A Royal Photoshop

Well, I know my last post was a sneak peak at what I was working on at the moment, but a rather unexpected thing happened. Suddenly and inexplicably, I was able to use photoshop! Now, for anyone who knows me, my computer skills have always been minimal and I try to use them as little as possible. This definitely applies to my artwork. While I have tried digital colouring before, and have had some success with it, I had always told myself not to rely on it.

Then I did this illustration. My first thought was to paint it with gouache, but, I told myself to scan it in before I did any work on it just for a fail safe. And there it was, lying on my computer desktop staring at me every time I logged in. So, for a quick experiment, I thought I'd load it into photoshop and just have a play with it.

10mins I had started colouring the face, so far so good.

30mins I had started trying out different colours for the jacket.

2 days later I had bloody rendered the whole thing!

Having such an overt fear of computers, I must say I have been thoroughly pleased with myself! And just goes to show that having a fear of something shouldn't resist at least trying it. I think I may do a series of digital paintings based on this one so watch this space. Next job is to attempt a background....

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!

Exhibition Preparation 2013

So, we've all been busy getting the studio ready for our end of year show. Despite one rather disastrous moment of boards toppling onto the computer section things went rather well. Managed to avoid getting any paint on me! Which is a miracle to say the least. I always like going to these events, just for the chance to see what everyone has done across the two year groups. It is also a nice introduction to that eventual time where your work has to be viewed by an audience. I still get nervous showing my friends work, let alone strangers.

  

Now comes the more difficult task of actually deciding what to put up for the show. I decided to do one new piece for the show that no one else had seen yet, just so there was something new to look at. It was also my first chance in a long while to do some personal work,  

which needed no explaining or justification. Once the show is over I'll load the picture on here. It was a return to safe ground for me, harking back to some of my pre-uni art styles.

 

It was such a nice return that I now plan to illustrate a series of images in this style for my own self initiated project over the summer (in between dissertation research of course...)

End of Year Show 2013

Another year done, and its left me with that daunting/exciting notion that I'm going into my final year of study. Not quite sure what to make of that! My end of year show is to be next Thursday, so expect some pictures of me in the mean time painting boards and clearing out the studio.

On a more productive side of things, I have now assembled a rough and ready portfolio. It's a peculiar feeling seeing all your work condensed into twenty pages and knowing that this will be how prospective clients judge you.

For the more perceptive of you out there, I have rejigged my blog design. Hopefully it reflects me and my work a little more accurately than that rather garish purple stain that inhabited my page for the last year.

On to new projects in the pipeline, now that university has finished for the summer, I plan to do some homage images for some of my favourite films and games etc. It dawned on me while making my portfolio that I didn't really have any artwork that was done for pleasure, or reflected me as a character. So, first on the list is an interpretation of the game 'Shadow of the Colossus', one of my all time favourite games. Stayed tuned, and look out for giants...

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!'

Sneak Peak Illustrations May 2013

So I have this theory that if I start putting up snippets of upcoming work it may garner some interest. And there's nothing as pleasing (and irritating) as teasers! Here's a quick glance at what i've been up to this month...

"Ooooh, what is this?!" I hear you all saying? Well, now that I'm fast approaching the end of my second year of university, I've been trying to steer my work towards the kind of jobs I hope to be doing as a professional. Namely book illustration, which I hope will see illustrations appearing in both adult and children's novels. These are title pages for the book of short stories 'Nocturnes' by John Connelly, an excellent read which I thoroughly recommend. As for the final products, you'll just have to wait and see. If you can't wait that long then I suggest reading the short stories 'the Inkpot Monkey' and 'the Furnace Room' for clues as to what these pictures allude to...

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.

Old people

So, for this project I've been currently working on, I have been spending a lot of time drawing old people. In an odd way, it's something that I always enjoy. There's so much detail and expression that you can't help losing hours with it. These were all done using either pencil or charcoal

 

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...

Finishing line in sight!

It's almost Christmas, which means I'm beginning to draw an end on my first modules of year two. In retrospect, there are plenty of things that I would have done differently. Time management is still my arch nemesis and will continue to be for some time. But, as I sit here at 05:36 in the morning, a glass of wine beside me, I take some solace in the fact that despite my inability to handle my time accordingly (and at the expense of my health) I look over my produced work and feel a great deal of pride. For some time I refused to take praise from myself or others, and it is something that any creative professional has to overcome. But ultimately, if you cannot take joy in the work you create then it really isn't worth doing at all. My latest final piece which will be scanned in today is something which I feel reflects me and my work more than anything that has come before this.

But for now, I will have to bore you with my life drawing!

