I've always wanted to attend an Adobe Max Conference in Los Angeles as there have been artists I've followed such as illustrator Sha'an d'Anthes doing sessions I'd love to see in real life. However this year it was held online so I was able to attend for free! It was streamed over three days (20-22nd October) and held online and on the Creative Cloud app where you could sign in and schedule the events you wanted to watch so it would notify you when they were on. Before it started, I looked through the list of artists and creatives that would be presenting and was so excited to find Oliver Jeffers (my all-time favourite artist) doing a talk called '15 Pieces of Advice for My Younger Self', in which he narrated a video of himself in from of a huge piece of paper writing out each piece of advice.
Bold New Strokes for Illustration and Painting
Presented by Oliver Jeffers
Oliver Jeffers talk was held at 9pm and was so relaxing to watch, I've always loved seeing him work and listening to him speak about the experiences he's had with 20 years in the creative industry, making picture books and exhibitions worldwide. Sadly I forgot to take notes as it was live and I didn't want to miss any! But, some of the points that stood out to me were to create art for yourself, playing on the idea of 'Be yourself, everyone else is already taken'. He was trying to convey that it's good to take inspiration from artists you like but don't attempt to replicate their style, being original and finding your own style will be much more beneficial. I also loved point number 7: 'Use a bigger brush!'. If you're familiar with Oliver Jeffers', experimentation and mark-making is a huge part in his work, adding to the visual interest with a child-like quality, something I love to do myself as an illustration student. Maybe he meant it in a more metaphorical way than I'm implying, meaning you have to make bold moves to be heard in the creative industry but I like both connotations! This point stuck out as I can get wound up in something being perfect but sometimes the imperfections are what add character and personality.
Prop Design for the Real World: Tips from a Leading Designer- OD6301
Presented by Annie Atkins
Annie Atkins is a graphic prop designer from the UK whose previously worked with Wes Anderson on films such as 'The Grand Budapest Hotel and 'Isle of Dogs'. It's interesting to see how she adapts her style to suit each project/genre with the ability to imitate traditional printmaking processes digitally while making them look realistic. She talked about how her job is to make props that blend into the background, not distracting from the characters and story. They make the props not necessarily for the cinema audience but for the writers, directors and actors, helping them feel more immersed in the narrative. She attended film school in her late twenties where she discovered that prop making was an actual profession and something she was interested in.
Since then, she's produced a book called 'Designing Graphic Props for Filmmaking' showing work for her films and a new series of love letters inspired by stories sent to her from her Instagram followers. These letters were based on letters from ex's, mysterious neighbours and New York love stories, all reimagined as old love letters. These were released daily for 14 days before Valentines day. I love how she interacts with her audience and makes authentic props based on real stories giving them more meaning.
Another series Atkins made was during quarantine in the UK. It was born out of wanting to do something positive with the annoyance she felt for people breaking the restrictions so she decided to make posters based on statements/thoughts she felt had an impact during this time. Some of these can be seen below. An important takeaway from this is to work with current news, at the minute there's so much to take inspiration from and a worldwide pandemic putting everyone in the same situation; this is such an odd circumstance and one that we'll look back on for years so take advantage!
I didn't get a chance to watch loads of conferences due to other work however many of them will be on-demand and able to watch after this week. I'll definitely be going back through them and finding ones I've missed. Below I've included a few more of the streams I enjoyed.
Make a Zine from a Single Sheet of Paper- W6240
Presented by Kelli Anderson
Effective Character Design: Shapes and Structure- W6242
Presented by Stephen Silver
Letterpress Printing: Overview and Materials- W6235
Presented by Nick Sambrato
A Joyful Life: Illustrating Your Way to Contentment and Success- S6202
Presented by Octavia Bromell
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