SB1: scott watanabe

 

I recently discovered Scott Watanabe's work. Scott Watanabe works as a visual development artist at Disney. He received his first screen credit for Disney’s Tangled, on which he started as a trainee.

I really love his work. He does things from environment design to character design. He is someone that I really inspire to be like. As someone who has not that long ago broken into working for Disney I think he has made a real name for himself and his work is astounding. There is such depth and immaculate design. His work really seems to come to life.

I am really interested in his line of work because it is something that I would love to do in the future if I became good enough. Seeing his work makes me want to practice hard so that I can become like this!

SB1: jennifer chang

Jennifer Chang's work caught my eye for it's whimsical and dreamy feeling. Her watercolour work is something that I really enjoy looking at and although it's only watercolour she uses the colours to make the scenes feel very real.

There is something very calming about these works, this is a feeling that I would like to achieve in my own work. Jennifer uses real life references in her work which I think really helps because she can take elements she thinks are important and eliminate the ones she doesn't so that the pieces come out realistic but simple. I think this is important when doing environmental work, which is why you will see a lot of Vis Dev workers go on to location to get a feel for what they are doing.

SB1: designing with pixar book

I recently discovered a book from PIXAR called 'Designing with Pixar: 45 Activities to Create Your Own Characters, Worlds, and Stories'. 

It has a lot of nice insight about the world of PIXAR and animation, but more importantly to me all about character design and the world that they live in. This is something that I am really interested in so reading this book brought a lot of things to light.

This book is mostly an activity book, with different things to help the audience interact. For example, colouring in the characters in different colours to see different outcomes. I think it's a really interesting way of getting the audience involved and helps you to see how different the characters would be if they were different colours.

SB1: adam brockbank

I recently discovered Adam Brockbank's work. The work of his that I'm most interested in is his storyboards. They are so detailed and in depth it's almost like I'm watching the movie through his storyboards. I'm interested to find out how long his storyboards take or if they are time consuming because most of the storyboards that i have seen before this are very rough and not as beautiful looking.

Even though his storyboards are the first thing that interested me, I'm also really interested in the illustrations for movies that he has done. Especially the animated ones where the outcome of the character can be up to interpretation until the final.

his compositions and layouts are really interesting and amazing. He seems to really think about how he wants the pieces to look and where things should go he doesn't just make it simple and boring and I really admire this.

mega task

so today was kind of a crazy day. especially for someone like me who is a big ball of anxious crap, lol. and at the start the person who had my other number had to leave the room so i was kind of stood there like....helllloooo. then i was stood at the front of the class like in primary school the kid that didn't get picked haha.

after that horrible beginning the day actually did turn out to be fun. stressful, but fun. working as one massive team actually made me feel like i was part of something, and i did get pretty competitive. 

we had a good idea, a good team and we did so much to try and win. we had people working on a website, the look of the app, the advert, the logo, the characters. everything was so sorted out and it all looked so cool. here's a few of the things we did:

 
after having a really good day and feeling pretty great about talking to a lot of new people and mingling. (i actually did that!) we lost, to dog latex. and to be honest, im not a sore loser, but i felt pretty cheated after all the effort we had put in for something thrown together to win. it was a pretty crap ending to a good day, but hey, we tried. 

first task

5 things i've learned

• what the next stage of stress feels like
• i really love copic markers
• how to rough my ideas to make something better
• do what i want to do
• i might actually not mind being an illustrator

5 things that you want to know more about

• lino-printing
• how to make products to sell - pins, cards, phone cases
• how to get a table at thought bubble
• how to not fall behind
• making zines

5 skils that you think are your strengths

• story-telling? i think
• making things look cute even if its not supposed to be
• telling really bad jokes
• drawing girls
• watching a whole tv show in a short time period

5 things that you want to improve

• using different materials (print, collage)
• my japanese
• stop comparing my work to others
• using ink (im so messy)
• staying in uni more and utilising the studio

5 practitioners that demonstrate your interest in illustration

• mall licudine
• charlotte mei
• hayao miyazaki
• makoto shinkai
• hel covell

5 websites or online resources that demonstrate your areas of interest in illustration

