Cinderella on Textured Paper

 

Playing around with some textured paper, I printed my Cinerella cover onto some paper with orange petals pressed into it, this one works really well with the Cinderella due to the petals as they go with the colouring of my cover and also there are some leaves in my image which work with the petals. I also printed the others on textured papers but they didn't look as good as this one. Works really well, very pleased!

Fmp part 3: Cinderella

Book Cover number 3: Once again using the same style and view points as my other 2 book covers (Grimm's and Rapunzel), I worked in very similar ways so the 3 would look like part of a set. I did this one in just over a week and I think this is the best. I think the colours work really well together and each element has had much attentioned paid to it. I have also been playing around with shadows (which for some reason don't show up that well when the image has been flattened and reduced in size, but nevermind). I feel that I am getting better and better at typography every time I do it. I used to hate doing typography as I have never been confident with it as I always thought everything looked either rubbish or it just didn't fit in the image I had created. But with my fmp I think i have worked quite well with it. I think the typography in this image is very strong and bold. I really liked my idea for this book cover, alot of cinderella images and book covers include the carraige that Cinderella rides in, but I decided instead of just creating a carraige or just a pumkin that I would have the pumkin evolving/chaning into a carraige, so it's still a pumpkin with wheels. At first I wasn't sure what to do with the back cover, but I thought about having something to represent Cinderella's life, how she is a kind of slave to her step mother and step sisters. All of the swirls and leavey patterens give the cover a sort of magical feel. Really pleased with this image, next I am going to do some screen printing of the pumpkin/carraige and possibly make a tote bag or another pillow. I am also going to make a poster out of this cover.

Hopes, Fears and Opportunities Part2

So, for this last semester and for my final major project, what I chose to do was based around the Penguin design awards competition 2012, producing a book cover for Grimm's Fairy Tales. From this I decided to produce a book cover for Rapunzel as well as the Grimm's Fairy Tales and I am also doing a children’s mural (or part of) and if I have the time I will be making some bits and bobs to go with, things such as pillows etc.

I feel over this past year that I have started to develop my own style, and I am becoming really comfortable with it and I really enjoy doing it.

I have started to experiment more, instead of just coming up with an idea and doing it, I have started to think of more ideas, sketch our ideas more and play about with them. I have also played about with media, doing a lot of screen printing, which at first I really didn't want to do, as over the years of doing a-levels and workshops, I had done so much screen printing but never really enjoyed it. But since I have started to re-visit screen printing, I am starting to really enjoy it as it works really well with my work as I work a lot with shapes and texture and this is a good way to get nice textures, especially when printing on unusual papers and fabrics!

From screen printing onto paper and scanning things in, I have also been screen printing on fabric, these came out really well so I decided to make a couple of pillows out of them which came out really well, and I decided to add some more things onto the pillow instead of having just a flat design, I added some gems, some wool and some frilly goodness around the edges of my pillows! I was really pleased with the outcomes of the pillows, especially since I haven’t played much with textiles and screen printing since I did my a-levels (which were about 4 years ago!).

I am really proud of myself for getting back into screen printing, and though there is only about 4/5 weeks left if I have time I would like to try some more things! And if not I will defiantly be trying different things after I graduate.

I have also started to research more than I have done before, I used to just look at things and shove them on my blog and never look at them again, but I have started to put together my own file full of inspiration, such as other illustrators work, old book covers and Sense of place type things (heading back to first year here!)

So far I think my FMP is going pretty well, I started off really slowly but once I knew what I wanted to do, I did it and I am really enjoying it as well. I am doing more than usual and trying new things etc, so I am hoping to move my marks up a little higher. I have always been a 2:2 girl but to get a 2:1, even just for my fmp and not overall, I would be proud. (If I got a 2:1 overall I would be so pleased with myself) But I will soon find out in a few months!

I am really scared about finishing. I know after this we will still be sorting out exhibition and other things, but once July comes I think I will start panicking. I don't want to just end up in some horrible job that I do not enjoy, but I know that this is probably what I have to do for a little bit until I get some work/commissions. 

