responsive: TKAMB Screenshots & Final

So here are some screenshots of my final design for the TKAMB book cover project. I showed my progress and how I got to the end design. I am really pleased with how this turned out, and I think that I really stepped out of the box in the design and trying something different. Before, no one has done the 'jeans' scene as a front cover for the book, but I think it is quite a key part to the novel. The children discover that Boo Radley isn't such a bad guy and he's just misunderstood I think that's what TKAMB is all about. Misunderstood people in bad situations. 

In these screenshots, you can see my thinking and how I was trying to work with different fonts, typefaces, brushes etc to get the outcome that I was looking for. In the end I decided to go with a handwritten font because I think it really complimented the touching scene I was trying to re-create and it seems more inviting. 

I used a simple colour scheme because I didn't want to overcomplicate things. I think the 'sunset' feel in the background really sets the tone for what the book is all about. Sunsets can have two sides to them, the calm or the storm, or the calm before the storm. And I think this compliments the book in a simple and underlying way. Plus I think it would make the book stand out more if it were to be on shelves as it's quite a striking colour scheme and the colours are bold and stand out. 

I decided to feature some handwritten text on the back cover too, mainly because I feel that it looks better this way and flatters the front cover font and ties them both in together. I decided to use a simple font for the spine because I think the font that I used for the front cover would have been too messy and complicated and I like how much it flatters the front page and I don't think the spine needs too much fancy business going on. I think it needs to be simple and inviting because sometimes that might be the first thing that you see on the shelf and if the font was too complicated it might not be as easy to read.

my final book cover, i am very pleased with it!!

responsive: illustration friday - swirl

this week's illustration friday was 'swirl'! i felt so inspired this week that i decided to do two different pieces (ooh). I thought i'd go for different looks/styles for both of them to show the different ways that I can interpret this word.
i did both of them digitally using my tablet again, my favourite medium to use at the moment. 
the first one the spirals are in her eyes, i wanted to create a sort of dazed looking piece, using a lot of mixing colours and easy colours to look at. 
the second one is more bold and a bit more harder to tell what the word is as the swirls are her hair, and the little swirls of hair coming off.
i think illustration friday is an excuse to get quite creative with the words that you get given and that's exactly what i like to do, i don't like being too predictable.

responsive: pitcha pitcha

illustration 1: evaluation

illustration 1: proposals

Printed Pictures

Moving Pictures

illustration 1: final issuu presentation

illustration 1: studio brief 3

Murakami Sting - Crystal from Beth Faye on Vimeo.

Murakami Sting - Clouds from Beth Faye on Vimeo.

Murakami Sting - Ocean from Beth Faye on Vimeo.

illustration 1: studio brief 2

illustration 1: studio brief 1

illustration 1: final crit

I think that the final crit went pretty well! Everyone seemed to like my work and someone said it was different than the other Murakami work that they've seen which is really nice as I really wanted to try and be unique and out there. Someone also said to buy clips or make sleeves for my work which I am going to do too! I need to go to Ryman's. A lot of people seemed to like my print process though and i'm really happy about that because I think I did try really hard to make them look good and professional. 

illustration 1: finished stings

Here are my finished stings!!! I'm super happy with how they came out I think they successfully translate the message that I wanted to portray, something chilled and atmospheric. I think Murakami is such a imaginative and amazing author, his adverts would obviously have these themes in too. I really liked using my prints because it's almost like my prints came to life and that was a really exciting thing. The most difficult one was the clouds one, cutting out all those clouds on Photoshop was a nightmare! But I think the effect of it worked really well.

If I could change something about my stings, I would probably say that I could've made them a bit more complicated. Seeing everyone's stings at the Sting Fest really put a downer on me as mine are so simple... However, I say that, but I think sometimes you don't need something super complicated to portray a message that you want to get across. And I don't think that Murakami was a really complicated guy, he was simple and imaginative. So maybe I would like to try making them more complicated in the future but I do quite like how they turned out.

illustration 1: i lost one of my prints part 2

so after going to the print room, stripping a screen, putting emulsion on it, putting my positive back on it, and screen printing it... a process that took me a few hours. 
I decided to just go with the one with the little splodge. I know. I'm an idiot. But I just really like how these ones turned out on the white paper instead of the fancy paper with the yellow-ish tinge. I don't know why. 
So I got some tipex and just filled in that tiny splodge in the corner and some of it got cut off when I cut them all down to size with the set square. So all in all it didn't turn out too bad. Just that I wasted some time in the print room but we all learned something here today. Tipex is a thing. Splodges aren't the end of the world.

illustration 1: water animation progress

So I was a bit of a butt and forgot to take screenshots of the progress of my water animation. However, the techniques and the way that I did it is basically the things that I used in the other ones. The only thing I can say about this one is that I made the fish's eye move which is a bit different than the other ones and it looks pretty cute! At first I made it look up too but he looked like he was doing a sassy eye roll which is funny but not what I wanted. I was also going to try and make his tail move but it turned out that it would be too difficult and I like how it turned out anyway, nice and simple.

