PROJECT REPORT

BOARDS

PRINTING

printing is a faff and a half
see my printer doesnt print double sided and i dont have indesign, so putting my stuff into indesign was a waste of time and i have to put all the pages back in manually
it gets confusing when trying to figure out which way to put the paper in so that the image isnt upside down and the wrong way around
it turns out i was getting so confused with this because photoshop prints the opposite way up to preview and i was using them both, so now ive figured out which way the paper needs to face to print from preview and just printed them all like that
it went okay but it was stressful cos i only had just enough of each paper to do two tests/mistakes and then print the actual pages.
i bought a bunch of different papers, sugar paper in offwhite and a light grey, bulky newsprint, antique white and the one i actually used which ive forgotten the name of
it was a difficult decision because some felt nicer but looked rubbish and vice versa
also i wanted to print them at a6 but its really complicated because you have to use the dialogue box to reposition each side of the page and its hard to make them line up

i had to split up the pages too so that they would be on the right side
concerned it wouldnt meet up properly when printed but its fine

heres the splits

and gratuitous photographs of my booklets

vis journ

i started planning my images just a little bit because i wasnt satisfied with the dyatlov one, it looks frantic and unplanned
so im doing just a lil planning
not getting carried away with planning

fun with mock-ups

mocked up a quick lil poster banner thing for websites and screens
and pages on ipads all that hi-tech stuff
snazzy yeh yeh

ive drawn everything

yayyy done it all
they look alright
they kinda fit together visually and it went fine

issuu wouldnt let me put em all in one

a final to do

blog finals
issuu
print
test different papers
buy paper
blog anything I missed
check labels
photograph finals, lightbox,blog
bind, do several
project report
boards
mock up - banners, ipad/phone, in newspaper, bus shelter screen gif, print in newspaper,
propose - rest of range, 5 for 5 days plus something extra for the weekend, gifs for the other stories, meat shower, weeks on other themes, murderers aliens monsters all that stuff
pdf
burn disc

lighthouse

this one might be my favourite as a whole thing, i think it went pretty well even though it was all a mad rush

I like this cover best, of the covers, probably because it works best as an image, it may not be good as a cover though

i dont know whats going on at the top theres all sorts of pink and yellow nonsense going on

it just appeared when i made it a jpeg

no idea

i like this page a lot too, except for the dingy dark text box, and the date is at the side because i forgot to write it

but anyway i like the little guy cos hes cute and i dont know if it makes sense that these are kinda two images in one image but i hope so

also the boat and rocks went well

its nice going for it onto the paper with drawing cos when it works out its a much more pleasant surprise than when ive redrawn one digital line thirty times and i finally get it right

embrace the mistakes yo 

this page may be a little heavy on the yellow

otherwise its okay

the lighthouse men went well they look so silly and moustached 

too much patterns?

i like these pages separately but they dont work as a spread

i wanted to get this lighthouse drawing in because i think it represents the story well and i liked the composition in the thumbnails but im not sure i translated it over well because its a bit scrappy

the left had side went fine, its functional and it looks okay and it makes sense to me at least i hope it does to others 

db cooper

getting a good system going now, bashin 'em out

i tried to make the same kinda image as the plane gif background i did the other day, cos i liked that, but it didnt really work cos the yellow pencil on top of the blue watercolour is really dingy

i overcompensated for that with levels so now it looks overexposed and weird

im hoping this will sort itself out in printing because the areas that are startlingly white will just be the colour of the paper and it wont be backlit so maybe itll be fine 

i think i got too carried away on this page

theres no white space left except the planes

its all a bit dark

even the text boxes

reign it in reign it in 

i think the description pictures underneath DB are cute tho

i really like this one because i was trying to not go overboard like i did on the previous page so its less heavy but still busy enough to be interesting i guess

i like the little bomb briefcase its cute, and the parachutes, the colours suit them well

yeah i like this one 

theres bits that are messy though like the middle section between the texts but thatll be in the crease so it probs wont be too noticable 

this was the drawing i planned initially for the book and i liked it then but im not so sure about it now

it looks a bit out of place next to the others but i suppose it breaks up the hecticness and its the best way i can imagine to show whats going on

i think its just cos its really different to the others

maybe itll look better when its all together 

FINAL CRIT

decent feedback, people like the drawings i have so far, mostly the colours

this feedback sheet is too big to scan so here is a rough transcript of it


KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING - CRITICAL AWARENESS

STRENGTHS
Appropriate media use at end
images communicate really well and have strong sense of mystery
audience is considered in the intrigue of drawings

IMPROVEMENTS
how do you refine digitally to make product
communication - layout - type? how much text?  is needed? text and image? format? too much text?

