Jo Blaker studied graphic design and advertising at Leeds College of Art before progressing on to an MA at the Royal College of Art. She does not put labels on herself, therefore her work consists of both illustrative and graphic elements, whilst other pieces of work can be seen as using elements of fine art in her practice. Her practice is mainly sketchbook based and this is what her talk focused on. Jo's inspiration for projects comes from the collecting and gathering of resources, particularly using images that relate to colour, line, materials/texture, and form. Much of her work is based on organic and natural forms in particular, for example looking at the changing form of seaweed when the sea washes it up and back in again. She relates this to a style of writing called 'nature writings' whereby people tell stories which show a connection with nature, such as through travelling. Jo uses these drawings as a different form of thinking and this is what forms the basis of her sketchbook work, trying to think through different ideas in a visual way.
This talk really motivated me to draw and inspired me to utilise my sketchbook more throughout my projects, including my own self-directed work. It taught me not to worry whether or not such work is 'good' or related to a current project, but to just document things that inspire you anyway because you never know when it may come in use. It also allows you to visually work through and develop ideas which could potentially have a big impact on an end product as well as your overall creative practice.
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