• http://conceptartworld.com/
• http://fuckyeahconceptart.tumblr.com/
• http://www.manga.com/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli
• http://en.shinkaiworks.com/

working with a photographer

(tried to use issuu but couldnt get to work)

a photography student approached me and asked me for some help with their project. they wanted me to create some sort of creature and gave me some descriptive words. at first i was a bit of a loss on what to do because normally i draw quite cutesy and i really wanted to branch out. you can see with these pictures the journey that i went through in trying to find a balance of creepy. at first they looked cute i can see that, but i think i really got it at the end. she was very happy with the results and so was i because i think i really did something different and im glad that i pushed myself to do that instead of just being cutesy.

evaluation

1.  What learning have you inherited through this module and how has it impacted on your own understanding of professional practice? Consider yourself as a student at University as much as an illustrator
Who I am as an illustrator and person has really changed since coming to university and doing this module. I think before learning about the open world of illustration I had a very clouded view of what I thought illustration was. ‘what makes a good drawing’ has become a question that I ask myself daily and my view of this has changed so much than from the beginning of the year. This prospect is so exciting to me because looking back at my work from the beginning of the year I feel like I have changed so much as a person and an illustrator. Being independent and being around a whole new group of people has given me new found confidence.
2. What approaches/ types of research have you found most valuable over this module? Why did they have such an impact?
Using Pinterest has been really fun for my throughout this module. As someone who had an account but never used it, it has been fun trying to get back into it again. I have found many things on there that have really inspired me. I also think the Big Head talks have been really useful for me this term because learning and listening to real Illustrators who are out there in the world is really eye-opening and inspiring. It’s nice to learn that they are down to earth and humans just like us, they have bad days and good days too. I think this has been the most valuable to me as I have found looking at other practitioners and listening to them has really helped me to grow my practice and to try out different things.
3. In what way has PPP informed the way your work in other modules and your illustration practice as a whole?
PPP has become the module where I discover myself and who I am as an illustrator. Drawing and being myself and finding artists who inspire me has really informed the way that I work in other modules and in general. Doing this module has given me the grounds to experiment more, and learn new things, for example using clay. Before this was completely alien to me and I hated the word 3D. However, when I actually decided to give it a go and try it after some gentle pushing from Matt I discovered that I actually really enjoyed it. It was so fun watching my illustrations come to life in my hand. I ended up using the clay for a little figure that was for COP and I think it turned out really well and fit the module perfectly.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your PPP submission and how will you address this in the future? I think that one of the weaknesses I have had throughout PPP is not blogging about every artist that I have come across that inspired me. I have found a lot of artists that I have really enjoyed looking at, on pinterest, Instagram and through presentations and other classmate’s. I have regretted not writing about each one of these as I have forgot some names and forgot inspiration and I think its really good to document things like this. I think in the future I need to be more organised with my blog and make sure that I actually blog everything that is inspiring to me.
5. What communities of practice and professional contexts do you intend to investigate further as you approach level 5? Why do they appeal to you? I want to investigate more into the idea of selling my work on Etsy and as a brand, as inspiration from Charlotte Mei and Studio Mama Wolf who both utilise this feature. I really want to start getting my work out there and making a name for myself and after being inspired by Charlotte Mei, I really want to do some things out of the ordinary. I want to look into doing possibly clothing items and different things like plates, mugs, stickers etc. But I do also want to make some really lovely prints that I will be really proud of. It’s been a dream of mine for a while to actually get my work out there to be sold so I would really like to make this dream an actual reality at some point.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation			x
Commitment			x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced			x
Contribution to the group					x
­­­The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

presentation round two

i have decided to revamp my presentation a bit. i feel like it didn't have any of 'me' in it and felt really robotic and boring. i also presented it in front of ben and he said that there wasn't enough imagery or pictures to keep him interested. so i went through and decided to add more imagery into the mix. i also added little funny comments here and there because i thought this would give the personality that i wanted to come across.

presentation

the illustrated self

 

here is my finished poster! i really really love how it turned out. i think it properly expresses what i wanted it to express. i love the thought of myself wrapped up cosy. it could insinuate that the feelings and work is on the outside whilst i am on the inside warm or that i am completely wrapped up in my work. both are true. i think using quotes from my blog was a really good idea and it worked out just the way i wanted it to. i also think using watercolour was a good idea too because it gives a really nice effect to the actual poster with the texture and stuff. 

