25/02/2015

Responsive Pantone Initial Mockups


These are my rough mockups of the interface for our app though in the final version of the app instead of a background photo it'll be an illustrated version of leeds with a different colour scheme. I'm really happy with the home screen though I think the interface probably needs more work.


Responsive Breaking Bad Response

 I got an honourable mention for my Breaking Bad piece which means I was in the final 15 out of 151 entries which is great and I get my work in and exhibition with Ralph Steadman in London. I also got a really good response on social media with almost 4 times the amount of the likes of the winning entry which was a bit of ego boost.


Responsive Breaking Bad Piece


These were my initial ideas for the Breaking Bad competition I spent a lot of time working on this but I quickly began to realise it wasn't turning out quite how I wanted so I decided to redo it. The image below is my final piece and I'm really happy with how it turned out though there are bits I would change if I had more time over all I'm really pleased with it and hopefully i'll be in with a good chance of winning.



Applied Illustration Kanye West Poster Concept


This is my initial drawing for a Kanye West poster, I'm really happy with how this has turned out so far next I'm going to try and print out each piece and draw it in a traditional media as I feel it would fit the piece better than digital media after that i'll put it together in photoshop and prepare it for screen printing. I think what really makes this poster work at the moment is that it fits the atmosphere that i'm trying to communicate well and I think it really fits with the arrogance and grandeur of the music that i'm trying to put into the poster.

Applied Illustration Brudenell American Football Poster


This was my initial idea for an American Football poster for there Brudenell show, it's based on one of my thumbnails from my last blog post though i've simplified it and removed the figures but I think they could have livened the piece up in hindsight, if I decide to re do this piece at some point in the module and add the figures, liven up the windows slightly and add a porch but I think this communicates the idea of the piece.

23/02/2015

Applied Illustration Kevin Tong Contextual Research



I think Kevin Tong represents perfectly what I was talking about in my last blog post, His work is amazing it is technically incredible the problem is that the prints are completely unrelated to the bands and there music, if I saw the last image without the text I'd think it would much better for heavier band such as The Mars Volta rather than folk music like Bon Iver.


He also does these videos that show his process which I think are really interesting especially the way he uses traditional and digital media together and is something I intend to try and use in this module.

Applied Illustration Music and Gig Posters Contextual Research

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I've started doing research into music and gig posters and quickly realised this is where I want to go with my project I think this is much more relevant to my practice and the final pieces for this module will go in my portfolio, plus this will give me more of a reason to explore screen print where as with my last idea it felt like I was trying to force it on the project and it wasn't really appropriate. I do want to take forward the level of detail i had on the character illustrations though. One of the things I've quickly realised when looking at band poster illustrations is that they are usually very technically proficient yet almost all the time they reflect nothing of the band and there music and this is something I want to change with my work, I want to make posters that really reflect the band and has strong narrative elements.

Applied Illustration Developed Tolkien Pieces

I started to develop some character pieces as a test run for my final piece idea and I quickly realised it didn't really work and I wasn't enjoying it which would not bode well for a long project. The problems stem from that it was very hard to make the work unique and not just derivative and lacked a unique tone of voice as subconsciously I was just drawing the The Lord of the Rings from the films. So I've decided to move away from this idea as I feel if I try and carry it on I'm just going to get stuck in a rut and I'd just end up changing the idea at a later date.

16/02/2015

Applied Illustration Tolkien Research

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Applied Illustration Character and Narrative Contextual Research

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For my initial research I looked at Kris Anka's illustrations of the new Marvel Now costumes each of the characters got, I think what really makes these work is the format which gives them all a unified look and is definitely something I want to incorporate into my own work for this module. Though these images are personal work and are only made as a warm p for his usual work which I think shows as they're quite sketchy and aren't finished to a high quality.

the next person I looked at was Mike Mitchell who did these pop culture portraits for Mondo. I think these portraits are interesting though they do get a little bit dull as there isn't very much variation between the portraits though they are very technically competent. the last person I looked at is Olly Moss, I looked at his silhouettes gallery show he did and I really liked the way he played with the format for the show and the way it was laid out creating contrast between the sizes of the pieces.

Applied Illustration Idea Change

Initially I was planning on doing publishing and book design but I have quickly become board with this and what to do something different for this module at this point I'm thinking of doing character based work instead. I've already decided I specifically want to work with Tolkien's books it's just a matter of what I'm going to do with them at this point.

My initial Idea at this point is to do lots of different character illustrations for Tolkiens characters from The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Children of Hurin, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I want to really play with the scale of these pieces as well by doing them on different sized paper and really highlight the difference in size say between a hobbit and Smaug. I don't think the actual finished illustrations will be my final piece I think my outcome would be almost a gallery space where people would follow a map almost showing the relations between the characters and would contain information about who they are and what they did. I want to keep all the designs uniform in some way though I'm not really sure how I'm gong to do that at this point.

