Drawn: Marilyn Monroe

I have began drawing again, as my love for drawing is how my love for design and animation came about.

I have always had admiration for Marilyn Monroe so I simply picked up a pencil and began.

I chose a photographic image of her in deep thought, from a book I have on her. For those who have a vague understanding of Marilyn's background can only imagine what those deep thoughts are. 

I found the original photograph thought provoking, genuine and raw. Extremely different to her conventional way of posing. It shows Marilyn in a different light, rather than seeing her as the usual sex symbol the majority know her as.

The top left image is my original free-hand sketch I did of her. The top right and bottom left I altered the brightness to offer different moods.

The bottom right is one I simplified, filling in block colour to exaggerate specific parts of the image, to create a more graphic look. (The one I used for my blog title).

Mark Demsteader, Emma Watson

The instant I saw these paintings I fell in Love. Done by Mark Demsteader which I am going to mention is from my home City of Manchester. They are absolutely exquisite and feature my new favourite person, the absolutely fabulous Emma Watson. Mark was a favourite artist of the star so was thrilled when she got the chance to pose for him, a job she does so very well.

Mark captures her timeless look but through emotion we possibly haven't seen yet of Emma, seen in the picture second from the top. Her pose and facial expression make her seem vulnerable and delicate. The visual is very moving and really captures deep emotion and thought.

Every piece you view Emma in a thoughtful state which is mesmerising. I absolutely love them all and love the use of media and colour you can also get a sense of different textures from one painting to the next giving great variety and aesthetic.
Excellent, I only wish I could hang one of these in my bedroom!

Emma Watson & Jean Seburg

I've recently become interested in Emma Watson and I think since the Final Harry Potter and Emma's emerging fashion persona, many are intrigued in what she will do next and what the future holds for her.

Being British myself I am proud that Emma is seen as a fashion idol and has even been on the front cover of American Vogue. We've seen her develop and progress over the years presenting herself as the lovely elegant yet chic lady she has become. I think she represents how a 'real' English lady should be, sophisticated, smart, dignified and tasteful. She has the looks of a model but a head on her shoulders.

She hasn't yet, and hopefully never will follow in some of the steps that current a-listers have stumbled down, such as getting hooked on drugs and alcohol. With the present media hype that surrounds celebrities today it's easy for the public and children to choose their favourite and coin as their idol. I think Emma is a great choice for young girls to look up to, it's a shame they're aren't many like her as more and more of young girls are looking towards plastic surgery, painting their faces orange and generally damaging their bodies to imitate the skinniest of celebrities. Emma has a great figure yet not a bag of bones, her look is genuine and fresh and doesn't look like she spends her afternoons caking herself in fake tan or lying on a sunbed. She looks secure in her body and young girls need to take a leaf out of her book.

Emma today is starting to definitely remind me of Twiggy back in her heyday with her cutsie and impish looks. However after reading that Emma described her fashion style as quite 'french' I immediately thought of Jean Seburg (above) who was part of the new wave of french films when she starred in 'A Bout De Souffle'. Jean's style was very french with her impish hair cut, peter pan collars and stripes, a style Emma has definitely taken on. Another similarity is a perfectly structured face, which is purely photogenic, a face which needs no hair for framing.

Emma since has become the face of Burberry and has launched Lancome's new campaign. She has since considered designing her own line.
The best is yet to come!

Give a Gift, Ideas

Give a Gift

To keep the creative juices flowing I thought I'd muck around on Photoshop and come up with an idea for a card design. As ideas began to develop I thought the visual looked very much like a brand for a campaign.

The original idea came from the theme of Christmas. One of the main aspects of Christmas is Gift Giving, however many get carried away with gifts which are materialistic. This is represented through the sugar-coated looking parcels. Many forget Christmas is initially the holiday to give but through a caring loving way represented by the heart which is where the text lies. 'Give a gift' show someone you care.

It doesn't need to be complicated- It's the thought that counts!

I Wonder Model

I created this display as part of my Degree Show. Part of my Major Project I created titles for my own 'make believe' children's programme, the target audience being between 3 and 5 years old. (Can be seen on my Vimeo account)

I decided to create this model to help viewers establish the setting and feel for my programme. I also believed that if I were to pitch this idea to a television company small scaled models such as this one are created to help viewers visualise the concept and idea of the piece.

I had great fun in creating this model and I am really proud of it.

Disney Art

These images were tweeted by one of the Disney pages I follow. Images taken from the Disney Archives.

These images are absolutely beautiful, of concept drawings and storyboard drawings.

This is hopefully one day what I will be doing. As I've mentioned before my strengths lie in drawing so to be able to look at storyboards from absolute classics is breathtaking for me. I find these images so inspiring.

