Saturday, 2 May 2015
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
14 // Illustrating Meg
With my work for CAP complete, I felt ready to take my skills into Creative Research and pick up where I left off, intending to illustrate some key scenes from the Meg novel.
As mentioned earlier, time was not on my side and I found that the deadline had nearly crept up on me, despite my attempts at careful time management. Balancing family time with heavy workloads from multiple University projects is quite difficult and leads to a very intense period of time (featuring many all-nighters and very little time off to relax). That combined with living in Edinburgh meant that attending class in Dundee would have to take a bit of a backseat, due to excessive travel costs and time.
Nevertheless, I quickly re-assessed my situation and came to the conclusion that I would have just enough time to produce a single finished illustration, while still having a little time left to finish updating this blog and type any required essays for the course.
I'm disappointed that I was left with only enough time for one picture, as I had big plans and ideas for all the others. Despite this, I chose a scene that would allow me to put some of my new skills in composition and narrative to the test.
Maggie's death scene in the story is nothing short of brilliant; she's a fairly unlikeable character from the outset, who meets a gruesome end at the jaws of the Megalodon shark. Her demise is witnessed by her lover (who I'm fairly certain she was just using, for her own gain) who subsequently goes a bit crazy for revenge.
This scene appealed to me for various reasons; firstly that I nearly cheered at Maggie's death, it was so satisfying; secondly that there is a great opportunity for a narrative-based composition guiding the viewer around the composition; thirdly, the visuals that sprang to my mind when reading (and re-reading) the scene meant I already had a few ideas from which to base my preliminary sketches.
In these images you can see how my new workflow allowed me to move swiftly through several phases of the illustrative process, before resulting in a completed image.
This entire process took a fraction of the time it used to for me, plus since I had spent adequate amounts of time experimenting with various alternatives at each stage (which you can't see here, I've only shared the successful iterations) I found myself being far more prepared for the final illustration, which in turn ensured everything went relatively smoothly.
This new workflow I use is as a result of continuous drawing, researching and experimenting throughout CAP. Although my work is far from being of a caliber that I'm happy with, I would say that I'm now better prepared to take on projects of a larger scale than before. Also, I can see clearly which areas of my work need the most refinement.
My composition for this image is based on thirds. I placed the narrative elements diagonally upon thirds cross-points before thinking about how applying different values to each element would affect the depth and increase the scale of the action. I also planned a lighting strategy here, using direct-lighting within the art-style to present a trail of action that would lead the viewer through the story. It's worth mentioning that during the early sketch stages I had also been thinking about how using diagonals and curves throughout the composition would benefit the narrative "trail" and keep the viewer within the piece.
To summarise this post, I would say that I'm 75% with the outcome of this single illustration; it put a lot of my skills to the test and I think I took o the challenge confidently, producing a relatively satisfactory result. However, looking at it now, I can see several areas that would benefit from re-working. I also think the art style could be changed up slightly to make it a bit more graphic.
If time hadn't been such an issue for me, I would love to go back and refine this piece before moving onto illustrating some of the others, but it is as it is, and I must move on to wrapping this project up.
As mentioned earlier, time was not on my side and I found that the deadline had nearly crept up on me, despite my attempts at careful time management. Balancing family time with heavy workloads from multiple University projects is quite difficult and leads to a very intense period of time (featuring many all-nighters and very little time off to relax). That combined with living in Edinburgh meant that attending class in Dundee would have to take a bit of a backseat, due to excessive travel costs and time.
Nevertheless, I quickly re-assessed my situation and came to the conclusion that I would have just enough time to produce a single finished illustration, while still having a little time left to finish updating this blog and type any required essays for the course.
I'm disappointed that I was left with only enough time for one picture, as I had big plans and ideas for all the others. Despite this, I chose a scene that would allow me to put some of my new skills in composition and narrative to the test.
Maggie's death scene in the story is nothing short of brilliant; she's a fairly unlikeable character from the outset, who meets a gruesome end at the jaws of the Megalodon shark. Her demise is witnessed by her lover (who I'm fairly certain she was just using, for her own gain) who subsequently goes a bit crazy for revenge.
This scene appealed to me for various reasons; firstly that I nearly cheered at Maggie's death, it was so satisfying; secondly that there is a great opportunity for a narrative-based composition guiding the viewer around the composition; thirdly, the visuals that sprang to my mind when reading (and re-reading) the scene meant I already had a few ideas from which to base my preliminary sketches.