If I haven't said it before ill say it again here. Life drawing this year has been the best so far. Now that we are able to dictate our own media choice, I've felt that I've learned more than I did previously because I can use the techniques and theories that they are teaching and actually apply it to the way I draw. Out of the pictures above, I felt that the second image was my strongest. I was particularly pleased with how I'd managed to replicate the delicate the pose. It's often the most subtle of gestures that make or break a picture and I felt this one turned out great, especially how all of these were just 20 minitee exercises.

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.

A little bit of life drawing

Anyone who can successfully juggle all the modules at the same time on my course can beat superman in a fist fight hands down. For instance today I produced my tight pencil rough for illus210 ready to be signed off and taken to a final piece, researched my chosen area of illustration and contacted several practitioners in readiness for my essay question and chosen a subject for my new drawing out project and prepped my sketchbook. And i'm not even finished for the day!

By the time I finish the course I should be a master of time management, that is assuming I haven't collapsed before then. But, I should;t be complaining, few people get the chance to do what they love day in and day out.

Oh, but I digress. I have also just completed my first life drawing session for this year and I was particularly pleased with the results.

The focus of the session was on 'weight' and trying to show weight and the occupation of space through our images. It was a welcome return to charcoal for me, and after these exercises I have attempted to use charcoal for my editorial brief, the results of which are shortly to follow.

Time ranges here was 40 minutes for the first image, 20 minutes for the second and 5 minutes for the third. I like the timed challenges as you are forced to define the most important aspects of your model and get only the necessary information that you need. 

Artistic reference

It's kind of ironic how much work I'm getting done at uni, but how little of it actually ends up on here. I'm still very much in the mindset of not wanting to put my work online for fear of ridicule. It's silly, and I need to just be brave and get my work out there as this is the most likely place that people will find my stuff. A simple analogy could be a parent dropping their child off at the first day of school: they want to hold on, cherish them and protect them from all the dangers there are out there, but they know deep down the only way their child will grow and develop is for them to interact with the world around them, and the people that inhabit it.

So! Hence forth, I shall stop hoarding my artwork and just put any old crap up here! ...well, not crap exactly. My meticulous nature doesn't allow me to ever draw something that isn't in some way half finished, but I know I need to stop being so selective.

With this in mind....I have nothing to show.

No joke I don't actually have anything scanned in but i'm going to do a large haul over the next couple of days and really bring this bog back up to date.

On a side note, and in reference to this posts' title, I wanted to just express my love and admiration for the work of Yuko Shimizu. I only stumbled across her work the other day by recommendation of my tutor. I was told my style was some what reminiscent of hers and upon viewing her work, I'm very flattered to be even remotely similar to her.

 

She has a wonderful ability to combine cultural aesthetics and has a brilliant grasp of how to use the frame. My own editorial brief has subsequently taken direct influence from her and I just wanted to pay my respects here. You should definitely check out her work, you'd be hard pressed not to find her images as they appear all over the place. On a personal note, I do feel a very strong affinity for her as she took drastic changes in her life to achieve what she has. Having a mid life crisis at 22 may seem like the end of the world, but its nice to know that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. There are truly wonderful people to admire and aspire to.

Thumbnails at 2:33am

The title leaves little to the imagination! I'm up at nearly three in the morning, trying to scan in some cover ideas for tomorrow's (or should I say today's?) deadline. This is a short editorial brief, only 4 weeks in total, to go through an entire project from initial ideas to final artwork. Included here are my ideas for the brief, I would go into detail about the content but i'm so bloody tired! I'll give a more thorough explanation once one has been chosen so I can finalise my design.

 

                                        

I hope they choose the first design as that is my personal favourite, if not, then design three would be a close second. But, sod's law says they'll pick number two so we'll wait and see. Thumbnails were completed with pencil, fine liner and watercolour, for speed more than anything.

While in France

So, i'm starting back at university tomorrow (huzzar!) which is great because i've been desperate to get back into a working environment, and have a studio to exploit. It does have the unfortunate side of effect of being set even more work, on top of all the others projects I have on the go at the moment! So I warn you now, I expect my upcoming posts will be work that was completed some while ago, and all new work won't be seen until I get to uploading them online here. For example, the costume and character designs below I did whilst away on holiday (3 weeks ago...) have only now been shown daylight, while the gouache painting i've had laying around for yonks and have only now found the digital file.

                                                                                                                        

The reason I put these particular ones up at the moment was due to me making some form of professional decision. This last year I was determined to experiment as much as possible, and while that did open my eyes to other mediums I had not even considered it also meant that my finished product was not always up to the highest levels that I knew I was capable of. These images were a return to media I knew I excelled at. Therefore I have decided the following:

To return to finished artwork completed with gouache + watercolour

Taking my pencil and pen based work back to the forefront

and regrettably

Factoring in more digital artwork into my portfolio

Well, there is my intended action plan for this forthcoming academic year. Lets see how well it holds up!