These are the only two screenshots that I have... IM SORRY. Next time I will remember to take screenshots of everything I promise. (Note to self, things that I would do differently next time)

illustration 1: i lost one of my prints

MAYDAY.

I can't find one of my prints. What a bloody nightmare. I swear I had done more of it but turns out, nope, I didn't. I have one but it's not a very good one and it's got an ugly splodge next to it. I was freaking out and Ben suggested scanning it in and printing it on the right paper and rubbing out the marks that I didn't want there. But it just wouldn't feel the same..

I really want all my prints to be a set and coherent and it'd make me sad knowing that one is printed from the digital printer. So I think my only option here is to just print that one print all over again. It doesn't seem like it'll be too bad but it's going to be annoying trying to find the right colour to match the other ones etc. I guess I'm just going to have to see what happens.

illustration 1: cloud animation progress

responsive: delicious mess brief

The Brief & Email:

i was approached by a photographer who was creating a food photography style cookbook. they asked me to create some illustrations to go along with the book, and also to do the typography and writing. the style that they wanted was it was a 'student' cookbook and it was like someone had been making up recipes and scribbling it down in a notebook.

because they wanted this kind of style i decided to go with using photoshop and one of my kyle webster brushes which was 'animator pencil'. i used this because i think it really gives a good pencil effect and makes it look realistic but also professional at the same time and easy to read. i also did some doodles and small illustrations on some pages with scribbles etc. because i wanted the book to feel like a real student was doing it, and maybe getting bored occasionally so they would doodle while waiting for food to cook.

i'm really happy with how this brief turned out and although it was a lot of work (27 pages) i think it was worth it because i'm really proud of the outcome. 
it was really interesting for me to find different styles and ways of working that i could do and also collaborating with a photographer which i never thought that i would do.

i would like to do this sort of thing in the future and maybe find more briefs where i can utilise my profesional doodle skills and photography.

illustration 1: crystal animation progress

illustration 1: changing my ideas

At first, the idea that I had in my head and on my storyboards was that the sting would start looking through a keyhole and then you would see the image moving a little bit and then the end title screen. However, I tried it, and it just looks awful. Sorry me. It's terrible. Why did you make this? I hate it. I think the keyhole looks so fake and stupid and you can really tell its just some white shapes thrown together. And I tried to make it better by throwing in the little lens flare so that the image coming out of nowhere wasn't off putting however this just sucked as well. I'm going to have to rethink my ideas a little bit, maybe just getting rid of the keyhole idea and just having the sting start at my image. It was a nice idea in retrospect and if I had more skill in after effects I might have been able to pull it off but, I just don't and that's the harsh truth.

responsive: more facts about TKAM

to kill a mockingbird

what does boo leave the kids??
Scout and Jem find chewing gum, grey twine, girl and boy dolls carved out of soap, a medal, a watch and pennies. The children in the neighborhood of Maycomb are afraid of the Radley House, because they fear that Boo Radley is some kind of monster and the house's trees are poisoned.

The first use of imagery, is the description of the Radley house. This is probably one of the most vivid uses in the story. "The Radley place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch, the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate grey yard around it. Rain rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard, a 'swept' yard that was never swept where Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco grew in abundance." Just by this imagery, you can picture what the Radley place looked liked. The descriptions of the house and yard, tells you who the house once was, but has now become. This is just one example of imagery in the story. 

illustration 1: animation sux

I don't know why but After Effects just seems to have something out for me and just doesn't agree with me. I have so many ideas in my head and I'm so excited but things just don't seem to be looking how I want them to when I try to do it.

I really liked the keyhole idea where you go through the keyhole and see his little world but it just looked rubbish. The key was like some white shapes and the image just suddenly like faded into view and it just looked super amateur and bad. So I decided to start again.

I just don't think I'm really cut out for this simple animation life. Maybe in the future i'll try more of doing animation frame by frame but I just am not agreeing with how this After Effects is working out at the moment.

responsive: penguin book - existing covers & research

responsive: penguin book - research