We recently discovered some impressive artwork based on local points of interest or locations that people see on a day-to-day basis across Medway on Twitter, following a search of the '#LutonArches' hashtag. The artwork is created by David Frankum, an award-winning freelance illustrator/ artist living in Gillingham whom has produced illustrations comic book and novel clients. His most recent work was his participation in the Inktober drawing challenge, an inititative where every October artists all over the world create one ink drawing a day for the entire month. David's take on Inktober was his 'ME' project, drawing a scene from the Medway Towns each day. We approached him and asked him a few questions for this interview, providing an in-depth perspective from David about the project. What motivated you to get involved in Inktober? Sometimes as an illustrator I find myself in a position where by I'm a vehicle for someone else's ideas. Which is great, I haven't any complaints on this issue and I very much enjoy the collaboration when working with a writer, but sometimes it's nice just to be yourself. As a creative person I have ideas and creative thoughts of my own, but I don't necessarily have the time to exercise them. Inktober provides me, and other artists, with a perfect platform to do just that, to have the freedom to produce artwork that I may not usually get the chance to create. I stumbled across Inktober by chance a few years ago on-line and thought it was fantastically fun. It was lovely to see what other artists were producing and posting on-line. The beauty of it for me is that anyone can be be part of the event. Grab some ink, doodle 'something', post it. I believe that everyone is an artist. If you can communicate pictorially, creating with intent, you're an artist. So, three years ago, I participated in Inktober for the first time. I followed the rules, a picture a day drawn in ink. It's as simple as that. My first Inktober project went on to become a book called The Wormgler. I drew a picture a day which my the end of thirty one days, became a story. On their own the images I drew appeared to be very random and surreal but once you collected them all together (or if you followed me on a daily basis) they became a story. For me, I loved the total freedom. No restrictions at all and I could be 'me'. The book has since sold very well on-line and in independent book stores throughout England, Australia and in America (For more information click here) I did take part in Inktober last year, but unfortunately my efforts were constantly on the back burner as I was illustrating two books at the same time, both of which had deadlines for the end of October. For this particular project I was producing portraits on Post-It notes. The plan being, once you put them all together the individual pieces of art contributed to one big picture. It was highly enjoyable, but time restraints put an end to it. However, I wish to continue on with that idea at some point. This years project, ME, has been churning away inside of me for a number of years. It was wonderful to actually peruse a topic I was deeply passionate about. As with the other projects, ME has been very fulfilling on so many different levels. Out of all the areas in art and design I've worked in, documenting in my sketchbook is where I am at my most happiest. Throw the Medway Towns into the mix and, for me, something magical happened. By the end of the project I felt even more connected to my roots and it's been lovely to hear that others share the same experience when they've seen my sketches. It has been by far the best project I have worked on. I was born in Gillingham and I still live in the Medway Towns, my surroundings are a constant inspiration, they always have been, so it was nice to finally create a chance to celebrate my 'home' area. What do you see in local areas of interest that makes you want to create an artpiece of it? With the ME project, all of the places I drew were very significant to me in one way or another. They all had a sentimental value to them. Every one of the drawings were purely from the heart. All of the locations provoke an emotional response within me. Affection translated onto paper. I wasn't too worried about making mistakes or if the perspective is accurate. As long as the subject was recognisable and captures the spirit of the location, then I was happy. The day before I started the project I wrote out a list of locations, I came up with about fifty within minutes. Again, as with the drawings, it was all very much a gut reaction. I really didn't have to think about. The tricky bit was condensing the list down to thirty one. I constantly see places of interest. Some of them are very small and not entirely obvious to everyone, but sometimes it's a small collection of almost unnoticed places that really help define a town's character and identity. There are also some wonderful hidden gems in the Medway Towns. The Towns are remarkable, enriched in history, full of character and individualism, diverse and full of great potential. Medway has so much to offer. How on earth could I not be inspired? :-) Do you have any aspirations for your work to potentially be used for tourism etc. in the future? I will be completely honest with you, that hadn't crossed my mind. To be honest, my main concentration when producing the series of drawings was making sure that I went out and drew one piece of artwork a day. I had to be very focused and dedicated. Once all of the postcards had been drawn, I laid them out in order in my studio and my first reaction was that they would look neat if they were exhibited altogether, for the people of the Medway Towns to look at, and hopefully enjoy all of the pictures. As I have mentioned, the response has been incredible, far beyond anything I expected and I think that they would be right at home being exhibited somewhere in the Medway Towns. So, that's what's next. I'm currently looking around at different exhibition locations. The exhibition has to be where people can come 'straight off of the streets', somewhere that is highly accessible to everyone. As well as an exhibition, I'm currently planning on producing prints or a collected book of all of the images as this idea has been requested by a great number of people. The idea that the ME images could potentially be used for tourism is marvellous. I would be be deeply honoured if any of my work from the ME project was used for tourism. I would even be more than happy to produce new images, if need be. Hopefully that will be something that happens in the future. Fingers crossed. We'd like to thank David for his great responses to our answers. A true artist that deserves recognition for his brilliant artwork! Check out a sample of some of his ink drawings for the ME project in the slideshow below: We have been in talks with Arches Local to suggest the idea to the All Saints Community Trust to potentially host an open-day exhibition showcasing the ME project with David. At the moment we cannot confirm anything, but hope that the proposal will develop soon.
You'll also find that some of his artwork will be added to our website over the coming months, so do keep an eye out! If you'd like to find out more about David and his work, you can check out his official website and view the entire ME project by viewing his news blog. Comments are closed.
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