people involved in the develop-ment of this project.

If you would like to get involved with the next volume of he Skulls Collective then please get in touch via our email; [email protected]

hank you for taking the time to look at this magazine and I hope it inspires you to get involved with this project as others have done for this issue.

I would like to thank everyone that has helped to be a part of the irst volume in what has been a long but very beneicial process. he work on display in this magazine is merely a glimpse of some of the fantastic work the contributors have to ofer, so please check out their websites and social media addresses listed throughout.

Our website is over at; www.theskullscollective.co.uk, please con-nect with us through there and I look forward to bringing you Volume 2 in the coming months!

Luke :-)



BEN FRISBEEMANCHESTER BASED GRAPHIC DESIGNER / ILLUSTRatOR

twitter @frisdesign


BEN FRISBEEManchester Based GRAPHIC DESIGNER / ILLUSTRator

For our irst feature, we have been catching up with Ben Frisbee, a Manchester based Graphic Designer and Illustrator.

Hi Ben, thanks for talking to he Skulls Collective, tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Ben Frisbee and I am a graph-ic designer / illustrator. I was born and raised in South Manchester, and returned last year ater living away in Australia and hailand for two and a half years. I have a passion for music and a lot of my work is based within the music industry. My interest in music extends to running my own music event called PurpleSky which plays lots of cloudy, electronicy, experi-mental, trap inluenced hip hop.

How did you get involved in your creative pathway?

I have always been interested in art; when I was younger I was good at drawing and passionate about music. A lot of my cur-rent work is aimed towards the Northern Quarter sort of scene and you can see the music inluence in my work. Also, my un-cle was a talented graphic designer, so that may have directed me towards the design ield.

When I was in university, one of my graphic design teachers was Andy Votel, who is best known as a popular Manches-ter-based music producer who founded record labels such as Twisted Nerve and Finders Keepers. He designs things like psychedelic record sleeves and posters and as you can see from my work, his uni-versity classes inspired me quite a lot.

What have you been up to so far in 2015?

End of 2014 / beginning of 2015 I gave my brand a bit of an update. I learnt how to

design websites (which was something I had put of for a long long time), I built myself a fresh new site and ever since I have been getting lots of new clients ask-ing me to design websites for them.

What do you have planned for the future and what goals are you setting yourself?

My plan for the near future is to try and build my client-base. Working as a free-lance graphic designer is very unpredict-able and inconsistent, some days you will have lots of work, other times you can go a month without any.

Ultimately, my longterm dream would be to move to sunny California and set up a cafe with a design studio upstairs. But whether that will ever happen is another story!

What sort of projects have you worked on in your career so far?

In early 2009 myself and some others started a Manchester-based culture and events listings magazine, called Chimp.

For the irst issue of the magazine Mr. Scruf and I collaborated to design the front cover. Everything else was designed solely by myself.2014 I started the music event PurpleSky.

Some of the larger clients who I have done design work for include Adidas, BMW and Aston Villa Football Club.

You can get in touch with Ben and view more of his work here;

www.frisdesign.co.ukfacebook.com/frisdesigntwitter.com/frisdesignlinkedin.com/in/benfrisbee


the skulls co. volume 0017JOE SHERIDAN


JOE SHERIDANManchester Based PHOTOGRAPHER

Instagram: @JSPHOTOS__91


JOE SHERIDANManchester Based PHOTOGRAPHER

Joe Sheridan is a Manchester based pho-tographer, we caught up with him and asked him about his pathway into the in-dustry and what his plans for the future are;

Hi Joe, thanks for talking to the Skulls Col-lective, tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, I’m Joe Sheridan. I’m a freelance pho-tographer from Manchester, UK.


Ironically it was because of the iPhone that sparked my interested for photography al-most two years ago when I would go out and snap whatever I could. Eventually my dad and I invested in a Pentax SLR camera which I used for a short while before mov-ing to a DSLR which was another Pentax,

this time the KX series. I’ve been using the DSLR now for more than year now, and it’s become a huge part of my life.


Towards the end of 2014 I started a masters in Public Relations in Manchester, which has been keeping me very busy so far. For example, I have been working with a PR agency to develop a piece of work to relect and promote a prominent music and lit-erature festival here in the city which has been very interesting to be a part of.


I aim to successfully pass my degree with hopes of full-time employment either be-fore or ater with a PR agency. Other than the completion of my degree, as an on go-

ing aim I hope to always improve on what I already know about photography, and hope that in my pursuit that I always con-tinue to see development.

