Association of Illustrators - Serco Prize for Illustration 2014

The Brief

For one of my other APP projects – as I want to prepare three just in case I go with Option B for my dissertation – I wanted to enter the AOI competition that involves illustrating a London story. Here’s the brief listed on their website (http://www.theaoi.com/events/index.php):

“London Transport Museum, in partnership with the Association of Illustrators (AOI), is delighted to announce that submissions are now welcome for the Serco Prize for Illustration 2014. This year the theme is London Stories.

Across the ages, London has produced and inspired countless stories. Fictitious or real characters and events in this amazing city have always held fascination, from the anecdotal urban myth to grand tales of historic legend. The aim of the competition is to attract artwork for display that is colourful, inspiring and celebrates a vibrant, multi-layered London.

Visually capture a well-known or lesser known narrative in a single image; all stories, current or historical, real or fictional, which feature this amazing city are welcome - your imagination is the limit. Stories could be those seen in a film or play, heard in poetry or music, read in literature or an urban myth. Impress the jury with your illustrated interpretation of a London story and be in with a chance 
of having your work displayed at the famous London Transport Museum and winning the top prize.

Prizes will be awarded in three levels:
First prize: £2000 and display of image on a LTM poster 
Second prize: £1000
Third prize: £750

There is also the possibility that your shortlisted image will be featured on merchandise sold in the museum shop.

The competition is open to illustrators and students of illustration throughout the world. The top 50 entries selected by a panel of judges will be displayed in an exhibition at London Transport Museum that will open Friday 14 February and run until Sunday 6 April. The winners will be announced at a private award ceremony on the evening of Thursday 13 February.
The deadline for entries is Sunday 3 November 2013.”

Analysis

Background Information
The two hosts of this competition are the London Transport Museum ad AOI (Association of Illustrators). Even though this illustration will be able a London story, it would probably be a good idea if I manage to incorporate the hosts’ work in it. For example, I could include a model of a train to represent the London Transport Museum in a very subtle way.

After taking a look at the submission requirements I noticed that the London stories they would want included would have to have an influence in modern day life – current events, history or fiction. My original idea of doing something with Sherlock Holmes might be fitting for this competition but I’d like to look into other stories as well.  Looking at these requirements also confirmed my idea of incorporating some form of transport into it.

Breaking The Brief Down
This brief can cover a variety of London stories but the first one that popped into mind is the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. However I would like to read some of the other stories of London, as I want to experiment with different styles.

To break it down into smaller points:

• The “hosts” – Association of Illustrators and London Transport Museum

Some of the modes of transport that I could include in this illustration are the Red Bus, London Underground, DLR (Serco), London Overground, Taxi (black), Tramlink, and Barclays Cycle Hire. I could also include walking or going by river.

• Collection of London stories – well-known or lesser-known, could be unusual 
• Narrative in a single image

I’ve noticed that in their terms and conditions they wrote that I could do a collection of stories rather than a story, which would give me more of a leeway on portraying the whole of London. I could also have a look at communities within London as well as historical aspects, cultures and characters there. So I could quite possibly slip in Sherlock Holmes there!

• Dimensions - Portrait - Double Royal – 635 x 1016mm (25 x 40 inches) or Double Crown – 505 x 760mm (20 x 30 inches).

I underestimated the size of this poster, and it isn’t I went to see how big that was in A size did I realise that it’s huge. This might be a problem for me when it comes to designing, as I tend to work on A4 traditional media… I suppose I could dabble in digital, or see if I could work on a maximum of A3 and scan it at a high dpi.
To solve this problem I’d need to see how other illustrators who perhaps work in traditional media manage to get a really high resolution so that they could work on posters.

However for my portfolio and university submission I shall create a poster at A3 size, and produce a mock up of the larger sizes so that people could see what it would look like when hung.

• People – must show a multicultural society

If I were to portray any people within this illustration that I need to make sure that I’m showing London as a place of diversity, and that people of all cultures live or visit there.

• Needs to be colourful, inspirational, and shows a vibrant multi-layered London
• Deadline – Sunday 3rd November 2013 


Conclusion:
As this competition brief mainly focuses on illustration I need to make sure I do as many experiments with media as possible, in order to broaden my knowledge of painting and I should also try out digital painting and trying out vectors (which I know that I do need to practice with more). I have recently obtained a Wacom Inkling that I could experiment with.

Even though this brief doesn’t ‘belong’ to the university I would still need to follow the learning outcomes for the APP, as I am going to do that for one of my themes. I would need to make sure that I do thorough research of the London stories and make sure that they’re from reliable resources.