This year I was so pleased when they announced Secret 7 was back on after a year of silence. I love the opportunity that the competition gives me get involved with something fun and engaging within the creative industries, but that is all for a good cause and can make a difference to various charities. Not to mention, how it pushes my practise having to design for something in a completely ambiguous way, trying to think completely outside of the box - with minimal use of typography to create something meaningful and reflective, but something which can potentially have a lot of intelligently placed hidden connotations within. I think that is what makes a good submission, and this year I have most definitely done that.
Having visited the last exhibition in Shoreditch I was quick to analyse how the majority of the submissions are very illustrative based - now my practise has developed into the realm of Digital illustration since first year, I could not wait to get creative and try and create something fresh and thought provoking. After researching all of the songs I was most drawn to the emotion shown in the Jeff Buckley song ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’, I think I have effectively re-interpreted the lyrics in a visual and modern way - creating a scene which is cleverly littered with these visual connotations from the lyrics. From a “broken down” toy car on the floor, to how Jeff is “hungry for your love” with various takeaway boxes with this branded across them. I think I have been able to create an immersive scene for viewers to be intrigued by, which upon closer inspection is a lot more reflective than you think. Effectively taking this quite old classic song and then putting this modern slant on the emotions he is feeling - making it more relatable for the audience.
I carefully considered how I needed to take into account if my pieces actually got in to the exhibition, it needs to be bold and clear - to ensure it stands out from a distance on the big wall of the 100 other winning submissions for that song. I considered this especially well for my 3 monkeys submission for the Jeff Buckley song, removing all there content and maximising the stage for the illustration to sit on and be the main focal point of the piece for the viewers.
Also evidenced through the use of more vivid and eye-catching colouring in my submission for the Clash song. For this I created a satirical and eye-catching reflection of one of the most famous Clashes of our generation - Trump and Kim. This effectively satisfied my initial brief aim of creating something which was politically challenging and current, that all audiences can relate to. I think this piece effectively does that taking these two world leaders and mocking their need for power and authority, whilst simultaneously reflecting their quite immature egos which are presented through the media.
This is the only competition brief I have submitted to this year, as I wanted to be realistic about what I was filling my portfolio with for after uni, and I think my developed illustration style through this project in particular clearly evidences my skills and current evolving practise. Being the only competition brief, it meant I was working to a strict deadline, I thoroughly enjoyed pushing myself to complete all of my research and development work for this brief within a week and a half time frame - really pushing myself to be succinct yet thorough with my work-loads.
Overall, this a fantastic brief opportunity which I always love getting involved in, especially with where my practise is at now. I will definitely continue to submit to this over the forthcoming years after uni and I aim to get involved more with the exhibition too - opening up more networking opportunities with similarly minded creatives.
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