Joe has a wide range of photographs cap-turing various aspects of Manchester and surrounding areas, you can ind more of his work via the links below;

www.j-sphotos.comInstagram: @jsphotos__91

With photography comes spontaneity, and everyday is a new day, but I can always promise that for those interested in my work I hope to keep on pushing myself. In the meantime look out for more por-traiture work from clients in and around Manchester, as well as new work shot from prominent festivals around the country.


SHAN B.NORTH MANCHESTER BASED PHOTOGRAPHER

www.flickr.com/photos/bevandshan/


SHAN B.NORTH MANCHESTER BASED PHOTOGRAPHER

Hi Shan, welcome to h e Skulls Collective, please introduce yourself .

I’m Shan B. I was born and raised in North Manchester, I’m an amateur photographer with an interest in all things weird, grimy, abandoned and industrial.


I’ve always been creative, I won competitions when I was younger for my artwork, and was involved as much as I could be in any projects involving painting and sketching. I also hero worshipped my older Cousin who was an amazing artist and aspired to be like her. My Father always had an interest in cameras and collected old box cameras, so I have always been around cameras and art. My Mother

bought me a camera about a decade ago and so I began exploring my surroundings in more depth with my camera in hand and things progressed steadily from there, what started as an occasional hobby became a passion of mine and I have had some amazing experiences through it.


In January I was featured in a two page spread of Urban Explorer magazine, they used some of my images taken in Manchester for the spread I won two ‘Peoples Choice’ awards in competitions online. My images are regularly used by the Yahoo weather app. And I have been published regionally a few times in various publications. And my work is being used in the refurbishment of the new Premier Inn restaurant ‘h yme’ in Prestwich.


Short term plans I have are a couple of model shoots in the pipeline, a trip to Cornwall later in the year to explore the South West coastline, and throughout the Summer I will be taking to the streets of Manchester to further document the urban & street art scene. My goals are to eventually have more of my work hanging in venues across Manchester, to have further exhibitions (I’ve had three so far), and maybe get another regular spot in a gallery.

If you would like to i nd out more about Shan’s work please visit the web pages below; http://theothersideot hings.wix.com/shanbhttp://shanbat.wix.com/sb -originals


LIAM WALTONILLUSTRator FROM CHESHIRE

Instagram: @lilham2000


LIAM WALTONillustrator from cheshire

We have been speaking to Liam, a Illustrator from Cheshire, based in Sheield.

My name is Liam Walton I am a 21 year old Illustration student studying at Sheield Hallam University. I specialise in creating strange cartoon style illustrations.

How did you get involved in your creative pathway? I had always been very interested in art at school but was always more focused around the work of cartoonists. It was rec-ommended that I study Graphic Design at Macclesield College, as it would give me the chance to experiment with this sort of style more freely. It was during this time that I really began to develop my own style and become involved with Illustration.


So far in 2015 I’ve been working hard as part of my degree, which has consisted of creating a series of pieces of work for or-ganisations such as Music In he Round.

Alongside this I’ve brought out my irst Zine focused around the theme of Obesity and will be continuing work on another.

his Zine will be called “Sludgebomb” and will feature a variety of my personal illus-trations. I hope to have that inished in the next few weeks.


Other than inishing my degree I’m hop-ing to try and get involved as much as pos-sible in designing work for independent companies and bands and making a name for myself within the alternative scene whilst further developing my own unique style. I’d also like to try and bring out my own comic book by the end of 2015.

You can ind more of Liams work via his Facebook and Instagram pages below;

https://www.facebook.com/waltonioARTInstagram – lilham2000


ZOE & ZARAManchester Based DUO

@ZOEandZARA


ZOE & ZARAManchester Based duo

Zoe and Zara are a duo, from Bed-ford who formed in 2011. he pair con-sist of twin sisters Zoe and Zara Paul.

Originially Zara en-tered the Jazz realm and performed on the London scene between 2009-2010. At this time Zoe performed within theatre as her Drama degree at Kingston Uni-versity aided the creative past. he two opted to work together when they randomly im-provised a perfor-mance at the Cafe Concerto in White City, London. he singer/songwriters recall the host stat-ing ‘You two have enough energy to cure the world of all negativity, its much like a nuclear bomb of melodic love’. his sparked the formation of Zoe and Zara as an oicial act and the two began work on their music career.

In 2013 Zoe and Zara released their irst oicial single ‘My Man’. his song incapsulated

a smooth, strong groove and the music video epi-tiomized the mes-sage the duo aimed to convey. ‘Strong, independent wom-en, have you got what it takes to be my man?’. Follow-ing on from ‘My Man’ Zoe and Zara released their up-beat and melodic song, ‘Beat Up in My Head and their latest releases ‘Get up Now’ and ‘Cool Love’ have contin-ued this pattern of soulful, feel good music.

