Watson Productions

I have chosen to take handmade graphics because craft design has always been an area in which I am interested. Even as a child I focussed my efforts on arts and crafts, and made several interesting toilet paper sculptures (!) I love making things and always have; the satisfaction of working with my hands, and of creating something to be proud of is something that never gets tiring.

I'm also choosing it to keep my options open; there are many things I wish to try, not least illustration and structural design. Within handmade graphics I feel I can do all of that, and more. As for a specific job, I do not really have any in mind, other than to continue making things and perhaps selling them.

Skills I feel I will need for handmade graphics are wide and varied. I believe that you should have a background knowledge in basic craft work, i.e. sewing, collage, and illustration, to be good with your hands, and enthusiastic about good design. People who have influenced my work are Nigel Peake, Leah Hayes, Rob Ryan, Peter Callesen, Kathryn Edwards, and Allison Hardcastle. The latter two work with materials and typography to create completely different things. Allison Hardcastle uses old-fashioned phrases and screen printing to create amusing and quirky cards and prints, whereas Kathryn Edwards uses vintage prints and a sewing machine to create canvases that illustrate ordinary life. Peter Callesen and Rob Ryan are well known designers who use paper as an effective medium to illustrate the intricacies and patience of their characters. Their work is so detailed, so painstakingly perfect, that I feel it would be impossible for me to emulate it. Therefore it leaves Leah Hayes and Nigel Peake to be my biggest influences. Miss Hayes uses the humble biro to create beautiful illustrations in black and white that never fail to amaze me, since when she starts she doesn't stop, or think about what she's doing. My ideal role would be to become a female Nigel Peake. Not only is his work absolutely amazing, he seems to live the kind of life I would like to live. Though relatively unheard of, he gets involved in small exhibitions and sells books and prints, which he always personalises for the buyer. He seems friendly and laid back, and receives commissions from various magazines and companies , though he does not seem to be in it for the money, more for the pure enjoyment of illustrating parts of his life. This is how I'd like to live, and although I don't know how feasible it is, I guess no one really does until they try it. There are other things I'd like to try my hand at; shop window displays, illustrating children's books, and writing my own novel, but I don't have a burning desire to make money, or to make my name known to the world, all I have is a desire to make beautiful frippery that will make people smile.

It's hard to find a definition for hand made graphics. In my understanding it means the collective of design as a whole, after all, is not most of design hand made? Even when using digital technology, you are using your hands to create something. Therefore, I believe handmade graphics consists of illustration, structural design, graphic identity, motion graphics, and typography. This is one of the reasons why I decided to do it; there are still so many things I'd like to experiment with.

On a smaller scale, I believe my definition for craft design includes all things textile, tactile, and material based, cutting and pasting, building structures, and picking them apart. My five step plan of action is as follows:

1. To build up a successful body of work within a professional website, and to start selling my stuff on esty.com

2. To email influential designers, i.e. Nigel Peake, for information on how he started his career, and to look in to creating my own online shop

3. To create an animation advertising my products, and to put it up on social networking sites to make people aware of my name. To enter competitions, and win, so that people are aware are my work, and if they like it, I do commissions.

4. To get my work shown at small exhibitions and get featured on blogs and in magazines.

5. To approach shops to get my product on the shelves, and live happily ever after.

Philippa Watson