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING - RESEARCH

STRENGTHS
condensed so that it can be completed
animation exploration
digital

IMPROVEMENTS
consider format that is more engaging to audience, lift the flap?
more white space

COGNITIVE SKILLS - PROBLEM ANALYSIS, PROBLEM SOLVING

STRENGTHS
visual investigation means your drawings look Russian Well done Appropriate time
Switching to pencil - FTW
You got rid of stories inappropriate for kids
drawings are censored
inclusion of animation shows your strength and improves range
seeing this mocked up in context with illustration of book

IMPROVEMENTS
technological improvements to format?
do you have a viewpoint you want to communicate?

PRACTICAL SKILLS - PRACTICAL AND CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

STRENGTHS
this project shows you have drawn your way to conclusion. your development through drawing is commendable. you seem to of really hit on something

IMPROVEMENTS
(diagram of rectangle with arrows pointing out to these words)
standardise drawings across formats to hit aims. Product

PRACTICAL SKILLS

STRENGTHS
Tone of voice

KEY TRANSFERABLE SKILLS - PRESENTATION AND EVALUATION
STRENGTHS
you can work through all of this through drawing

IMPROVEMENTS
its been a bit messy you didnt seem sure of what you wanted to achieve

GENERAL
your drawings are exciting. really interesting developments
maybe just do one booklet well

revamp

making the pages

since ive done little but planning for this module ive decided to abandon rigourously planning each image, because i've done enough rersearch and reworking at this point that I can just draw freely onto the pages and see how it goes, putting more trust in my spontaneous drawing ability, which may be a mistake but im having fun 

dyatlovvvvvvvv

this one is less detailed, both because im concerned about the amount of time left and i dont want the book to be too busy as a whole

its a bit plane though

oh well hopefully it evokes feelings of isolation or something 

ye 

this ones a bit of a mess, i think i shall start planning for the other images, just a little bit

it just doesnt look like it was planned

i like the bear hes funny 

DYATLOV

my new plan is working better

this looks much more logical and natural than the other thing i tried

it's weird doing the whole drawing onto one piece of paper

that sounds stupid but i never seem to do this anymore

i either draw in photoshop or draw elements on paper to scan in and combine in photoshop

its nice, rewarding and oddly ritualistic 

also it looks way better than the other one

there's no need to reuse my visual journal drawings i still have time to draw everything like this

maybe not all five but ill give it a good go 

change of process at the last possible opportunity

ITS NOT WORKING

I like the drawings and all but they look awkwardly mechanically slapped together

this will not do

I'm going to draw them all as is 

with coloured pencils straight onto the page

yeahhhhh

page one

fitting things together onto the page, its not working yet but it will
hopefully
i dunno
it should be fine

scribbly names

wrote the names of the dyatlov explorers to put next to the drawings on the first double spread, setting the scene and whatnot, the second page is the event itself, the third the theories

experimenting playing fun ffun 

sara fanelli

following my tutorial and the discussion of avoiding large bodies of text as instructed i looked at sarah fanelli's work to see how text can be part of the illustration and the drawing takes the main area of the page. in my mock up the text was the main area and there's no need for that because thats not what i do, so now im looking at incorprating the text into the illustration however seemlessly i can manage
now trying to find more people working this way

visual journal

i've been working on my visual journal lately and i like the developments with coloured pencil so this is probably how i will make my final images
its looser and more personal than the digital work, although i do still like that so im going to use it for the gifs because it makes most sense in that context.
ive been using the colours i planned to use for my images
i like red yellow and blue together theyre playful and bold but nice i dunno i like it
yaeh

bookletsbooklets

there seems less point in making the booklet a hotdog book unless its going to fold out into a poster because otherwise i could jus page an 8 page saddlebound zine as per.
There must be some way of making a hotdog esque book without the cut down the middle. I'm sure I bought one from jack teagle that was a poster folded into a comic, i think it was turtle fighters, I'll check when i get in its on my wall.
Anyway either I'm going to find a way to make a hotdog book without a slit down the middle, OR make a saddle bound zine of 8 pages.
but since theyyll basically be the same until i actually format it into a book this can be decided slightly later.

