Q&A with Laurel Pettitt

• Q - What is this connection to Iceland in your work?

• A - In our 3rd year at Uni we weren’t given a brief so we could design it ourselves. At that time I was looking into Norse mythology and I kept looking at Icelandic landscapes and music. At the beginning it was more about Norse stories, then it moved into the Icelandic landscape and the Huldufólk, Icelandic folk lore, and then I ended up more focused on the land.

• Q - So you don’t have a family connection?

• A - No I don’t, wish I did. But I’ve always been quite interested in it. Then in 3rd year I went through a battle about going but couldn’t afford to. Then I realised it would be more a reportage, where as this [her print Bodies in Water] is like imagining. And the original of this print is on that pull out and done with a posca pen.

• Q - How did you turn this into a screen print?

• A - I drew it first and then at Uni we had a large scale scanner that is really good and turned it into a digital file and picked all the colours.

• Q - Do you always do that now? Start off with something you draw using Posca pens and then you turn it into digital print and then you can turn it into a screen print?

• A - There’s only been half the screen prints I’ve done using that approach. With the others it’s straight on worked on acetate, which I like a bit more because it’s more organic. All of these are quite clean. My sister said the other day I should get away from the orange and blue colour  palette, she doesn’t like it!

• Q - Could you tell me about your route into illustration?

• A - Throughout my childhood I’ve always drawn and doodled and really loved books and really loved reading and illustrations in books. And I was into English and really loved writing as well and did writing with doodling at the side. Ironically I failed at Art A-level. Then did a National Diploma and specialised in Graphics. My tutors realised all my work was quite illustrative so I applied for illustration [at University].

• Q - So you did five years?

• A - Yeah, with 2 years Graphics and 3 Illustration.

• Q - When did you finish?

• A - Last July.

• Q - So less than a year?

• A - Uh huh. And I moved home and I’m volunteering at the Apex Gallery in Bury www.theapex.co.uk/art-gallery

• Q - Can you tell me a bit about Zines and Comics

• A - I did my dissertation about Comics. As a child I was into Snoopy and Tintin because my mum always read it, but I was never an avid fan and I tried to get into superhero comics. When I was doing my graphic design course I was looking at graphic novels and online formats and then I realised it’s more about the story and art form and was really inspired by Jillian Tamaki jilliantamaki.com  She’s a Canadian artist and did a really lovely book, This One Summer in collaboration with her cousin Mariko. Alternative comics are on a different level from mainstream comics or what people think of as ‘comics’ straight away. They’re just sequential. I like the words sequential art or sequential illustration. I think ‘comics’ is a really closed off word, everyone has their own idea of what it is straightaway, like it’s for kids.

• Q - Has the word ‘Zines’ replaced the word ‘Comics?

• A - Yeah, definitely. On my course when it came to comics, hardly anyone thought about comics or was into them or even thought of making them on an illustration course. I ran a comic society while I was at Uni in Norwich and a zine society as well, which are still running. I just really wanted to show people all the alternative comics, like Daniel Clowes  danielclowes.com or Charles Burns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burns_(cartoonist]

I read a really lovely comic the other day, Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine
www.adrian-tomine.com

It is hard to give definitions on this type of work. I would call something a Zine if it doesn’t have panels, but something with panels and a sequence I’d call a comic. Shaun Tan
http://www.shauntan.net/ did an entire graphic novel without words The Arrival. I really recommend that book. People often view graphic novels without words as more ‘mature’.

• Q - Do you enjoy screen printing?

• A - I love it.

• Q - So what processes do you use?

• A - I draw and do screen printing. My outcomes are usually little books or prints, but I do want to expand that further thinking about using fabric or textiles because I want to go down that route and incorporating screen printing onto that.

• Q - How did you find out about PTTP?

• A - Through Jo who works at the Uni and we went to the old building at Stew Gallery for the induction.

• Q - Where do you find inspiration?

• A - Landscapes and stories. More recently my work is about small quiet moments that you can make into stories.

• Q - Do you collect anything?

