Practitioners

Damien Gascoigne & Otto Dettmer

Otto Dettmer

Damian Gascoigne

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In this report I will be comparing and contrasting the practices, issues, markets and process of Damian Gascoigne and Otto Dettmer using information from lectures I have attended at Stockport college in 2009 by both practitioners. I aim to find out if any of these points relate to me and (if yes) how could I apply them to my own practices.
Otto Dettmer and Damian Gascoigne don’t really swim in the same circles, although Damien started out as an illustrator after studying a fine art degree he slowly gravitated towards animation. Damien’s fine art training is apparent in his drawings and composition.
After studying an MA at Kingston University, in 1996 Otto found screen-printing and began to experiment with this process, due to the time restraints on commissions (i.e. The Guardian, weekly commission) he sometimes has to sacrifice the screen printed process and create the same look on Photoshop.

Example of Otto's Photoshop instead of Screen Print imagery

Damien’s sense of humour and his work are usually quite personal; I had had the pleasure of meeting Damien after the lecture in studio. He’s a really nice guy, I was a little bit scared of speaking to him at first but I was at ease straight away because of his friendly, honest and humorous demeanour.

In contrast Otto Dettmer seems to encompass and orah of a ‘lateral thinking’ German illustrator, his determined, professional and efficient nature is coupled well with his artistic approach to promotion and personal projects. Creating narratives and experimenting with his process and style are the beginning of what can become his mail outs to art directors to promote himself. On the other hand Damien Gascoigne relies on ‘free pitching’ for allot of his commissions, He explained in his lecture (‘Stockporticus Talk 2009, 110 years in animation’), that he had pitched for 8 jobs the year before and only got one commission from them. It was the quality of his work, I think his work is produced very well and shows strong concept, he went on to say that it wasn’t what ‘they’ were looking for at the time. The big problem with this method of commissioning is the time and effort that can be wasted on a ‘free pitch’ with no commission at the end. In some cases individuals/studio’s will not even be considered for the job if they don’t agree to do a ‘free pitch’. The issue of free pitching has been discussed many times, with the majority arguing against ‘free pitching’. Damien’s free pitching experiences nearly made him give up, but around Christmas time he landed a commission and this spurred him on.

Damian Gascoigne pitching

Otto Dettmer's sheet mail outs, consisting of his work for The Guardian, Screen printed

Otto and Damien’s market is quite different, with Damien pitching for moving image firstly; secondly he pitches mainly to advertising companies. Otto on the other hand is quite an established illustrator and work now, usually comes to him, but when he started out he travelled to London around 3 – 4 times a week for interviews with art directors. In a similar way to the free pitching, no jobs were guaranteed but this set him well on his way to getting his first printed job. Getting his work out there and getting attention, this would ultimately lead to some regular weekly/monthly commissions, this could help cover some studio/living costs. Where as the amount of work put into a portfolio is alloy it is over a period of time usually with no time restraint or financial commitment, but a specified brief with a target audience/market can be very consuming and must be very disheartening.

The way Otto promotes himself and more to the point the way he promoted himself in the beginning really interests me. Travelling to London and being in the place where the art directors are and interacting with it and them would give me a much better understanding of the market place/ people / design trends/ technology than id I promoted my self in a less physical way only, like only using websites and emails and not combining the two.

Otto generated cash by illustrating for European financial magazines; this gave him a steady source of income and has now built up a mass of stock illustration. Business smarts!

AOI INFORMATION.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright is an area, which is governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. When you create a collage, painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart, plan, engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work, you have created an artistic work and that is protected by copyright, provided that your illustrations fall into any one of these categories. You, as creator of that illustration, own the copyright, which subsists in it. There is one exception to this general rule. If you are an employee and your job requires you to create illustrations, then usually your employer will own the copyright in these works. There are no registration requirements. There is no requirement to use the sign © but it will help the public to realise that your illustration is protected by copyright.

If you own copyright, you are the only person who has the right to make copies of your illustrations. If someone else makes a copy without your permission, they are infringing your copyright.

You can give permission to individuals or companies to reproduce your illustration, which is known commonly in the illustration trade as granting a licence. Your license should be in writing and should set out the use that can be made of your illustration and any restriction you wish to place on the use. You can grant licences for different uses.

You can effectively sell your copyright, which means that you have no further right of reproduction in your work. This is known as an assignment but will only be effective if you put it in writing.

If your illustration is reproduced without your permission, you are entitled to damages; perhaps an injunction to stop the infringement and on occasion the infringing copies delivered to you.