In these images you can see how my new workflow allowed me to move swiftly through several phases of the illustrative process, before resulting in a completed image.
This entire process took a fraction of the time it used to for me, plus since I had spent adequate amounts of time experimenting with various alternatives at each stage (which you can't see here, I've only shared the successful iterations) I found myself being far more prepared for the final illustration, which in turn ensured everything went relatively smoothly.
This new workflow I use is as a result of continuous drawing, researching and experimenting throughout CAP. Although my work is far from being of a caliber that I'm happy with, I would say that I'm now better prepared to take on projects of a larger scale than before. Also, I can see clearly which areas of my work need the most refinement.
My composition for this image is based on thirds. I placed the narrative elements diagonally upon thirds cross-points before thinking about how applying different values to each element would affect the depth and increase the scale of the action. I also planned a lighting strategy here, using direct-lighting within the art-style to present a trail of action that would lead the viewer through the story. It's worth mentioning that during the early sketch stages I had also been thinking about how using diagonals and curves throughout the composition would benefit the narrative "trail" and keep the viewer within the piece.
To summarise this post, I would say that I'm 75% with the outcome of this single illustration; it put a lot of my skills to the test and I think I took o the challenge confidently, producing a relatively satisfactory result. However, looking at it now, I can see several areas that would benefit from re-working. I also think the art style could be changed up slightly to make it a bit more graphic.
If time hadn't been such an issue for me, I would love to go back and refine this piece before moving onto illustrating some of the others, but it is as it is, and I must move on to wrapping this project up.
13 // Progressive Developments
It's been quite a while since my last update on this blog; this term has been very intense, what with having a newborn kid to integrate into my life. Despite thinking I had everything under control for a while, life has a funny habit of being very unpredictable and threw my plans for this project into disarray. However, out of the chaos, I managed to salvage this project and bring it to some form of completion - albeit a very slimmed down version of what I initially predicted.
In these following posts I'll be summarising my developments since the last planning stages I spoke about, and give some insight into the steps I took to get to my current position.
From the very start of this project I'd known that Creative Research would be progressing hand-in-hand with the development of my skills via Computer Arts Practice. I intended to use that class to study and gain skills that would in turn allow me to produce illustrations for Creative Research.
1st term Computer Arts saw my focus turning to environments, while 2nd term was all about character design and evolving my skills in illustrative techniques, while still paying attention to studies into composition. I took the time to experiment with several different techniques in areas such as sketching, linework, narrative-based composition and final presentable art. The skills I gained from my endeavors would serve me in producing the final pieces of work for my Creative Research illustrations.
I'll share a few examples of the work I produced for the CAP class, which should hopefully show how my artwork has progressed in a number of areas from idea generation to final output:
My main priority for the CAP 2nd term project was to develop and refine my existing workflow for character-based art and hopefully learn some new tricks along the way. Now that the project is complete and I can look back upon my development, I feel as if I was successful in this.
Anatomy and style are two of the main features within my artwork, so they require constant practice and refinement. Going into 2nd term, I was pretty confident that my skills were sufficient enough in these areas that I had a good headstart and would be able to spend a bit more time focusing on different areas such as composition and flow. Hopefully this selection of images will give an idea of how my technique became more refined during the 2nd term.
In these following posts I'll be summarising my developments since the last planning stages I spoke about, and give some insight into the steps I took to get to my current position.
From the very start of this project I'd known that Creative Research would be progressing hand-in-hand with the development of my skills via Computer Arts Practice. I intended to use that class to study and gain skills that would in turn allow me to produce illustrations for Creative Research.
1st term Computer Arts saw my focus turning to environments, while 2nd term was all about character design and evolving my skills in illustrative techniques, while still paying attention to studies into composition. I took the time to experiment with several different techniques in areas such as sketching, linework, narrative-based composition and final presentable art. The skills I gained from my endeavors would serve me in producing the final pieces of work for my Creative Research illustrations.
I'll share a few examples of the work I produced for the CAP class, which should hopefully show how my artwork has progressed in a number of areas from idea generation to final output:
My main priority for the CAP 2nd term project was to develop and refine my existing workflow for character-based art and hopefully learn some new tricks along the way. Now that the project is complete and I can look back upon my development, I feel as if I was successful in this.
Anatomy and style are two of the main features within my artwork, so they require constant practice and refinement. Going into 2nd term, I was pretty confident that my skills were sufficient enough in these areas that I had a good headstart and would be able to spend a bit more time focusing on different areas such as composition and flow. Hopefully this selection of images will give an idea of how my technique became more refined during the 2nd term.
