Final Major Project

This particular blog post is probably going to be a long one. I've been working over it for the last couple of weeks rather than just posting little blogs that don't have to much to them. This project so far has been a blessing and a major ball ache. You know when you know the sort of thing you want to do but you don't know how to do it? I've had that. And now I've got too many ideas! So, let's hope tomorrow's tutorial will help!

For the first part of the project, I really enjoyed doing the skills audit. It had been a great task to use to reflect on me as an illustrator - what I like to do, what I'm best at and what I can bring to the table. From this I was able to reflect on roughly the sort of thing I'd like to do for one of my final major projects. I like tattoos. I like making people think. I like writing and typography. I like drawing female figures. From looking at this and also reflecting on my dissertation, which was based on tattoos in modern society, I had a brainstorming session with the two tutors and Holly and Laura.
 I found myself to be in a bit of a pickle. I really wanted to look at reasoning behind tattoos - society's views. I wanted to mix things up a bit. The idea came around of illustrating why people have their tattoos. Although I do believe this is interesting, I don't think it's right for me. As much as I can personally appreciate why someone would get their own tattoo, I don't really care enough to do a project based on it. I think for me, to make a self initiated project work it needs to be something that I really care about - I don't want to do a half assed effort on a project I've set myself to do.

With this in mind I did some brainstorming from this idea of tattoos and identity/meaning to see if anything came up that did stand out to me. I filled pages in my FMP diary with ideas and mind maps relating to ideas, techniques, and generally anything that came to mind in relation to a project based on tattoos. Main ideas stemmed from Women and Tattoos, Tattoos and their owners, Tattoos and the old folk, Tattoos wearing the people, Common tattoos and the common characters who have them, The joy of words and finally From skin to wall: tattoo art.

These ideas all reflected and responded to the subject of tattoos in Britain today. They varied from the sarcastic (i/e looking at the stereotypes in personality of people who have certain tattoos) to the thought provoking (looking at quotes and poems and illustrating them in relation to tattoos). I think that if I had an endless amount of time I would do all of the ideas - but I don't and I don't want to be doing mini projects either. I want my work for this project to be well research, well informed and developed and ultimately  I want create and clever illustrations that interact and speak to everyone.

From these ideas, I've basically sat and had a think about which out of these ideas really appeals to me the most. The one that I really really want to do. The one that makes me go "Fuck yeah, go Kitty!".
I managed to narrow it down to the idea of women and tattoos, Skin to wall - typical tattoo art as "real" art and the joy of words in relation to tattoos.
With these I was at a stand still, stuck on which one to tackle first. Then I realised: The style I do it in could be the skin to wall... The subject matter could be women and tattoos and the joy of words could be what I was illustrating/what the illustration relates to.

Boom. Sorted! Writing this now I'm in the process of developing this project, I cannot express how excited I am for this project. I'm so excited to be doing something that is so.... me. And I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops. I've yet to write it out formally for the project - I'm waiting for my tutorial tomorrow so I can refine and make sure I'm on the right tracks before I get carried away!

In regards to style ideas and so on I really want to focus on texture and develop ideas from there. In my final project for second year, I really enjoyed the processes and endless pages of experiments I did creating different textures of skin and ink and character. I really want to re explore some of those techniques and work on them more. Re-develop them and refine them for Final Year Kitty.
As I've only just really got a confident grasp of what I wanted to I started texture ideas and experiments - using tracing paper, different pens and water to see how they blended, crinkled and what texture this created.

For these particualr quick experiment I used a pro marker pen, watercolours, Bero fine liner pens and a Sharpie Pen. I really like how the fine liner pen completely blurred out - it gave a really phantom grey/green shade over the yellow tracing paper which made it give a slight feel of decay and age. The watercolours worked really well as they collected in certain areas giving different strengths of colour intensity. The sharpie pen didn't really budge so I know if I needed to use lines and then water over the top it wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon! The Pro marker pen came out lighter on the tracing paper than expected and didn't bleed as much as I was expecting. It gave quite a calm, ghostly tone to the tracing paper which I thought worked really well and was a delicate touch on the thin paper.

