Gillian Blease: 17.10.2008

After school, Gillian completed a foundation year at Manchester Metropolitan University. She then completed a four-year Fine Art degree at Newcastle University. At this time she enjoyed drawing, designing, making interesting pictures. At this time, she also became more conceptual and began creating installations.

After uni, Gillian went to London and spent a year doing nothing. She came home to Manchester defeated and completed a typing course. She then went to Japan for six weeks to teach English, and this influenced her use of colour, design and symbolism. After she returned to England, the typing course she completed helped her to get a job at the Whitworth Gallery. She then got her own studio at the Bankley Studios in Levenshulme. She then returned to London and got a three-year residency. One of her neighbours at this time was Martin Creed who went on to win the Turner Prize.

She collected images in files, there were no rules as to what she collected, but she used this collection to become aware of different things, and to then use them as an influence in her own work. She had no formal illustration training but instead did a mini crash course in illustration through the Association of Illustrators, and built up her portfolio by setting herself briefs.
Her influences include Paul Rand, Claus Oldenburg, Andy Warhol and Julian Opie. She also likes the 1968 Paris Revolution Posters as they were hand-created with stencils, crude and used only one colour, which is a “really great discipline”. She also likes logos, as they are “so small but represent so much as they have to be 100% perfect”.

Gillian produces a lot of work for the Guardian, in the weekly recipe column. In three years, Gillian created 150 illustrations. She has also worked on the relationship column and the health column. In her work, she likes empty space as imagery “sits better if it has some space”. She has also worked for Restaurant magazine, the Daily Express, though she didn’t like the work she produced for them, Time Out magazine and the letters page in the Guardian. The job was to create three illustrations a week and when time is limited, “you can’t afford to be precious about work.” She has created work for Waitrose Food Illustrated but she doesn’t tend to create roughs for them, which can be dangerous, as clients don’t approve them in the beginning. She also created a poster for the South Bank Centre in London but the brief became really prescriptive, she felt like a “puppet” to produce work that other people have “created”. Gillian believes that the relationship with an art director can result in “sink or swim” jobs.

Recently, Gillian has become interested in and began created pattern. Her pattern influences include Paul Rand’s “Abacus”, Joseph Frank and Norman McLaren. Bright Agency contacted her about producing greeting cards for them and now she solely produces pattern for them. She has also been contacted by Rockport to create work for them after seeing her work on the Print Pattern blog.

Questions and Answers
Q: How often do you need to compromise with commissions?
A: 40%, what I call the bread and butter jobs
Q: Do you prefer working on your own or as a design team?
A: On my own as there are no external distractions. I also don’t belong to an agency, as I prefer to be my own boss.

Though I thought the work of Gillian Blease was good, I found it too simplistic but I think it is fantastic that, by working by herself, she has become very successful. I found it interesting that, as she has so many commissions, she doesn’t find the need to promote herself and she gains new clients through them seeing her work in context, in a newspaper for example.

See her work at: www.gillianblease.co.uk