Thursday, 19 May 2016

Summative Statement

During this module I have had the chance to explore different aspects of my practice.
I've had quite a focus on developing different processes for different purposes, using combinations of digital and analogue media and I've figured out which ones are suitable for different themes and time frames. My traditional process has developed the most, following on from what I learnt in COP I have invested time in re-honing my technical analogue skills, something I haven't really done since A Level when that was the only option. Doing this in the context of my illustrative practise has been valuable to my work and I think the visual quality has improved across the year.
The briefs I selected have allowed me to explore different avenues my practice could go down. I've tried things I wanted to like book cover illustration, editorial, album covers and childrens book illustration. I wanted to move away from making just comics as it isnt that lucrative or realistic a career path and in trying to work in these different sectors I have opened up new possibilities and contexts for my work to exist in.
From this point I want to hone both of these developments. My processes are just forming and I'm excited to see where rigourous practise will take them and how they will develop with the different briefs I take on. I also want to explore more areas my work could exist in, but also develop upon the ones I've figured out work for me, like childrens book illustration. I would be interested in trying advertising and promotional work, to see how this would affect my practice and how my work would fit into that sector.
For the next year I want to take any work that's coming to me, and refine my process and aesthetic as I think it's starting to develop an individual tone of voice and visual quality which will hopefully aid my career in finding direction and an audience.

Project Report

Here is the issuu of my 603 Project Report


Guardian

These are my boards for the Guardian brief


Penguin Boards

These are the boards for my entires to the Penguin Design Awards


D&AD Boards

These are my board for SB6 D&AD


Heady Leggy Boards

These are the boards demonstrating the product range of the Space Planet encyclopedia


Short briefs

These are boards for my short briefs



Secret 7 Boards

Here are my boards for Secret 7"


Carmelite Prize boards

These are my presentation boards for Studio Brief 3 the Carmelite Prize


Wednesday, 18 May 2016

Boards

Here are my presentation boards for the Thoughtbubble brief


Statement of Intent Update

This is my updated statement of intent and briefs list.


cover and insides

making the mock up today so i had to make a quick cover and inside bits

here they are

i wanted to make a fancy encycolpeida cover but this will do for now, it does the job

pretty chuffed wth the pattern though
ive been using it a lot but i finally made it a repeating tile
its sooooo useful

Tuesday, 17 May 2016

Primordial Heady Leggies

looking back through old sketchbooks ive found loads of sketches that helped form the heady leggy, i just didnt know what i was doing at the time
isnt that weird


Heady Leggy mock up with script

It's all coming together
Now it can actually be read!
how exciting
the text is formatted really badly because im not a graphic designer
but it makes sense
its nice to be able to see the text with the images
i think they make more sense


Heady leggy script

This is the script to the book

Space Planet Encyclopaedia Script

Page One

This is Space Planet
He’s a friendly chap whose kindness and zest for life is known throughout the Planet Galaxy.
Space Planet, or SP as his friends call him, is home to the most sophisticated life forms in his solar system.
He is very proud of this.

Page Two

Space Planet lives in Solar System 4 of the Planet Galaxy with his good friends Sun, Moon, Warm Planet, Mr Planet, Planet Land and Planet small.
Angry Planet lives there too but he refuses to be friends with anybody because he is too angry. 

Page Three

The climate of Space Planet is pleasant but unpredictable.
There is daily flooding because Moon cries all night when his best friend Sun goes away. He is so lonely and floods the ground with his tears. 
When Sun comes back up Moon is so happy that he stays out all day while Sun dries up the mess he made.
This reeks havoc with the tides but nobody minds because Moon is such a nice guy. 

Page Four

Away from the safety of the home land there are three main areas; Moss Caves, the Dusty Peaks and Forest Marsh. These are hostile environments where only the toughest creatures live. Brave Heady Leggies come here to collect exotic supplies but most just stay in the comfort of their homes. 