too many pages and too big but https://vimeo.com/42215863
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Zine_Making/Putting_pages_together

Poster

There's an unavoidable large slit in the middle of a hotdog book which doesn't lend itself well to posters.
Perhaps instead I shall use the full page plan as the cover of each story, or a page, whichever makes more sense, and glue up the hotdog book to make it less floopy. These covers and pictures can also be proposed as advertisement posters.
yeah

FINAL ONCE AND FOR ALL DEFINITIVE CHANGE OF PLAN WHILE ITS STILL ALMOST NOT QUITE TOO LATE

So I replanned to replace all of the ephemera with animated gifs and have a print book and an ebook.

This seemed like a lot of work for little good purpose

And there's scarcely enough time remaining.

Following my tutorial I have devised a new plan which is mostly Fred's plan but it was a good plan.

Each story will be separated into a different booklet, a hotdog book, a supplement to a newspaper for a week of 'unsolved mysteries' as a theme. Most likely the guardian because illustration.

There will be one each day for the five working days and maybe I shall propose a larger collection of them all or a different supplement in the sunday paper, observer or whatever, research.

The booklets will have images like my visual journal throughout and I plan to use the text as part of the image rather than trying to tackle a mass of type. 

The booklets will fold out into an a3 poster of the full page images I planned for the book, these too i will draw with pencils instead of digital as I have been doing.

To incorporate the animated aspect I will make and use the gifs as advertising web banners on the guardians website and on those bus shelter screen things and those screens they have on the underground, just all screen based advertising platforms. 

I'm going to replace jack the ripper with elisa lam again for two reasons

1. my audience is no longer children

2. its a little patronising to tell adults about jack the ripper

also since its no longer for adults this means i can get away with more. I mean it won't be completely awful but maybe if i can find a way to combine a naive aesthetic with the disturbing frozen bodies of the dyatlov pass incident while making it still suitable for distribution that would be pretty good.

I think thats everything

go time 

DBCOOOPER

working on the full page image

final sketch

digital sketch in correct colours

finished parts so far, using textured brushes and pixel lock to fill out the block shapes

i think its going pretty well

more refined sketch of db cooper

this is next

full page

starting the db cooper full page one
made a new sketch to make it make more sense

change of plan

I'm quite certain i've decided to go down the animated versions route and abandon the ephemera

mostly because i have no idea what the point of the ephemera was, except that i thought it would be nice to hold and have accompanying a book, and i wanted to make it

i think the reason that i couldnt find a name for that kind of book (with accompanying ephemera) or many examples of them is that its probably something that never really took off

so instead i'll side with the future, the tablet, the ebook, the kindle

the book can be available as a hard print copy with (obviously) stationary drawings, but there will be a link sold with the book to access or download the digital animated version of the book

i suppose the purpose of this would be that it's more engaging children and vaguely interactive

also it means i get to animate again

also product range and distribution etc.... greater range because the book is available physically and digitally, easier to access wherever whenever, and can be an easier way to distribute the book, no need for costly print because it exists online

anyway here's some stuff i've been looking at in reference to this new plan

(issuu won't take gifs so they'll have to just be like this) 

i think they absolutely have to loop perfectly otherwise they are awful and there's no point, they would begin to catch the eye for bad reasons and become distracting on the page

http://ebookarchitects.com/learn-about-ebooks/enhanced-ebooks/#notenhanced

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/20-insanely-talented-gif-illustrators-you-should-follow?sub=3128308_2705045#.phVALQL3r

https://uk.pinterest.com/dmelisko/animated-illustrations/

also added some gif stuff to my 505 pinboard

Follow Hollie's board 505 Applied/Mysteries on Pinterest.

texturey stationary

put a lil distress brush over the top to tone it down a lil

also the gifs export with really garish colours

this is what the print one will be like

ill look into the colours in gifs..

clouds

gave up on the method i was using and made this repeating cloud background instead

it was so much quicker i dont know why i didnt do this in the first place

it seems to lag in parts though its a little irregular....

clouds

its a faff trying to get these clouds to loop
i cant remember how to do that in after affects but i want it to be a gif anyway
i may abandon the method of drawing and erasing the applicable bits of cloud and instead make a long layer and move it across until it repeats

this is too much adjusting for each frame and its making loads of layers

ew