Second year BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application students had the opportunity to work on a live project with Newcastle-based agency Drummond Central to develop a range of illustrations and associated advertising assets for Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 cocktails based around the theme of the 7 deadly sins. The aim of the project was to engage a new and younger adult audience through compelling digital media and packaging.

Students had the opportunity to visit the Drummond Central offices in Newcastle to share their work and gain valuable feedback, speaking of the project BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application Lecturer Alice Hair said, “Kev Hughes (Creative Director) and Abbie Malton (Creative) set our students the brief and kindly welcomed us for a visit to their Newcastle-based office. They caught up with the students across the project and gave valuable feedback and guidance on their concepts during  their final outcome pitches.”

Student Amelia Smith said that the project helped develop her skills, commenting that “as a student, being able to work with an agency like Drummond Central for such an ambitious project was extremely helpful to developing my skills in industry practice and understanding my own skills as an illustrator. The opportunities to visit their office to meet the creatives behind the company and to understand their practice and needs as a client, alongside their continued support and guidance across the project has been extremely beneficial and appreciated. Having the work I created and ideas I generated reviewed by industry professionals helped me to push my own thinking and practice. They expressed equal levels of appreciation for my efforts towards the project and critical observations to push my final outcomes and developments even further, which helped me to produce outcomes I’m proud of. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Abbie and Kev, and I’m very grateful for the guidance they’ve offered throughout the project.”

Fellow illustration student Abbey Ewart agreed, “working with Drummond Central has been an incredible experience and given in me insight into the industry and the type of projects I could be working on in the future. Visiting their office was a great way to get to know them and help me to further understand their company and the types of people and companies they work with. They gave some amazing feedback to me while pitching which was both motivating and extremely helpful in giving my project an extra layer of depth.”

Karol Wrzesinska said that the Drummond Central team “were really easy to talk to, I get nervous in general when I have to pitch something but they were quite chill and after a while it was easier speaking. Kev and Abbie are so nice and the feedback they gave me was really useful, it was nice getting a professional opinion for my art that was constructive and complimentary.”

Abbie Malton, Creative at Drummond Central commented that it has “been an absolute pleasure working with The Northern School of Art and getting a glimpse of the brilliant up-and-coming illustration talent. The students were genuinely impressive – they produced some beautiful work, responded to the brief really thoughtfully, and presented it all with confidence. The course is run brilliantly, and we are looking forward to working with them more in the future!”

If you are interested in studying illustration at degree-level make sure you check out BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application course, through skill development, live briefs and partnerships student on this course are able to build dynamic portfolio’s that allow them to enter a number of visual arts industries. Find out more here.