Andy Pavitt : Visit

Andy Pavitt recently visited Stockport college to talk to us about the internship they are offering to a third year and some of the issues and practices within the industry. Big Orange was set up 15-16 years ago by illustrators Andy Lovel, Darrel Rees(Heart agency) and Dan Williams (RCA). The studio is situated in the now trendy ('Bo-ho') Shawditch in LONDON, when the studio was set up Shawditch was like a ghost town, but now its one of London's 'places to be'! The studio currently houses 8 illustrators. They added different people as they went along, starting out looking for people with a fitting style but soon realised the dynamic of a studio "can be a little much"(Andy Pavitt) and their were certain people that just didn't adapt very well into the studio atmosphere, and now opt for peoples personalities, their skills and seem as if they will fit into the studio. Some recent editions include Paul Davis and Cheryl Taylor.

Darrel Rees

Andy Lovell

Paul Davis

The illustrators share half of the space with the AOI, this is useful for first and for most FREE membership, it also comes in handy for advice and networking. The going rate for a space is currently £200 per single space per month, this includes the phones, cleaning services, comp. network and rent. Andy did say this was quite steep even for LONDON. When I visited Big Orange I met one young illustrator currently sharing a space with someone else, splitting their rent and alternating days, this seems like a convenient and easy way to keep costs down and be able to work in a studio environment.

Example of a paint studio

Big Orange studio
London 2009

Andy also mentioned that a 'painting studio' rather than a studio (mod-cons, Internet ready, warm) can be alot cheaper as they are usually warehouse space, well yes please I think there would be alot more room and I have a far off dream of having a giant 'painting studio' with big windows and lots of floor! for lovely printing presses just like in the modern adaptation Great Expectations by Alfonso Cuaron!! Anyway I was very glad to hear about the price not being too high. Big Orange is open 24 hrs a day, "which gives you alone time in the studio if you are working to tight deadlines" this is also a nice perk even if there is no deadline, sometimes you just want to work alone. Although Andy said that "bouncing ideas off other people is one of the most useful tools in the industry".

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Question
"Do people share contacts"

"Some people are more generous than others, editorial contacts are shared more freely, because there helpful, but if someone has done a large job and it has taken them a while to build up the contact, they maybe a little resistant...but you have to respect that."

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Talking about editorial jobs, Andy mentioned that working for overseas prestigious clients like The New York Times for example, do not really have a concept of the time zone difference, and don't consider the time taken to complete the job. I don't think this is much of a problem really if you really want to do it, it promotes you and your work overseas to alot of potential clients, but you would have to think carefully about if you think its right for you or not. Not meeting deadlines even a few times can have a "detrimental effect on your profile" and work will dry up.

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Andy Pavitt


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