really pleased with how it turned out !! i love blanket beth

the illustrated self process

i started off this poster with my initial idea of the blanket beth. i was then wondering what i wanted to put onto the blanket as some sort of pattern. i started out by taking inspiration from the word poster that i did - drawing some kingdom heart related items. however as i started drawing them i began to not like the idea so i decided to look at different angles.  

came up with the idea of doing text instead of images. quotes from my blog!! really liked this idea when it came to me because i thought it would be personal and also professional at the same time. because i'm writing about my work and my feelings on it on my blog. i really liked some of the quotes and i think they really fit the mood that i was going for. 

as i started to do it all in different colours, i found that i really didn't like how it was going. i think i should've kept with a colour scheme. it also really annoyed me how you could faintly see the pencil lines through the watercolour even after trying to rub them out. thats when i decided to use the lightbox instead and i went with the colour scheme of blue because i think its a really relaxing colour and me in my blanket is relaxed.

after finishing it it looked really cool when you could see it through like this! i dont know why i took this picture other than purely because it looked super rad and i wanted to.

really happy with how the poster has come out now though, and now it's just onto printing so that it looks clean and is in A2! excited !!

the road to illustrated self

it me

here are some of my drawings that are leading to the final drawing of my poster. i have decided that i really want to go with something blanket beth related. i want to do this because i think blanket beth has become who i am as a person and an illustrator. i am lazy. i like being cosy. i like dog. i like blankets. throw them all together and boom its me.

not good

this weekend has probably been the hardest weekend that i've had since being on this course. i've come home and realised how sad i am. it's really shit. i hate being sad and anxious because i like people to think that i'm the happy one. i'm the one that cracks jokes and awkwardly makes people laugh (hopefully). i want nothing more than to cover my recent depression in stupid jokes but its got to that point where i'm so lost and surrounded by my own sadness that i don't know where to turn. 

i know this post is probably stupid and pointless but i just really needed to get this out of my system. if i can't tell anyone i'm sad then at least i can write it on my blog, right? how very 21st century of me.

SOS

notes for presentation

i have begun answering some of the questions that i found on estudio, i found that this is helping me to decide what i want my presentation to be about. i think the way that i want to go with my presentation is kind of a personal & professional side of things (duh thats the name of the module) but what i mean is i dont want to just talk about my year in class, but talk about how its effected me as a person. what have i done this year that is just about me? what have i learned as a person? 

learning as a person will help to inform my professional practice, which is why i want to focus on this. if i'm growing as a person then i am growing as an illustrator too.

written map of myself

to start off this week i did the written mind map of myself. im not really sure where i was going with this, i think it is too personal and not enough of the professional side as well. i basically just rambled in pretty map form about all my interests and nothing about how illustration plays a role into this. so i need to do this again.

a small idea and attempt of me doing the written map in kanji and hiragana (japanese). but soon decided that this was way too much effort and i was too lazy for this. (my superhero is lazyass after all)

starting to possibly think of some ideas for the PPP end poster. someone mentioned that we can do typology which is like the project we did at the start of the year with the dinosaurs so i thought oh ill try doing the alphabet thing. i also soon got bored of this and didn't even end up finishing it. i just get bored of some ideas really quickly and thats when i know i shouldnt do them.

edit 03/05/16: 

i redid my poster! i think its much better now because i have links to the personal and professional side of things. i think making this change really helped when coming to realise who i am as an illustrator and what i'm about.

blanket beth

as my sketchbook is going on there seems to be a running theme of me drawing myself in a blanket. i think i do this because its the best way for me to represent myself and im not sure where it came from. i would really like to incorporate this little character into my presentation and possibly my final poster because i think its really relatable and i really love it.

trying something new

I bought some fimo! I really really love how this material works. I really enjoyed making my first little character from it. It's so different for me to work with a medium like this as someone who joined the course strictly with fineliner and some watercolour. It's so exciting to me to be able to discover these new ways of working and new things to do. All thanks to the inspiration from Hel Covell.

inspiration: hel covell

today matt told me to look at this illustrator. he said she is a recent graduate who he once taught. i looked her up on instagram and fell in love with her. (well her illustration...not her)



her style is cute, playful, naive and beautiful. i really love how none of her illustrations are 'perfect' but they are at the same time. her characters are simple, yet really endearing. 


she also does these adorable little clay animals. i asked matt what she used and he said 'probably fimo' so now my next task is to find me some fimo so i can try out this way of working! i'm really excited to try something new.