Samantha Richards

Course.
Art & Design Foundation Diploma Level 3

Previous School.
Bexhill 6th Form College

Progression.
Anglia Ruskin University

BA (Hons) Illustration & Animation

My main focus within my chosen illustration specialism has been storytelling. This is reflected in the ‘Making A Meal of It!’ project, for which I produced a popup book based on egg-related superstitions, and my Final Major Project. The starting point for my FMP was the recent landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. Following this train of research, I became interested in the idea of a possible conceptual future regarding human exploration of the red planet, along with why we find such wonder in these other worlds.

Being keen to develop my sequential narrative skills, I structured my final outcome as an 18-page comic. I used iron oxide powder to paint each page as a reflection of the main component of Mars’ soil. I also experimented with photographic elements, created by building Mars-like landscapes out of smashed terracotta pots from my own garden. This helps give a personal connection to the work, and links the tiny mundane-ness of an individual life here on Earth with the otherworldly vastness of the red planet, mimicking the link that will one day be made when the first people get to set foot on Mars for real.

 Studying art foundation has given me the chance to find the working process that best suits me, and to begin to make work that I am more personally engaged with. The supportive environment has allowed me to be more ambitious and develop skills in areas I’ve long since been interested in e.g. sequential narrative. As a whole I have become more self-assured in my abilities, main areas of interest, and how I want to progress my studies from here onwards.