#uswillustration

Along side commission work and beginning my Final Major Project for uni, @clothcatanim provided us with an amazing brief to work on for our Client Studies module

Here is a piece I have produced as my final major image, following the character and world building brief

My project was based on phobias

This week we were introduced to the module of visual communication and given an overview of what we would be doing over the coming weeks and what we’re aiming for as an outcome. But the end of the module we will have produced a 2500 word referenced essay on how a specific area of Illustration has changed over the past century, through art movements and social changes. We will also have produced a 300 word project proposal before we start the actual essay.

I have received the feedback from Cloth Cat Animation, regarding my second hand-in.

To begin, despite altering the designs of some of the characters, Cloth Cat still critiqued that they did not look unified as a group of characters. I can understand this criticism, and, in hindsight, I would have attempted further ways to uniform these four characters. One idea would be to create a crest, symbol, or logo to be present on each of their designs; this would also play into the idea of a company.

Cloth cat also commented that they liked my use of textured backgrounds in the designs and key images. They said that it allows the characters to stand out, as their bright and textured colours pop, and that it conveys information. I am assuming that the latter comments suggest that the textures help the landscape look dusty and desert-like and the stone walls to look grainy and rough. If they did not have this texture, there would be no clear indication for what is sand, dust, rock, metal, et cetera. I am glad I thought to add textures to the background of my key image, for this reason.

Cloth Cat also suggested that I improve the layout of the PDF that I gave: I should have put everything (e.g. the expressions, the line-up, etc.) onto their own pages, so as to not clutter the layout; also, they recommended that I create individual pages for each character and place the character-specific description there. If I could do this project again, I would like to have included character pages for each character, for I did not feel as though they had been well described.

Cloth Cat described my idea as “overall good”, but they did also say that they would like to see the concept expanded, which I think was an important aim of the brief.

The largest problem with at the designs needed to be unified. For future projects such as this, I will consider ways in which I can do this. Similarities in clothing, unifying symbols, or logos, to draw all the characters together to begin with as opposed to drawing them individually first: these are three examples of what I would do differently for a future project that involves character creation.

With difficulty, I was able to complete both my dissertation and the first deliverable of the Cloth cat project. The first deliverable involved a multipage series of rough designs for both the ensemble cast as well in this the environment. As seen from the images below, I was due to the idea that I had first conceived. There are four distinguishable characters, with different personalities and motivations. Certain characters seem more concrete than others: Britain’s design does not alter as drastically as Mr Monkey Paw, who goes through multiple versions, as he was an original concept and I was not happy with the first few designs.

I worry that I have not delved far enough into the designs or the concept. The world and environment still seem to undefined to me. Similarly, I wish I had been more drastic with the alternate rough designs. A certain amount of experimenting would I have been good, as Cloth Cat may not like my favoured designs in particular. However, once I receive feedback and clear criticism from Cloth Cat, I cannot make any drastic changes to these roughs.

Q&A with Adam Bailey

After the session with Adam Bailey, in which in which he illustrates the process of designing characters and environments, I feel as though I can begin my designing process.

The question is what idea to go with on the Q&A, Adam mentions that it is not against the rules of the brief to add your own pre-existing characters or environments, if they are still original. Because of this, I thought of the character of my own creation that I have not been able to utilise for any project: Bryn Underhill. I imagined his character as a useful and modern smuggler of magical items or artefacts. Additionally, I imagined him as a demolition list, who would construct their own explosives, and would have a demonstrable technical intelligence. Those details gave me a good idea of a general plot and environment.

To begin with, I’m picturing an urban fantasy environment that would both allow magical artefacts to exist as well as a magical history, while still allowing certain modern elements to exist naturally and not seem to abnormal or out of place. I am picturing a desert environment, but not necessarily earth as we know it. I can try experimenting with changing the colour of the sky or certain celestial elements perhaps adding two moons. And the cast of characters will be involved in one way or another with smuggling.

In this blog post, I intend to come up with a minimum of one idea for the Cloth Cat Animation project, in preparation for the Q&A section with Adam Bailey.

As the last blog post suggests, the project is about making an innovative group of characters and/or objects (vehicles, for example) living within a defined environment with both an interior and an exterior.

The concept reminded me of examples, such as the Portal series (specifically Portal 2) that contains three characters – including the character Chell, GLaDOS and Wheatley, within the Aperture facility. I think this is a good example, because these characters have a demonstrable personality and chemistry with each other. Plus, they all have a particular goal, like escaping the facility or controlling it, so the environment is an important attribute to all these characters, as well.