Page Five

The Heady Leggy is the dominant species of Space Planet due to their upright stance, opposable thumbs and positive mental attitude.
They are almost perfectly spherical. It’s not so much that they don’t have a body, rather that their head is their body.
Their other distinguishing features are their long pointy noses, their wide goggly eyes, and their wibbly spaghetti limbs. 



Page Six 

Heady Leggies come in different shades, shapes and sizes but their all the same on the inside.
Everything a Heady Leggy needs to stay alive is stored within it’s head.

Page Seven

The life on Space Planet is happy and diverse.
The creatures get along quite well and they all survive on the bountiful fruits of the land. 

Page Eight

Space Planet is a very watery place, what with all Moon’s tears, so there are many Sea Creatures too.
Most animals can live happily on land or in water.

Page Nine

The Planet Life of Space Planet is rich and plentiful. 
Often plants are flooded by Moon’s tears so they are all able to survive in water.
Some can even grow several meters on command to keep their heads above water level. 

Page Ten

Heady Leggies consider themselves to be ‘at one with nature’ and like to tend to their trim and elegant gardens. 
It gives them great joy to watch a flower bloom.

Page Eleven

The Thermole is the only source of heat and light on Space Planet, other than Sun. 
They are sweet natured creatures whose fiery glow comes form their warm plasma centres and overwhelming sense of self satisfaction. 

Page Twelve

All water on Space Planet comes form Moon’s tears. They are filled with nutritious energy that can fuel critters and cars for many days. 


Page Thirteen

The PeragroPod is the vehicle of choice agreed among all Heady Leggies.
It can travel across land, sea and sky with ease.
Due to its cumbersome shape it is not very fast, but that is okay because Heady Leggies are never in a hurry. 

Page Fourteen

The Heady Leggy houses are sturdy and round to deflect falling Moon tears.
They have one large window to let light into the social rooms but keep the bedroom in darkness.
The legs are extendable to lift the house out of the water during floods. 

 Page Fifteen

Unlike Earth animals, creatures on Space Planet can have large chunks of their flesh removed and remain alive and happy.
The Heady Leggy diet consists of this meat, plant matter, fruits, flowers, natural roughage, nutritious Moon water and pink creamy Squooter milk.

Page Sixteen

Here are some examples of Heady Leggy recipes.
They are keen chefs and like to experiment with new ingredients.
Dishes like this will impress the dinner party guests. 

Page Seventeen

Heady Leggies can make small clones of themselves called ‘Mini-Leggies’, for when they need a helping hand or a friend to play with. 
Heady Leggies are not mortal creatures, meaning there are as many of them now as there ever was. This is how they manage to be such good friends.

Page Eighteen

Heady Leggies came into being when Sun, Moon and SP were bored and wanted a new project to work on.
Taking tiny particles from Sun’s cosy core and nutrients from Moon’s happy tears they formed oozing blobs of life that evolved into Heady Leggies.


Page Nineteen

Music is very important to Heady Leggies. They are all musical in some way. They like to sing about their thoughts, feelings and anything they got up to in the day.
Musical instruments compliment these songs well and everyone can play at least one. 

Page Twenty

Art is less prominent on Space Planet than Earth because most Heady Leggys prefer to look at the world around them. They do enjoy some earth paintings but they enjoy them much more when repainted to depict Heady Leggies. 
While they may not enjoy looking at art, Heady Leggies love to make expressive marks whilest listening to their friends play music. They are big fans of the suprematist movement. 

Page Twenty One 
(From left to right)
Eddy Greggy – Embassador of Space Planet. The friendliest chap there is. Runs all external Planet liasons.
Long Legs – Notable for his long legs with make him able to reach tall trees
Tiny Pecker – The smallest Heady Leggy. Can get in little crevices. 
Strong Simon – Born with over-developed muscles. Does all the hard work around here. 
Page Twenty Two

Ancient Wizzer – The oldest Heady Leggy. Has ‘magic powers’ apparently.
Professer Smart – Very clever.  Invented the PeragroPod and designed the houses. Also good at maths. 
Kite Champion – The champion at flying kites 
Big Stomp – The largest Heady Leggy. Gets upset because sometimes he stands on gardens and ruins them

Page Twenty Three

And here it is in all it’s glory.
A united land where the creatures live in pleasant harmony.
Everyone hopes you enjoyed learning about their way of life

Page Twenty Four


The Heady Leggies love visitors, especially you, so be sure to come back soon and bring all your friends.