The visit to London really boosted my confidence, I was really nervous about my visits, but they both went really really well, I wouldn't change anything about them, they were fantastic. The first one at Short Book Publishing with Aurea, we all decided there are then we would love her job. A small company, hiring illustrators, only a few people working together, cute little office spaces, it seemed like heaven!

Me, Philippa and Chloe have talked about possibly renting a space together, our own little studio, which would be brilliant. Having to get part time jobs on the side so we can afford it of course, this way people could come and see our work and how we work, and all 3 of us could help each other move forward and possibly work together and combine our talents! This would be perfect; hopefully if we can pull together we could make this happen.

I am hoping to contact illustration agencies after I graduate, try my best to get some kind of illustration work, something with children's illustration possibly, especially doing book covers! But I would also like to try out some editorial work and get some pieces in magazines or newspapers; hopefully I will just be bugging and bugging people.

A good opportunity for us is to contact Aurea from Short books so she can keep up in mind for any work she may have for us. I will also contact Tim from John Brown Media and see if he could possibly find any work for me. 

I am terrified about finishing, if I could stay in education forever I would, but it is time for me to step into the real world. 

Just So festival might be a good opportunity for me to get creative as well, it seems like a lot of fun and very interesting, so If I have the time I think I will defiantly be taking part in this.

I will carry on working after graduation, I will never stop illustrating, I would like to re-visit my Twinkle Twinkle Little Cat story and make it stronger for my portfolio and I would like to maybe write another story and illustrator it and keep coming up with my own projects and looking for new exciting competitions that are going on. Hopefully I can get some interviews or even more portfolio visits with people I may have seen before and new people.

In a way I am excited to finish and be able to stand on my own two feet, to try and promote myself and get my work noticed by people and companies. To help with this I will keep up with my website and maybe start a new blog.

My ideal job would be to create children's books or book covers, maybe not writing them, but illustration them. I would like to have my own studio or a nice little working environment which isn't too crazy or overcrowded. I will keep working harder and harder and even some day I have start my own group or agency. But no matter what happens, I will never give up illustrating; it is my love, my passion and my dream.

The Times Visit

This was my pass from visiting the Times, I love how they spelt both of my names wrong, haha!

So a few weeks ago, Jon Hill, the art director from the times newspaper came into college and gave a short lecture on the type of work he does. His job sounds very tiring but interesting!
He told us about the types of jobs he had before working for the times, after graduating, he did some unpaid work in a studio, then went on to work for another studio, then for years endedup being self employed before getting a great opportunity to work for the times!
This was quite comforting knowing that he had a few creative jobs and even worked on his own before he got a stable job with a huge company!
He spoke about all the different teams and how many people were in each team (a hell of alot of people working on one thing!) it was quite overwelhming. He even mentioned how sometimes people would be working up untill 10 at night, sometimes even later depending if they had to change the paper for a new story!
Seems like a mad job to me!
Me, Chloe and Philippa spoke to Jon afterwards and asked if he would be able to take a quick look at our portfolios while we were in London and he asked us if we'd like to join Lucy and the 2nd yr graphics on a tour of the Times, while we were all in London, so we happily went to this.

The building was huge and quite scary, lots of people coming in and out with there little ID cards.

So we went for a quick walk around the 2 floors of the Times, Jon explained who did what and what area they were working with. There were so many desks, people and computers! So many people working away it was crazy. He even showed us where the in house illustrator worked, they had the tiniest little office but it was away from all of the journalist etc who were all cramped into one area! Unfortunatly the in house illustrator wasn't in at that time so we couldn't have a chat with him.

At the end of the tour Jon had to rush off as he had to be abck at his desk to crack on with some work before he got into trouble and because he was so busy we didn't want to bug him about a portfolio visit, we didn't want be rude so we thought it would be best to possily just sent him a PDF or a link to our websites when we got home, that way he could take a look when he had to time to.

Even though it was a little dissapointing not to get a portfolio visit, it was a nice experience to get to take a look around the work place of a huge newspaper! It was very interesting but overwelhming, I don't think I would like to work in this kind of job, but you don't know what it's like untill you try it!

