Just a little update..

I currently have only 5 weeks left of the first semester, before I have to hand in all of my projects for the development module. So, as I have been updating my blog, but not so much in terms of my progression, I thought I’d briefly talk about the work I’ve done so far, what I still need to do, and discuss the goals that I want to achieve, which will be more long-term based.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Research is complete – both directly from the book and my artist research.
I have created a mind map and chose the imagery I’d like to create.
Drawn up on of the quotes, the Wardrobe.
Experimented with digital techniques.
Experimented with different printing methods – screen printing, and adding foils, etching, Linocut, laser cut plate.
I’ve chosen that I want to create the rest of my illustrations with the laser cut plate technique as I feel I had gotten the cleanest results.

Still to do:

Create the other illustration with the printing method.
Possibly edit the outcomes digitally.
Mount them.
Evaluate the final products and project as a whole.

Inktober

I have completed the challenge, creating 31 illustrated characters for each day of October.
I have fixed or edited the designs digitally. Compiling them all into a zine format.
I’ve experimented with different forms of printing – through the colleges normal printer, reprographics and creating some on the zine.
With the finished products, I have begun to sell them online.

Still to do:

Write up some of the days – I have written them up on this blog, however, I feel I need to write them more formally and with much more information, for my actual project.
Write up the experimentation with printing methods. Opinions of the different outcomes of the zines.
Evaluate the final products and project as a whole.

House of Illustration – Howls Moving Castle

Read the book, highlighting areas and quotes that I could possibly illustrate.
Created sketches from the quotes.
Narrowed down my selection and had drawn thumbnails.
Narrowed down my selection yet again, so that I was left with 3 potential illustrations and 1 potential cover.
Started sketching the thumbnails digitally.

Still to do:

Write up artist research.
Refine the digital sketches with traditional line work.
Scan in the line work.
Colour digitally and potentially add a textured overlay.
Write up all of the progression, thoughts and opinions throughout.
Mount/submit the final designs.
Evaluate the final product and the project as a whole.

Penguin Illustration Awards

Read the children’s book – Wonder by R.J.Paolo
Read the adults fiction book – Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
Have thought about the imagery I could potentially illustrate for both of the books.
Have thought about the styles I could potentially use.

Still to do:

Actually start the project, not next week but the one after.
Write up research – from the books and potential artists/styles I will be using.
Form a mind map/mood board of potential imagery I could create.
Create 3 thumbnail sketches for each book.
Refine my choices and refine the designs digitally.
Choose which concept I think is best, possibly refine it more if needed.
Write up progression, thoughts and opinions throughout the project.
Mount and submit the final design.
Evaluate the final product and the project as a whole.

Long-Term Targets

Get better at time management. Thinking more practically, how long will it take me to work on a project, then follow my timetables as efficiently as I can.
Draw more full-length bodies. Over the year I feel I have gotten better at drawing faces, however, I do still struggle with the anatomy of the body, so I do wish to practise more in the future.
Boosting effort levels, getting rid of that ‘it’ll do’ attitude. I believe this can be done by just taking a break from my work then going back to it again with a fresh mindset, ready to make further improvements, as opposed to just being sick of the piece and wanting to just get it out of the way. I don’t think this can be done overnight, hence why it is in my long-term goals, as I feel in a way I will have to train my mind to do this more often, especially during future projects, in college and out.

Competition Briefs

Both briefs for the competitions I have planned to participate in during the first semester have now been announced.

House of Illustration – Book Illustration Competition

They have announced that the book in which you have to illustrate and make a cover for, will be Howls Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I am excited about this, as I had loved the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the story, and never actually knew that it was originally a book, so I am excited that I can read it and possibly see the differences from book to movie.

My only issue with this brief, I feel, will be trying to forget the imagery I already know from the movie. I feel Studio Ghibli makes the most beautiful movies with incredible scenery and amazing characters, so as the imagery I already know is so strong, I feel I might struggle when it comes to making the story my own, forgetting the visuals I already associate to the story.

bic2019

For the Penguin Student Design Awards, 3 books have been announced, one for Adult fiction, one for Adult non-fiction and one for a Children’s book.

Adult fiction cover Award – The Establishment – Owen Jones

From a brief read of the description, this seems like a political based book, which is something I am not really interested in. Although it would get me out of my comfort zone, working with themes I have never explored before, its not something I feel excited about, or something that I want to get involved in. Yes politics are important, and I do vote, and I’m all for other people getting involved and I respect their passion towards it, but its just not something I’m personally interested in. So, I think I’ll be choosing to go with another book instead.

Adult non-fiction cover Award – Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

This I believe is a love story, based on a character who is reflecting back on his student days, in the 60’s, in Tokyo.

When reading through this brief I kind of got excited, as I feel it could be a chance for me to create more oriental themed work, which I had enjoyed doing at the end of Level 5, but also possibly include styles or themes from the 60’s.

