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Future illustrators catch the eye
Susan Sweeney from Ballyshannon has taken the top prize in the Future Illustrator competition at Offset for her cartoon on Brexit, entitled Bulldog. In a keenly contested category, her work caught the eye of judges from the Irish Examiner and the advertising agency Chemistry. Offset is a major international conference for the design and creative industries. Now in its 10th year, the threeday event in Dublin draws about 2,500 creative and design professionals and students. It is designed to celebrate creativity and to bring together the best in international and Irish creative talent in advertising, animation, film, fine art, graphic design, fashion, illustration, industrial design, photography, street art. Robert Boyle, the creative director of Chemistry, said: “The Irish Examiner and Chemistry have a rich history of championing photographers and illustrators throughout our editorial, current affairs and sporting communications. We wanted to extend this partnership to Offset in order to encourage and foster fresh talent in the creative industry, by creating the inaugural Future Illustrator 2019. We put a call out for illustrators to tackle the subject of Brexit and the response and effort has been incredible, with over 40 submissions from all over the country and one from as far afield as South Korea. “All entries were judged by the Irish Examiner, Offset and Chemistry and the final three were awarded live last night at the creative conference itself which are published here, for all to see. The finalists were chosen for their balance of a great idea expressed with great craft. It’s a great way to get new illustrators work and talents seen by a wider audience of professionals across the world of publishing and advertising. Given the success and interest we’ve had it surely won’t be the last Future illustrator programme. We’ll be publishing a long list of this years entries in an online gallery in the coming days.”
1st place ‘Bulldog’ by Susan Sweeney
Susan studied French and History at NUI Maynooth, thinking that a career in teaching might be for her. Instead, she did a bit of travelling, did a PR course, and spent several years working in corporate PR and event management before deciding just one year ago that what she really wanted to do was art and design. Still in her first year at the renowned BCFE (Ballyfermot College of Further Education), she has lots of assignments to complete so was only intending to go to Offset on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the after-party on Friday, in which case she’d have missed the announcement that she had won the competition.
2nd place ‘- - - cut here - - -‘ by James Hayes
Originally from Co Kerry, James qualified as an architect and spent five years working as an architect in the UK. However, his heart has always been about making images and artwork, so James moved back to Tralee a year ago to try to make a go of a career as an illustrator and artist. He still keeps his hand in the world of architecture, doing projects for friends and family, both as an outlet for his creativity, and as a means of supporting his real passion.
3rd place ‘Waiting For Brexit’ by Dominic Barnes
Dominic Barnes was born in Scotland but has lived in Dublin since he was 6. He studied physiology at college but it was only a chance visit to an art gallery with a friend that opened his eyes, and his brain, to creative pursuits, which he had never considered before. He is now in his first year doing Fine Art at BCFE and working as a freelance illustrator, photographer and graphic designer.