Picture Hooks: Talk 2

Yesterday I attended the second of five picture hooks talks held at the National Gallery in Edinburgh.
There were two mentors Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom who are actually a couple and illustrate together as a kind of duet. They had been mentoring Hannah Coulson over the last year. Again the talk was very informal with Hannah discussing her background and how she had decided to apply for picture hooks. She explained that although she still filled sketchbooks they had no real purpose as she had no deadlines to meet, no one was asking to see what she had done lately as is the case at college or university. This process has helped Hannah with objectives that had to be met giving her a far more focused approach to her work. Hannah is currently in discussion with publishers about future work which I hope goes well.
Mick and Brita discussed the books they work on and their methods. Most of the books are non-fiction, books on the Beatles, Shakespear, the second world war etc. They both work on the planning stages, thumbnails, sketching, layouts etc. Then they decide who will work on which part, Brita enjoys drawing and painting people more so she tends to work on those parts. They both work mainly in watercolour with pencil, charcoal line work. Seeing the rougher planning out stages was really useful, how things are maybe just cut out of paper to allow moving around of details. The said this is useful as designers usually want to change layouts slightly. This is where digital has obvious advantages, with things being layered things can be moved very easily. This has made me think that I should not look at my work as a single image but perhaps one made up of components that allow for changes to be made easier.