Carmelite development 1

I have been experimenting with colour, character and composition. I have been trying to find ways to make the simple landscape of the ocean and flat horizon more interesting and appealing. I have been changing the angles and perspective as well as adding features like rocks and land masses that break up the flat surface of the mater. I really like the simple forms of the rocks, they add depth to the compositions and can be use to guide the readers focus to the main character or main points of interest. I think the most interesting and important result of adding the rocks is that they add shape and form to the water. The ocean could be left blank and only signified by the interaction with the rocks. This could help me simplify the composition making the focal points bolder while still creating an immersive landscape.
I am still unsure about the characters I have created so far. I cannot decide whether to make them more realistic or more cartoon-like. I think moving away from realistic illustration will allow me to experiment more with the entire compositions, use of colour etc. One thing I have discovered so far is that otters are hard to draw. If the proportions of the character are at all off they look very strange. I have tried accentuating some of the characters features and they either look like other animals or just look wrong. Needs more work.
 

Carmelite Prize roughs

These are my roughs for the Carmelite prize. At this stage I am roughing out ideas to see how the aesthetic and composition will work with the narrative of the book. I think that using scale will be important, depicting the small young sea otter venturing into the big wide world by herself. Not just with the landscape but with the creatures she encounters on the way. This use of scale could help the reader relate to the character and make the story more immersive. The entire book takes place at sea and the only real changes to the setting are moving from above the water to swimming underneath. I will need to make sure I experiment with a range of compositions to make the books layout more interesting. The compositions could easily become monotonous if not carefully considered.

Carmelite prize

I have been working on the Carmelite prize brief for a few weeks now. I started out focussing on character design, the book features animals as the main characters that I have not drawn before. I have been testing out a number of different methods to try and capture both the characters and appearance of these animals. The character tests range from simple cartoon like illustrations to much more realistic detailed images. The most successful to far combine block shapes drawn using pro create bushes that give the appearance of rough edged markers and pencils. The rough edges and gritty textures to the shapes add detail and depth to the environment.

I have mainly been working in black and white recently. I have really enjoyed working in values rather than colour and I am happy with the results. In the brief the notes from the author specifically mention wanting to see colourful landscapes. This gives me the motivation and opportunity to break the pattern and process I have become used to recently. I want to use this brief not only to work towards a professional end product in the specific are of illustration I am focussed on but to also push my practice further. I want to approach this project with freedom and not get caught up with feeling pressured to create a "looks good" because whenever I think that simply I fall back into habitual practices and don't learn anything new.

Window Desgn Brief

The Elmwood studios window project brief was to create a design for the front widows of the building. The briefs theme was left open but we were asked to consider creativity, the secret life of a design studio and the surrounding areas as possible ideas. The design had a budget of £500. In the past I have seen the brief completed using paint markers but I liked the idea of creating something digitally and using see through vinyl to apply it to the windows. That way the design would be exactly as I designed it and not constrained by the media.

I focussed on the idea of creativity and being inspired by what is around us. I sketched out the idea using the template provided. the idea behind the design was a rainbow coming into the studio through the window representing an idea. The idea was then communicated between the members of the team through a range of methods and technologies. I wanted to highlight and celebrate the creative process and collaboration. The rainbow then exits through the opposite window as the idea goes back out into the world as designs and products. I applied textures to the illustration to give it a hand crafted feel and make it more appealing. The rainbows look like they have been drawn using pencil crayon and the characters are drawn with rough edges and imperfections. I originally drew the characters as outlines to make the rainbow stand out but decided to make the entire illustration full colour to stand out more clearly on the window.

Character design brief

I was asked by an animation student to produce some character concept art for a larger project. The brief was to create two illustrations of a character to be used in a game. This was only a small project but gave me the opportunity to work on something outside of my usual practice. The brief was very specific and featured a detailed description of the character which made the design process straight forward. I completed the brief over the space of 2 days. it was a very short process but an enjoyable one.