Children’s cover Award – Wonder – R. J. Palacio

This is a story which has recently been turned into a movie, which I have not seen yet, slightly because I thought it would potentially make me cry, (I’m a wuss with emotional movies). It is about a young boy with facial deformities, who I believe just wants to be an ordinary boy, being able to go to school and have friends, without being stared at.

I am currently torn between choosing the Children’s book or the Adult fiction book. On one hand, I don’t want to create too much child based work over the year, as I do want to cover more audiences within my portfolio this year, however, I don’t necessarily think Wonder is anything like the other children’s books I am planning to work with over the year, as I believe it has a deeper themes which are more based on real life as opposed to a fantasy world, so if I did choose to work with this brief, I don’t think it would resemble any other work I create this year.

With the adult’s fiction brief, however, I do feel it is well suited to me, as I do love creating oriental based designs, and I would enjoy working exploring 60’s themes, colours, etc. However, this may be a con, as I would not be challenging myself and could potentially end up creating work similar to previous designs.

So my dilemma is, do I create yet another childrens book, even if it’s not like the others have planned and could potentially take me out of my comfort zone, or do I work with an adults book with themes that I know I would enjoy working with, but would be settling into my comforts.

After talking to my friend, who had told me more about Wonder, and actually made it an option, as I initially I was adamant about not doing the children’s category, I discussed my dilemma and she had suggested that I just get both, (she’s going to send me Wonder to borrow, and I’ll purchase Norwegian Wood) then she said “read them both, come up with 3 concepts each, then choose your favourite from there”, which is the best advice I have been given so far this year, and is why she is my best friend. She has solved my issue and made my path much clearer for this specific project.

Psda

Bibliography

House of Illustration (2018) Book Illustration Competiton [Online] Available from: https://houseofillustration.org.uk/get_involved/bic-2019 [Accessed on 17 Oct. 2018]

Penguin (2018) Student Design Awards [Online] Available from: https://www.penguin.co.uk/company/work-with-us/student-design-award/student-design-award-2019.html [Accessed on 17 Oct. 2018]

Idea proposals 💍 Semester 2

Carrying on from the previous post, for the projects during semester two, I want to…

Produce chapter illustrations for ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’.

In this project, like with the Wizard of Oz project I have planned, I want to create work for a younger based audience, which I have not had a lot of experience working within the past. With this project, however, I want to create work for teens as opposed to children, working in what I believe to be more of a mature style, taking inspiration from John Tenniel’s illustrations in the original ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll.

As well as giving me more experience of working with a younger audience, (in a different approach to the Wizard of Oz project) I believe this project will allow me to play around and develop my skills with some printing techniques, such as screen printing, Linocut printing, etching, etc, I believe it will allow me to take full advantage of the facilities available to me within the college, such as the laser cutter, to create a plate in which I can print with.

Take part in the Association of Illustrators – World Illustration Awards.

In comparison to the other competitions I want to take part in, this one has multiple categories in which you can apply to. As well as children’s illustration, you also have the option of creating work for an editorial category, advertising, design, etc.

Like with the other projects, I believe the outcomes I create for this brief will help in expanding my portfolio of work throughout the year. At this moment in time, I am swaying more to the editorial category, as I feel it will allow me to work in more areas of the industry. For this category, I would potentially create an illustration for an article, trying to entice the viewer to read the article, but not give too much information so that the reader already feels like they know the story.

Create work for the Cheltenham Illustration Awards.

This is a competition that I will be taking part in for my third year in a row. The brief that they announce will have a specific theme in which I will have to work with, creating a narrative based illustration which will relate to or have been inspired by the specific theme.

In previous years, the themes have been ‘tales through others eyes’ and ‘tangled tales’. I believe the competition is pretty open in the sense that you are not limited to what you can potentially create. For instance, last year I had created my illustration using photography and embroidery, whereas in the year before I had created a surrealistic digital painting and a looped animation.

Because of the flexibility of this competition, being able to explore the theme and work in any possible medium, I am excited to take part again next year, but hopefully next time my work might actually be chosen. If not though, I will still enjoy the experience, and the work I create will still contribute to my portfolio.

The two projects which I want to do over the course of the year are…

Concentrating on branding and start to form a business, preparing for my career once I have left the comforts of college.

This project would include creating new business cards, forming a new set of portfolios, including a handheld a3 one, a website and a new portfolio book, these will also include all of the work that I have created over the year as well.

As of my potential business, I will be creating an online store (potentially in collaboration with one of the graphics students) and for this, I will be creating content that would be sold their, ie prints, pins, clothing, mugs, zines, stickers etc.

In the final month, I also plan to set time aside so that I can get ready for a final show, with this, I will possibly create new content to be put up in the exhibition, and this will also be the time in which I can start to order everything, so that it will come in time for the final show, such as the portfolio book, business cards, and any merchandise that I may have created with outside businesses.

And finally, I want to work on the weekly comics that both me and my partner had created together over the holidays, we named this collaboration Melon and Lime Comics.