One of the ideas that I initially thought about with the project starting up was looking at taking the tattoos physically off of the skin and bringing it "to life".

I looked maybe leaving a plain silhouette on the figure where the design was and then have the full colour design brought out into the illustration - as both background and focal point - working around and with the figure of the person illustrated. (Weather it's more of a stylized person or realistic person remains to be decided, I think it will depend on what type of contrast I want between the tattoo design and the wearer.)

I made a couple of quick concept illustrations so I can confidently show my tutors what I'm trying to say as I've found I tend to struggle to say what I mean but I can draw it a lot better!

I think these concept illustrations - even though slightly tattier than I'd like, demonstrate this concept of taking the tattoos off of the skin of the wearer confidently to help me explain what I want to get across.

While looking at this ideas of taking the tattoo off of the skin I wanted to look at ways of defining where the tattoos was. I wanted to look at ideas that didn't just leave the skin area blank. I wanted to keep colour and text in my illustrations and I thought this could provide an opportunity to experiment with concepts for the skin. 

From this, I had a really simple idea. Rembering the paper craft we'd done in previous years, I simply made an outline of a tattoo design, in this case, a rose, and cut out around all of the outter edge on tracing paper. This left a white shiloutette and the exact design that would fit there free to be moved about. 

For me I think this could be a key starting point looking at taking the tattoo off the skin. Using layers of paper and texture - probably with some experimental "print making" experiments I could find a way of de-flattening the design off of the skin even though the illustration would more than likely be completly flat.

I think this simple idea of cutting out and replacing could be a really good starting point to develop. 

I started to further develop this idea by again sketching a female figure with some tattoo designs. From this I cut out the designs and then photocopied onto paper. This left the white shilouette of the tattoos that were there on a flat piece of paper (for this I just wanted to make it easy for me and this seemed the best way to do it.) 

From the shapes of the tattoos and what they were, I re drew them around the character in full colour, while i left the tattooed areas on the skin plain and the skin colour of the figure in grey shades - shaded and dreary. This created a contrast of the skin without tattoos and the background with the tattoos. I think with these experiments I could really be onto an interesting and thought provoking project - even with just the contrasts of colours and textures in the piece.

From looking at these cut out ideas of colours and texture I had another idea I wanted to explore. It sounds mad - but bear with me, madness breeds genius - or something like that... Anyway, I had this idea. I thought that to create added texture - and have a play with the concept of tattoos and needles - drawing the tattoo design with a sewing machine. Now, I did experiment with this, and it's bloody hard - so I may just use some fabric and hand stitching instead, BUT, I do think this could work. I think it could be a clever play on the tattoo and needle relationship but also be another texture and, especially in a patchwork sense - mixing it around with my make shift "print making" with tracing paper, water and god knows what else - could become a really interesting collection for this project. I had a practice  and like I said - really bloody hard - but, I do think this could work. Even stitching in the writing could work -

 I know what I want - I'm again struggling to write it - I'm going to try and create the vlog soon to help bring my ideas together and make more sense. But, I think I'll leave it there for now, if you're reading this you must be bored senseless! Wish me luck for my tutorial tomorrow and I'll have some more posts up by the end of the weekend, hopefully for FM Project, FM Presentation maybe a vlog or two and my personal work too!

Picturing Time Final Piece

Brave New World idea development & final pieces

Here is my development and final illustrations for the Brave New World pieces. This is excluding my cover design.

Getting back on track!

Well then, first off, Happy Zombie Jebus Day!

I've been really horribly ill for about a week now, so I'm kinda trying to remember what I've done and what I want to show you all.

For my uni work I've been progressing more with idea for how to do the Holly posters. I did a big experiment with lots of layers and different modes on the layers and had a lot of fun developing a completely different design to what I have in my mind. I think doing something completely opposite to what you imagine you will create is extremely beneficial and productive as it opens you options up and let's you explore other avenues you didn't intend to originally develop.

With this, I this I came across some interesting experiments that I hope to maybe use in my work.

