Research

Spaces

I aim to one day, exhibit within;

GALLERY NUCLEUS

Gallery Nucleus is located in Alhambra, California. It was founded by Ben Zhu who after working in the video game industry, set up Gallery Nucleus in 2004, an art gallery and bookshop devoted to illustration, animation and narrative art. 

 The venue promotes artwork related to comic books, animation, illustration, surrealism, narrative work or simply pieces that fit into the general aesthetic of the gallery. This aesthetic consists of bright artworks with a range of colours and mediums. The pieces featured depict a range of subjects such as architecture, cities & the public, fantasy maps, video game fanart, fantasy animal characters, anime series fanart, studio ghibli fanart. Generally bright and with a narrative focus. 

 The intended audience seems to be the younger generations that are connected to the current online art scene and the content that is produced within it. It also gives a physical space for those who aren’t as technologically linked with those areas to experience the unique pieces. 

Gallery Nucleus invites any and all to submit their artwork to potentially be featured or sold within its walls. They have an email to be contacted through and ask for an artist statement, resume, a photo of the areworks and preferably a website to visit (however it isn’t required). They ask that only work that relates to comic books, animation, illustration, surrealism, narrative work, or a piece you believe might fit into the gallery visually regardless of topic to be submitted. 

 Across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the gallery promotes its events to 148,700 followers, with artists that are featured within the gallery, directing their fan bases to visit the website to look at the works they are displaying. They also have a Patreon, with membership tiers ranging from £8.50 to £847. Boasting perks such as early shop access, exclusive discounts and coupons, exclusive voting power and first access to online previews and pre-sales. Their Patreon currently has 715 members. In person, the space also holds panels, concerts, signings, exhibitions, auctions and workshops to engage people face to face. Their Portland location also holds ‘Drink & Draw’ on the first Tuesday of every month, inviting any and all levels of creatives to gather and create in a relaxed environment for a few hours.

 It seems as if Gallery Nucleus displays artworks via wall mounting and framing, display cabinets and when applicable, allowing individuals to set up con-esc displays. There seems to be little audience interaction or general theming introduced into the venue for the exhibitions. This ends up making the work almost float in a white void with the little bits of wall text added to the space being the only anchor. 
 I think an organisation like Gallery Nucleus is probably one of the ultimate kind of locations I wish for my future illustrations to be featured in. They really value these artists who mostly exist online and give them the opportunity to experience a “traditional” instalment of their works.

One of my first steps as a post-graduate, will be to get into;

Corsham Creative Market

www.corshamcreativemarket.co.uk

This market is one I see as one of the first steps I can make to selling outside of the university. They prioritise independent makers within a 15 mile radius of Corsham, providing a wide range of makers for peope to peruse and buy from.

I meet the requirements for a discounted table in the exhibition space for £17, as I am under 25! As well as the trading for under one year requirement, as long as I apply before October 2025.

A big requirement however is to be registered as self-employed with the HMRC, as well as public liability insurance. However both of which aren’t too horrid to obtain and hopefully should be relatively quick to sort out.

It certainly seems to have an older visitor base, but for £17 and my general takehome from my previous markets being £80~, I think the overall experiance of selling by myself would be the most important takeaway over any profit at this very early point in my career.

Illustrators

Airi Pan

Airi Pan is currently a Principal Concept Artist at Riot Games, with her illustration progress being able to be tracked all the way back to 2011.

With a portfolio mix of commissioned artwork, mock concept projects, fanart and original pieces, Airi pan has worked for companies such as Studio Chizu, Netflix, Activision. Exhibitioned at Gallery Nucelus and LightBox Expo, as well as been published within ShoutoutLA, girlsclub.asia & Internation Artist No. 155.

Airi Pans carieer seems to of picked up whilst she was finishing her Entertainment Design Major course at ArtCenter College of Design, with a major feature within LightBox Expos first California event. Winning the ‘Best Student Environment Concept Art’ with to her piece “The Griffin’s Nest.”, with another of her pieces, an evangelion fan art, almost winning in another catagory, she begins to crop up in various publications, exhibitions (mostly with Gallery Nucleus) and running workshops. For a few years after, Airi Pans work consists mostly of work for animation projects, working for the likes of Titmouse, CD PROJEKT RED and Pixiv, all within 2020. Then moving onto working with Warner Bros, Netfilx and Pixar, before settling at Blizzard Entertainment in 2021 for a few years, wither her most recent role being at Riot Games.

Realisticly? Airi Pan is insanely skilled and I have a good few years till I even get to where she was at the beginning of her own career. But I greatly admire her balance between illustration and concept art and would love to gain insight into developing the two areas in tandem.

Yueko

Yueko is an illustrator and Twitch streamer based in New Zealand.

Yueko bases their income off of various streams, such as Twitch subscribers & donators, advertisement revenue, an independantly run online shop, and working with clients such as miHoYo, Riot Games, Air Asia and MSI. As well as independent commissions for V-Tuber models, fanart and original pieces. Whilst once studying in higher edcation for an art degree, they ultimately dropped out and has been successfully freelance ever since, with endurance and great skill.

Yuekos career seems much more in reach? for me? Twitch streaming is a platform that I myself have streamed on, but will little regularity (I haven’t done it in 2 years due to living situation being too small), which seems to be a large part in gaining traction on the platform. However, once again, I am massively underskilled (not that I don’t think I cant get to a higher level, but it’s just going to take time).

Website Design/Layouts

I had a look at various artists sites to see how professionals present their work, how they might seperate it into sections and direct a viewer.

After this research I decided to edit the background of my website to a much lighter off white to allow images to stand out more, as well as split my portfolio homepage into the Illustration and Concept art sections to create a clear and easy divide between the two sides of my practice so it is easier to navigate.

Further Study

Whilst not currently looking to study further, I thought it best to have a look at what might be available to me if I should want to, and the Bath Spa Design (Illustration) course seemed most appealing.

The campus would be relatively easy to access once I move back to Bath. The course is based at their Locksbrook Campus, where all other Art & Design courses are taught allowing for convenient collaboration with others and a wide range of facilities to make use of. Once I feel more confident in my own art and how/what I like to create, I may consider revisiting illustration education to allow me to utilise the pathways universities present to you. Depending on what direction I may want to take my career, I may consider taking a slightly different course of study.

These two courses, Games Art MA from Escape Studios and University of Staffordshire, allow for applicants from non game design focused courses to apply and study. Both offer full or part time courses, with Escape Studios offering a fully online course of learning, but I think I would learn best in person with tutors and peers to interact with.

I would need to learn a lot by myself before entering these courses like 3d modeling, environment design, asset and UI design… It would be quite the undertaking and I believe trying to learn the basics by myself would be a good test to see if the course would fit me.