Personal Work: "Here Comes a Thought"

Inspired by the latest episode of Steven Universe I drew Stevonnie. This episode was very mindful of how small problems can still be hurtful. 

While drawing this I was mindful of my tone and recorded some of my progress.

@Alan Rethinking Year 3 Idea

Although I liked the idea of working with Lemurs as characters I felt that's all that was pushing my idea and a story wasn't coming naturally to me.

I didn't feel like I was a strong storywriter so instead I looked into some unfamilar short stories. I tried to pick stories with interesting characters as this is something that appeals to me.

Here are some of the stories I have found appealing:

"The Little Green Monster"

(Haruki Murakami)

Synopsis: A monster burrows up into a woman's garden, breaks into her house, and proposes love. The creature can read her mind and she uses this fact to fight against it.

I found this story interesting because it reminded me of receiving unwanted attention. The ending involves the creature being tortured (by the womans mind) and the woman firmly stating that his proposal was unwanted. If I choose this idea I'd like to change this ending slightly to make it more appropriate for children.

"The Tale of the Rainbow Cat"

(Miyahara Kōichirō)

Synopsis: A mischievous rainbow cat visits a wedding in the clouds and tricks a Thunder God.

I felt that the character design for this story would be particularly interesting. Also I feel like the rainbow cat would be an appealing character for children. Not much about this story would have to be changed.

"The Tidy Drawer"

(Mo McAuley)

Synopsis: Abby is told to tidy up by her mother but when she's cleaned up and about to collect her reward they find fun things in the tidy drawer.

This story has an interesting premise and shows children that it can be fun to do things such as tidy up. 

I personally think that both the Tale of the Rainbow Cat and The Tidy Drawer would both be fun to adapt, the Rainbow Cat has more interesting characters however I think the Tidy Drawer is better in terms of story. I'd like to know peoples thoughts on which story they'd like to see.

Personal Work: Elf Wizard Speedpaint

Personal Work: Kyvanna

I joined a new DnD campaign lately and decided to draw my character Kyvanna. She's a high Elf Wizard! 

I'm going to be inking and painting her in Photoshop soon! 

@Alan Third Year Project: Story ideas and Art direction

So my Premise for this story essentially is a lemur leaving it's troop of lemurs, with lemurs being highly social animals I felt like this was an interesting story to follow. 

I have two main ideas for the story but I'd like an extra opinion, I'm also not sure about whether my lemurs should talk in my animation and how many I should have. Troops often have 7-10 lemurs but I think 5-7 simple but characterful models are a more reasonable target.

Idea 1 - Baby lemur accidentally leaves group

Rosalyn brought a book called Once Upon a cloud to my attention. In the book the girl wants to find the perfect gift for her mother. This story idea follows a similar plot.

A version of the story can be found in the youtube video below.

A baby lemur, just leaving it's mother and able to look out for itself wants to show it's troop that it's a capable lemur. It decides that it will catch some food for it's mother which is the troop leader. While on the ground with it's troop it discovers a cicada/butterfly and chases after it so it can give it to it's mother. The baby lemur has a fun time chasing the insect but then realises it's lost and must find it's troop. 

Idea 2 - Young lemur leaves group feeling left out

A young lemur appears to be born without any rings on it's tail. This makes the lemur feel unwanted in it's troop and therefore it leaves. Later on his rings come in, this is how the troop find it and they feel bad for making fun of it.

I prefer idea 1, but I'm happy to work with either idea.

Lemurs come from Madagascar so I looked into the culture and art to help find an art direction for this project.

This influence map shows some work by malagasy artists. They tend to use bright colours in their work. 

Malagasy people often make their own textiles. They wear them as Lamba. These often feature bright, colourful patterns. 

I also put the influence map through a colour palette picker to determine which colours were the strongest in these pieces. Orange and Blue seem to be key colours in the work.

Personal Work: 08/08/16

After seeing Suicide Squad on Saturday I was inspired to draw Harley Quinn! I'm pleased with how far my drawing has come since I started the course but as always there's things to be improved! Onwards and Upwards! 

Updating the Blog!

1

 2

 3

I've been thinking of ideas to update my blog over the summer but I feel like this is the closest I've gotten in terms of something I like. I quite like number 3 and I'm planning on colouring and using that but I put this up incase anyone had any ideas on improvements? Feedback is appreciated as always!  

Personal Work: Life Drawings

I felt a bit out of practice so I went ahead and did some sketches using SketchDaily! 

Personal Work: Sketches 28/07/2016

Just some bits I sketched up today. Used a generator to come up with characters! Here we have a steampunk knight and a water mage! 

Third Year Project Idea: Lemurs!

This idea started it's life as a trip to ZSL London Zoo. An exhibit there had a walk in lemur section in which you could see ringtailed lemurs. I didn't really know much lemurs and I was fascinated by them. I've included some of my excited shots of them below!

During the ideas surgery on Monday I mentioned these lovely creatures as being a starting point in which I was asked to look into them further and question what if these things were different. 

Lemur Facts

• Lemurs are small primates that are mammals 
• Lemurs are only found in Madagascar and Comoro Island
• Some Lemurs are Herbivores and some are Omnivores
• Most lemurs are Arboreal meaning they stay in the trees, apart from the ringtailed lemurs which search the ground for food
• Some lemurs like the dwarf mouse and aye-aye are nocturnal
• They have pointed noses and a good sense of smell
• Lemurs are highly social creatures
• They live in troops of 7-10 Lemurs with a female leader
• Ringtailed lemurs use their tails to help stay within sight of each other
• Lemurs are endangered because people want them as pets and their habitat is shrinking

From these facts I wondered what would happen if a lemur accidentally wondered from their group?

I can only imagine being the social creatures they are they'd look for this lemur. 

Then I thought about the lemur itself and why it might wonder in the first place. I thought what if this lemur was a baby and excited about exploring it's world. 

Premise

I would like to tell the story of a mischievous baby lemur that wonders from it's troop. It would go on an amazing adventure with some perils along the way but eventually find it's way home to the troop.