Creative CV

Today I finished my creative CV. I wanted to keep it fairly simple and concise and clear enough read. I also added a few small drawings as finishing touches which I'm quite happy with as it shows I enjoy working traditionally and it contrasts with the text.

Group Work In Progress

This morning I had a group work in progress with Louise where I showed my second more finalised mock book. Although I am quite happy with it I felt that some of the pages were looking a bit empty and she agreed with me. So in the next couple of weeks I will be drawing some small illustrations to add onto the pages in order to make things a bit more exciting and in addition I will definitely be making the main images larger.
Here are some quick doodles in my dummy book that I did after the WIP, which may be used as extra illustrations.

We also spoke a little about how I am going to display my work for the degree show and I think I am going to go for old/vintage looking frames, as it is a traditional fairy tale and may go well with the paintings. I will probably put up original art work as I think it will be a nice feature to see the physical hand-made illustration next to the printed version.

Week 13

• Group Work in Progress with Louise
• Finishing creative CV
• Re-sizing page spreads on Indesign, test-printing etc.
• Buying book paper & cutting it to size
• The Pick Me Up Festival
• Creating title page

Gathering Ideas and Inspiration For Creative CV

Today I've begun to think of some ideas for my creative CV. I started off by looking at some examples of others' creative CVs to give me some inspiration. Here are a few that stood out to me the most:

I like how this has been laid out like a newspaper, making it
more fun and giving it a bit of context. Drawing little illustrations
for each of the different sections is also a nice idea as it gives you
a chance to show your style and that you can draw different things
which is always good!

I also like the idea of a limited colour palette as it
gives the overall CV a look of professionalism. The way
he has introduced himself is also quite fun and informal

Although I don't want to type a lot of text as the employer
might not read it all, I do like the colours used in this and
the patterned background. Compared to the two above this has
more of a hand-drawn feel which I think is because it is an
illustration CV instead. Mine will follow this route more
 as I focus on traditional media.

This is a nice and simple idea which I could pursue, with one illustration to the side.
The descriptions about the person are short, concise paragraphs that get straight to the point
which is what we were advised to make sure of during the workshop. Again, use of
limited colour is appealing.

Second Dummy Book & End Paper Design

The past few days, I've just been getting all my images done so far together and putting them on Indesign. Although I still have roughly three weeks left to make further changes, I feel like it would be a good idea just to formalise what I already have. This will be helpful for me to a) get used to Indesign and b) see how the overall book is looking so far and what I can do to improve it, which will coincide well for next week as I have a WIP on Tuesday. I've ordered the pages in the way that it have to be to sectionally bind it which was quite confusing with so many pages however it'll definitely be helpful to do a while in advance.

Second Mock Book

Second Mock Book (2)

I've also designed my end paper that I'll be using for my final book. This is from an image in my sketchbook that I drew for initial research. The simple pattern will make a nice contrast with the inner paintings.

Another illustration depicting the shadows/dreams in the Princess' palace. I prefer the shadows and wallpaper in this one as they are more delicately drawn. For the wallpaper I searched for 1800s patterns again for reference but chose a swirly design as it reminds me of the dream-like quality of this particular scene where Gerda is hurrying along the hallway and sees the magical "dream forms" of the people sleeping in the palace. 

The Snow Queen's palace - I wanted the palace to look like it was part of the landscape rather than just a palace on its own which I think I have done successfully. I'm happy with how the red looks here contrasted with the paleness of the entire image as it gives it a splash of life. This is to symbolise the stark difference between The Snow Queen and Gerda - the palace is cold and desolate (representing the Snow Queen) whilst Gerda, though just a small girl, represents all that is opposite to her - love, warmth and bravery.

Macmillan Roughs & Photoshop Experimentation

 Today I have mostly been preparing for the Macmillan competition as the deadline is soon. The brief is to submit roughs of a children's picture book from cover to cover (with some finished artwork as well), so I've been sketching out some would-be illustrations as pictured below. I have chosen my strongest images to be sent off as fully finished artwork, and I should have it all ready as one PDF by tomorrow!

It's been quite helpful/refreshing to do these actually as it's been a while since I last did a mock book, and now I can see all of my images (of which most of them will probably be the final illustrations) together. It's helped me to pick out which ones may not be needed or whether there should be another for a certain scene in order to make the story line more consistent/flow better.

Yesterday I've also been scanning in a lot of work and enhancing the images I've got on Photoshop, just to make some of them a bit brighter or more contrasted, ready for printing as a book. It's also helpful to just see things on a screen as it changes how you see the image, opening up more pathways for adapting and experimenting.

