Signature Style. Making an Art Director's job easier - and yours too.
Below are just some of my greeting card designs published by Pigment as the brand Porcelain. The range is currently selling in leading retailers across the UK. Martin Powderly is the creative director of the company and he recently gave me some insight into what he looks for and needs from the artists he works with.
‘Working as a creative director in publishing greetings and stationery products I’m always on the look-out for original and distinctive artist ‘signatures’ that can carry ranges of products across multiple formats.
Rather than having to micro art direct, it’s a pleasure and a godsend to come across confident artists who have a signature style already fully visualised and ready to go, and where editorial detail and specific additional subject matter can be added.
This sometimes requires agility on the artist’s part to customise their art to suit a publisher’s needs.
The publisher will often have very real considerations with retailers , overlaps with their existing product ranges , concerns about secondary processes and apparent value.
Surprisingly many artists can be resistant to the need for flexibility in these regards.
Taking images from Victoria’s existing portfolio of available art and commissioning around 16 new pieces we’ve pulled together a great collection of really commercially viable, highly buyable /sendable greetings cards that still retain the originality and authenticity of the artists signature style.’
There’s no question that an identifiable, consistent and cohesive style is a hugely commercial and important component of a portfolio. It attracts clients, in terms of showing them what they can expect and demonstrating that you can maintain a look across a range of artwork on a variety of products. But it also makes your life easier as an artist - being able to apply your style to a variety of subject matter, having a clear idea of what is expected of you and how you will approach a design brief.
Some of my students in Create Collections already had, or were developing, a striking, identifiable style. By creating cohesive bodies of work on the course, they demonstrated the ability that Martin talks about above - to move fluidly but consistently through a variety of compositions and subject matter (with agility and confidence) while exploring a theme tailored to a commercial design brief.
I love the drama of these tropical florals by Margot Moller. The compositions are varied (some growing, some tumbling), each floral and leaf motif is unique and the colour balance shifts from one design to the next. Margot has used a rock-solid, graphic style, reminiscent of screen-printed fabrics, and a super tight (and beautiful) sense of colour that holds all the different elements together.
Colleen Harrington (Foxes Per Fortnight) also has a distinctive style that she’s successfully carried across three very different designs. There’s no question that each piece in this collection was created by Colleen, even though she’s completely changed the subject matter, the composition and the colour balance between each one. The gorgeous textures, brush marks and understanding of form and negative space, are uniquely hers - yet she can apply them to whatever she chooses.
I love the work produced on my courses and think it deserves to be seen by art directors and agents. I’m working on building a curated gallery of artworks selected from the courses and will be inviting art directors and agents to view them. They can contact the artists via the normal channels if they see something that interests them as I’ll provide links to Instagram accounts. This is an exciting prospect for both artists and art directors/agents. The standard of work is phenomenal and has already garnered a lot of interest - and I’m delighted to be able to facilitate career changing connections!
If you are an agent or art director and would like to see the gallery (when it’s completed), please contact me at victoria@victoriajohnsoncreateexplore.com.
Create Collections registration is still open. Course starts Mon, Oct 28th.
$197 for a five-week course. Cart closes Friday, Oct 25th, 9.00 am GMT.
Last chance to sign up! Click the button below!!