Monday, 16 May 2016

raw scans

these are all the scans of the final drawings
they toook sooooo longngngngngg



Typo alert

I made a boo boo and I'm mad at myself
I printed the final spreads without changing the bit in the brain where I couldn't fit nonsense on so it now says nonse pons instead of nonsense pons which is far too close to nonce pons for my liking.
I cant get another slot now though so I'll just have to deal with it
I changed it for the mock up book
but ughghghg so silly


40s 50s korean childrens book covers

So pretty omg

Loook how niiiiiceeeee

http://50watts.com/A-Story-of-Books-Becoming-a-Mountain





























Dolls house

I was struggling to figure out how to propose a dolls house of the heady leggy house, with it being round and thus difficult to imagine

Then remembered that this toy existed

its even yellow I mean how perfect is that

Seems to have been a pretty big thing to girls who grew up in the 80s

As far as i can tell the back comes off and reveals the room, but not sure where the second room comes from or if there even is one


Aha, I think the central wall rotates to turn reveal another room

Interesting

Not sure this would translate to the heady leggy house  as it's two stories
I suppose it is just a proposal and I don't have to fully establish all of the physics involved

This also serves as great research for the heady leggy teapot I'm proposing.


Friday, 13 May 2016

Imagine revisited

It's been long enough that I can look at my imagine picture again

I tweaked it a bit and ended up with this one


I actually kinda like it now
It makes sense to the eyes instead of being visually unsettling
If only I'd submitted this version
Oh well

Here it is on a record cover

Thursday, 12 May 2016

Products

Thinking about the range

Starting wth the range surrounding the release of the book

Point of sales and window displays and merchandise relating to it like bookmarks and stuff in a pack.

This gruffalo one demonstrates pretty well


Mock up solution

I am a drawer, I draw
That is what i do
Thus my solution to the product mock up issue is to DRAW THEM

I can mock up the easy stuff using drawings from the pages onto plain objects but for the invented products that are difficult if not impossible to mock up well like the hats I'm just going to draw them and present it neatly on a board

I've been drawing them rough in my sketch book so it'll just be that but more refined and presentable.

Also i wanna use the same writing as the book to keep the consistency of aesthetic

Eg.



Golden age you say

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=point+of+sale&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjrc3h1dTMAhWLAsAKHbfBD9UQ_AUIBygB&biw=1617&bih=951#tbm=isch&q=point+of+sale+book

Well thats good to know

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

mocking mock ups

on starting the mock ups part of my project I've had a crushing revelation


I SUCK AT MOCK UPS

Thats quite an issue considering the other side to this project is entirely mock up based

Its a lot harder doing these product mock ups than just putting an image on a plain book

This is clearly not working so I'm going to have to try a new approach

merch inspiration

who knows how to capitalise on product range and distribution like disney
the kings of expensive tat
so I'm browsing the store

Here's some notable examples that i could use, mostly round stuff





I'm most impressed at how they've managed to rebrand frozen as summer merchandise.
Looking at this stuff its clear anything can be merchandised and branded, if you try
Also theres a heavy gender split in the products, not too fond of that but I guess it works
Maybe its disneys fault that it works
Anyway theres a lot of stuff i can use

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Redefining

Time constraints have dictated that I redefine the outcomes of my brief

It would be physically possible to fully complete the artwork of the book in time to hand in but it would comprimise the quality and quantity of the rest of brief.

At this point I think I've demonstrated the aesthetic and the process, and I've learnt what I can from that. To complete the rest of the pages would be going through the motions and would demonstrate nothing new about my practice or the brief.

Instead I'm going to put this time into the proposed range surrounding the book.