Zoe and Zara are currently working on their EP whilst also performing at a range of difer-ent venues. Shows include Passing Clouds, Dalston, Music Is My Drug, Hackney and fes-tivals include ‘Bounce Festival, Richmond Upon hames.


THE AVOCETSMANCHESTER BASED FIVE PIECE

Instagram: @THEAVOCETS


THE AVOCETSMANCHESTER BASED FIVE PIECE Band

We have been speaking to he Avocets, a 5 piece heartfelt indie/alternative band from Manchester.


he project started with long time friend’s singer/guitarist - Greg Powell and Drummer - Matt Cooper, at our music university BIMM Manchester. Ater being in previous bands together we wanted to create something long term this time, and began writing songs under the name ‘he Avocets’ In May 2014.


Last year we were having doubts over our material, band members were dropping out and our future didn’t look as solid. But come 2015 we’ve spent the majority of it tucked away, improving our song writing and redeining our sound, along with our new line up. Recently we’ve been readying ourselves for our irst shows, and cant wait to release our new material!


We want to see where our future takes us, ater the response we get from the new songs we plan to release. We’d love to get some airplay and share the stage with bands we idolize.

Check out their FREE TO DOWNLOAD new debut single, ‘Cold Sky’ on soundcloud.com/theavocets

For fans of: Tears For Fears, Tycho, he 1975, he War On Drugs, Foster he People

You can ind out more and connect with he Avocets via the links below;

soundcloud.com/theavocetsfacebook.com/theavocetsbandinstagram.com/[email protected]

he Avocets second single ‘Restart’ will be available on iTunes and Spotify soon.


VALERIE SAVCHITSManchester Based Artist

savchitsvalerie.etsy.com


VALERIE SAVCHITSManchester Based Artist

VALERIE SAVCHITS is a young freelance artist who is currently studying towards a BA in Visual Arts at Salford University in Manchester.

Valerie was born to a Russian-speaking family near the Baltic Sea in Riga, Latvia. She is looking for creativity and visual power, because she strongly believes that big ideas might become an extremely explosive substance. Valerie is specializing in oil painting, collage & photography.

Artist’s favourite styles are Neo-Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. Her work has also appeared in several art magazines, art blogs and publications.

In 2014 Valerie exhibited her artwork along with other artists from her art course at Bankley Studios & Gallery in Manchester and organised anonymous solo-exhibition ‘A Portal to he Baltic Sea’ in Riga Old Town, Latvia; Since February,

2015 she has been participating in group art exhibition ‘KNACK 90’ in Liverpool and now getting ready for her next group exhibition ‘Generation Z’ in Salford, Manchester.

You can ind her art-shop on Etsy, where she is selling her drawings and paintings: savchitsvalerie.etsy.com


the skulls co. volume 00121LUKE MOSS


LUKE MOSS DESIGNManchester Based Graphic designer and digital illustrator

@lukemossdesign


LUKE MOSS DESIGNManchester Based GRAPHIC DESIGNER and digital illustrator

Hi Luke, welcome to he Skulls Collective, please introduce yourself .

Hi my name is Luke Moss, I am a Graphic Design student graduating later this year, I specialise in Digital Illustration and Psychedelic Art.


Ater working in the Finance Industry for seven years I decided to make a change and pursue a career in Graphic Design and so started a course in Manchester, I have been fortunate enough to have worked in the industry for a couple of summers whilst working on freelance projects and client based work along the way, giving me valuable experience that will help me in the future.


So far this year I have worked on re-designing my website, creating a new website for a hair and

beauty salon as well as re-branding their existing lealets, posters and business cards.

I have created digital illustrations for Gallery Magazine in Jersey and also worked on some artwork for Manchester bands Brahma Loka & he Avocets as well as launching this magazine, he Skulls Collective!


My plan for the remainder of the year is to begin working in the design industry on a full time basis, as well as continuing to run this magazine. I’m taking things one step at a time but I believe I have the experience and determination to achieve my goals.

Find out more about my work here;

www.lukemoss.co.ukInstagram; @lukemossdesignTwitter; @lukemossdesign


WE WANT YOUFOR VOLUME TWO!

WE ARE LOOKING FOR MANCHESTER CREATIVES, MUSICIANS, PHOTOGRAPHERS

AND EVENT ORGANISERS TO BE FEATURED IN OUR NEXT ISSUE.

CONTACT US VIA;

WWW.THESKULLSCOLLECTIVE.CO.UK &

[email protected]

connect with us at;www.theskullscollective.co.uk

email; [email protected]

twitter; @theskullsco

Documents

The Skulls Collective Volume 1