Your copyright in your illustration is an economic right. It is different from ownership of the illustration itself. You may still grant a licence or give an assignment of copyright in your illustration whilst owning the original piece. Likewise, you may sell the original illustration without giving permission for it to be reproduced.
(http://www.theaoi.com/Mambo/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=33)

In comparison Damien Gascoigne uses teaching as his regular income and from what I could gather his own entertainment. He has a close working relation ship with his students, this is one of the things that most stood out to me about Damien, he interacts with his surroundings, watches and learns, steering you in the right direction. Helping you uses your strengths and in some cases this works in his favour as he is currently collaborating with an X-student (for his 3D skills) on an animation called ‘Muzo Soup’. Coming from an illustration background he was like Otto, a freelance illustrator for a while but now prefers to work with a group/ ‘team’ of people with different skills and ideas. Damien’s love for hand draw animation has unfortunately clouded his mind to 3D animation and its potential, I think this may have inhibited him a little, but realising the he utilises the skills of his colleges as they do his…like a big moving image making machine working in correlation with each other to produce the best possible out come… This idea of working in a studio or in a ‘team’ interests me a lot and is defiantly something I would like and will have to do to further myself as a practitioner. Waaaaaaay at the other end of ‘The Spectrum of Collaborations’ Otto prefers to work alone as he finds that sometimes “jealousy” can be an issue when working with other people.

Damien Gascoigne is influenced mostly by his surroundings and day to day life, always taking photographs, doodling, sketching, finding faces and shapes in objects, spill and hills ;) Using this research as a starting point for funny and interesting work, weather it’s an exhibition or a commission. In one way these practitioners are similar in that they both create narratives for their work personal, promotional and commissions. I think working from a strong concept and expanding and experimenting on it is the best way to keep interested and motivated with a personal project. But obviously what they produce is very different.
Damien now mainly concentrating on animation creates moving image from his drawings/photographs of characters and places, these things together suck you into their world, weather it is the way he projects it, edits it or designs it, he has a unique way of setting a scene and creating a feeling and flow throughout an animation. Where as Otto creates, prints and collects images and then he will juxtapose them to create strange creatures, people, landscapes and then simply
Pin them up next to each other and let the images create the story.


Damian Gascoigne - How to get rid of information - Animation

"A tired man is drawn into an escalating battle with hypnotic projections, intent on depriving him of sleep. As he struggles to turn them off, they multiply, carving up his bedroom and pushing him towards despair. In moments of sleep, relief is found as he dreams about the forgotten ice trade."

Both practitioners approach their concept in different way too, Otto finds it easier to screen print his work, his method of using block colours and strong bold shapes work well with the printing process. The shape flat colour combined with photography to create diverse, strong images. His promotional and personal work goes in a very futuristic, sycodelic pink, blue, yellow and more conceptual direction; where as his more commercial work is straight to the point and communicates quickly. It is clear that his personal work allows him to expand on his ideas and build on his style and process. Otto’s personal work sometimes comes into play within his commercial work.

Otto Dettmer - The Return of the Cray Fish - Screen Printed Book

A giant crayfish attacks the City of London (created before the financial crisis occurred !)

Then we have Damien creating hand drawn and 3D computer generated moving image. It is clear within Damien’s work that he can change and adapt his style to a certain brief/ project. But unlike Otto this is probably more a spontaneous decision for Damien. This interreges me, I have a changing style but I think it defiantly changes too often. Fighting the urge to change the way I am working is hard? but I think it may be the amount of variety in processes that I ‘allow’ myself to explore at any one time. I should limit myself 2 or 3 processes during a project, thus giving me that chance to change to something else if I feel like it but building my technique and skill as I go along. Like Otto found screen-printing and them adapted the process and used Photoshop to get over the hurdle of time restriction.

Otto Dettmer - MOMBO MOVIES - FIRE
Flick book - Animated

OTTO DETTMER

• Photocopiers
• Old printers
• Two tone printers
• Silk screen
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Photography

I have always enjoyed printing processes and I would like to experiment more with print. I some of the processes quite well, but I have not really experimented with a lot of composition, texture or layers (colour).

DAMIEN GASCOIGNE

• Hand drawn animation
• 3D computer generated animation
• Treated live action
• Photoshop
• After Effects

Their techniques are quite different although Otto Dettmer has recently started to play around with some animated images. He is only starting out but he will add them to his website, to show another facet of his capabilities. Its probably not as accomplished as some of Damien’s (but he does have help) I think this is a good idea also carrying on learning how to use programs and keeping up with technology is important and that is another point Otto and Damien share. The reasoning behind Otto created the moving image is that he thinks the future of illustration lies within animated image, with the new technology coming thick and fast these days, this seems the logical step for illustration.



I chose these to practitioners because of their differences, their strength and their relevance to me. There are defiantly some points I will take from both practitioners.

• I think this is a good idea also carrying on learning how to use programs and keeping up with technology is important
• Exploring you process and technique’s, but limiting myself to 2- 3 processes
• This idea of working in a studio or in a ‘team’ interests me a lot and is defiantly something I would like and will have to do to further myself as a practitioner
• Influenced mostly by his surroundings and day to day life, always taking photographs, doodling, sketching, finding faces and shapes in objects, spill and hills
• The way Otto promotes himself and more to the point the way he promoted himself in the beginning really interests me. Travelling to London and being in the place where the art directors are and interacting

Otto Dettmer



Damian Gascoigne

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