Scott Bakal Talk

These are my notes from the Scott Bakal talk. It was a really interesting, honest and open talk from a very successful illustrator. It was very reassuring to hear about where his practice was when he left education and how much it has changed to present day. Its good the have it reinforced that you don't have to feel like a finished product when you finish the course and that you constantly evolve and push your practice. One thing that stood out to me the most and I think is a mistake I have made this year is that you shouldn't be producing work purely on what you think people want to see. If you need approval from someone else to give your work value how can you ever be truly confident in it?

He spoke about putting yourself into your work and allowing your experiences, surroundings and personality to inform your practice. Taking time out to find inspiration is also important, go and see new things, gain new perspectives, notice small everyday things that you never looked at in detail before. If everyone is getting inspiration from google images then everyone's work will be the same. 

he also gave us an example of how personal projects can have a huge beneficial impact on your practice both in terms of development and creating exposure to your work exactly as you want it to be seen. Personal project give you the opportunity to showcase your personality through your work with no outside influences and control. The talk was inspiring and also well timed for us to take the ideas and apply them over the summer into our professional lives. 

Scott Bakal

 Can’t be complacent.
Need to challenge yourself constantly

Get your work seen
if you don’t like it doesn’t mean other people won’t

Be healthy
Engage with artistic community
Start sketch booking more

Skulls of ultimate death website

Base work on life experiences
Find inspiration
Roughing

Key words
What symbols would work
Illustration helps explore humanity

New York Times
Swatting

Shows how powerful work can be

Am I free to go
Book cover

When you have an idea that works make it
Look back at roughs from previous jobs

Look at process films on YouTube

Missing out unnecessary lines
Blocks of colour, texture contrasted with line work
Rough edges on sold shapes
Big shape small details


Dream clients can turn out to nightmares

End up being much happier with ‘boring’ clients

Never feel like a finished product
Constant experimentation
Through ideas and materials
Look back and find things you didn’t fully explore

Robert Johnson series
Changed everything
Won lots of awards
Changed direction of career
Ended up in a museum

Keep digital files of previous work
Maybe also annotated
Organised

Three by three
Society of illustrators
Social media

Time management
Understand you practice
Set self deadline before actual deadline in case something goes wrong
Got process sorted, so try to spend as much time as possible on ideas

Believe in your work

Put yourself into work not what you think people want
Show people your work
Allow your experiences to help you find the right direction
Be an artist first then figure out how it fits into the market

James Jean sketch pads