• A - Books and comics and zines. I’ve got a whole shoebox from going to all the zine fairs around the country. My room is full of art all over the walls and bookshelves full of comics and graphic novels.

• Q - How do you get past creative blocks?

• A - I find talking to my fellow artists, people I’ve gone to Uni who I’m quite good friends with and who I respect their art a lot and their opinion. I normally reach out to them to talk as just getting a new set of eyes helps. Or taking a break.

• Q - What are you working on now?

• A - I got accepted into ELCAF, East London Comics and Arts Festival
http://www.elcaf.co.uk/ which is in June, so I’m just making a new body of work for that and want to do some screen-prints.

Right now I’m making a comic and it’s about graduate life. It’s going to be a zine about the realistic side of what it’s like to graduate. I thought it might be nice to tell people what it’s like, that it’s really hard, you have to work really hard, you won’t get given anything and you won’t get a job, probably.

• Q - What new medium would you like to try?

• A - Riso printing. I’ve only done it here at PTTP, a quick one and some Christmas cards, but they were all quite quick. I really want to make a riso printed book.

• Q - Where do you sell your work?

• A - Through zine fairs and art fairs and I have an online shop on Cargo Collective.

• Q - Which artists do you admire?

• A - Jillian Tamaki, Luke Pearson http://lukepearson.com/ and Rob Hunter [http://www.robertfrankhunter.com/ I really like his book Map of Days and he did a collaboration to make a comic alongside a record, ‘Young Collosus’.

• Q - What is you favourite David Bowie song?

• A - Moonage Daydream

http://lolrel.tumblr.com/

http://laurelpettitt.bigcartel.com/

Questions: Paul McNeill  Editor: Yasmin Keyani

Q&A with Peter Lubach

Q&A with Peter Lubach

Taking a line for a walk

• Q – Could you tell me about your route into illustration?

• A – I did Foundation in Norwich first of all and didn’t even consider illustration. I did painting, very bad painting. That was a wasted year really, but I always used to draw cartoons and never really considered that something to do at Art School. Towards the end of that year someone saw my work and said we should move you to the graphics block out of the painting block. Then I had a big gap and lived in Scotland and then I thought about applying for Brighton. I got into Brighton and loved it and worked really hard.

• Q – And you kept working in illustration, working for yourself?

• A – Yes, there were lots of things, in those days, there was the Enterprise Allowance Scheme for when you left college. I don’t know how much they gave you. It was something small.

• Q – To set up?

• A – Yes. You’d go to a meeting and they’d teach you how to keep your books. So you’d get the Enterprise Allowance for a year and that was a good spring board. I don’t know what it’s like now, but I think we started getting work straight away. I was very lucky because when I was at college I entered the Macmillan Picture Book thing, don’t know if it’s still run. It was a competition for students for a picture book and the winner gets their book published. It’s how I got Donald The Singing Fish published.

• Q – And since then you’ve continued to do illustrations for books? And you also do your own work?

• A – Yes.

• Q- Could you tell me about your process? For example, how does a screen print evolve?

• A – I just fill up books with sketches then I take out the pictures from the books by scanning them and then might do a bit of editing, like cleaning up or replacing bits or adding things on. The idea is to keep the freshness and the vitality of the original line. I’ve found when I haven’t done that, when I’ve redrawn things, it’s like the difference between illustration and screen printing. With illustration it’s like you’re doing a job, forcing the lines to fit this brief or idea. With the screen printing there’s a little bit of freedom and I’m letting things happen in a more organic way. Playing.

• Q – Taking a line for a walk?

• A – Yes, I love that Paul Klee quote.

• Q – I think I know what you mean. If you do a little doodle here and then repeated it fifty times none of them will ever be as good as the first one.

• A – Absolutely.

• Q – The first one had something you can’t reproduce even if you trace it, the first one has a kind of spark or magic.

• A – Yes, that’s exactly it. I think it’s because the first time when you’re doing a drawing it’s process. For instance, with illustration the first drawing you do is a pencil rough, that’s the first drawing you do and that’s alive in a way, it’s an exploration, it’s putting the idea down on paper. So you do that pencil rough and they come back a few weeks later after they’ve dissected it and said ‘do it this way’ and you have to redo the drawing. So whatever you’re doing you’re copying something else.