Me and my partner have always been interested in mini-comics, most commonly from artists such as Ketnipz, Sarah Andersen and Catana Comics, sending their comics to each other saying ‘this is you’ or ‘me’, and we had even started to come up with our own ideas for potential comics, that we knew we would make someday, but had always kept pushing it off to the side, at least until summer had came. We had not really planned for this collaboration to go further than between the two of us, but one day, we decided to make our own Instagram and try posting the comics on there, to see if anyone else could possibly relate or find humour within our designs.

We have currently got a small following of 40ish people, however, I believe as we post more, our audience will eventually start to grow more. The problem is, as we are back at college, it is going to be more challenging to create content, as we are both going to struggle with time. So, this is why I wanted to incorporate this project into my year, so that I could allow myself the time to work on the comics, without feeling guilty because I am not going ‘college work’.

I do have high hopes for this collaboration as I feel we do have the potential to someday be at the level of the artists we admire, such as Ketnipz, Sarah Anderson and Catana Comics, but I feel it will only do well if we are to put the work and effort into it. I do love working on these comics because they are personal to my relationship, but I believe the themes are open enough that a lot of other people or couples can also relate to them. This collaboration has also allowed me to expand my work, exploring outside of my comfort zones, such as working with characters, minimalism, creating narratives and I have also been able to incorporate humour into the designs, which is something that I don’t believe I have ever done in my work before, or have even attempted to do before. Because of these developments within my own type of work, I am excited to continue working on these comics, seeing where else they could take me and what else we could potentially create in the future.

As these two last projects will be worked on over the space of the whole year, (I believe on Fridays for the branding project and Tuesdays for the comics) I will be solely keeping the progression, development and any potential research used, all updated within my blog, so you can keep your eyes peeled for those updates in the future.

Bibliography

The Association of Illustrators. (2018). World Illustration Awards. [Online] Available from https://theaoi.com/world-illustration-awards/ [Accessed on 20 Sep. 2018]

Cheltenham Illustration Awards. (2018). Cheltenham Illustration Awards. [Online] Available from: http://www.cheltenham-illustration-awards.com/ [ Accessed on 20 Sep. 2018]

Idea proposals 💍 Semester 1

For my final year of college, we have been given free reign to choose what projects and live briefs we want to participate in over the next year. I have decided to do four projects per semester, the commercial projects being shorter and the personal projects being longer. This will allow me to work to an industry type of deadline during the commercial projects, but create more developed/refined pieces for myself and portfolio within the personal projects. I also want to have two more projects that will run throughout the year, which I will be working on at least one day per week.

In semester one, I want to…

Take part in Inktober.

For the month of October, I will be creating an inked illustration on a daily bases, posting them on Instagram and hopefully end the month with 31 illustrations, if I do not falter or give up beforehand. These illustrations will all later be compiled into a zine/book, to later be sold on an online store.

I want to take part in this challenge so that I can develop my skills and gain more confidence with ink mediums, especially with my line control. I feel if I were to gain more confidence with this medium, I will be able to use it more in future projects, hopefully making my digital designs look less static, more organic and more unique to myself.

Create children’s illustrations for the book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

I chose this story to illustrate as it is a children’s book (which I believe is more commonly known as a movie) and I have wanted to create more work for a younger audience, as I have not done this a lot in previous projects, so feel it will help me expand my portfolio.

With the stories themes, characters and it specific colour palette, i.e. the ruby red slippers, the yellow brick road and emerald city, I believe with these elements, I will be able to create a set of illustrations unlike any of my previous work, filled with fun characters, vibrant colours and most importantly to me, the pieces will have a narrative, with characters interacting with one another and interacting with the scenery around them. I know I have not created any narrative pieces within my portfolio of work so this project will help in filling that area in which my portfolio is lacking.

Take part in the Penguin Student Design Awards competition.

This is a competition in which I will design a book cover for either a children’s book, an adults fiction, or an adults non-fiction book. As of this moment in time, the stories for each category have not been announced yet. However, once they are, I believe I will most likely be working with one of the adult books. This is so that my work for this project won’t clash with any other work I may create during this year, for instance, I already have in mind two child based projects that I want to take part in, so I feel if I were to choose the children’s book category for this project, the designs would potentially clash with one another. So, by choosing an adult book, I will be covering more audiences, hopefully helping expand my portfolio more.

And finally, in semester one, I plan to enter the House of Illustration – Book Illustration Competition.

Again this is another competition in which I will be designing a book cover, however, I will also be designing illustrations that will be submitted alongside it. In comparison to the previous competition mentioned, from looking at previous years entries, this competition seems more sophisticated in style, so I believe when I create my own designs, I would be working to a higher standard, possibly catering to a higher class of book lovers. Again, I believe this competition will allow me to expand my portfolio, creating work for a different audience and possibly working in new styles, but this will be determined once the specific story has been released.

Bibliography

House of Illustration. (2018). BIC 2018: Winners Gallery. [Online] Available at: https://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/get_involved/bic-2018-winners-gallery [Accessed on 20 Sep. 2018]

Penguin. (2018). Student Design Awards. [Online] Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/company/work-with-us/student-design-award/student-design-award-2018.html [Accessed on: 20 Sep. 2018]