Week 12

• Further paintings and editing in Photoshop
• Producing roughs for the Macmillan competition
• Organise pages/place images on Indesign
• Create a second more finished mock book, ready for feedback on Tuesday's WIP

More Paintings and Taking Inspiration From Pinterest Board

As I've not been able to access some places to draw from life, unlike The New Forest for woodland scenes, people & architecture, I've instead gathered some images from my Pinterest board that I've been keeping to draw from and have as inspiration. 

For the images below for example I had to look up the Northern Lights for reference and igloos.

This was a painting produced earlier but I prefer the later one I did (below) as I feel it reflects the atmosphere (danger & mystique) of the situation better. The first one almost feels like there is too much going on, distracting from what is actually happening.

Gerda and Bae; to emphasise the joy and wonder they both feel at seeing the Northern lights, I did this as a double page spread so the scenery stands out as much as the characters.

This was again, not originally going to be one of the images in the book but I think it is quite successful as the characters being silhouettes creates more dramatic emphasis of the night. It is also quite different from my other paintings which is good as I want to vary them a bit.

Here I've begun small drawings that could be an addition to the pages of my final book. I like the idea of adding the toy soldiers in as although they aren't "alive" in the book there's a certain characteristic to them that makes you almost believe they are real (similar to Gerda in the story)

This idea for an image came from seeing a picture of a wisteria tree on Pinterest. They are quite unique trees and as the old lady's garden is full of wonderful and different flowers/plants as described in the story, I thought this was fitting. I depicted Gerda wondering through the beautiful wisteria flowers looking joyous but the tree that fills up most of the page and completely surrounds her, also represents how lost she is - physically far from home and mentally her thoughts are far from Kai and her original goal. Purple incidentally is also the colour symbolising magic.

Designing the Snow Queen's Palace

Today I've begun to sketch some ideas for the ice palace featured in the story. Although the words "ice palace" makes me imagine of many different ideas, I didn't want to just draw what I first came to me, so I started by drawing buildings from life including Winchester church which looked quite elaborate and grand, similar to what I had in mind for the ice palace. I also sketched some palaces from the 1800s.

Aside from drawing real buildings I did some study sketches of ice stalactites and icebergs; things made of ice that had a certain structure to them. I think icebergs are great for this as they are quite isolated yet grand to look at which is how the ice palace is portrayed as - it is a representation of the Snow Queen herself - as she is is also an isolated and beautiful figure.

I am going to use both within my design for the palace. 

Interpreting Scenes In Different Ways

Having another look at my timetable, the deadline seems to be coming up closer; although I still have 5 weeks to finish everything I still need to leave time to send my work off to be printed, then bind my book with Katherine. 

So this week has been another solid week painting. Even though some of these might not be used in my book, I painted some different interpretations as afterward I had thought of another idea for portraying a particular scene.

At first I painted the old lady with magic cropped in. I liked this version as it made the focus primarily on the hat which is poignant in the story. However, I felt it was lacking something, and it was quite difficult getting the head proportionate with the hat!

1. The Old Lady - I tried a full body illustration instead which I think works 

better as you get more of a sense of mystery with her 

cloak and her hat still stands out as I made the rest of the 

image quite simple in comparison. You are now able to see a contrast between the size of her hat and body.

2. Kai and Gerda - This was another try at depicting the scene at the very

beginning, which again I think is an improvement. It is meant to be polar opposite to the one with them looking through the window at each other, therefore I emphasised the sense of closeness and used brighter, vivid colours. Green and orange for their clothes are to symbolise youthfulness and cheerfulness. 

The Robber Girl - I feel like most of my images so far don't feature very many characters up close, which kind of detracts from the story a little. So I thought the entrance of the Robber Girl would be perfect to illustrate in this way as she is a very prominent character in the story in terms of personality. This scene is much busier/crowded than usual as it is a very action-packed description in the paragraph.

I've been keeping the symbolism of the moon throughout as well. Here the waxing moon was suitable for this moment as it represents growth - the Robber Girl's story is halfway through Gerda's journey and I think is the main stepping stone for when she is truly "grown up" at the end of the story. 

This is a scene that I hadn't thought to do before as it was not as obvious as others, but I quite like how it captures the suspense and mystery as Gerda is about to see whether it is truly Kai.

The two above are variations of Gerda when she is carried away by the boat. The first I like as it captures the movement and danger of the description. The other I am not sure about yet; it emphasises more her feeling of being lost and not knowing what to do - I do quite like the juxtaposition of the shoes but it may be too similar to other illustration compositions. That will be something I need to be careful of. 

In  the previous version of this painting the characters were depicted more closer to life, in this one they are more stylised. This is because I feel it gives the characters a bit more personality/quirkiness. I feel that children would then be able to identify with the characters more than if they were simply drawn true to life with every detail.