• Q – So you don’t send an inked drawing for a commission?

• A – Initially you send a pencil rough so they can take it apart. I would never do a pen and ink ‘rough’.

• Q – Do you enjoy screenprinting?

• A – (laughs) I love it! I sometimes get frustrated with the process because I’m not very good at it. I like the finished result.

• Q – How did you find out about Print to the People?

• A – A friend was going for an induction and I went along with her. For me that ability to just take a drawing out of here [his sketch book] and it becomes a finished product. As opposed to lino cutting something where you have to take something and then re-cut it and make it again, screenprinting is a good process.

• Q – What materials do you use? So you start with a pencil?

• A – Yeah but I draw straight with pen and ink. I never draw in pencil draw over it in ink and rub out the pencil.

• Q - And that goes into the computer and gets cleaned up?

• A – Yes.

"Bodies"
part of the Year in Print
with Print to the People

• Q – Where do you find inspiration?

• A – Most of my work is not directly observed, it’s from the imagination. What I like to do is start off not knowing what I’m doing and just see what appears. Ideally I’d like to just draw something, not really know where it came from and be surprised by it. It very rarely happens, you don’t surprise yourself very often.

• Q – Do you collect anything?

• A – I only collect vintage nibs...

• Q – How do you get past creative blocks?

• A – Just keep drawing. Do you know Lynda Barry? She’s a cartoonist but she also teaches creativity and she says just keep the hand moving when you don’t know what you’re doing even if it’s just spirals.

• Q – What are you working on now?

• A – Nothing very glamorous, a couple of educational publishing jobs and for my own work I’ve got other screen prints.

• Q – What new medium would you like to try?

• A – Big sculptures out of concrete! And I want to do Riso books with a screen printed cover and a Riso interior.

• Q – Where do you sell your work?

• A – Mainly at Open Studios. I don’t have an online store yet.

• Q – Which Artists do you admire?

• A – I like people who make drawing look fun so you want to draw. Like Picasso, Steinberg, early George Grosz, Tomi Ungerer, Andre Francois. Anyone who makes line drawings and makes me want to draw.

• Q – Where do you stand on Quentin Blake?

• A – Yeah, I love Quentin Blake. He’s fun.

• Q – Final question, what is your favourite David Bowie song?

• A – Something off Young Americans? This week anyway.

http://peterlubach.co.uk/

Macmillan Picture Book Prize is in it’s 31st year! 

https://www.panmacmillan.com/macmillanprize

Questions: Paul McNeill  Editor: Yasmin Keyani

Submissions open for the Norwich Art Car Boot 2016!

The submission process has begun for pitches and performers for the Norwich Art Car Boot 2016!

To apply complete the on-line form on the Norwich Art Car Boot page on the Print to the People website HERE!

Submissions are open for one month and will close on the 18th April. Successful applicants will be notified via email on the 22nd April.

Good luck!

Volunteer at Norwich Art Car Boot 2016!

The Norwich Art Car Boot is back for 2016 and we could use your help. Find out more on our Volunteer Page on our website or visit the Norwich Art Car Boot Blog to see what we got up to last year. 

Print To The People are conducting research into Printmaking in Norfolk. We are looking at the services and facilities we currently provide and how we can move forward with them to better serve the community around us.

You can help us.
 

Answer our questionnaire and get entered into a draw to win a £30 voucher to spend in our shop or on a course.

Or take part in one of our Focus Groups. The Focus Group will include a tour of our facilities, refreshments and a Print To The People Goody Bag!

MONDAY 25th APRIL: COMMUNITY GROUPS 10.30- 12

TUESDAY 26th APRIL: FURTHER EDUCATION 10.30-12

TUESDAY 3rd MAY: OPEN FORUM 10.30-12

FRIDAY 22nd JULY: SCHOOLS 10.30-12

If you are interested in taking part please email mail@printtothepeople.com for more information