Week 5

• Self promotion work in progress
• Designing self promotion piece and finding art directors' addresses 
• Visiting the New Forest (life drawing and observation sketches)
• Creative CV workshop
• Media experiments
• Image thumbnail ideas

Self Promotional WIP

Last week I have been thinking a lot about how I want my piece of self promotion to look like. After the work in progress with Jonny and Pete, I have changed my mind about the concertina look and decided on an open book-like effect that will open up with folded pages containing my images. I've changed some of the initial images I was going to use in it as well as they varied little in composition. I have created a logo using one of my tarot cards as a device and have included my contact details at the bottom as Pete had suggested.

I've also ordered some custom-made stickers to seal the booklet and will be posting it as is.
I have also decided that my aim will be for children's books publishers, though I would like to branch out from this in the future, I think that will be my starting point. Therefore I went into Waterstones at the weekend and browsed through all the children's picture books and with any that caught my eye or peaked my interest, I made a note of the publisher's name. I will be aiming to send to smaller publishers at first as there is more likelihood of being picked up and to a couple of agencies as well.
I think I will hold back from sending one to Macmillan for now as I will be entering their children's picture book prize in April!

Further Character Sketches and Compositional Thumbnails

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making an A3 sketchbook with assorted papers in order to experiment with working on different types of paper.

I have also been continuing with designing the characters as shown below this time focusing on the Raven who helps Gerda on her journey and Kai. It's quite challenging but fun trying to make a raven look friendly and brave! as they are usually omens of death.

With my composition sketches I want some images with colour bleeding off the edges, alternating with images that have more white space, close-ups of characters and then more landscape focused images. As this will help to keep the book lively and engaging.

The Raven character designs, Selina Quach, 2014

Kai character designs, Selina Quach, 2014

On top of that, I have been continuing to draw ideas for images, varying compositions/subject matter.

The Snow Queen compositional thumbnails, Selina Quach, 2014

Self Promotional Launch

Yesterday afternoon I attended the Self Promotional Launch where we basically have to produce something to promote yourself and send it out to 5 chosen art directors within two weeks. It has to be eye catching and not easily forgotten, yet at the same time practical to make in bulk.
   At the moment I have a rough idea of creating a small possibly A6 concertina book as this will work well with my hand made drawings. The back will then feature my name and contact details etc.
  As far as which illustrations to feature, I know there will be a minimum of 5 but I need to compile some that will flow and work as a set. So far I think I will include these illustrations, but I will carry on producing images for FMP and see what I have at the end of this week before the work in progress on Monday. I may also include some individual character designs so that there is more variety.

Work In Progress with Jonny

Yesterday morning we had a work in progress meeting with Jonny where we had to show what work we'd done so far. He gave me some pretty helpful advice the most important of which was to stick to working in a sketchbook as my drawings seem more relaxed there. This was discovered in my Negotiated Study project as well but I thought to try and draw some things outside of it as I had been told before that my images seemed to be bursting from my sketchbook. However, I think I will be sticking with working in a sketchbook as I definitely produce better work this way.

He also mentioned that the paintings below were the more successful ones. I have not yet decided exactly which style I want to go for yet but I know that a realistic look will be most suited to the way I work. This week I aim to experiment further with using the water colour pencil effect and gouache as these materials are working quite well.


 

Week 4

• Work in progress meeting
• Self promotional launch
• Design self promotion piece
• Make a sketchbook with mixed paper to work in
• Alumni talks
• Continuing with media experiments and compositional drawings. Start thinking about how I want my images to be laid out alongside text.

Character Designs and Breaking Into The Story

This week I have been sketching designs for the different characters in the Snow Queen. To do this, I have been looking at the time and place the story was set in, the kind of clothes they would each wear, their traits and personalities as well as symbolism throughout the story. As shown in the images below, I've created a mood board filled with images that will inspire me in the creation of the character the Snow Queen, ranging from snowy scenic landscapes to patterned white lace. Meanwhile I've also continued with media experiments.

The Snow Queen character research and design, Selina Quach

The Snow Queen character research and design, Selina Quach

I find it easier to create character designs by drawing the character in a certain scene or doing something related to the story, therefore that is how I went about developing ideas.

The Snow Queen is an isolated figure who according to Kai's old grandmother "never remains on earth, but flies up to the dark clouds". This has understandably given her a reputation as a frightening otherworldly creature. However she shows a lot more human emotions than her icy exterior suggests as she kidnaps Kai due to a mixture of selfishness and loneliness and a desire to fill the emptiness that is actually within her.
Appearance-wise she can be described as beautiful, regal, grand and graceful. She wears a dress that "appeared to be made of the finest white gauze". All of this inspired the illustration below. I have also found that gouache (which is the material used here) is quite successful in recreating the gauze-like effect.

The Snow Queen and Kai, Selina Quach

The Robber Girl is another interesting character that is more complex than you would first expect. Along Gerda's journey to find Kai, she is ambushed by the Robber family, including the Old Robber Woman who wants to eat Gerda. However the Robber Girl stops her, biting her mother's ear and proclaiming that Gerda will play with her, give her her muff and sleep in bed with her. Though she seems at first to be a selfish and willful young girl, she shows a kinder side to her nature when Gerda tells her story to her, and she decides to let Gerda go, even giving her Bae, the reindeer and her extra warm gloves.

The Robber Girl is described as having being "about the same size as Gerda but stronger; she had broader shoulders and a darker skin; her eyes were quite black, and she had a mournful look. There wasn't any information about her background but it would probably be quite rare at the time this book was set to have someone with dark skin in Northern Europe, and the fact that she travels around with her family reminded me of gypsies.

The Robber Girl character designs, Selina Quach

The Raven character design and another painting of Gerda, Selina Quach

Kai's change throughout the story as the shard effects his mind and personality,
Selina Quach

Compositional sketches for the first chapter, Selina Quach

Gerda and The Raven, Selina Quach

I began compositional sketches and the above is the first full painting of a scene from the story. It's helpful for me to paint scenes straight off I can then figure out what kind of materials/technique to use for the final book. I tried to bring across the colours of autumn as seasons is a strong theme. As the seasons change in the book I might change the colour palette accordingly.