Preparing for the Degree Show
Preparing the space for mini degree show (25/01/2024).
As a part of the practice degree show, we were tasked with preparing the gallery for the practice degree show. I chose to help with painting the walls and got some refreshments. To ensure that everyone gets a variety of refreshments, our class decided to communicate through Discord what each person bought or is planning on getting for the degree show. The plan was that each person would get one or two items so that everyone could contribute. I contributed some individually packed snacks like muffins and brownies so that people could read what’s in them on the back of each package. I also provided some paper plates, cups and tissues. The total cost of all these things came up to £6, which I split with one of my classmates since I bought more things than I should have.
Fundraising (7/03/2024).
As a part of fundraising, I volunteered to be at the pop-up comic book shop in the afternoon. Throughout my two hours shift along my classmates I helped with sales and making notes of the products we sold. On the day I sold few of my stickers I had in stock from my previous project. However, that wasn’t enough to fund the expenses of the degree show, so I decided to also take advantage of the second-hand market and made £10 by selling things I no longer want or need. Both of the opportunities to sell things helped me with raising money that will partially cover the cost of printing for the final degree show.
Mini task
As a part of fundraising, we were given a choice of either painting the walls of a gallery to prepare it for mini degree show or draw some commissions. Beforehand we were task with practicing drawing caricatures of famous people. After doing 3 portraits within short period of time my right hand gave up due to having chronic joint pain. I decided to paint walls instead of drawing portraits for fundraising as it seemed like a reasonable choice at the time.
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Mini Degree show artwork
Artwork, blurb, and preparation for the mini degree show (1/02/2024).
For my main piece, I chose to print a page of my comic from the previous year since that was the best piece of artwork that is relevant to what career I want to pursue in the future. I enlarged the standard US comic size page to A2 and changed the image to a higher resolution in Clip Studio Paint. My first try at enlarging the comic page wasn't successful as it came out pixelated and had too much empty space around the border. After resizing it again and raising the px from 4960 to 5000 wide, it was ready to be printed.
For my supporting piece I chose a character design sheet with a character from the comic page. It was printed on A4 to go along the main piece and a blurb. I didn’t have to make any changes to the size of this piece as it was made on A4 page.
For the blurb I made a short introduction of who I am and what I do. I also included a short paragraph about my artwork for mini degree show and what the story behind it. Underneath I included link to my Instagram page as this is where I’m most active on social media.
I stacked all the pieces mentioned above onto a foam board and moved them to the gallery to plan the space for them. To organise where everyone’s work will be mounted on the wall, we placed them on the ground along the wall to space them out equity. There were a few problems when it came to picking a space for everyone’s work as some students didn’t want their artwork to be allocated in specific areas such as corners of the gallery. To solve that issue, I compromised and switched places with one of my classmates so that my work was closer to the main entrance door. We also moved all the pieces in the direction of the door so that no one was squeezed into the corner of the gallery, and everything was spread out neatly. I attached the piece with a command strip so that it can be mounted and taken down without damaging the pieces.
The one thing I wish I had prepared for the practice degree show was a holder with business cards. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about attaching one to the wall at the time of the mini degree show because I thought the link to my social media would be enough. However, it is something that I would include as a part of my final degree show.
I would also like to make a link to scan my social media bigger and easier to notice so that more people will scan it and make a link tree to make all my social media easily accessible for everyone, even those who don’t use Instagram.
The last thing I would change is the blurb. I think it would be better to mention what was the inspiration behind my work to make the paragraph about the artwork I mounted larger and more engaging. Apart from that, I was happy with the arrangement of my work, and I will investigate a similar arrangement for my final degree show.
The artist bio/blurb
My name is Agata Przybyla. I’m UK based Comic Artist & Illustrator. I love telling all sorts of stories through traditional and digital art. In the future, I see myself working on creating more exciting, illustrated stories.
My main piece is a digital illustration I made on Clip Studio. This page is a part of a comic called My Hero is My Enemy, which was part of an anthology sold at London MCM Comic Con.
The comic tells the story of a cyberpunk-inspired character called Evangeline, living in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world where all young people are drafted for war. While fulfilling her duties, she gets caught in a fight without realizing the ground under her feet is a giant sleeping cat dragon. The creature separates her from her group, and to survive outside the city, she is forced to team up with her enemy to live to see a better, brighter future and end the war.
