We are always thrilled to be able to award up-and-coming designers, and this year we teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University to pick a winner from their end-of-year degree show. The quality of work, as always, was fantastic and made picking a winner a lot harder….
The winner we chose this year is Bethan Faulks, digital illustration specialist. The detail and technicality in her hand drawing really stood out to us, and we thought she would benefit from the AVA prize – which includes taking part in our next CAD Specialist Training course and a free loan of the software to help build her portfolio.
We spoke to Bethan to find out a little bit more about what inspires her, her creative process, and career goals!
Bethan enjoys drawing wildlife, and creating stories based on childhood memories to allow people to connect to her designs.
Her most recent collection was a childrenswear outdoors collection. Based on her memories as a child who grew up in a camping family. “I started to brainstorm all the memories that reminded me of childhood holidays. Then started to sketch out certain memories. Putting them into procreate brings definition to each of the designs, drawing British wildlife and plants as well as incorporating iconic British beach moments. Once happy with the illustrations, I place them into Adobe Photoshop playing around with layout, selecting my favourite designs and finalizing my outdoor collection.”
We asked her about her plans after graduation, and she’s hoping to find a role that will help her develop as a designer, drawing and creating designs. “As long as I’m still drawing and creating designs while working on the side, I’m happy. My goal is to come up with a collection that I hope to sell on Etsy around Christmas.”
Her dream job would be to “to join a design team that pushes me and allows me to grow as a designer, becoming stronger as an illustrator. The dream job would be to work for a brand like Mini Boden.”
…and finally
How does it feel to win an award? Are you excited to use AVA?
“I was first really shocked at winning the award as there where so many talented designers in my year group. It was a real confidence boost, as I really struggled in my final year with believing in my work. It’s lovely just to know that someone loved my designs and was an honour that it came from AVA. I’m so excited to learn about the software, I think it’s going to allow me to grow as a designer. And bring just that little bit extra to my designs, giving them a more professional look. I also think it will make me so much more confident as a designer.”
We are so excited to have Bethan on the course and can’t wait to watch her grow and follow her career!
Click here to see more of Bethan’s work, or click here to view her CV.