As well as this I think I have finally cracked the idea to how I will present everything. As I wanted both paper and 3-D objects within my promotion kit I was really struggling for an interesting way that I could present everything together and have it so it could be mass produced if necessary.
I wanted the object to be around the size of your average book, this would mean that people could easily keep and store everything instead of it being annoying and get thrown away.
I originally loved the idea of using an actual book carved out with sections but I felt that although it linked strongly with Holly herself it wouldn't work on a mass production scale. I also looked at making a book box which I could again alter and use to store things but I felt that would be very time consuming to make.

Finally I settled on a massive match box idea. I created a template for a book around A5 in size and I think that this could be easily mass made and reproduced. I will re created the template on Illustrator  so I can easily print out a design on to the template on A3 paper. Hurrah!

More work on the Holly project

I'm having an awful lot of fun working on this project about Holly. It's very creative and flexible and I'm really enjoying mixing her lifestyle and personality in with my own work and style! I'm still unsure how everything will fit in together as it's becoming harder than I thought but that will come at a later date! For my favorite images of Holly that I'm using I hand drew them out and did a tattoo technique called power lining on the image to thicken up certain lines. I kept these originals and copied them to add more line detail, especially in the hair and eye lashes. I've then rescanned them into the computer and developed them on Photoshop for experimenting to see the sort of styles and colour I could use and work.

Developing ideas for Uni

 For the advertising campaign I've look a little more into what aspects of Holly and her life I would like to be included in some way into the campaign and what aspects of her character I think are assets to her as well.
I would like to include multiple images/illustrations of her showing different aspects of her life like trips away, with friends, going out and other general things in her life.
As well as this I would like to include some of her art work or drawings in the work or at least tell people about her creativity.
I think for aspects of her life and personality I would probably include these on a poster and maybe in a little book of some sort and then keep other aspects of Holly to a more creative idea such as the origami and other paper crafts.

 Another idea that I want to develop in a digital way would be a stop motion animation. I 

really want to do one as I want this project to have digital aspects to it and I haven't done a proper stop motion animation before. I think as I want it to be quite a large/long scale idea I will probably have to get some help in, probably from my long suffering boyfriend as he's done them before and knows how dim I can be!

The idea is to show certain aspects of Holly's life. I want her to start off driving and then to get out of the car and for Alfie the rabbit to jump up in her arms. After that I want her to start walking and for the background to turn into text. The text in the background would be all about Holly and her interest ect. Aswell as this I would like to show her creativity through little details adding after she's stepped on areas. I think I would have to add the little touches in digitally (Or possibly do the whole thing digitally at this rate!) But that is the idea I have. As well as this I'd really like to find a song or tune that she really likes and add this into the animation as well. 

 I've also come up with a Holly Logo. I really wanted just a little design that I could use on all of the pieces so it could be something simple, fun and recognizable.
I chose to use Holly's unique selling point for this (she can cross one eye without crossing t'other.

I think that the strong black and white imagery is really striking and effective as well as funny. I wanted to go for a style that was similar to those styles that are on mascara adverts and packaging with the really bold and beautiful eyes and eyelashes but with a funky Holly twist - and I think it's worked!

 Finally, I've started looking at little details that I want in the promo pack. I've looked at papers that I can use of decorative detail as well as other little bits of inspiration too.
I've also done some small mock ups of little photo albums showing the many lives of Holly. I think that they are really nice and effective though I am unsure what size or binding style I will use in them. I really want to keep it simple but have it as a really nice little touch to the whole package too.

As well as this I've also been looking at ideas for the book cover. This is because I want to make my own protective sleeve with design on it that represents Holly and is aesthetically inviting to the audience as well.
For this, I have decided I want to use line and colour as the main features. As Holly loves autumn and it's her favorite season I'd love to do some simple leaf etchings and outlines and use autumn reds and browns ect in the inks to creature a autumn glow and feel to the whole cover. The experiment below is a very thin dry point etching needle with acrylic paint of fairly wet 120gsm paper. I thought it was a really good starting point but I would also like to try some lino cutting as well and see if the different cuttings and paints/inks could be mixed together to create something really unique and inviting.