I think in doing this I will evidence an understanding of the scope of the project and the context in which it exists. This is more valuable knowledge to demonstrate at this point than my knowledge of how to create mixed media drawings of the life cycle of my invented creatures.

If time remains after fulfulling the other aspects of the brief I will continue to make the imagery and I plan to complete the imagery for the final show, where the visuals are probably more valuable to demonstrate than the proposed context.

I have stopped at eight completed pages, leaving four and the cover and inlay pages proposed.

I think this is enough to demonstrate my book proposal as the two book competitions I entered requested 4 final spreads and 8 roughs. Doubling this quantity makes it adequately significant.

This decision also means I won't have to comprimise the quality of the drawings. I'd been trying to find ways to speed up the process but it just cannot be done any quicker. Rushing them makes them sloppy and I think that would ruin the product.

So I will be submitting eight finalised spreads, the boards of my product range and a printed mock up of the book with finals, roughs and a typed script intergrated.



Thursday, 5 May 2016

codex pictures

had another look at the codex
god its just so mesmerisingly excellent

i tried to take pictures of my faourite pages but i jsut ended up nearly taking every page so heres a bunch of codex pictures.


Briefs Labels Update

Following my tutorial we have separated my briefs out into 8.

They are now as follows 

SB1 - Thoughtbubble
SB2 - Secret 7
SB3 - Carmelite Prize
SB4 - Space Planet Encyclopedia
SB5 - Short briefs - Crispin Orthotics, Film Posters, Offlife, Threadless
SB6 - D&AD 
SB7 - Penguin Books
SB8 - Guardian 

Makes a lot more sense now

Big Kahuna Brief


BA (Hons) Illustration - Level 06
OUIL603 Extended Practice

BRIEF TITLE
Space Planet Encyclopaedia
Brief
Fictional encyclopaedia about Space Planet – home of the heady leggy race.
Detailing aspects of the Planet, including environment, habitats, food, creatures, history, lifecycle, culture, energy sources and any other relevant aspects taking reference from sections mentioned in a traditional encyclopaedia. Note: Heady leggys are a utopian race immune to mortality, ill health and petty human violence, thus sections on medicine, religion, war and survival are not necessary.
Should be suitable for children but enjoyable for all ages.

Also an accompanying range of proposed merchandise. This should include toys, stationary, clothing, accessories, decorative wares both permanent and temporary, games, apps, posters and other such ephemera. As well as this there should be proposals of alternate chapters in the Space Planet cannon, such as story books and animated episodes.

Product
Tone of Voice
32 page picture book, full colour full bleed mixed media illustrations.
Imagery should mimic aesthetic of educational encyclopaedia diagrams but in a less dry manor, sustaining the cartoon child appealing aesthetic
5 A3 boards showing range of proposed merchandise, full colour.
Faux formality, a la David Attenborough narration but with extra whimsy and silliness.
Language should be 80% basic child friendly with smatterings of longer words with a view to expanding vocabulary and maximising longevity, allowing multiple readings without boredom.
Audience
Context
Primarily children aged 8-11, but should also be appealing to parents and enjoyable to other age groups, including adults interested in the aesthetic and ideas, the same kind of audience of adults who still watch cartoons and buy children’s books for their aesthetic merit.

It should also be appealing to appealing publishers as a demonstration of my work and an advert for them to hire me and/or publish my work
Should be made as if it is a published book, to be sold in shops that have a more specialist interest in the craft and imagery of publictions e.g Foyles, Waterstones, independent book shops, gift shops and gallery shops where books are sold e.g Natural History Museum, educational child friendly tourist destinations.


Additional information/Considerations
Should work as the core resource for a larger franchise, including considerations of product, merchandise, other stories and books within the cannon and moving image, episodes of animated cartoon or potentially film. This book should act as the blueprint to that world.