The images from Dumbo second from the top are precious and are masterpieces.

Reference for my flying paint

These are CGI images taken from a video I found on youtube.

During my Lucy Letters section paint flys across the screen. I was having trouble with the shape of the paint, completely bewildered of what flying liquid would look like. I studied the video a few times and took a couple of screenshots of the precise frames I wanted so I could carefully look at separate droplets.

This was an extreme help to me and I was pleased with the final outcome of my flying paint.

Who's Hungry? by David Ochs

This short film 'Who's Hungry?' is actually quite sinister but the animation and illustration is delicious. Simple yet sketchy looking the characters really 'pop' off the screen even more so as the background seems dis-jointed from them in a way and is very placid. The two contrast wonderfully which what makes the animation absolutely gorgeous. This is childrens illustration but for the enjoyment of adults.

General Update

I have uploaded my most recent Showreel to Vimeo, also my 'I Wonder' titles.

Beautiful Childrens Illustration

I couldn't quite catch the name of this designer because it was all in a different language but I thought I have to put them up here because they are so beautiful. I love the quirky illustration and attention to detail. They are exactly what I think of when I think of Children's illustration. Especially the bottom one as it reads to me as the dream of a little girl, dreaming of unicorns and Princess dresses.

UPDATE

Today I decided to e-mail Kim Majkut who I went to visit down in London. Kim is the woman who took me on the tour around Nickelodeon Studios.

I e-mailed her in regards to my Children's titles 'I Wonder' for my Major Project. I sent her a link to Vimeo and asked if she could e-mail me back any advice she may have. I would upload a copy of the e-mail I sent however it was quite long, giving my thanks again and explaining what I had done.

I also invited her to my End of Year Show. I did explain that I knew this was only a slight possibility because of major factors such as time, travel and cost but stated the invite was there anyway.

LONDON: Paul Roberts, Portfolio Visit

7th March 2011

After researching designers in London I came across Paul Roberts, a motion graphic designer. I was very interested in him as he had worked for clients such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and seen as half my Major Project is titles for my own children's programme, I thought this would be suitable.

I met up with him during my visit to London. Paul is a freelancer and rents a space within a studio who he shares with other designers. He told me that he used to work for a company. Finding a designer who has had the opportunity experiencing both I had to ask which he preferred, working for himself or a company? He stated that he much preferred working for himself. You have the opportunity to go and travel whenever you want and also when working on a project you are included through every process from beginning to end, from the first initial thoughts to production. I was very impressed with his answer as I'd never really thought of it that way before and I began to think would I want to be included through every process as I have been doing at Uni, or just stick to my strengths and stay within my comfort zone. As i have to admit this is what I was looking forward to when i leave, but would I find this challenging enough?

I began to show him my work, particularly wanting to show him my Disney Cinemagic ident as so far it's my only finished piece of work aimed at children. He loved the idea and thought the visual was beautiful. He was interested in what software I had used, after explaining I had used Maya he delved into talking about Cinema 4D. I've heard a lot about Cinema 4D as a past freelancer I went to see in Manchester claimed he much preferred to work in Cinema 4D. However every software has its purpose. Maya being more for character animation and Cinema 4D for graphics. 

He generally seemed impressed with the span of work I presented to him. I also decided to take along my current sketchbook for my children's titles, which he also liked flicking through. I always get a good reception after designers have seen my sketches and drawings so I need to specifically push this when applying for a job to expose my strengths to a future employer.

After explaining what I had planned for my Major Project in regards to my children's programme he asked me if I would like to visit either Nickelodeon Studios or Cartoon Network as they both had studios situated in the London area. I thought he was joking at first. He suggested Nickelodeon for me as he had done a lot of work for them and seemed like he had established strong links with them. He said he would send them an e-mail and he would get back to me with their answer after explaining i had to get my train the following day at half 4. Round about half an hour later I got the confirmation, I had a visit with Nickelodeon Studios. 

PORTFOLIO VISIT: LOVE

11th May 2011

I was lucky enough to get a second visit to Love after visiting the studio last November. Love has been a favourite studio of mine and is definitely a place I would like to work at. I think I'd be happier working with a team of people rather than by myself as a freelancer. Ed, the guy I visited while there talked to me about what happens when the team pitch an idea to a client, explaining that they all sit around this huge table sketching storyboards as ideas grow. This painted a lovely picture and I think design and creativity blossoms when surrounded by others to bounce ideas off one another.

