My Easter Holidays

One illustration each day:

Ive decided to keep my imagination flowing by creating one illustration each day, either depicting what I have done that day or of an idea.  They may not be posted each and every day but they will be created once a day. Promise!!!

Hope you like them:

I get so nervous making that first mark in a sketchbook

I created this sketch ages ago on the Easy Jet (well more like "Scary Jet") flight to Germany:

This is an illustration of my little cousin Jaime, I was trying to bring out her fun, energetically crazy personality in this image:   

(09/04/11)

This is more of a doodle, I tried to combine the duck with its environment (the reeds and river) in a colourful pattern:  

(10/04/11)

This illustration came about from me spending HOURS regimentally tidying and organising all my clothes in my wardrobe.  Yes I did have 2 black bags of clothes to get rid of:   

(11/04/11)



For once an active day!!!  The Wii "Your Shape" with a web cam style device shows you what your doing, whist the animated wii woman shows you what you SHOULD BE doing :-)

(12/04/11)

A lovely shopping day out with my friend Ceri in Hereford inspired this illustration.  I just had to illustrate a New Look changing room scene (other changing rooms are avaliable) as we spent 1hr 30mins in this one shop getting kitted out for the summer:

(13/04/11)

Ebook

The second part of the Illustration Futures project was to create an ebook.  I decided to do it as a children's short picture book about the creation & birth of an Emperor penguin chick.  I was highly inspired and learnt a lot from the film March of the Penguins.  Thus, that was my first port-of-call.

After making notes on the film I split it up into sections and then started to cut what wasn't necessary

Then from (happily) re-watching March of the Penguins to check I didn't miss anything out and could get a better feel of the film, I created these illustrations.  I love how traditional and aged the pencil lines make them look.

To make sure my thinking was on the right track, I created a 'Creative Synthesis' list on the problem:





Before starting to create idea's, I looked and reminisced on the successes of past penguin animations, and analysed why they were so successful in creating a connection with children.

A very helpful book to use with aiding an illustrator create successful work is:

This is where I learnt more about the physcology of composition:



THIS WAS THE POINT AT WHICH I DECIDED I COULD START TO DEVELOP SOME DESIGN IDEAS:

This then led me to start designing my characters from photo's I had taken in Berlin zoo:

The "Bloomsbury Guide To Creating Illustrated Children's Books" also was a helpful tool as it displayed examples and tools of ANTHROPOMORPHISM.  I created the following images with the tools I learnt from this research in mind:

I liked the strong, assertive lines that the Indian ink and biro created, as well as the soft and delicateness of the watercolour.  However, after developing these designs into being more fitting for a childrens book I decided upon coloured pencils.  Annotation surrounding the following illustration explains why:

In the development of the characters I also experimented with typography and image.  I created the following images in the print workshop and am pleased with what I've achieved threw developing my outcomes:

 The second of the last 2 images was an improvement on the first.  With the first one, the beak (A) blends into the body too much and its not defined. So with the second i raised the beak up and away from the body, making it compositionally improved and clearer to see.

The last image I created in the print workshop was created using varying sizing lettering, placed in a certain way that it created a image using text.  This way of using type really interest me.

Illustration Futures, Loading Screen

The project I am currently working on is to create a loading screen for Coca Cola.  The angle I have decided to take on this is of the American side of the well known company and its history. 

My first port-of-call was clearly going to be the Coca Cola website:

http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/

After looking at its ethos and themes i decided to take the idea that Coca Cola were comparing themselves to the importance of the establishment of the Statue of Liberty (now you cant get much more American than that). When looking at her roles in film i found a great link of her 'Top 10 Film Appearances':

http://www.watchmojo.com/index.php?id=8830

Once I had done a bit of research I created a brainstorm of Coca Cola facts and what the company represent.

That then led my to create a few design ideas with the Statue of Liberty as its focus:

The last design led me to create this initial storyboard:

Once deciding that i was going to create an animation where in the background was the Statue of Liberty going from close up to reveal all of her. And in the foreground the level of coca cola drops and flows up the straw.

To create this I need to look at the Statue of Liberty, Coca Cola bottles and six pack and the straw for the foreground.

As the Coca Cola is key in the design, the next step was to buy some Coca Cola and photograph it

       

These videos and photos helped me to observe the Coca Cola's color, texture and way it pours and flows in a straw

   

 The straw experimentation aided me in decided I liked the handmade look of the collage and the red straws colour was fitting and xact to that of the Cola brand.

This straw experimentation led me to look at the Statue of Liberty's head-wear and transform them into straws for comical effect.

After being certain of my storyboard I started to compose and start to create elements of my image I would later animate.  I used models and life modelling classes to aid in my drawing skills of the female figure:

 

After experimenting with different backgrounds by cutting out and sticking her on various backgrounds, I decided upon this Coca Cola icon as it makes the Statue of Liberty stand out and it also reflects the company that the loading screen is for:

From doing further research into Coca Cola I discovered that Andy Warhol was famous creator of Coca Cola fine artwork.  He successfully created prints of this equally culturally famous American brand.  He liked to express its mass production.

On the website "Andy Warhol, The King of Pop Art"  http://coca-cola-art.com/2007/11/07/king-of-pop-art/   

...  Warhol writes “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV ans see Coca-Cola and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” Andy Warhol

I also like the boldness of Andy Warhol's style and thought it appropriate to create the loading screen design with this in mind.  It's a homage to Andy Warhol's interest in the everyday item of mass production and tradition and equality if the American company Coca Cola.

With all this research and creative synthesis in mind it led me to create this illustration of the Statue of Liberty holding Coca Cola merchandise with a straw hat replacing her head-wear.

I was very pleased with this image.  The coloured pencil gave the illustration a asthetically pleasing colour, tone and three dimensional appearence.  Also the studies of the Statue of Liberty itself and the female figure helped me to accurately re-create her iconic pose and shape.

I later took this image, along with the Coca Cola logo and collage straw as well as the watercolour cola itself and created my first successful animation for the Coca Cola loading screen.



SADLY I WAS UNABLE TO PUT THE ANIMATION ON MY BLOG!!! HOWEVER, I DO HAVE IT BURNED ON CD IF ANYONE WOULD WISH TO VIEW IT!!!