Monday, 9 February 2015
12 // Early Development - Scale Reference Sketches
I took a bit of time this week to do some research and produce a couple of sketches that should give an idea as to the scale of a Megaladon shark in comparison to the Great White, and also humans. This is just the start of my visual research of the Megaladon, and should help me to when it comes to thumbnailing dynamic and dramatic compositions, while staying true to the information we have on these prehistoric monsters
.
Monday, 26 January 2015
11 // Building the Brief... Update - part 2
In the brief period since my last post, I've decided that presenting the 10 full-scale illustrations is the best option for this project. I spent some time narrowing the 25 scenes down to a manageable 10:
1 // page 89;
Entering the submersibles for the first underwater exploration mission down to the Mariana Trench.
2 // page 113;
The larger female Meg kills it's mate (who has killed D.J Tanaka within his sub) - Jonas witnesses from within his submersible.
3 // page 118;
The mauled carcass of the male Meg is lifted by the Kiku's winch, breaching the surface of the water.
4 // page 171;
The Meg leaps from the water to attack Jonas and Mac, hovering above the ocean in Mac's helicopter.
5 // page 243;
The Meg kills Maggie - her partner Bud witnesses.
6 // page 273;
Jonas says goodbye to Terry Tanaka before boarding the submersible for the final confrontation.
7 // page 314;
Jonas guns the AG1 into Meg's open mouth.
8 // page 317;
Jonas is inside the AG1, within Meg's stomach.
9 // page 328;
Jonas attacks Meg's heart, trying to sever the cord/tube.
10 // page 335;
Jonas in the AG1 floats free of Meg's sinking corpse, emerging from her mouth to float towards the surface.
Now that I've decided upon the scenes, of which I already have some ideas for, it's time to start thumbnailing some compositions and designing characters.
1 // page 89;
Entering the submersibles for the first underwater exploration mission down to the Mariana Trench.
2 // page 113;
The larger female Meg kills it's mate (who has killed D.J Tanaka within his sub) - Jonas witnesses from within his submersible.
3 // page 118;
The mauled carcass of the male Meg is lifted by the Kiku's winch, breaching the surface of the water.
4 // page 171;
The Meg leaps from the water to attack Jonas and Mac, hovering above the ocean in Mac's helicopter.
5 // page 243;
The Meg kills Maggie - her partner Bud witnesses.
6 // page 273;
Jonas says goodbye to Terry Tanaka before boarding the submersible for the final confrontation.
7 // page 314;
Jonas guns the AG1 into Meg's open mouth.
8 // page 317;
Jonas is inside the AG1, within Meg's stomach.
9 // page 328;
Jonas attacks Meg's heart, trying to sever the cord/tube.
10 // page 335;
Jonas in the AG1 floats free of Meg's sinking corpse, emerging from her mouth to float towards the surface.
Now that I've decided upon the scenes, of which I already have some ideas for, it's time to start thumbnailing some compositions and designing characters.
10 // Building the Brief... Update
Since last week's post, I've finished the Meg novel and have marked out several scenes that I'd like to illustrate for this project. I've picked out quite a few that were visually dramatic, and several that were more narrative driven, allowing for more complicated compositions featuring multiple characters. Now it's time to narrow them down to no more than 10, before I decide on how many I can realistically expect to produce in time for the deadline.
I'd like to treat the illustrations as if I had been commissioned to illustrate the novel's key scenes. Therefore I should focus on picking scenes that are spaced relatively evenly throughout the story, as well as being the most visually dynamic/dramatic moments I can find. Besides that, I wish to present illustrations featuring the main character Jonas Taylor in a variety of situations, as well as depicting his dynamics with other characters from the plot such as his wife Maggie, the love-interest Terry Tanaka (female), or his old friend Mac.
Currently I have 25 possible scenes that I feel should be illustrated. They form a cohesive structure, following the storyline and picking out all of the key moments required to tell the story, based on illustration alone. However, I feel like some of the scenes are too tightly packed - particularly in the action-packed sections of the book - so I will have to think of a way to reduce this number, without losing important information.
This has gotten me thinking: should I change the output format of my illustrations into something more like a comic-book? By presenting several images upon one page, I could get across all of the information relatively successfully, though at the expense of full size illustrations.
Or perhaps, rather than trying to encapsulate the story as a whole, should I simply select the scenes that I feel might present more visual interest to a viewer? If that is the case, then there will still be quite a few to choose from, but I think it might be a more successful way of going about this project. I think I would rather present full-size illustrations, as this will test my ability to present narrative-based compositions on a larger scale.