Week 11

• Painting different interpretations of the scenes
• Designing the Ice Palace
• More illustrations for book

Varying Angles and Working Looser

This week I have been focusing on producing more possible illustrations for my final book. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post I've begun creating images with the mindset working a bit more loosely and trying not to define objects or scenery depending on the image as much. I think this is making my images look a bit more impactful.

I have also been trying to vary the images so that some are more cropped in and others zoomed out with more of an emphasis on scenery.

I've been continuing with the quick composition ink paintings in my A3 book as well which has been aiding me in figuring out which layout would suit each illustration more.

Composition sketch I

Composition sketch II

Kai and Gerda Reunite, Selina Quach, 2014
I have continued the red symbolism in this image as love is obviously a strong theme here.

The Snow Queen's Kiss, Selina Quach, 2014

Here I tried zooming in which I think has worked well given the context. Their expressions are a key factor as well and I wanted to emphasise this by cropping in.

No Rest or Peace in her Eyes, Selina Quach, 2014

I worked on top of the original image (but kept the original in digital format - (the great thing with gouache is you can always alter with a bit of water whenever you need to!) to make her appear more surreal which I definitely prefer.

The Prince and Princess' bedroom, Selina Quach, 2014

I worked in more detail as opposed to loosely here as I felt it suited the lavish scene of the royal bedroom. Again, trying to vary the angle of the image

More Artist Inspiration

Easter has just started and the beginning of this week I have just been continuing to paint scenes. Additionally, I have found it helpful to look back at a few different artists for inspiration and motivation. These have included:

Angela Barrett -

The Night Before Christmas - Angela Barrett

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy -
Angela Barrett

The compositions in her illustrations are always inspiring and makes me want to go out of my comfort zone and be more experimental with mine. I love the mood and atmosphere she manages to portray in her images as well.

Yoshitaka Amano - 

Yoshitaka Amano

Yoshitaka Amano

Again, Amano's composition and the contrasting shapes/colours have been influential, particularly in illustrating the Snow Queen character. Her tall, grand figure dramatically contrasts Kai's much smaller figure which I emphasised in the painting below.

The Snow Queen and Kai on the Sledge, Selina Quach, 2014
Although red is the symbolic colour that ties Kai and Gerda together - meaning love - it can also represent other themes, such as danger. Here the red scarf indicates the latter more.

Audrey Beardsley's work is similar in that she uses a lot of striking figures and simple, effective curving lines which have also been an influence on me.

A Suggested Reform in Ballet Costume - Audrey Beardsley

The Peacock Skirt, Audrey Beardsley, 1983

Week 10

• Looking at more artists for inspiration 
• Continuing to paint
• Cropping/zooming in on images

Formative Assessment

Today I attended my formative assessment with Jonny and Louise to see how I am going with this project. They seemed quite pleased with what I have been producing so far and their pointers have given me a clearer idea of the few weeks of Easter holidays ahead.

Below are some of the things we discussed:
Possibly adding a content page and to keep the writing aligned to the left for easier reading. The image below would work well as one with just a tree on one side for a contents page, or possibly as a title page.

After speaking to Louise on Tuesday I had gone back and repainted the image of the Snow Queen and Kai, to make the Snow Queen appear less substantial which we agreed looked better and made a more  impacting image. Another point that was mentioned was that the loose brush marks along the edges of some of my paintings could be left like that for my final book illustrations. I do quite like the contrast between that and the more detailed main image. I will be doing this for the rest of my paintings so that it is still an option after I've finished and begin to put the book together.

Some of the stronger elements in my smaller paintings such as the one below to the right is due to the variation of marks, ie. some larger ink marks with smaller detailed marks. In future paintings my aim will be to try and continue doing this.

I've found that with paintings that are entirely detailed can look slightly overwhelming such as the girl in the woods image.

As the story is very long I may make the text smaller so that I can fit more of the story on fewer pages as some of my paintings will definitely work better as landscapes on their own. Some of the pages could also have an extra, small illustration coming up from the bottom of the page etc. 

I went to ask Katherine about binding a book and now have a clearer idea of how I should be laying things out. However, my priority at the moment will be to produce as many paintings as I can before I start planning out anything.

Creating a Dummy Book & A Timetable Update

The past couple days I have been making a dummy book in order to give myself a clearer idea of how my final book could look. I inserted some current illustrations that I may use for final images and the ones that I have yet to paint I sketched how it might look. 

This has helped me to see what kind of images would look good with each piece of text, whether the text actually suits the image and to see whether the story is flowing well or not. I have made further adjustments to some of the paragraphs subsequently.

It also helped me to see that the landscape paintings aren't going to work on a portrait book so I'll be making a square book. This means I can use a variation of different size illustrations without it clashing.

I have also planned and outlined the next several weeks as Easter is coming up, and this will be a chance to concentrate solely on producing as much work as possible!