Getting crafty with paper!

In my advertising pack for Holly I really wanted to have lots of things in there that were interactive and that could be made. This is because it engages the audience and gives them memories and as they're interactive it hightens the chance of them keeping the pack as a whole, what they make and remembering it all too.

One of the things I was thinking in putting in the pack was a "Create your own Alfie" pack that would have instructions and images for people to follow to make their own origami rabbit. I think that this could be really fun and something that people would remember and keep but I think I would have to keep it to a more simple design than a complicated one as origami can be pretty hard and I know that I, personally, am terrible at origami.

The simple origami rabbit head that I think would be most successful in the pack - even I can create one of these!"

Although I adore this little dude I'd have to see how hard is to make!

Another idea that I had was to some how incorporate one of Holly's favourite animals, the tortoise, into the pack as something that could be made. I grabbed some origami examples and I may have both a rabbit and a tortoise origami kit or I may just have the tortoise as the rabbit may appear elsewhere in the kit.

I also had some other ideas of different paper crafts that could be involved in the make and do section of the pack. I really wanted to have a little "Make your own Holly" kit that people could create but I felt that if there was too much origami people would give up. I then remembered about these cool cube people I saw a couple of years ago - I had a little Google and found the delightful CubeeCraft! I absolutely adore the style and structure they have and I thought I could think about designing Holly onto one for people to create themselves!

A Cubeecraft template

One of my favorite finds has to be that of the amazing Creature Kebab.  I adore how many different styles that are made and the different objects that are made too. I thought the logo was really stylish and stood out well and I would defiantly like to have a Holly logo to feature on everything I create.

I also discovered the very talented Dolly oBlong! I loved the totem pole ideas and the bright colours that are used in the designs too. As well as this I also like the use of fabric and that is something I'd like to use to create something in my pack. I'm thinking something like a keyring or another keepsake for the person who has the pack.

The final site that I found and loved was paperfolables. I loved the stylistic characters and the unique designs on them.

The Art of Promotion

I felt that for this project it was very important to look at ways people promote their skills/products to the world and how they get noticed. In this blog there are various types of promotion work that I thought were different, unique or really stood out. I wanted to have a look at why they appealed to me and if this could have a positive impact with my Illustration Futures project and promoting Holly and in the future, my own self promotion.

 I thought that the above image had a really nice link of typography, colour and illustration. I think that making a poster similar to this style with information about Holly, maybe looking at hobbies perhaps could be really worthwhile and become a fashionable information poster or post card to have in the advertising campaign. 

I really like the little cupcake image as I think that food and memory are very close and that if someone gives you free food - you are more than likely to remember them! Although I don't think I could bribe my tutors with lovely cupcakes I think that having some form of edible goodness in the pack could be a good extra touch to show I've done a little more research and give a different take on the advertising project.

I thought that the memo pad head was a really funky and unique idea, especially as the hair line goes back as the head gets smaller. I think small interactive objects like this are really effective in showing off and being kept on desks to easily be seen and used. I think anything you can give in a pack that has a "real" use to it and can be kept and used has more chance of being memorable and thus having an impact on the person using it.

I thought the above poster was a really cool little poster idea with a bit of attitude in it too. I'd really like to use fairly realistic images of Holly that are a bit stylised  with text and this image gives me a bit more inspiration and an idea of what I'd like to create or the layout and styles I like.

I thought that this card was funny, cheeky and good because it was interactive it would have an impact on the audience. I think something like this makes a plain business card more fun and interactive.

I thought that little sweets like this could be really good in a pack as they don't go off/mouldy/stale and could be a good little extra to put into the pack.

I think having things to make and do make good promo packs great and that if you get things that people interact with and make they are more likely to keep it around on their desks and remember you, just like the little plane above. 

The above posters and card I really liked because they all had unique colourful styles that all have various ways of promotion. I I like the fact they all have their own styles and have had a lot of though put in to the composition, typography, illustration styles and content to make them stand out and be memorable.