The group that I create do not need to be friends with each other, nor do they need to be paragons of virtue. So long as they have a form of chemistry with each other, that can work.

This is also what I should aim to achieve. I should try to make characters that have undeniable personality that also has good chemistry with each other. They shouldn’t be solus characters and it has to seem natural that these characters would exist together and interact, unless the point was that these characters seem so different.

Our Client Studies is a brief that will allow us to have experience within the working environment of illustration. Thus, I will brief says we must spend 70 hours performing either placement or project as illustrators.

Over the past week, I have been searching for possible placements and projects, which had been suggested by Lauren Dutton. Eventually I found that Cloth Cat Animation was the best option for me, because it involved designing characters and environments for narrative purposes, which is where my passions also lay. There was a risk that they wouldn’t be available, but on the 19th of October they were confirmed and I received the brief.

Cloth Cat Animation wants a set of characters and an environment in which they live in, with no set theme and no real restrictions. If I remember correctly, it is to create 2 to 6 characters (beings: not necessarily human or living) and one environment that they live in (both in exterior and interior design). For example, a family of lies – all unique – within a toad’s mouth. These will be in the form of two deliverables: the first deliverable will be a set of images showing initial designs and ideas that haven’t been fully fleshed out, in the form of a mood board consisting of 1 A3 PDF (300 DPI); the second deliverable will be a key image of your fleshed out idea, which can be in the form of a poster, a comic, an action shot, et cetera. The first deliverable will be due on the 30th of November at 2 PM, whilst the second deliverable will be due on 11th of January at 2 PM.

As of now, I must make sure to research Cloth Cat Animation’s website and brand, so as to make sure that any ideas I do create will coincide with what they stand for and what they want. I will also make sure to re-read through the brief, so that I am clear on exactly what I must do, what they want, what possible restrictions they may have, et cetera.

This blog post will be consisting of my understanding of the brief and Cloth Cat as an organisation.

Firstly, I have looked on Cloth Cat‘s website and looked at some of the works and projects that they have had a pardon. I can determine that they have focused mainly on the demographics of young children and young adults

After going through the brief, I can understand that this project is focused on people being confined in their homes and needing another environment in which to escape to. Because of this, I could incorporate a similar feeling of isolation and/or confinement in where the small collection of characters and beings are stuck or being held somewhere. It is also important that I consider their personalities, their hobbies and, most importantly, their dynamic and relationship between each other. I’m not entirely certain whether this needs to be explained in deliverable one, as perhaps an annotation. I will perhaps ask about this later, as I will be having a Q&A with Adam Bailey.

Another thing to consider is the actual audience that I will be aiming towards. As previously stated, Cloth Cat Animation is a preference towards children:

Olobob Top caters to children between 2 – 5;

The series follows a group of young creative creatures called the Olobobs. Tib, Lalloo and Bobble live in a big forest and have fun playing, exploring and solving everyday problems. In each episode, they work together combining shapes, colours and patterns to create a new character, who joins in with the Olobobs’ fun, while a friendly narrator encourages them to think for themselves.

Luo Bao Bei has an audience for 4 - 8 year olds;

The series centres on spirited, fun-loving 7 year old Luo Bao Bei as she explores everyday life with her friends, family and animal companions, having adventures and learning that even though we seem different on the outside, the emotions we all feel make us fundamentally the same.

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud is for 6 - 11 year olds.

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud follows the misadventures of underdog Dave Spud (voiced by Johnny Vegas) and his family, as they embark on some extraordinary expeditions along with the likes of Gareth the Starfish and one eyed flea ridden Fuzzypeg the dog!

With that in mind, I imagine any ideas I do come up with must have an element of fun, positivity. I should avoid concepts of doom and gloom and likely should avoid violence or gore. I made sure to mention this in the Q&A as well just in case they have un-specified “do not.”

Another important thing to remember from the brief is that they also want us to think about brand – like logos, fonts and general patterns that would be considered unique to the idea. Consider Charlie and Lola, for example, and how that art style of Lauren Child is so unique to her books. I need to come up with ideas like that as well, with a very unique look. I may find this to be a bit difficult, as it will be hard to be both innovative and original while also being true to myself and my own style. By this I mean that I do not want to be absurdly original for originality sake. It should be me and my style, front and foremost.

Cloth Cat Animation has implied leniency over the software that we would use to create the work. However, they also mention that Photoshop and Illustrator would be options most in line with their artists. I am not sure whether I will use Manga Studio 5.0 or try to get used to using Photoshop and Illustrator in preparation for the future. I may use new software altogether, depending on how interested I am in learning about new software.