I first showed Ed my Green & Blacks piece, the Van Gogh inspired one. He instantly made the connection with Gogh and as the petal uncovered the tagline 'It's an art' he immediately said nice. He was really impressed with the piece and stated the idea could also be carried through the use of other paintings, when at this point I explained that this in fact is what I had already done and went on to show my Hokusai inspired piece. Again he was impressed, at the stop motion and loved the colours.

I also showed Ed my titles for my Children's programme 'I wonder'. One of the first of my renders, explaining it was not yet finished and refining was needed. He thought the animation was lovely and he especially liked my felt character 'Lucy letters' and her facial expressions as she read her book. I explained how everything within the piece that was possible I had hand-crafted as I love creating stuff that has a more organic feel and hasn't completely been generated by a computer. He thought it was good that I had established an area I can develop in and become a trend throughout my work. This inspired me to carry on with such a style and want to keep using elements I have hand- created within future projects. Possibly my own personal projects as Ed said these are the type of people who stand out in the workplace, who are, in their own time scribbling down random ideas.

The criticism was about how the characters seem lost within the set and need to pop out more. I have corrected this and increased the colour saturation on Pippy Painter and replaced the dark green hills with lighter and softer looking ones.

He asked if I had a show coming up and what I had planned for it. I explained my idea about the diorama. Re-creating my characters World by hand in physical form. His reaction was very positive to this and said it would certainly add to my piece. He also gave me a reference for a diorama called Dinner for Schmucks, a title sequence (images above). They are absolutely beautiful, the lighting, composition and how everything is hand- created.

Children's Book Illustrations, Paul Rand

I thought these illustrations were absolutely delicious. They are designed by Paul Rand who is an American Graphic Designer who is very famous for designing corporate logos for companies such as IBM and ABC. But here Rand designs for a children's book.

I love the bold cut-out design and the contrasts between the loud shapes and thin lines. The work instantly reminds me of Saul Bass because of the lovely awkwardness of the shapes and the density of colour. I just love it!

Children's Book Illustrations, Quentin Blake

Quentin Blake is famous for illustrating the Roald Dahl books. To jog peoples memories Roald Dahl is the author of books such as Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I loved Roald Dahl books ever since I was introduced to them at Primary School and have read a bunch of them and seeing Quentin Blakes illustrations instantly reminds me of them.

Blake's illustrations were always great at helping you visualise the story looking back, especially the book 'The Enormous Crocodile' pictured at the top which targets certainly a younger age group than books such as 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', and was so much more exciting to read while looking at her illustrations.

I wouldn't class Blake's illustrations as fine drawings or fine paintings. They are scrawly and sketchy but are charming all the same and represents the delightful humour Dahl's writing certainly had.

Children's Book Illustrations, Eric Carle

I think for many people this will spark some memories, The story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

The story was simple, a caterpillar who eats everything he comes by until eventually he morphs into a butterfly. The illustrations were made by loosely brushing paint onto tissue paper which can be seen through the build up of lovely colours and diversity of shades. The book has holes punched through the thick card pages to give the impression the Caterpillar has eaten his way through the book. Its charming illustrations and innovative design is what was so appealing for me as a child and I think for generations to come. When I have a child I will definitely be getting him/her a copy.

Rodney Matthews, Alice in Wonderland

As my Major Project's target audience is young children I thought researching children's books would be crucial this is also advice Nickelodeon Studios gave me. Everything is included in one package to help you understand a child's mindset. The child's book includes the simple story with a simple plot line, the tone of voice and gorgeous visuals.

Here are some illustrations by Rodney Matthews. I actually bought the book because I was captured by such beautiful imagery. The colours design and shapes are all so enticing and really draw you in.

Up and Away

Anyone who has seen the Disney Pixar animated film 'Up' will instantly see the connection between film and photos.

I came across these images thanks to my arrival on Twitter. I'm currently following many Disney and Pixar animators and these images were sent to a Pixar Animator, courtesy of National Geographic Magazine. The Pixar animator posted a link to all these fabulous images.

In the film 'Up' a house is connected to a bunch of balloons which then flies off to an Island. I think maybe National Geographic wanted to see through curiosity and pleasure if this in fact was plausible. And as you can see through these images it was in fact plausible and cannot believe how high in the sky it flew.

I took instant pleasure from these photographs as I'm a huge fan of Disney and Pixar though pushing this aside I then realised how beautiful the photography was. I especially love the saturation and diversity of colour. Low angle shots and wide shots they are gorgeous and all seems so magical and enchanting.

Final Tests, part 1

Since my last Pippy Painter test I have looked more into how balls bounce and exaggerated this for a more fun looking, comic and cartoon effect.

Each illustration is on a separate plane, illustrated and painted by myself as I wanted to create a children's storybook type visual. I intend to build up the background more for a richer feel.