You can find me on Instagram: @agata.przybyla.art
https://www.instagram.com/agata.przybyla.art?igsh=aHcyaDVuandkZnpo
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The final Degree Show- Planning how will I display my work (25/04/2024).
For the final degree show, I decided to make a standard US-size comic that would go along A2 comic page, A4 character design print, blurb and social media code to scan. There was an option of printing the main piece on A1. However, the mini degree show taught me that it is not always the best idea to enlarge small artwork, considering that I work with files at the minimum required resolution of 300 dpi and US comic size, which is a bit smaller than A4. Besides the resolution and size, I think my artwork lack details that could be shown in a format bigger than A2. After the mini degree show, I realised that my comic page enlarged to A2 and had areas that looked empty and lacked details, so for the final degree show, I wanted to show a piece with more details in a suitable size, not bigger than A2. Apart from the art pieces, I printed my bio and a link to my social media on two separate A5 sheets.
To display my work, I requested a shelf, a comic book and a business card holder, which turned out it wasn't needed as the comic and business card holder were drilled or stacked to the wall instead.
The example of the print and wall size included an option of having a shelf, comic and business card holder. To plan the arrangement of my artwork, I took a picture of the example we were given and traced the sizes of the pictures that I intended to print my artwork. Next, I arranged them digitally in a similar style to our mini degree show with equal space between prints and all the extra things. To display my work, I requested a shelf, a comic book and a business card holder, which wasn't needed in the end, as the comic and business card holder were drilled or stacked on the wall instead.
Plan of the artwork arrangement
Writing a blurb/artist bio for the final Degree Show
When working on a blurb/artist bio, I kept the beginning similar to what I wrote for the mini-degree show, but I changed the middle and end. I made the middle part more engaging by telling the reader about the inspiration behind my work. In the end, rather than summarizing what my comic is about, I created a picture of what type of character is the female lead in my story and what awaits her on her journey to fulfill her dreams without revealing too much about what the character in the story went through. When I asked my friends for feedback on this part of my blurb it turned out that the information about the female lead and her journey picture the character as interesting and makes the reader learn more about the story. My goal is to make the quests of the degree show want to flip through my comic and I hope to describe the story from my comic as an exciting journey of a passionate scientist living in a world taken over by plague will encourage people to do so.
Example of the wall and print sizes
Blurb
Agata Przybyla
Radiating Ideas
My name is Agata Przybyla. I’m UK based Comic Artist & Illustrator. I love telling all sorts of stories through traditional and digital art. My work is often inspired by historical events. In the future, I see myself working on creating more exciting, illustrated stories.
My main piece is a digital illustration I made in Clip Studio. This page is a part of a comic called Radiating Ideas, which is a part of my final project for the end of university and the main degree show. Along side of it is a character design sheet showing the main protagonist and a sidekick inspired by 19th century.
The comic tells the story of a young female passionate about science on a journey to fulfil her biggest dream of making a world-changing discovery. Along the way, the protagonist makes some hard decisions that change her life and give her a fresh start in a new place, where she makes new acquaintances. With their help, the main character overcomes all the hardships and makes her dreams come true.
The overall story shows the importance of taking risks and making new friends in our lives.
Check out more of my work here!
Degree Show (8/05/2024).
To ensure the quality of the main A2 piece I ordered the print from the print bureau at the university. The comic page was printed on a mate paper to ensure the work would be visible in a room full of bright lights and that there would be no reflection. The print came out in the right colour and size the first time so there were no further tempts to reprint it. The amount of detail in each panel is just right and the contrast of yellow and blue colour is very eye-catching.
For the A4 supporting piece, bio and social media Linktree QR code I asked my friend who owns a printer to print for me as the print bureau only offers large print service.
I glued the pieces onto foam board and mounted them on the wall in the arrangement that I planned. The only change I made was removing the shelf bit as it wasn't needed for the comic stand that was drilled onto the wall. I added my business cards and now the only thing left is to order the comic. Once the comic arrives I'm planing to sell it at the degree show.
Front cover of the comic that is going to be put into a comic holder once printed.
Gradex entry
I have also submitted my work for Gradex to be a part of a digital exhibition. I picked 4 best pieces from my comic called Radiating Ideas that you can see below. I hope this will help me reach potential employers and give me a good start in my career after university.
4 illustrations I submitted to Gradex
