Poppy Loughtman
BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation
My sketchbook is the foundation of my practice. I like to be playful and experimental, working between traditional media using papercutting, pencils and paint as well as digital. In the final year of my degree, I have approached a variety of briefs revolving around print and publishing.
Some of my most enjoyable projects have been designing book covers. My design for Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo was shortlisted for the Penguin Book Cover Design Award for the fiction category. I played with paper-cut figures to represent the themes of femininity within the book and combined the with an exciting colour palette and some hand lettering.
For my final project, I produced the publication Herbarium which was the result of a more research-based approach. This publication is a look inside the herbarium in the Manchester Museum. This is an area behind the scenes which contains a collection of around 700,000 botanical specimens including pressed plant specimens, botanical illustrations and books dating back as far as the 16th century. It is printed on a variety of recyclable paper stocks, of which some are made from recycled pulp.
As part of my final project at university, me and my peer, Georgina Reynolds, collaborated to produce two large-scale vinyl window displays which featured in the Manchester School of Art Degree Show 2022 in Benzie. This combines both our illustrations and we worked together to produce the designs, discuss the logistics with the vinyl print suppliers, and arrange the installation.
Looking forward, I would love to start my career within publishing and design, either working inhouse or as a freelancer. I want to continue to push myself as a creative practitioner and challenge the boundaries of illustration, typography and design.