Mandatory Requirements
Deliverables
Primary visual research and testing, contextual research into references and where product will exist, what products will exist,
Planning and preparatory drawings establishing world and it’s characters, development of imagery,
Rough and refined storyboards and layouts of pages.
Completed imagery with and without text overlay.
Final resolutions compiled into physical publication

32 page full colour full bleed picture book approx. 300mm x 270 mm
Preparatory work combined and coherently displayed in folder or box.
5 A3 full colour boards representing proposed range of products within franchise.


Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Cover

Planning the cover
Taking inspiration from these covers that Adam showed me
They're pretty




They're very regal
I like this I think it'll be an amusing contrast to the silliness of the material
And an encyclopedia needs a grand cover


Plants

Drawing plants
This bit is the most fun certainly




















Going for mostly blue stalks, think they go better with the scheme, but retaining some forrest green too

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

Creatures

Been drawing the finals of the creatures today
It's starting to become disheartening because it's taking so long and I have my first print slot on Monday
And they're starting to look a bit dead, I think its always very clear to see in my work when I'm getting bored, maybe just to me, I'm not sure
It's not the project it's the process, it's a bit of a drag.
I'm going to have to lighten it up a bit, to finish in time and to retain interest
























They look alright but I think they need brightening up in Photoshop, these ones are looking a little over worked.

Monday, 2 May 2016

Heady Leggy Insides


In the process of drawing the anatomy page
This is the inside of the head
In the initial sketch I drew a skeleton but I don't think he would have a skeleton really, I mean theres just no room in his head for a skull, and if theyre bendy and floopy it wouldn't make sense for them to have a skeleton
So I'm gonna construct a strong muscle system I think, that will support the head

Sunday, 1 May 2016

developing font

I've been playing around with the text a lot
I couldnt decide if it should be typed or hand written because typed is more ledgible but handwritten fits the aesthetic better
in my tutorial fred said use handwritten for text thats part of the image and type for the rest

So I've been developing my handwritten font for the book and i think ive finally cracked it

its like a combination of hand drawn futura and the words in the codex and the hobbit

it needs refining a little so i can figure out just how many gestures on each word are necessary but i like this a lot and its really nice and fun to do

Saturday, 30 April 2016

Announcement

They put the thing out on the website and I'm on there wheyheyyyyy


Nooiiiiiiceeee

Also mega props for Rosie getting runner up!! Maannnn thats great, money and contracts and stuff, good job.

Leeds College of Art dominatin the victories

Whhhooopopooopp

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Finals examples

Put the scans together in photoshop to demonstrate what the pages will look like
Theyre a bit rough but I think it's on the right track
A lot less time consuming than doing it all in real life

Need to fix the glow behind the planets and maybe change the colour of Planet Small, I already changed him to blue but he's a bit lost

Had to find a new way of removing white backgrounds because it was looking really jaggedy and was taking forever to erase and multiply didn't work with the dark background

The new process is using the magic selection tool and selecting the outer area then expanding 2px, then feather and smooth then delete and it deletes the white with a soft edge that looks wayyyy better.


Used the same process to put these together

Still need to figure out whether to use type or hand write it.
Type would be muchhhhh quicker
So I'll probably end up doing that. 


Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Wooooooo

Got a reply about my entry to Carmelite
Eeeee

So thats pretty nifty, never been highly commended for owt.
And I get to have a snazzy little meeting
Obviously I'll have to wow them so intensely that they hire me on the spot.

We've arranged the meeting for July 27th, while I'm on holiday in Kent which is pretty convenient and gives me a while to pad out my portfolio and get over these hectic coming months.

Woooottt

Monday, 25 April 2016

Started Final Imagery

Decided against the line process I used to submit to macmillan
They didn't look polished enough, but I liked this one, on the left













So I've been expanding on that process
At the minute it consists of sketching the shape lightly in coloured pencil (correct to the colour it will be), then filling in the shape with watercolour, then working back into it with more coloured pencil and pens. It's quite time consuming but I think I like it. It's garnered positive feedback.

