Designs for final presentation

Queen of Hearts

Aspects of the Queen of Hearts looked at:
- powerful, loud, extravagant



Bottom image referenced from




The Hatter

Aspects of The Hatter looked at:
- nonsensicle, eccentric, formal yet scruffily absent-minded



Top image referenced from

Duey Learns Ballet & artefact work

Kept forgetting to post over the past couple of weeks, but my client animation, Duey Learns Ballet, is on YouTube!



As for artefact work, here are some more finallised designs for Alice based off the feedback from the presentation.



And some designs for the Cheshire Cat.





Had a much tougher time with this. Trying to recreate the feeling of the Cheshire Cat while making him look as 'odd' as possible. I preferred the 'slinkier' look on the second set of designs, it makes him seem more sly like he can slip about here and here whenever he wants, which is what he does in the books. Whether this is agreed on remains to be seen.

Artefact 3 - the Child revisited

Quotes about the Jungian Child archetype:
"The mature personality of the Child archetype nurtures that part of us that yearns to be lighthearted and innocent, expecting the wonders of tomorrow, regardless of age." [source]

"Within each of us, the Innocent is the spontaneous, trusting child that, while a bit dependent, has the optimism to take the journey." [source]


The Designs
I'm branching off into two time periods from now on. Renaissance and modern day. So I'll start with the two designs I had based around those time periods.


(Click for larger versions)


The Question
Take a look at the two designs. Do these two characters look like how you would associate a Child archetype? If not, what would you suggest to alter their designs?
- colours?
- build?
- age?
- body language/expression?
- clothing?


Keep in mind that you can suggest anything you want for these designs. This way I can build up a variety of designs and with feedback and analysis, it will be much easier to figure out what works for these designs and why. Please bear in mind the general time periods when leaving feedback.

I thank everyone in advance for their feedback.

Creating an animation, one piece at a time

The technique used to put all this together fascinated me, I never thought of putting Flash animation together in a video editor as such an effective method, but it works amazingly here. Definately gonna try it out when I get to create my first proper animation (which is in its planning stages, yay!)

Also, I've (very slowly) started work on revamping The Adventures of Sir Cuthbert Pencilton. Deadlines ultimately meant I didn't have time to put as much effort into it as I'd wanted to (specifically with lighting, sound effects and backdrops), so I plan on sorting that :)

Here's one backdrop I've revamped. It lacks the doodle look so much, but I still prefer it to the old one XD


Also, I'm a little confused with what's happening when we get back. Do we go straight into presentations, and should have done all our research during the holidays, or is it something else? I'm currently writing a questionnaire for my artifacts so I can at least say I've done something, I guess.

Slow down

So I went to read the article we were asked to go through for next tutorial and I hit a bit of a stumbling block; fancy fonts + black text on white background = I can't read it properly. I spent about 5 minutes on one paragraph trying to understand it but it wasn't working. So now I have to get some coloured paper to print it on, since I end up working better with that.

First week wasn't too bad. Still a bit miffed that I can't create a 2D animation for my mock client project after they pretty much said 'we'd rather you create an inferior 3D project than anything 2D'. That put me in a sour mood. I might be able to make my idea work, but it'll be about 5x more tedious and not as good. Geez, thanks for letting me be creative in my own way.

Here's what I honestly want to do, animation-wise.

A fun colourful style based entirely in 2D. I know we're meant to expand what we can do for our portfolio, but I don't think I've even been given a fair chance to create a 2D animation while at uni.

I'm going to animate this idea in 2D when I've got my ideas together, and I can't wait :D

Character overhaul

Remember Malletgirl from the first year interactive narrative project?

(Click here to see the actual flash)

I decided to give her a comic book style redo, so after referencing some Marvel and DC comic images (I'm not too big on comics, so I missed a lot of subtleties to the style), I got this as a result.
Definately an improvement on the first design, wouldn't you agree? I had a lot of fun with the shading, most of the colouring I've seen in comic books look like gradients more than anything, so I tried to recreate that without actually using gradients (I love smudge tool).

Messing about with styles again

So the last few days I've really gotten into trying to draw more styles, and since I pretty much always use teenage girls as a style base to get the main idea down, it's mostly gonna be females in this post.

