Cartocon Window Display

I had a busy week last week preparing for my window display at Cartocon. I was slightly nervous about it in the run-up as it was the first window display I'd attempted myself and I only had one day to get it right, but the install on Friday ended up going so well and I really enjoyed it.

All photos by Nathan Lee

I started by masking off the edges of the windows and marking out the different areas using masking tape on the outside of the window as a guide. I then drew freehand on the inside of the window using china marker for the pyramid drawings. China marker works great on glass but you have to lean pretty hard and maybe go back over your lines a couple of times. 

I then painted over the drawings and painted the blocked in shapes. Having stressed about what paint to use for ages having read lots of conflicting advice on various unhelpful websites, I ended up just buying Scola tempera paint which was less than £2 for a big bottle and worked great, it was easy to paint on and gave good coverage after a couple of coats. 

The final stage of the window painting process was peeling off the masking tape which was so satisfying and wiping off smudges using a folded bit of paper which is probably the best thing for glass (top tip).

Having taken my sweet time with the painting stage, getting the wool into the window was more stressful than I expected. I measured the correct distance from the window then put a line of tape on the wall parallel to the glass, and marked the distances for the pins on the edge of the tape to get it nice and neatly aligned. Hammering the pins into the hardboard was an absolute bugger of a job as the pins were pretty weak and kept bending. I then cut long lengths of wool, folded them and twisted the two strands together before attaching them to the pins, just to make them a bit thicker and more visible from the street. 

For the left window I decided to make the lines a bit irregular, but I went for a more uniform effect on the right just to give a bit more variation between the windows. 

I'm really happy with how the windows came out! Having done the Urban Outfitters window was definitely such a bonus as I learned lots of useful tricks and tips there that I wouldn't necessarily have thought of myself. Doing window displays seems simple but usually there's quite a few technical problems to be worked out which I really enjoy. Probably the hardest thing about doing the Cartocon window was cramming my lanky body into quite a short space. The lights coming from the ceiling were also a bit of a pain to work around, but as working conditions go it was pretty good with unlimited teas and decent music. 

The opening also went really well with a good turn-out. I left my sketchbook out and plenty of people were flicking through it. I think it's good for people to see the work that's gone into a project and the ideas behind it. Cartocon also made a video of some of my other work and let me display some prints and books in the window for a few days. 

The display will be up for a couple of weeks longer so you can see it in all its 3D glory. All in all I'm really happy with the outcome and found the whole project so rewarding. Keeping an eye out for other shops to work with soon!

House of Illustration & Folio Society Competition - War Horse

My final illustration brief this semester has been pretty hard work - it's for the House of Illustration and Folio Society book illustration competition which is a big deal in the illustration world. We were tasked to produce 3 illustrations and a binding for the book "War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo, which I can safely say is now my least favourite book... Although War Horse is relatively short and being a childrens' book, a pretty easy read, I still found it difficult trawling through all the text and choosing scenes to illustrate as well as deciding on a style. I started off by looking at horses and different ways to draw them.

I didn't want to go for anything too literal so I then looked at simple cut out shapes and abstraction of the figures.

I eventually chose three scenes which I thought kind of summed up the main themes of the book and also featured most of the main characters; the ploughing scene at the start; the scene where the horses are being transported to France by ship in the middle; then the no-mans' land scene towards the end.

I also decided to make the binding quite simple and graphic using the shape of an aerial view of a hay field which has been partially harvested - symbolic of Joey and Topthorn being taken away from the farm in France.