creative report: finding more things!

After searching the internet some more I discovered that Helena graduated from Edinburgh in 2015. This wasn't that long ago! I think it'll be really interesting to hear her insight on breaking into the industry and what she thinks.

creative report: helena covell

As I have decided to email Helena Covell, I wanted to find out more about her so that I could draft some questions that will be helpful for me and easy enough for her to answer. 

On her website she states:

This is just some basic information about her, and I dont think that it is enough to go on so I was thinking about trying to maybe find some interviews that she has done or other social media she might have such as Tumblr or Instagram.

From her vimeo page, however there is only one animation on there and I think it's quite an old account. It's interesting to see how her work is evolving though, although she's kept a lot of it the same.

Blocks- Chopin Responce from Helena Covell on Vimeo.

This is the video that I found on her vimeo page, it's really interesting to see her take on animation and what she can do with it. Although her art style is quite simple I think the narratives that she creates with her characters is really unique.

Her tumblr also seems to hold not much information. I'm not sure whether this makes it harder for me or easier, as it means that the questions I can ask her can be more broad or open, as she has never really been interviewed before so the answers aren't there for me to find.













I think it will be really interesting to come up with some questions for Helena so that we can find out some more about her and her artwork. As someone who is quite internet mysterious, as in there isn't much information, I think it will be even more interesting for me to find out more.

creative report: deciding my practitioner

I have decided that the person I want to contact as part of this brief is helena covell. She is an illustrator who is currently working and living in Yorkshire. I know that the possibility of us meeting up is quite high because she lives so close, however, for someone like me who is very anxious about meeting new people and going to new places, I think it'll be safer for me to email her. I know that this is the easy way out, but it's hard for me to branch out and do new things. I have found her email on her website and will start to conduct some questions that I want to send to her!

SB1: nick swift

After discovering Nick Swift from the video that I watched about Character Design, much like when I found Sergio, I wanted to find out more about Nick's actual work and info.

On the PHA website it states:

This week on the Powerhouse Animation blog, we’re going to focus on one of our employees, Nick Swift, and his personal illustration work! We brought Nick onto the team back in early 2014, and he’s added so much to our company from adorable character designs to consistently maverick lunch suggestions.

NAME: Nick Swift
FAVORITE MOVIES: The Iron Giant, Inglourious Basterds, Assassination of Jesse James
FAVORITE CARTOONS: Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan, Steven Universe
FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES: Team Fortress 2, UNDERTALE, Final Fantasy 7
FAVORITE COMIC: Blacksad

Nick’s influences range from the classic Norman Rockwell to modern character designer Tony Fucile, whose work you would know from The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. Character designers Bruce Timm and Shane Glines, known for their work on Batman: The Animated Series, also played an important role in influencing Nick’s designs and pin-ups. Some of his favorite artists at the moment include Shiyoon Kim, character designer from Big Hero 6, and Kevin Dart, a color keys artist on Steven Universe.

Looking at his gallery below, you can see how his influences come through in his art – the soft gouache-style painting, strong symbolic figures, and beautiful composition and color choices.

I really enjoyed looking at Nick's work. Like it states in the article about him from PHA, he uses a soft gouache style which is really inviting. I really like this style of working and think it would be interesting to try out. 

SB1: PHA protip - character design

When it comes to looking for inspiration or tips, I find that you can find a lot of good videos on YouTube (much like the one from Sergio Pablos). This video from Powerhouse Animation's Nick Swift talks about the use of shapes within characters. The video is really interesting and insightful to me, as someone who often falls into the habit of drawing similar characters.

There is a point that Swift makes near the end of the video which touches upon the use of silhouettes. He says, if you put your characters to silhouettes would you be able to easily recognise them? If you can then this means you have a diverse cast. I think this point is really interesting and something for me to think about in the future as someone who wants to go into character design. I often find myself drawing the same thing over and over again so these types of videos really help to open my eyes to new ways of doing certain things.