I really like the designs at the bottom, they seem so much more lively with more personality than the other sketches (although I do like most of those, too). I wanted to experiment more with proportions.

And I got this. Well, these. It's the same character but with different clothes. I'm VERY proud of how this turned out, and I'd love to try working with this style some more, maybe making a project of it sometime :)


In other news, I finally started a portfolio using deviantART's new system. Most of it's anime so far, but that's because I'm working on something good enough to post in the other sections.

You can view it here.

Just remember it's still in progress.

See the world in Tetris. Or the head, at least.

Some 3D art I found while on my daily roamabout on Kotaku.

Click the image to go to the website.


This is pretty much how I see things after I spend a little too long on Tetris, a close representation of the 'Tetris Effect', if you will.

I'm planning to try out a strange mini-project sometime this week, which'll involve sketches and 3D work, if all goes well. I'll write another post about that in a short while.

I found an amazing animation on YouTube called Draw With Me.



I'll admit, I cry easily, and this was no exception. The built up of the music and the expressions of the characters, along with the message really got to me. The end part's a little....strange, to say the least (once you realise what happened, it's even more amazing though), but I still love how effective it was in showing you what it wanted to show (despite seemingly following anime drawing cliches).

Hmm..

So not much happened that was worth posting about the last 10 days. Still gotta get my games work together (and nab some screen shots of the level) and all that. Suppose I'll just say what I've been up to lately.

Well, I'm gonna start work on the Manga Jiman contest (deadline's September 25th). Finally getting more of an idea what to do with that. I've started taking commissions to get used to working with different ideas and styles and stuff. Currently on my 3rd commission, and right now, even tho' I'm staying close to my anime style, I'm getting more confident in asking for critique and using it to improve what I'm working on. I've also taken up voice acting. Strange one, but if I can provide a voice or two to my own work and hopefully some others, then that'll be all the better ^^

Add that to trying to play my clarinet better and do some more work on 3DS Max and I don't think I'm doing too bad :) Well, by my standards, anyway. I'll find out a few practitioners to talk about for Tuesday, along with my elusive games work (which as I've said before, is highly not worth it, but really needs posting).

What I've been up to

Just a little note first, I'm gonna be making a new background image for my blog, so it looks a little plain right now. And now for the main post X3

Since my second year began, I've tried to do different things. Don't think I've really succeeded, but here's hoping I get to over the rest of the year ^^; Anyway, here's what I've done in my spare time.

First of all, I've been trying to make fake anime screenshots, particularly of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which I mentioned in my last journal. A single still frame from an anime actually have more detail than one of my pictures that I've spent a great amount of time on, so it's good practise.



I've also been working on my alternate style a bit more, trying to make it into something more unique, rather than it having the same feel to it with it's colouring with only the lineart that's changed.




Which led me to try and recreate this stlye in 3DS Max, which has gone okay, but I still have a lot of problems figuring it out.



I had started to alter the face shape around, but that particular file corrupted this morning (unexpected error caused 3DS Max to crash). Luckily I saved backups :3 Compared to previous attempts to make a character, I think this is turning out much better, although like I said, I'm still having a lot of problems with it.

I've been working on my manga a bit more, too, and it surprised me when I took an older page with my most recent page and compared them. There were so many things I could see had changed in the two years since I started it (going very slowly. Only on chapter 4), but it made me realise how much my style had improved and even how I can improve it further (all the subtle details that are in manga will take a while to figure out).

I'm going to enter this years NEO manga contest again (missing last year due to my operation and needing an extension), so here's hoping my skills have improved enough.

Finally, on a completely non-multimedia related note, I've been making plushies :3 So far I'm just on those ready to sew kits, and so far I've finished a guinea pig, a dolphin, a baby owl and most recently, a dragon (no pics for them yet). I've bought materials to start making my own designs soon enough, so it'll be a fun experiment for me and a chance to do something a little different. My first custom project is going to be Timcanpy from D.Gray-man (who I can't find reference pics for for some reason O.o).

