Rob Hodgson has a part time job while also being a free lance illustrator. He says that he likes the balance between the two because it allows him to surround himself in different projects. This is because he finds different themes and techniques which interconnect. He says that just because a project is finished doesn't mean that the theme is resolved. This is something which resonates with me because I have found that as I have started to progress through the course I have found a couple of themes that I would like to revisit in future projects.
When crating an image he uses a sketchbook as a very personal place. They are where his illustration and life meet. They contain drawings, ideas, annotations and even shopping lists. He also collects imagery that mainly consists of shapes, which he uses as a starting point. He tends to do compositionally accurate roughs, with low levels of detail and colour. He then scans in the roughs along with different interesting shapes and attempts to organise them digitally. I think that this is a really interesting way of working. It shows the coming together of something quite abstract with with a very structured idea.
Hodgson's practice also shows a swing between commercial work and work simply for himself. He appears very interested in how product design and Illustration sit together. His work seems very driven by materials and the process of making, the commercial side coming secondary. He makes lots of hand crafted objects himself, which he then designs the packaging for and personally sends off .
Another thing that Hodgson said at the end of the lecture, which I found really useful was that he didn't leave university with a portfolio of work or a style. What he left with was a set of ideas questions and things he wanted to do. I think that this is a really interesting point because creating a portfolio and developing a style are things that are already always at the back of my mind, even though they don't need to be.
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