Print Room Previews

I've been in the print studio a lot this week, trying to catch up on some work from last term and also to try out some new techniques for a project that's been giving me so much grief with what to do with it!

Hopefully I can make something of these prints so I can reduce my stress levels when it comes to this project. They look cool and quirky but it's the treatment of them now that is going to define whether they are fit for purpose or not...

(Vague much...?) :P

Comedy Poster: Turning Famous Comedians Into Birds!

For one of our third year briefs, we have to design a poster for a comedy festival around the theme of twitter so I thought it would be pretty funny to try to turn some famous comedians from over the ages into birds! (Or just dress birds up in their attire)

I've tried to pick comedians with a distinct style so that it's easier to extract enough of their identity onto the blank birds. Below is a preview of some ideas I've come up with today! Bare in mind, these are preliminary sketches so the birds will end up looking much better by the end of the project!

See if you can guess who's who...

Procrastination: Zombie Maker

Yesterday I almost sat down to do some summer project research until I realised that I could have more fun by turning my friend Nik into a zombie. I'd done something similar for a Zine I created for coursework this year, which he really liked and so when he said this I set about turning him into one (but more gruesome and gory than I've done before)

It's sad to say that this is the first bit of art I've created this summer for fun, rather than for someone else. Suppose I had to start somewhere! 

- Original Photograph -

- Zombie Nik - 

Animation: Storyboarding

Once again, something I anticipated that would take me less than half a day has consumed almost the entirety of it! Today I've been working on finishing everything to do with my animation, which includes a story board and character sheets (still on my to do list before the night is through) and I've pretty much had to re-draw the entire thing, but in a simpler form. I definitely couldn't have done a storyboard with as much detail as the actual animation and to be honest, it's not necessary.

I'm fairly happy with how this is looking so far. Still some finishing touches to add before I get on those character sheets though. ROLL ON 9TH MAY! Summer has been well and truly earned by everyone on my course this year.

Zine: Accompanying poster

In the same brief as our Zines we also have a few different outcomes we have to show such as 2 postcards and one A2 poster. I decided to base mine around an image I already had made and also a spread that I didn't end up using, so that it wouldn't have been a waste of time!

The name 'Mascarilla Mortuoria' means 'Death Mask'  this essentially is a glamourised advertisement for a new perfume. It's not quite finished yet, but here's what I've got so far! :)

Zine Complete! - Layout Previews

I'm actually quite excited that I've finished my zine! I've put a lot of hours into it recently to make it better than it was before my first informal assessment and it's totally paid off (i think). 

A few people have seen unfinished spreads in there and a few have even asked for a copy themselves, which is a real compliment! Hard work does pay off! 

Here are some previews of the spreads I have included in the finished piece.

These of course are not the final things though - just a teaser!

Zine Design: Finished Dead Housewife / Cover Girl

I started illustrating new components for a spread yesterday for my Dead Housewife based magazine and in the process of drawing this girl, realised that I could also use her as a cover girl for it. 

Here are a few screen prints of the different stages the design went through.

As you can see, half way through I decided to completely change the colour scheme and made everything she was wearing a shade of green.

I also really like the texture I've managed to get into her hair.

                 Snap shots of each step of the design and any changes that were made

Finished design with added textures

Zine Design: Bulking Up The Content

Today I'm working on creating some more content for my Zine, based on a 'Good Housekeeping' magazine - but for the Undead. This particular image is for a page where new, hypothetical products are being reviewed in an 'Up and Coming' section and it is an advertisement for decorative Toe Tags.

I'm trying to keep the theme of the illustrations the same throughout the Zine so everything is being done witha graphics tablet in illustrator, before adding colour and texture in photoshop.

Below is a before and after of one section of this new spread. 

Line Work

Piece Almost ready for spread. 

Animation: Preview Clip

The past two days I've been trying to refine and perfect the scenes in my Animation sequence ready for next weekend when I am hoping to add in my sound effects and Narrative. I've finally gotten around to adding in a small black dot to represent a small fly that my frog looks up to eat. 

This clip is just a small section of the scene. 

Check it out!

Animation Sequence: Hot Air Balloons

This was something I made around the beginning of January after one of our first animation lessons. It was basically to learn how the tools worked for positioning, scale, opacities etc for the final project we're now working on. 

Animation: Sequence Sketches

Animation is currently taking up a lot of my time at the moment and no wonder when you have to draw every little movement in a different sketch! I'm trying to enjoy the process, and when I see the final sequence coming together the effort you've put in does make you feel good, it's just the hassle and stress whilst doing it that gets me down. Especially if you have to re-draw something that doesn't fit properly. Thankfully for these, tracing paper was a life saver and Im not that bothered that they change shape slightly. It'll make for an interesting transition I'm sure. 

These images are part of a sequence where my frog is looking up to catch a fly.

Animation: Background Design

I keep forgetting how long making one part of an animation takes! As part of my second scene I've started to create these layers, which will form part of a forest-type background for me to animate over the top of. To fit my running theme / style of illustration I've given them a white outline with painterly textures overlaid within the leaves. Something tells me this is going to take a lot longer than I had planned to make everything this way though. 

Bring on the sleepless nights! 

Book Illustration: Abstract Portraits

For one piece of coursework in the first term we were given a brief to illustrate a book to help tell the story. The book was Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which if you have read it will know is quite abstract and strange in its own right. With this in mind I wanted the images I made to reflect the story and tone of the book. These are not what I have used as my final pieces as I feel the intense colours were not a true representation of the darkness of the world in which the book is set, but are part of the process to getting there.

Style Tests: Glass Frog

As part of my animation I've started experimenting with different styles in which to draw my Frog for the sequence. I found one geometric style by Matthew DiVito, which really caught my eye and made me want to try it for myself... So I did. 

As much as I love it though, I think I'd be making things more complicated than they need to be with this particular style. I do love it though. He looks like a piece of ceramic in the 4th image!

Ant Animation Sequence

Today, our animation class was set the task of animating this small ant sequence in Adobe After Effects with some new features that we haven't used before. This is in preparation for our own animation that we'll be creating over the next few weeks. 

It was a lot easier to make than it seemed when our tutor was talking through it and I think the clip is pretty cute! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what I can manage to create with my own now.