Creative Review: Ponyo

So yesterday I watched an animation called Ponyo, a film by Studio Ghibli. It's about a fish that wants to be a human, and a little boy finds her and becomes friends with her and watches her grow into a human and then back into a fish again, very magical, funny and sad!
Such a fun story and great characters.
Studio Ghibli films are always quite strang and magical but if you like things like that then I would deffinatly tell you to watch them! They are so much fun for all ages, proper family type films which just make you feel happy inside. Howls moving Castle, the Cat Returns and Spirited away are also brilliant, possibly my favourites and now Ponyo joins my favourites! Deffinatly a must watch from my point of view.

Tom Frost

So I came across Tom Frost at Pick Me Up during my Time in London, the whole exhibition was pretty good, but this was one of the illustrators that stuck in my head and that I was most interested in and inspired by!

The thing I like most about this guys illustrations, is obviously the shapes! lots and lots of shape, which works well screen printed. I also like that in most pieces there is a slight bit of pattern, which I can relate with my work as I have started to do this in my work, starting with my Brad Pitt Portrait from last semester. And now with my rapunzel and grimms book covers, I have some repetative shapes going on.
I also like the use of character. The human characters are done really well and this is something that I have struggled with for a while but really want to figure out before I graduate! Hopefully Tom Frost can be my inspirationg for this!

Pillows/ Notebooks/ Wrapping Paper

Frin the screen printing I did earlier, I made so me pillows as part of my fmp. I have decided to make a few bits and bobs for lil girls, things quite "princessey" to fit in my with Rapunzel and Grimm's Book covers :) So far I have made a lil note book, (just wrapping my image around an old note book) I accidently wrapped the pattern around the book the wrong way but I still think it works quite well and I really like it.
I have also made my pattern into wrapping paper (Wrapped a box to make it look like a present) and I have also made a lil tag out the pattern.
Also for the next part of my FMP i am doing a children's mural, for girls, based again around princesses and fairies etc. So I feel this lil accessories fit in quite well :)

I am hoping to also made book marks and possibly have my pattern put around pencils and some other things :)

Pick Me Up- London

So during my visit to London, I was advised by many people to check out Pick Me Up at the Somerset House. Lot's of illustrators had their work displayed. Lot's of interesting pieces, each have their own unique style, using different types of media and different ideas, lots of different ideas! Some illustrators even had tiny stalls set up where you could buy things they had made or printed on, things such as, canvas bags, note books, post cards etc.

It was quite interesting and I am glad I went, some of the illustrations inspired me with my own work and there were a few illustrators that deffinatly caught my eye as they seemed to have produced there works in a similar way to what I had.

I think these pieces were done by a illustration group called Peskimo, I have liked them on facebook for a while now and it was nice to see them at such a big event in London. Lot's of pattern and characters used in their work and It is quite inspiring and fun. Also lots of fun bold colours used which is always good!



This was done by an Illustrator called Tom Frost, I was first interested in this due to my interest in The Day of the Dead. Interesting shapes and colours. Some of his colour works were very colour and fun, another illustrator I would like to take a further look at!

These were my favourite pieces at Pick Me Up! Brilliant use of shape and colour which is what I love, especially in the middle picture of the solider guy, I love it! But I am not 100% sure who the illustrator is! I need to look him up so I can check out more of the work!
I like this piece due to the spaces and because you can easily tell that it has been screen printed, and I have gotten very into screen printing as of late. I also like the lack of colour, black/white and one pretty bold colour. It works really well!


This piece of work reminded me of the type of work that I used to do in foundation, tracing images of friends and family and using bold splashes of colour.


This piece just made me laugh as I like random things, I love the random colours, makes the black area stand out and look fun.




I love this! I am not usually into 3D things but this was just very interesting and eye catching. I love the shapes and use of colour, makes this spider look fun instead of scary! Looks like some kind of toy or decorative item.
This piece of work reminded me of my Brad Pitt portrait I did for Little White Lies Magazine due to the shapes and the white spaces between them. The piece was done by an illustrator called Ben Kirchner, hopefully I will look more into his work for inspiration!


Overall Pick Me Up was an interesting event with lots of inspiration and interesting pieces of work to look at.