Concorso Silent Book Competition Sneak Peak

Well, I'm about to jump into the full scale final piece production line for Christmas so you may not hear from me during the holidays as I prepare my entry for next years competition. But as a Christmas treat I thought I'd give you a glimpse of how some of the pages are shaping up....

So far the pages are coming out better than expected and I've been able to draw them up and colour them within a couple of days, and seeing as there are 50 more pages to go this is definitely a good thing! Will still be an absolute rush to get them in before the January deadline line but things are looking encouraging as it stands.

For those of you who have missed some of my earlier posts regarding the story, here's a quick synopses:

"Emperor follows the story of a colony of penguins and the mysterious arrival of a new penguin into their group. While he appears friendly and offers them the benefits of technology and scientific progress, one child suspects that a more sinister ploy is at stake.

Dealing with themes of the environment, technology and voice, 'Emperor' is my exploration of the dangers of revolution"

August Illustration 'Once upon a Time'

So here's August's illustration. This was a private commission for a wedding gift, to be used as a cover for the newly weds photo album. This is definitely the most colourful piece of work i've done in a long time and another step down the road to learning photoshop. I think my favourite part is the branch detailing, even if drawing it took forever!

Indian Ink, Brush Pen, Fine Liner and Charcoal

Andy Stuart Mills 2013

The Stranger from America

Competition Entry for short story "The Stranger from America". It's a lovely little tale of two people meeting in a train station and, after mistakenly stepping on his hat, they wind up hopelessly in love. If successful this will go on to be published in a short story anthology as the cover title so fingers crossed!

Indian Ink, Brush Pen, Charcoal, Fine Liner and Photoshop

End of year show Image

Well, as promised here was the personal image I did for my    end of year show. I seemed to have misplaced the cable for my camera (consequences from moving house) but i'll find that tomorrow and upload my end of year photo's then. It seems like I'm constantly moving house, and as a matter of fact, i'll be doing it again in three months time, but that's student life for you!

I was determined to get one personal image into my show as I wanted to show something new for it. I was very happy with the outcome here as it felt a little more me. The inspiration came from recently playing Shadow of the Colossus and wanting to do a picture of Wander. I like how well the charcoal and the Japanese brush combines here and it's something I plan to continue experimenting with over the summer.

This is actually going back to my earlier post today, but, heading into year three I still feel undecided as to what artistic style to pursue. There's a lot of excellent competition on my course and it really motivates you to try and create the best work possible. Healthy competition promotes creativity and jealously in equal measure!

Nocturnes

 

Illus 230 Final Three - 'Nocturnes' by John Connolly

And for the final part of this trilogy of work, we have the cover itself. Using the word nocturne itself as inspiration. This is an image that celebrates the night, and pays homage to the work of James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

The Inkpot Monkey

"The Inkpot Monkey"

The Inkpot Monkey' is inspired by the short story of the same name by John Connelly, found in the book of short stories 'Nocturnes'. To be viewed as a companion piece to 'the Furnace Room'.

The Furnace Room

Illus 230 Final One - 'The Furnace Room' by John Connelly.

Taken from the book of short stories 'Nocturnes', this is my first dabbling in digital colouring. Was rather proud of this effort, but damn, that's the second time this term I've drawn spiral staircases. One day I may allow myself to do simple compositions, but as Aragorn would say 'it is not this day!'

The Woods of Suicide

Latest piece of charcoal drawing, this time being inspired by 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante Alighieri. This will probably be the last charcoal piece I do for a little while as I've been doing them solidly for roughly 6 months now and fancy a change. I do have a soft spot for it though as it plays in nicely with my love for black and white illustration.

In other news, I recently attended the London Book Fair which was great. Met tons of people (and one exceptionally eager American women) and hopefully should have some links to persue, so all in all a worth while trip!

Love of Seven Dolls

There seems to be some neglect going on over here...

Well, what can I say, there's finally an end to this term and I'm officially exhausted. Looking forward to a much needed break. But before I rest up for at least a month, let me share what I've been up to!

Here are my final's for the short story 'Love of Seven Dolls' by Paul Gallico. All images completed using charcoal. I am extremely happy with how these images have turned out, and will be proud to have them in my portfolio. I learnt one of the most important lessons in life with this module: always, ALWAYS, save your progress when using Photoshop. I cannot express how much agony was felt when Photoshop crashed on three hours worth of digital work. (And why the hell does Photoshop NOT have any autosave?!?!)

I have also finished the group comic book project so will get the digital copy on here ASAP.

It's competition time!

So, just entered my first illustration competition! Very very nervous to be having my work judged by professionals (or anyone) but fingers crossed, we all have to start somewhere right?

I am very proud of this picture as I pretty much poured my heart and soul into it. This is a continuation of my exploration into charcoal and I think it may be a media that I will use indefinitely now. It just provides so much tonal quality and atmosphere which I adore and lends the image so much soul. But I'm beginning to sound ridiculous now so lets just say that I was very happy with the results.

The image itself is a recreation of the moment that Paris of Troy seduces Helen of Sparta and ignites the Trojan war. I wanted the image to appear as if we were looking into the scene as someone intruding and are glimpsing the passionate moment of first embrace. I wanted there to be lots of atmosphere and foreboding, as we the audience know all too well the result of this embrace...

A notable absence

Now I feel like I'm treating this blog like an abused housewife. Almost a month without a post. Eeeek, its amazing how quickly university can take over your life.

Well, actually its not just university. I've been struggling with some health problems lately which took an awful amount of time to diagnose and treat. But I'm happy to report that I'm now doing well, have a prescription in place and am feeling better for it. All that's left to do is sort out my sleeping pattern. I won't go into the boring details but its enough to say that I'm not getting my 7 hours a day. This has led to me actually do more work because I'm awake longer, but I know its not something that should be encouraged.

Anyway, enough about my personal life, scouting back over my last few posts, I last left off with me in the middle of an editorial project, the results of which can be seen below:

Considering my misgivings about this project, I was actually very proud of the final image I produced. I had been toying a lot with charcoal in my life drawing sessions and had wanted to try and apply this to my professional work. So, after a few hours of trial and error (don't lean on the picture without fixing the charcoal first...) I completed the image. Without meaning to blow on my own horn, I felt that the media suited my style perfectly and raised my standard of work considerably.

The application of the image to the set template however was frustrating. In all truth, I didn't really tailor the image to the brief, and ended up with something that I wanted in my portfolio than I did in an editorial brief.

But all in all I was extremely pleased with what was a difficult project. But I feel like I've turned a corner stone in terms of finding my 'style'. I've already begun my next charcoal piece, and I've had great feedback so far.

Illus 130 - Observational Drawing final piece

So, here is the result of all those long days spent drawing bowling balls and gambling machines and pool tables and the miserable people that frequent the bowling alley....wait, for the past month that was me!

Took roughly two days on/off to complete, using water colour and gouache, and then refined on photoshop. Overall I was pleased with the outcome. I really wanted to convey the 'jungle' feel of the bowling alley, and the utter claustrophobia of being in there so long. It also charts the journey of someone through the entire building, giving it a self contained narrative.