Anyway, that's some of the stuff I've been up to. I could've done a lot more, like trying more animation, but I recently had my animation previews muted on YouTube and it's made me a little paranoid T.T


Oh yeah, before I forget, I never posted the photos I took of my finished board game :o




I just hope it was playable.

Journal Task - Development as a Practitioner

I've haven't been posting much here mainly 'cause my laptop's been busted and the only one I could borrow freezes up a little too much. But I'm getting it back today and hopefully it'll work fine ^^

So, for this journal task we were asked to describe how we have developed as creative practitioners away from uni work. For me, that would mainly involve experimenting with different styles and drawing almost constantly, especially since I haven't had my laptop for nearly 3 weeks. However, when I had my laptop, I did short animation tests, 3D practise by trying to create different objects in it, and I also experiment with different colouring and artistic techniques on my digital painting programmes. Soon I'll be setting up commissions so I can use people's requests to further my abilities and try out new things, and I'll continue experimenting with what I can do to see if I can get better results. Afterall, if you wanna improve, practise is a given.

Also, over the next few months, I want to experiment with textiles and creating things using materials, since I think it's sometimes a good idea to create things in reality rather than just a computer. I also want to try musical arrangements and enter more competitions to hopefully get my work seen more. Since competitions tend to have limitations, I think it'll be a goog challenge for me to broaden my artistic horizons.

Looking at images

Holding back the flood by `arcipello on deviantART

The image I chose is by an artist called Daniel Conway. He digitally painted artwork for one of Fightstar's albums and is one of the most well-known member of deviantART.

The image I chose is designed to catch the eye of those interested in purchasing the particular album, as this was one of the commissioned pieces. However, it has managed to catch the eye of far more than just those who bought the album, as the popularity of his work has spread worldwide and many artists see it as an inspiration to further their skills.

The style is intended to be realistic, yet have an unreal quality to it in the obvious brushstrokes. Considering the genre of the album is 'rock', I think the untidy quality really makes it stand out as a more individual piece.

The vivid colours and traditional looking style along with the clearly definable brushstrokes make it eye-catching and interesting to look at for longer than a few seconds, as the viewer would need to take it all the finer details that have been added within the piece.

NC: Drew Struzen Tribute

I found this while checking the my fave websites this morning.

It's gotta be one of the most inpsiring things I've heard in a long time. The fact that one man can create such dynamic pieces of artwork that really made a movie worth seeing without action trailers is absolutely amazing. I had no idea it was the same man who painted them all, but it saddens me to think a lot of people don't want to use his work just 'cause it's easier and quicker to use PhotoShop. The trouble with that is it loses the soul of the movie in the process, in my opinion.

That last quote he said really moved me, and it's easy to tell how much he loves his craft by how he describes the feelings of painting. That's why his works are so dynamic and inspiring.

I'm definately looking up more of his work now, and it's definately made me think about how I present my art, and maybe because of it I'll try traditional techniques more than once in a while :3

Time for another year

Well, second year starts tomorrow and I barely feel like I've done anything this holiday, like practise on 3DS Max or work on varying styles. Whoops ^^;

I thought I'd list some of the stuff I have done this summer tho', just so it doesn't feel like I wasted it. Well, I've been working on my own manga, Tainted Souls, spent a month working on a contest entry for the UK/Japanese Embassy manga competition, I've posted various different artworks on my deviantART account, including one in my other style (finally).

Painting 'Violet'

Thought I'd share a quick speedpaint video I made yesterday with everyone ^^



All the info's in the video description and at the end of the video. And no, I can't sort that typo with my name at the end. I tried, but it won't work ._.

Trying out something different

For the past few days, I've been working on a pic in an attempt to make my work more realistic, just as another style on the side. So far, the only person who's commented on it is my sister, and even then, I'm not sure what to make of what she's said ^^; So, here's the pic, just 'cause I wanna post it here ;P




People probably haven't commented on it 'cause it's not very good, but I don't think I did too badly. I'm trying to make noses look realistic (or as close as I can get), and I'm trying not to use outlines all the time.

So yeah, here's hoping I get a bit better at the whole realism thing. Might be fun, as song as I don't make them looking like super smooth porcelain dolls like some artists >.>

UPDATE: I just uploaded the process of my pic, for those who are interested :3