Graphic designer and alumni Jem Solley, 22, from Guisborough has been working with lecturer and academic Dave Edwards on promotional artwork for International Horror conference Nightmare ’24. Jem has encapsulated the themes of the conference through iconic horror films and 70’s & 80’s graphic design. Alongside the project Jem has been working on a number of freelance projects and has recently completed making artwork for Jamie Lloyd’s West End production of Romeo and Juliet starring Tom Holland! We caught up with them to find out more about their work, read on to find out more!

Tell us about your work on Nightmare ’24!

As a NSA alumni I was reached out to by Matt Burton who put me in touch with David to discuss the project with me. I recently did a 31 days of horror challenge for October where I designed a poster each day for some of my favourite horror movies, which I think caught their attention. I’m a huge film nerd so I was really excited to be asked to create the artwork for Nightmare 24. David and I discussed the iconic horror film characters we wanted to be featured on the poster such as Norman Bates from Psycho and Jack Torrence from The Shining and I was then given the freedom to create something in my style fitting for the conference! 

I’m really inspired by 70’s & 80’s graphic design especially for film & music with bold typography and grungy xeroxed images and it works well for the themes of horror movies. At the moment I’m really into collaging images together in this style, so I took the most impactful and most recognisable characters like Norman Bates and Jack Torrence and made them the main focuses within the collage. Jigsawing other characters like Wendy from the Shining and Pearl from the A24 film Pearl and Frank the rabbit from Donnie Darko, keeping with the theme of mental health as all the characters shown are tormented in one way or another. From there I had to add the final touches like the whites of the eyes – which has become a staple in my work – and little blood splatters to tie it all together. I’m excited to see it all in person at the conference!

You are an illustration prize judge for the conference, what are you looking for?

I’m eager to see all the talent for the illustration prize. I’ll be looking for striking imagery, especially facial expressions and interesting colour schemes. 

You are working on an exciting project for Jamie Lloyd’s West End Production of Romeo & Juliet, tell us about it!

Working with Jamie Lloyd on his upcoming sold out West End production with Tom Holland as Romeo has been incredible! Jamie reached out to me after seeing my work on social media and asked if I would like to create the artwork for the production. I’m not very familiar with the theatre industry and wasn’t sure how my style would come into play but after hearing his vision for the production I was instantly captivated! With modern artwork and a contemporary take on this Shakespearean classic the aim is to get a younger audience interested in theatre and to break the stigma and stereotype around theatre being for ‘old people’. 

For the artwork itself the idea was to be very minimalistic and modern, we went with a simple colour scheme of red, cream and black and heavy grunge textures to break up the negative space. The main focus being Tom Holland staring off into the distance in what the BBC said to be’ bathed in red’. With the show tagline being, ‘violent delights have violent ends’, hinting at the brutal and tragic story which is Romeo & Juliet. 

A few weeks ago I got to create the amazing Francesca Amewudah-Rivers announcement poster who will be playing Juliet. She was photographed to match the concept of Romeo and Juliet’s eyes finding one another across the posters. I’m not sure what more I can say at this point but if you’re around the Duke of York’s theatre in London through May-August you will be able to see my artwork across the theatre front of house and I will be sharing lots of photographs over on my Instagram over the coming weeks about it too!

Tell us about your time at our school, how do you think it prepared you for your career?

I studied graphic design at both the Middlesbrough college campus and the Hartlepool university campus, I loved every minute of college and university – even through COVID – the briefs were dynamic and interesting and gave me the opportunity to pursue areas of personal interest through my work such as music and protest. Half of the time the researching part of the projects were more interesting to me than creating the final pieces, as my lecturers can agree I loved to create process zines! 

I’ve only been out of university for 2 years but I have gone down a lot of different paths in that time. Working as a graphic designer for the clothing company Disturbia for over a year I made scrolling emails, website graphics, social media artwork and even garment graphics in a style much different to my own. Although it wasn’t the most creatively fulfilling job for me I learnt a lot about adapting my artwork for more commercial formats and just general business skills which has helped me to grow my own business as a freelance designer. 

What else are you working on?

I’ve got a few projects which I can’t discuss at the moment but they are for projects in the theatre and film industry as well as lots of personal projects in the works too. Spending more time learning new skills in animation and creating tutorial and process videos to help beginner designers as I know this is something I wish I had more while I was learning design. 

What would your advice be for future students?

My main tip for any student doesn’t matter if you are studying graphic design, illustration, film, photography etc… is to start posting your work on social media. Take part in challenges like inktober and 365 poster challenge, connect with other artists and start building your community. Social media is your number one tool for getting people to find your work, posting to Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest and even LinkedIn just once a week will really help, and will be a portfolio for your work. And it’s really cool to see how your work progresses over weeks/months to help keep you motivated!

Keep up to date with Jem’s work by following them on instagram: @_jempg and Tik Tok: @_jempg! 

If you are interested in studying graphic design at degree level we have a fantastic degree programme, find out more here. You can also find out more about our school, studios and tour the campus at our next open day on June 1st. Future students booking on to this open day will be able to view our summer show too.