OK, I will ponder this dilemma over the next few days and come to a conclusion by the end of the week, by which point I hope to have reduced the number of possible illustrations substantially - if necessary - and begin the research and design phase.
I'd like to treat the illustrations as if I had been commissioned to illustrate the novel's key scenes. Therefore I should focus on picking scenes that are spaced relatively evenly throughout the story, as well as being the most visually dynamic/dramatic moments I can find. Besides that, I wish to present illustrations featuring the main character Jonas Taylor in a variety of situations, as well as depicting his dynamics with other characters from the plot such as his wife Maggie, the love-interest Terry Tanaka (female), or his old friend Mac.
Currently I have 25 possible scenes that I feel should be illustrated. They form a cohesive structure, following the storyline and picking out all of the key moments required to tell the story, based on illustration alone. However, I feel like some of the scenes are too tightly packed - particularly in the action-packed sections of the book - so I will have to think of a way to reduce this number, without losing important information.
This has gotten me thinking: should I change the output format of my illustrations into something more like a comic-book? By presenting several images upon one page, I could get across all of the information relatively successfully, though at the expense of full size illustrations.
Or perhaps, rather than trying to encapsulate the story as a whole, should I simply select the scenes that I feel might present more visual interest to a viewer? If that is the case, then there will still be quite a few to choose from, but I think it might be a more successful way of going about this project. I think I would rather present full-size illustrations, as this will test my ability to present narrative-based compositions on a larger scale.
OK, I will ponder this dilemma over the next few days and come to a conclusion by the end of the week, by which point I hope to have reduced the number of possible illustrations substantially - if necessary - and begin the research and design phase.
Monday, 19 January 2015
09 // Picking A Narrative and Building the Brief
I've finally decided on a narrative to base my project on... Meg; a novel by Steve Alten.
Meg tells the story of a Megalodon shark, thought extinct, who has survived for millions of years by living in the Mariana trench. After a series of events, the beast surfaces and so begins a series of encounters where the enormous shark wreaks havoc upon mankind. Well, that's more or less what happens.
This book caught my attention and stood out from others that I've read recently due to the storyteller's ability to present action-packed scenes with imaginative direction. As I read these scenes, I found my imagination conjuring up vivid visuals, catching all the action from a multitude of angles. It is this inspiration that I desperately needed in order to gain ground on this module, and I'm glad I found it!
I'm currently 75% of the way through the story, with intent to complete it this week, and have already marked out several scenes which I'd like to illustrate. I'll not only be focussing on the action scenes, but also some that portray a much calmer atmosphere; "calm before the storm" types of scenes.
So for the week ahead my plan is thus: complete the story and begin on a second read-through, with note-taking and thumbnailing; begin on character design, incorporating the visual style I intend to apply to the project.
This plan of action should ensure that my creativity continues to run fluidly, setting me at good pace for the rest of the illustrative process.
Meg tells the story of a Megalodon shark, thought extinct, who has survived for millions of years by living in the Mariana trench. After a series of events, the beast surfaces and so begins a series of encounters where the enormous shark wreaks havoc upon mankind. Well, that's more or less what happens.
This book caught my attention and stood out from others that I've read recently due to the storyteller's ability to present action-packed scenes with imaginative direction. As I read these scenes, I found my imagination conjuring up vivid visuals, catching all the action from a multitude of angles. It is this inspiration that I desperately needed in order to gain ground on this module, and I'm glad I found it!
I'm currently 75% of the way through the story, with intent to complete it this week, and have already marked out several scenes which I'd like to illustrate. I'll not only be focussing on the action scenes, but also some that portray a much calmer atmosphere; "calm before the storm" types of scenes.
So for the week ahead my plan is thus: complete the story and begin on a second read-through, with note-taking and thumbnailing; begin on character design, incorporating the visual style I intend to apply to the project.
This plan of action should ensure that my creativity continues to run fluidly, setting me at good pace for the rest of the illustrative process.
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
08 // Regurgitating a Post on Composition
In this post - as the title suggests - I'm going to repeat a brief study I made of composition within illustration, for last term's Computer Arts Practice module. By analysing a couple of - what I feel are - successful narrative-driven illustrations, I found myself picking up a couple of new techniques for use in my own work.
As I feel the study is just as relevant to this project, I will present the images again...
As I feel the study is just as relevant to this project, I will present the images again...
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