PDP Presentation

I have taken this opportunity to talk about my final PD Presentation of Level 5. This presentation was based around how I have used my blog, if it has helped me?  Allowed me to look at other artist? Or has been a bit of second thought in my work. Well I felt the presentation went very successfully and feel I am growing in confidence in doing presentation and talking about my work and my working method as well as who has influenced me?

I also had to have produced a hard copy of my portfolio over Level 4 & Level 5... about 8x or 9x Images

I felt that Ben Jones help was very usual because I am still learning about my working style and how to be critical about what work is good and what work isn't as strong as others? So showing a variety of my work to Ben it really allowed me to talk about some of my favorite piece that I feel about showing my work in a strong portfolio  it also showed me how important a strong portfolio is and how it can be the difference from getting work and not getting work?.

These are some of my portfolio Images ( If you wish to see it all it is located in my studio, just come and ask me).

Meeting with the Author

Never Endings By Sian Burns 
Was the story I was given in regards to the content and what my tutor felt I could most benefit working on... the story itself taking not long one reading but a couple to understand the content, the plot, and he final build up, what most of these story have in common is that they don't give the plot away straight away, you have to guess and make up your own conclusion about the characters which is very interesting for an illustrator, but also presents challenges because I don't want to illustrate something that is totally different from the story. The illustrations are their to intise the reader, make the reader want to read what the story is like, based on what I have illustrated... Very exciting stuff.

I think I read the story about 6 times and thought I understood the plot and the final outcome, but when meeting up with Sian the Author that wasn't the case. But it make the connects between me and the Sian that much more interesting because of the different ideas I have come up with based on the story, and the ideas she had about how she imagined eg Jared and Emily to look like....
She made me feel very confident about my ideas and enjoy talking to her very much.
By doing this brief it has developed my communication skills, and how to explain my work to others, and the benefits of what it is I do. :D

8x8 Visualizing Fiction

This finally brief before the end on second year is based on an annual collaborative project with the creative writing students from MMU and our course was established 4 years ago. It sees a number of original short stories, illustrated by us and brought together in  a publication, which will be launched later in the year at a ‘Flash Fiction’event.

The publication should be stylish, intriguing, desirable  and should appeal to readers of contemporary literature, writers, publishers, family and friends. You will also be involved in it’s launch at the start of the next academic year and stimulate sales.

I decided this brief was more suited to my type of working method, because I have notice throughout this year I tent to enjoy a lot of control and creating a lot of characters and creating humors and playful narrives.

Nerve Endings by Sian Burns was the story I was given. After reading the story over a couple of times I started to create more illustration that I felt where relevant in the screen, but I don't feel I quite understand the pole of the hole story so I think it will be very interesting to meet the Author and show her what Iv been working on? and for her to answer a couple of questions regarding the plot of the plot?

This illustrator was reference for my work, I felt his work is very effective and allows me to look at this work for influence and a bit of an insight into maybe what the 8x 8x members are looking for? 

Look that his blog, its amazing...

http://rhodespeter.blogspot.co.uk/

Easter Break... Wind in the Willows

Taking onboard my tutors comments on improving my book cover, I looked back at the story it originated from. Tode being in prison and allowing to escape because a poor washer women felt sorry for him... This story I felt would be a very impressive continuation of the book cover.
These are some screen shots of my sketchbook development.

Tode in a the Washer women Dress      
Prison Gate to allow him to escape/ next to the gate would be the text

With these knew ideas I started to combine them into photoshop and allow the story to flow thought the spread and I felt the text really made it into an effective bookcover.
Any improvements that I would make would be to look back at the bricks in the front cover and link them more effectively together and also work on the typeface I feel it gets lost a bit in the background but to translate the cutting effect of the text into the bricks it has to be on a more larger scale.

Illustrations that Move.. Animation

Animating has never been one of my favourite techniques and I have always said I never wanted my work to be animated. But in the further and in regards to collaboration with other art and designer or animators I need to learn and see how this my work can be translated into an animation..

The most challenging part of the design process was how much I wanted to animate and understanding the program software..

This is one of my practice idea... I didnt keep the moving train I felt it was so much, and with other elements it complicated the animation.

Changing the process and adapting different technique into my final looping image I felt this piece was the most successful animation I have produced, with more practise I believe I can produce more professional animations.

Creative Film Review: Warwick Davis- The Seven Dwarves of Auschwitz.

Episode 1: Perspectives- Warwick Davis- The Seven Dwarves of Auschwitz.
10.00pm. Sunday 24 March 2013

Actor Warwick Davis undertakes a poignant journey to explore the miraculous story of the Ovitz family, seven Jewish dwarf performers who survived against all the odds during the Second World War in this second programme of the Perspectives arts strand on ITV.



“They inspired me in the sense they were just very good at what they did. but the inspiration goes beyond that into the fact they survived what they did, and endured it.

“I went to Auschwitz, to Birkenau, and stood in places they stood and saw things they saw, and remembered a testimony from them about looking in a certain direction and seeing what they saw. It was very powerful, and really moving

Perla Ovitz talks of their torture at the hands of Mengele:

“He took blood, pulled out good teeth.  Look how many gold teeth I have.  I had nothing to eat with.  He did it to all of us.  He pulled our hair and eyelashes out to see if they were the same as tall people’s.”

About 100 dwarfs were killed in Auschwitz.  So being short wasn't going to be enough to save the Ovitzes.  To buy more time, they’d have to use another of their assets; their performing talents, to avoid being taken to the gas chambers.

The Ovitzes’ nightmare ended in January 1945.  Eight months after they’d arrived at Auschwitz, the camp was liberated.  Along with most of the other SS officers, Mengele had already fled, taking his research with him.  The dwarfs were transported away by cart, and arrived back in their village a year later.

I have seen so many documentaries about the terrible extermination at Auschwitz and to be their and walk in the foot steps as them was probably the most heart breaking experience of my life, and something that I will never forget. So to watch this documentary as a just as important, and I felt I could relate to him so much, because I have been their and felt what he is feeling, and how angry and terrifying it would of been. 

What I have taken from the experience it to never forget about our history and how important it is to never ever let that happen again.

Website:

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/perspectives/

Illustrations that Move... AGE UK

Following our knew projects for AGE UK. We were asked to create 1x War Time Pattern 1x Buildings Pattern for Age Uk Pack... this will also have a moving image and calling cards, this new brief allowed me to us my knew skills and generate effective pattern rubbings that translate the building I am illustrating and also the atmosphere of war time in the pattern.
I choose this brief because I have always said I never wanted to work with animation and I didn't want any of my work animated... but this brief allowed me the oppounity to explore different methods of working as an illustrator and the more information and skills I develop the better my work will be..
These are some of my final outcomes as pattern samples. I choce to do rubbings because it generates a more harshness and translating buildings into the pattern allowed me to think of the subject matter in a lot more detail.

Within the brief we were asked to do an illustration of an iconic building... the building that was given was the Hat Museum.. originally a hat factory jouring the war.... This building illustration will be placed as a calling card to remind people that go to AGE UK about the history or stockport and the building itself.

The concept of the hat museum was exciting to work with, in regards to the subject it was making.. hats.

I combined the building and the writing HAT MUSUEM on the tower... I wanted to incorporate the hats into the building, creating humour and excitement and to be just playful and illustrative with the brief.

This is the final outcome... I felt the piece was very successful and really translated the importance of the building.