Maria Brzozowska, a fellow of the BA (Hons) Visual Communication, programme had her illustration ‘Eden’ selected for an exhibition in the northern Italian city of Cremona in December. The exhibition ran January-February 2014, organised by Tapirulan - an association in Italy aiming to promote contemporary artists and was the result of a competition to produce illustrations that interpreted the idea of ‘Eden’.
Maria told us how her work came to be selected: "I was searching for illustration competitions in Europe when I came across this specific one. I use www.graphiccompetitions.com which is a great source. Whenever I have a new brief, the very first thing I do is a brainstorm of ideas. I like to write down words that pop into my head - related to the theme and later on visualise these initial ideas through thumb-nailing. In this case I wanted to keep the message simple yet effective. My idea was a sort of tribute to all the extraordinary animals of the world and to show that all the living creatures of the world (including us) are interconnected. Creating the visuals was a process of making the individual illustrations using gouache paint and then combining them digitally.
Maria is now setting herself up as a freelance illustrator: "Currently alongside the Leeds College of Art fellowship programme, I am working on a few different personal briefs to add to my portfolio. At the same time I am experimenting with applying my illustrations on to merchandise. Recently I had a stall selling some of these works at the Corn Exchange for the Juju Showcase Spectacular."
For more information on the exhibition please see Tapirulan.