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.