Applied Illustration Harry Potter Covers Contextual Research




I really liked these covers I found by Raxenne Maniquez, I think they work really well tonally for the series. Though I definitely think the brighter covers work  much better than the darker colours though they are probably more appropriate for there books, my favourite is definitely the blue Goblet of Fire cover I think thats the cover where the idea really comes together and is most effective. I really like the idea of doing some repeated patterns for my book covers this project maybe as the inside page illustration.

Applied Illustration Farenheit 451 Cover Contextual Research


I think this is probably my favourite book cover ever, I think this design is genius. it's so unique and clever but it's also unique and the designer has shown great restraint by keeping the design this simple and not over doing it. The design is by Elizabeth Perez, I looked at her other wrk but I just didn't think it was as clever or as subdued as this cover.

Applied Illustration Publishing and Book Design Initial Research

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Initially for this module I started looking at publishing and book design as it's something I've always been interested in due to the way they convey a narrative or piece of the narrative in one image like a film poster but they are much more open and less restricted than working on film posters as usually there isn't a strict set of visual guidelines to keep to as books are completely open to people interpretation.

Responsive Off the Page Brief Analysis

The Problems identified by the brief...

The brief is to make a poster to promote our upcoming show at Colours May Vary and to get the general public to be interested and come along.

What is the brief asking you to do?

The brief is asking me to create a poster at A3 that could also be used as a flyer at A6 to promote the show.

What are they trying to achieve?

They are trying to achieve a greater publicity for our show, We also want to communicate that the prints are based on books but are also traditionally printed.

Who is the audience?

The general public as they are the ones we are trying to get to come and see the show.


Responsive Little White Lies Brief Analysis

The problems identified by the brief...

The brief wants you to create a piece of work based on your favourite scene from the tv show "Breaking Bad" these pieces if successful will be shown in a gallery in London so this is something to bear in mind when designing the piece.

What is the brief asking you to do?

Create one piece of artwork based on your favourite scene from Breaking Bad at the dimensions... "Portrait 400mm (width) x 574mm (height) —  Hi-res version at 300dpi RGB format — Low-res (.jpeg) viewing version at 72dpi RGB at 1200px wide."

What are they trying to achieve?
They want some work to exhibit alongside Ralph Steadman's illustrations for the steelbook blu ray covers that will be exhibited in london.

Who is the audience?
Well realistically Ralph Steadman is the audience as he is the one judging the work but to a different extent it's aimed at fans of the show. But there isn't one main audience the images are aimed at.

Why I chose this brief?
I chose this brief because I think it fits in well with my practice at the moment and I really enjoy doing work on pop culture, I'd also really like to exhibit work in London which I think would be a really good experience at this point. I also in the future see Little White Lies magazine being somewhere where my work is featured and it would be good to get a foot in the door early.





Responsive Syfy Brief Analysis

The problems with the brief...

The main problem is that the Syfy brand is having trouble getting customers who already know about the channel to watch it due to years where they have been focusing less on science fiction tv programs, and focusing more on making original films which were lacklustre such as "sharknado". They wan't you to return the focus to the original mandate of the channel and focus on getting Sci-fi fans to watch the channel.

What is the brief asking you to do?

The brief is very open and is asking for any kind of product to promote the Syfy channel this can range from an App to a series of posters. They want you to communicate there love of "great story-telling" and to communicate that the channel is the home of science fiction on tv.

What are they trying to achieve?

The Syfy channel is trying to return it's image to what it used to be when it was first airing programs such as "Battlestar Galactica" and with this raise there "disappointing" viewing figures. I think one of the main things they want to do with this brief is to entice people who already know about the channel and are not trying to get a general audience to watch the channel so it's very much aimed at science fiction fans.

Who is the audience?

"18-25 year old sci-fi fans"

Why I chose the brief...

I chose the brief as I feel like this is a brief that I can really excel at, and possibly be in with a good chance of wining. I feel my tone of voice for my work will work well with this brief and I also have been a long time science fiction fan so I am essentially their target market which means I'll have an extra insight into what they want to see.

Responsive Scott Pilgrim Poster


This was my poster for the Hyde Park Picture House Scott Pilgrim poster brief, unfortunately around the time of submission I was ill so I didn't end up getting to finish and submit my piece. Each coloured square would have contained one of the evil exes from the film and the text was by no means final, but I was really happy with the way this poster was heading and I think it would have been a really strong entry if i managed to get it finished. I think this has been a really good learning experience due to having realistic expectations of what I can produce in the set time and as this was a very short brief I think I was overly ambitious with what I could achieve in the time.