Friday 27 October 2017

Tutorial

Todays one on one tutorial has helped me to understand how to plan out my work for this year. I need to concentrate solely on briefs that will help develop my practice and if I cant find competition briefs that will do this I should set a brief for myself.

Plan of action

Elmwood Studios- Window Brief- Already completed

Poster Spy- Red Dwarf brief- this will be a fun and quick brief to complete to start me off

Penguin Design Award- Children's cover award- The book for this project is 'Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman'. This isn't a typical children's book. The book tackles "racism, terrorism, the class system and the artificial divides we always seem to put between ourselves and others". The book ties in to the research I have been doing for COP this year and will help me to explore the theories from that module. The brief will also be a an interesting challenge, dealing with more serious subject matter than my usual practice. I think the change of subject matter could be beneficial to my practice and help me with future projects.

Editions- This will be my self directed brief. I want to write and illustrate a children's book. Later in the year we will be briefed on a large projected leading towards the end of year exhibition. To start I am going to conduct some smaller initial projects of character design that will be part of the final book. I think this will help me to spend more time in the development faze of the book and allow me to explore the characters in much more depth and help me to develop emotion, movement, posture etc.

D&AD- Beano Brief- To reimagine a female Beano character. This brief sounds like it could be fun and could help develop my skills as I would be required to animate the character. There are a list of characters to choose from and the brief states that " All illustration and animation styles are welcomed" so I would keep my visual identity within my work. The brief says the "the world (and Beano) needs more rebel girls." and that they want us to "bring your updated designs to life through a short, narrative animation, bringing new stories and exciting new perspectives to an established and well-loved character". This project will allow me to work on character design loosely based on a pre-existing character (providing some constraints to work creatively with), develop the character (come up with narratives for the character to be part of) and to expand my skills working with animation (could collaborate with an animator?)

Carmelite prize- Illustrate a children's book.

"The judges are looking for a series of original and outstanding illustrations demonstrating competency and creativity in visual storytelling for children. The illustrations should show characterisation, continuity and progression, plus a range of emotion and pace appropriate to the text. Originality is key as is the consideration for text placement and page design."

Author's notes

“This is a story about opening your mind to greater knowledge and wisdom. Sophie knows she will never find the place where the sea meets the sky but her own horizons have expanded.”

“I am very much looking forward to seeing how Sophie’s world is created visually. I hope my story will offer the opportunity to show a wide variety of scenes, from intimate, close-up personal moments to colourful underwater vistas and stunning, atmospheric seascapes.”

Spec

The full text is split over 12 spreads and entrants are required to submit roughs for 8 spreads and final artwork for 4 spreads. The text, with suggested page breaks, can be accessed on completion of the Registration form.

There is a choice of two formats for the finished book: 245mm x 245mm or 275mm (high) x 250mm (wide). Please choose the format most suited to your style.

Artwork must be created at 100% size, or up to 30% larger, allowing at least 5mm extra (after reduction) for any images that bleed.

Any medium may be used, but final artwork must be flat so it can be scanned. Illustrations with novelty elements or 3D structures will not be eligible.

Artwork can be supplied digitally but should be supplied as one low res PDF, file size to be no larger than 8MB. Please ensure file is labelled with your full name as follows: firstname_lastname.pdf. Note, original files should be created in high res – and retained as such – should your entry be succesful and selected for print.

Text should be shown in black, either typed or handwritten, and should be removable (ie, supplied as a transparent or trace overlay). For digital entries, flattened text on PDF is acceptable, but original high res files should place text on a separate layer
This is one of the bigger briefs and one that I plan to devote a large amount of time to as it is best suited to my practice and I think it will be one of the most beneficial.



Wednesday 18 October 2017

Thought experiment

 My work is focussed on digital processes, I have been using illustrator over the last few years building up illustrations using shape and texture. I feel that this process ahs caused my work to lack movement and a feeling of crafting and freedom that is appealing. I have recently moved away from this method and have been using procreate to make digital illustrations that are rigid and calculated. I have been enjoying this transition and think my work has improved but it has been a frustrating time learning new processes and I still fall back to methodology I have used in the past. I feel like I am trying to make illustrations do 100 things at once and that I lose focus of the overall aesthetic, composition and purpose of my illustrations as I build them up to finished product. I need to spend more time reflecting on my work throughout its development, stepping back and assessing what work s and what doesn't at regular intervals. Once I get find a brush or pen that I like I tend to stick to that one process and stop experimenting, and if something doesn't work straight away I often abandon it. I need to have more patience when experimenting, roughing illustrations and exploring ideas. This summer I have had a bit of a lack of confidence however I feel like I am starting to make some progress, I need to keep a few ideas in mind while I continue to develop my practice..

