North Hertfordshire College’s Creative Arts students were thrilled to be joined by NHC alumni, Sean O’Brien, for a workshop about his journey since college!
Sean completed his Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at North Hertfordshire College in 2014, before going on to graduate from the Kingston School of Art in 2018. After a brief time as a Creative Arts Technician here at NHC in 2019, Sean has since been working as a professional illustrator. He has worked with clients such as The Barbican, Cancer Research UK, The Guardian, The Observer and Hachette Children’s and is incredibly passionate about illustration. Sean commented that it was his time at North Hertfordshire College that introduced him to this industry.
He remarked: “It’s safe to say, I really enjoyed my time studying and working in Hitchin!”
Sean’s practise is defined by a love of drawing and mark-making and is applied to his work which covers a broad range of projects from editorial, publishing, animation and advertising. His guest speaker session was designed to introduce students to the creative industry (specifically illustration and visual communication) and where illustration can be found, as well as sharing some detail about his own career journey in editorial, branding, and publishing.
As well as this insightful talk, Sean also delivered creative workshops throughout the day. Our current Creative Arts students thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on sessions, where they were encouraged to do experimental drawings, doing 1-minute sketches of a still life before moving round the object and adding to their peers’ drawing, creating a collaborative artwork and exploring different angles of a subject. Sean also shared details of how the drawings could then be taken into Adobe Photoshop to create a 360-degree rotating animation of the collaborative still life. He encouraged students to incorporate collaboration into the early part of their projects and to think outside the box when approaching briefs.
One of the students, Frederick, studying on Level 3 Diploma Art & Design, commented on how he really enjoyed the session and said how one of the great things about college is having lots of people coming to talk to you specifically as well as hearing about what they have gone on to do.
Thank you again to Sean for taking the time to speak to our students! To find out more about Sean and see a gallery of his work check out https://seanrobobrien.com/
If you’re interested in starting your own creative arts journey, then check out North Hertfordshire College’s Creative Arts courses! With NHC, you can stay close to home and build the skills you need to go far in your career.