Here's some scans
Thats the land areas


And the night day comparison explaining the unstable environment due to an emotionally unstable moon






















Some moons and space planet,I did them on really big paper so I ended up cutting them all out to scan.
Pretty pleased with the sun rays, managed to make a smooth gradient in real life
Theres some more planets and a house too

So next I have to put them into photoshop, clean em up and combine it all into the pages.
I wanna do this in time for the crit so I have examples of final pages to show.

Thursday, 21 April 2016

Macmillan Entry

I didn't end up finishing my macmillan entry to the standard I wanted
The pages that were initially submittable roughs became the finals and I had to do rough line drawings of the remaining pages as the roughs.
Bit bummed that it probably will hinder my chances of doing well in the competition but never mind.
With the deadline being the same day as the PPP hand in it was a case of do the Macmillan entry better or pass PPP.
I actually had to hand in PPP at twelve and then I had until five to add all the text and make it look okay and stuff which always takes forever so it was a bit of a hectic day
Got it submitted though so it's alright
Also I think it's useful at this stage in the project to see the book as a rough whole, and to start drafting the text so I can work out how much is necessary. A good oppurtunity to review the content and progress. And it forms a good and useful blueprint of what's to be done.


PeragroPod

drawing his little vehicle
It started off as a little round plane
Kinda like nibblers plane












As initially Eddy was mostly travelling between Space Planet and Earth, and the story would focus on such adventures. 
The main focus was that it could fly
Also with Heady Leggys being round, the ship would have to be so to accommodate them comfortably. These flights are probably pretty long.

I like when big characters get into little cars

Exhibit A














Exhibit B
This is the largest automobile I could afford (22 short films about springfield)















Exhibit C
Put it in H (Mr Plow) 















So this was the initial design of the ship


 

And I started playing briefly with making it a car too


It opens kinda like a polly pocket











Theres probably a better way of describing that but I don't know

So when planning the pages I figured he'd probably need to get around in they sky, on land and in water, what with all the flooding. 
I worked on making it adaptable to all three terrains.

I figured it would be a really simple machine because Heady Leggys don't like unnecessary hassle.
It would retain it's shape but change slightly to adapt
So in park mode it has little legs and all appendages tucked in
In flight mode little wings extend out to the side and the flooble pops up to form a propeller
Like those hats













What are they even meant to connote idk
is it like nerd attire
what is it
dunce? 

Anyway the propeller is kinda like those hats
I think I want one
unless the connote something bad. 

this is what the propeller hat means
it's actually really interesting

anyway

This is the vehicle in flight mode


Then when it goes into land driving mode the flooble goes back in and just wobbles uselessly in the breeze, but where the little standing legs are the wheels pop out.
And the exhaust now makes fumes for reasons


Then when it goes into amphibious mode the wheels go back in and out pops little fins on either side
These are based on the pelvic fins of fish that help them move about and go up and down, which is their function on the vehicle


Also the flooble pokes up again and opens into a wind sock to aid braking. 
And the exhausted at the back pops out to form a propeller

















So it now travels in all land areas. 

Figuring out the name I nicked JK Rowlings process of borrowing from other languages 
So I went straight to latin for maximum pretentiousness and looked for travel related words

The verb peragro, which seems to still be used in italian but I'm not sure, means to wander/pass through/traverse/ travel, which I think is quite accurate to the Heady Leggy mentality in it's passiveness.

Hense I titled it the Peragro Pod




















Ta dah

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

My shirt got printed!

My design I did for threadless aaaages ago was chosen for print!
I dind't win but I got a $250 gift code for the store with which i bough a buttload of shirts
Here's my shirt in the winners section!
It is flawed in that being a square shape it doenst look good on a tshirt
This will probably affect my sales
but I get $7 every time someone buys one and i dont have to do anyyyythinngg
I'm gonna enter these more often

Here it is on some more shirts





Saturday, 16 April 2016

Roughs for submission

Here's the roughs I've got so far for macmillan
They sure are taking some time, but I'm pretty pleased with how theyre coming along





I've been using linework to hurry the process along but I plan to do the finals more like the night day page