- Draw with freedom and experiment through media, composition and narrative.
- Reflect and regular intervals when researching, developing ideas and creating final pieces.
- Have more confidence, talk about my work.
- Have more patience, take the time to full explore ideas, compositions and processes, take a step      
   back when needed.






first illustration
-getting out into the industry (fear)
-stepping out of my comfort zone
-taking a leap of faith
-not knowing where my practice will end up



Second illustration
- trying to combine what I have learned to inspire my practice can feel like I am lost
- balancing act between different aesthetics and processes 
- unsteady
- goals just out of reach (feels like)


Third illustration
- frustrated
- not happy with work produced
- need more patience




Briefing 2

Briefing-extended practice

Thought experiment 

Write a confessional statement about your working comfort zones 

Go to ways of working?

Strengths?

Processes, media?

What’s holding you back?

What are you bored with?

Can your work be too safe?

Be honest in answering these questions!!

Set in my ways
Making images appropriate for audience 
Caught up in making work that looks ‘good’
Stuck between old habits and experimentation
Don’t spend long enough roughing and refining illustrations
Negativity 
Get comfortable with a process then work becomes repetitive 


Make a visual response to your statement 
Invert your practice
Play
Make mistakes
Take risks
Consider everything, experiment 
Break your own rules

7” by 7”
Black and white or colour 

Make mistakes, play, have fun!!!

Shaun tan- the arrival 
David Hughes - new persona for children’s books
Animation
Editorial 
Character proportions
Forget the word style
Integrity
Luke Pearson

Monday 9 October 2017

Portrait


Extended Practice Briefing

Extended practice briefing 
Lauil603 

Submission 17/05/18 1:00
60 credits 

3 hours everyday on this module 

Develop book
Don’t think you can write and illustrate a book in the time 
Could work towards a plan for a book 
Chose a story that already exists 
Make as part of a continuing personal project 
Don’t see end of year show as a cut off for a book project 

Part one- statement of intent 
Start to list ideas for a project 

Themes and subject matter
Research methods
Practical development 
Contextual references 
Approaches to documentation
Reflection and evaluation- professional reflections
Time scales and project management  

Write down questions for group Frits and tutorials 

Part two-studio practice 

Select briefs that will further your practice 
Complete a range of briefs 
Adds variety to portfolio
Find a range of briefs that will allow me to showcase different skills 
Individual and collaborative briefs 
Briefs negotiated with tutors 

Part three- the journal 

Professional document 
Up to 2000 words in total 
research, development and management 
4 500 word interim summaries 
These summaries will be posted through estudio 
reflect back on original statement 
What has changed, what is going well, where are you going 
Can refer back to blog posts in summaries 
Critical and formal 

Part four- project report

750 word summary 
Clear, concise, professional 
Should work almost like an easy when combined 
with original statements and blog summaries
Reflect and critically analyse 

Blog summary points 
30th October
11th December 
29th January
19th March 

Live briefs 

Hookworms- a2 screen printed poster
Folio society- Sherlock Holmes January deadline 
Lifting tower- briefing 10/10/17 3:00 studio 1 
Cape- four-page short comic

Editions (personal briefs)

Can be ongoing brief 
Clients like to see more personal work as well as commercial 
Turn roughs and rejected work into books 
Henrik Drescher- sketchbook 

Who am I?

Pitch 
No more than 10 slides
No longer than 5 minutes
principles, theories and tropes
Past failures and successes (why)
What are your interests that influence your work 
Examples of other people’s work that you like (why)
Process/content 

Pitch is on Friday 13th 

Self portrait 
7”-7’
Full colour or black and white 

Things to ponder
Tone of voice 
Opinionated?
What do you want to communicate 
What aesthetics and processes are important to your work

What research do I need to do