ep: roomzzz failure

the dreaded email.

another failure. but it seems that the roomzzz people just couldn't find what they were looking for with any of the submissions, not just ours. so unfortunately this was another loss, but still i'm proud of myself for giving it a go and trying not to be too disheartened when i fail because that's life, and in the real world of being an illustrator i wont always get the jobs that i want so it's a good lesson for me to learn.

ep: final lifting tower animations

The finished animations!






I'm really glad with how both of these animations turned out, I think we worked well together in the end, my illustrator teammate and myself made sure that both of the animations were finished in time. She did most of the colouring for the red elf, whereas myself did the green elf. I'm really happy to see my designs turned into animation it's really fun! The only thing that could've been different was we had decided that the 'Merry Xmas' on the green elf would be flashing lights instead of moving side to side, which was the animator's job, but I suppose he ran out of time and went for the easier option. In my opinion, having this change without consulting the group wasn't very professional of him but i'm still happy with the outcome and it would be unprofessional of me to cause unnecessary qualms about something so little. 

ep: network rail SUCCESS!

i'm so happy right now i could cry!!! i got this email this morning and was running around my house shouting about it. i can't believe it. little old me is going to have a large piece of artwork up in the train station! i'm so happy that i decided to push the boat out and submit to this brief now, and it's made me so much more confident in my practice and who i am as an illustrator, it's given me that little push of recognition that i needed!

i can't wait for next month!!!!!

ep: network rail brief

a new competition that i've found which i thought i would give a go. they are asking for submissions for a wall piece that will go up in the train station, depicting what 'leeds means to me'. i thought this was a suitable brief for me, and if i was to win it means i can have a piece of art up in the train station! which is very exciting and i'm trying not to get too excited but, i am quite pleased with my submission.

and here is my submission! im super pleased with how it came out and think it's some of my best work yet. I haven't worked on such a big scale before so it was quite daunting at first but i tried to take it in my stride and do the best i could. i still wanted to remain true to my style though so i wanted to keep my cute characters and bright child-like colours. i hope i did well enough for the brief!

ep: roomzzz competition

from the student email, i found a competition by roomzzz hotels asking for submissions of designs that would decorate the halls of their hotel. i decided to solicit the help of a photographer for this brief, thinking that it would be more suitable to the style that the brief was asking for. i also thought it would be a good chance for me to try collaborating again, as it could be something that i have to do in the future.

here are the submissions:

we decided to go for the style of welcoming and fun, using her photography and giving me a chance to doodle over the top, giving them a more playful feel. we also added the logos and a slogan onto one of the posters, thinking that it would fit into the aesthetic that they were asking for.

im really happy with how these designs turned out because i think it is a bit different than my normal work and it is fun to see me do something different and try new things.

ep: lifting tower // first designs & collaborating struggle

for this brief, it was decided that i would do the initial character designs for the elves as someone who practices with designing characters. i was happy to do this (and quite pleased) as it gave me a chance to practice my skill and show off a little bit. i'm really happy with how they came out, bearing in mind that they needed to be simple so that the animation process wouldn't be too difficult. (something new that i learned!)

we decided to go for green/red colours to represent the christmas theme of the brief.

as someone who is perfectionist and someone who struggles with stress quite a lot, it was quite difficult for me to work collaboratively. the animator took quite a while to do the simple sketch animations, which myself and the other illustrator were supposed to colour over in photoshop. it was quite frustrating because he kept talking about needing to clean up the lines/make it perfect, and it was hard for me to reiterate that he didn't need to do that because we were going over it with colour anyway without in some way hurting his feelings. i didn't want to get annoyed, because this would be unprofessional of me, it just gave me more experience in working collaboratively and might be something that i have to tread more lightly with in the future. 

it was then decided that i was to also do the fonts for the project, which i was also fine with. here they are:

and the final one: