floating

So the other day I got to paint just for fun. It wasn't for a client, or uni and I wasn't under pressure. And it was fun. I really love watercolour as a medium. It can be vivid or soft. It can be controlled, but it works best free. Digitally enhancing things can be fun, as long as it doesn't take away from the image.

Painting for fun is like floating free, like balloons in a sunset. Letting go, and not thinking about all the challenges in life; Deadlines, submissions, paying bills, car stuff or family stuff.

Post Card Project

I'm currently working on some designs for postcards that represent Australia. I decided to use Australian Animals, as they are a very unique part of Australia.

I wanted to break away from traditional postcards, where they are photographs of monuments, buildings or animals. usually laid out in a rigid grid, lacking movement and emotion.

I developed 6 characters for 6 different postcards. I was initially going to do 3 postcards with all the characters bunched up on the postcards, but thought they would be more successful each on their own postcard.

I used watercolour for the background and let it run and make 'clouds'. watercolour is one of those things you shouldn't control. and it took me a few shots to let it run and do its own thing.

anyway, here's an example of one of my post card fronts. The illustration isn't completely finished and not positioned quite right yet, but you get a good idea of what they will look like.

I also hand drew my own type on the front. I feel really happy with the type, it's not one of my strengths.

Visualisations

So my latest project was to draw something that represents a certain combination of words that our lecturer gave us. I found this assignment very challenging. The hardest part was thinking out of the box, and to come up with something out of the ordinary.

My most favourite visualisation I completed represents the combination of words "blue, perspective odd. And that is shown below. :)

It represents blue with the river, odd with the hairy hand, and perspective as the hand is measuring the perspective of the scene with a pencil.

My second piece was done on scraper board, which was a medium i'm not very familiar with, but loved working with highlights rather than shadows.

This image represents 'mekong, juvenile, tree.' Mekong is a river, so this is represented by the hand cupping water from the river. juvenile and tree are both represented in the small sapling growing.

My third visualisaton was done in charcoal

This also represents "blue, perspective, odd" Blue by the water, perspective by the cool perspective i drew it on, and odd by the little fish creature in the glass.

my final visualisation was done digitally, and was my least favourite out of the four, but i dont dislike it at all. Just not as successful as the others.

This image represents "shade, parallel, soup." shade is represented by the boys shadow, parallel is represented in the two boats sitting parallel to each other and soup is...well...soup. haha

anyway. I loved this assignment, and I think I definitely discovered my strengths and weaknesses here. Although digital work is faster, it doesn't mean its better. I think some qualities are lost in digital media, but saying that, some people really know how to use it and can achieve amazing results. it really depends on your style I guess. I will certainly be doing more pen work this year. :)

tomorrow I am leaving for Melbourne with some amazing people!! can't wait!! it is going to an amazing adventure. :D so ready to be inspired.

sigh....

So I told myself NOT to look at the places you can go if you win the Newstar competition. I really didn't want to get my hopes up by looking at them. But after suffering from procrastination, I browsed through all the listed design studios and died a little bit of excitement at the thought of actually going to these places....

The Guerrilla Games website looks absolutely amazing, and to get behind the scenes and see their character development and storyboarding design would be an experience of a life time... It also looks like a really cool environment to work in.

prologue also looks really awesome. *sigh* They have some magnificent designs and illustrations going on...

but whatever happens, I'm just glad I made the shortlist. I still can't really believe it...

Character Development

At the moment I am working on my narrative.
I decided to write a story in the holidays called 'Oliver.' The story is about a friendly monster who struggles to fit in with his somewhat ghastly friends.

Oliver ventures into the small town nearby to try and make friends, but everyone runs from him before he even gets a chance to say hello. Oliver struggles with not fitting in with the fierce looking monsters and has an empty feeling inside his chest.

One day Oliver meets Timothy. Who isn't scared of Oliver's appearance. They become good friends, and the empty feeling inside Oliver's chest, has been replaced by a warm glow.

This story will hopefully be picked up by the womens and childrens hospital, who will *fingers crossed* hopefully publish it at the end of the year. It will help young children who regularly visit the hospital to realise the importance of friendship even when they feel different from every body else.