Lara Hurd BA (Hons) Textiles in Practice 2020

As a concept developer and Illustrator, I illustrated a narrative called 'Fish and Little' using a combination of realism and fantasy.  My work follows the relationship between two best friends existing in the paranormal world of 'Fleabag' in which they fight the evil Emperor Splint for the magic soundsystem to cure Little's secret. Taking inspiration from Jamie Hewlett, I used photography and my drawing skills to develop my main characters 'Fish and Little', focussing on facial, body and enviromental details to create strong identities. By adding aspects of realism to my work, I felt this gave an insight into my own interests as an artist and with this added more depth and meaning to my characters and plot. As my final piece, I created a publication exploring the journey of my characters triumphantly seeking the soundsystem and living happily ever after. This story aims to capture the imagination of children, and teach adults the art of compassion and friendship. I aim for my work to be accessible to wide audiences within public spaces such as galleries and billboards, as I believe art is nothing without a reaction.