Posts Tagged ‘Art Internships’

Paid Graduate Internships

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

Did it really say paid? What’s the catch? Well you have to work I suppose – like everyone else here and Advocate. We have learned that if something is free then it’s not worth much, neither of us really getting anything out of it.

We take internships very seriously, in fact, it takes your time and our time so let’s not waste it. We attract students in art history, design, illustration, animation and related courses. You will share in our daily tasks in a structured way – such as folio management, site maintenance, project managing, design – whatever we are working on, even tea making like the rest of us. You will learn how artists are briefed, what’s hot and what you have to do as an illustrator to get work in the real world. You get an honest folio review, from a commercial position – dollar signs in our eyes. We will give you a reference that will make a future employer cry, for the right reasons of course- and hey even maybe a job offer.

There is no mistaking that interns have become essential to the running of this busy agency. We get to spread the Advocate message around tomorrow’s art and design professionals – internationally. We offer a recruiting platform (8 of our current staff were recruited from internships) or get signed (some of our top illustrators were interns) and we get essential help, not free labour.

We forge close links with many colleges and Uni’s and often invite students in for Q&A sessions where they can get advice on their portfolios. We have been sponsors of the illustration exam question for the D&AD board and offered competition prizes including £5000 cash!

£250 per week (before Tax). Minimum term is 2 weeks but we do have a habit of extending this if we feel it’s been too short.

Contact: Lauren@advocate-art.com

 

 

Internship Review – Lucy Whitehead

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Lucy whitehead completed an illustration agency internship with us a couple of weeks ago and has kindly written a review of the three weeks she spent with us. Read on to learn more about the illustration student and what she got up to whilst working with Advocate Art

“Spending 3 weeks at Advocate Art has been a great opportunity for me to see how an illustration agency works and how competitive the world of a freelance artist can be. At first I was a little apprehensive about working predominantly on the computers and creating work which is digital (I’m a little unsure about digital arts and always seem to crash computers) however, surprisingly I really enjoyed learning how to use adobe software and a Wacom tablet, consequently I have just bought one myself, and can apply what I have learnt to my own illustrations and also provide a more speedy way to create backgrounds and text.

The most nourishing part of the internship was showing my portfolio to Ed Burns, who was very encouraging about my illustrations and gave great advice about where I can go and what I can do in the future as a freelance illustrator. This has given me a great deal of confidence about my abilities as an illustrator and getting a career after I finish university.

Overall I really enjoyed my time at advocate art, due to the great experience I had and also I want to thank everybody at Advocate Art as they were extremely friendly and helpful. And Finally i would encourage anybody who is contemplating to do an internship here to go for it as its such a wonderful opportunity.”

Lucie Whitehead is a freelance illustrator and student, born and based in the Midlands. She is currently about to enter her third year at Birmingham City University, studying illustration. Her work focuses on portraiture based illustration, which is created using traditional methods, most primarily pencil and collage, to provide detailed and quirky work with a vintage feel. Lucie enjoys craft and handmade work as it gives a sense of personality, which is hard to find in a creative industry that is predominantly digitalized.

Lucie is currently working on her first solo exhibition, entitled ‘Dead To Be Iconic’. The exhibition focuses on 50 A4 portraits, which depicts stars who have died before their time, such as James Dean, Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few. Providing the idea that to be the ultimate iconic celebrity, you have to die for the title. Lucie uses mechanical pencils in 0.3 and 0.5mm to create the portraits, spending between 4-6 hours on each one (depending on the wildness of the hair!) The exhibition will be held at The Vaad Gallery, located at The Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham, which will take place from the 23rd-30th November 2012.

For more information about Lucies work and exhibition please take a peek at her website

Tohko Kanzaki Internship Review.

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

So a couple of weeks ago I was just googling illustration internships for want of doing something vaguely productive during the summer and I think I got up to emailing the agencies on page 10 of the results before I got a response. Advocate being one of my first points of contact with the professional illustration world (up till this point it was limited to a screen and my crummy little desk in my room and a couple of lecturers at uni), Ive got to admit I was pretty nervous when I first walked into the slick, shiny white gallery with ridiculous numbers of lights on the ceiling, portfolio in hand, only to find that there was no real need to feel intimidated at all. Everyone was pretty chilled, with the odd person popping in to ask if I wanted tea or coffee, going for the yummy cranberry/brie/bacon sandwiches at Palmers across the road, and doing regular importing/theming/ administrative jobs.

I guess the most important part was getting to be familiar with Advocate’s artists and illustrators work. Importing work, theming work, wrapping portfolios to get sent off in the mail may seem boring at first but I took it above all as an opportunity to become familiarise myself with the industry and getting to know what kind of stuff is out there on the market, whether it be children’s book illustration or greeting cards design. It also made the prospect of becoming a professional illustrator one day seem not so far off, but very realistic and enabled me to see what kind of possibilities there were in this line of work. This experience was complemented by an awesome opportunity to show Ed my portfolio before he escaped on holiday, imparting a useful, objective opinion of the strengths within my work currently, and what I might want to work towards with regards to the current trends in the industry.

So no, it was not as scary as I thought. Illustrators are not doomed to pursuing a measly 9 to 5 job that has nothing to do with being a creative in order to survive. You can really make a living out of drawing, its not the childish myth its made out to be. You just need to know who you are, what you like, be committed to it and find a lucrative outlet. Thats pretty much all there is to it.

Here’s me:

sketchblog

projects Ive done this year

Alicia Jennings – My Three Week Internship

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

I really enjoyed working at Advocate. I was made very welcome and it gave me a great insight into what actually happens in an agency.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the illustrator’s work and seeing the wide variety that is out there.

It has made me realise how much I want to be in the illustration business and has definitely spurred me on to hopefully become a children’s illustrator one day.

I am very grateful for the opportunity given to me here and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Thank you Advocate Art!!!!

http://alicia-jennings-illustrations.blogspot.co.uk/

Alicia

My fortnight at Advocate Art

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

I have found my time at Advocate Art a great insight to further my knowledge on how an agency works and gain first hand experience in working alongside the team.

I have done many enjoyable tasks such as designing greetings card mock ups to send to companies, creating presentation boards and furthering my knowledge with the Creative Adobe Suite through design work.

I initially came to Advocate Art not knowing what area of the ‘creative industry’ I wanted to work in, but now with a bit more understanding I feel enthused to pursue a career in a creative design/advertising based industry thanks to this experience.

Thanks again Advocate Art team,

Clare B- Austin

http://www.wix.com/cburdenaustindesign/me

Say hello to our interns…

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Advocate Art would like to introduce you to the two fabulous interns that we currently have working with us…

Firstly there is Claire, who studied Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She started last week and so far she has been busy uploading artists work to the website and helping our agents with mocking up greetings card range boards as well as contributing to the post Bologna follow ups that we talk about in the blog post SENDS SENDS SENDS.

And then there is Sian who joined us this week.  She studied illustration and digital animation at the University of Southampton. She has also been helping us with our Bologna sends and catalogue updates. Have a look at more of her work on her website.

Watch this space for more from Sian and Claire…