ep: photographer commission

I have been given a brief by a photographer who wishes for me to help her create a promotional pack for her business. Here is the brief that I recieved through a short exchange of emails:

the commission includes:

• business cards
• logo
• creative cv
• social media header designs
• sticker designs
• postcards (just the back of them)

ep: montgomery - zine progress

Monty's Colour Shades

Monty Pattern (Inside sleeve?)

For the process of my book, I decided to take a leaf out of some of my zine inspiration's books and go full monochrome. I think this way, it cuts time down (so i have time to work on my other projects as well) and it also gives it a more professional, adult look, which is what I'm going for.

For the screentone effects I decided to use Kyle Webster's screentone brushes as they were perfect in creating dimension for my book so it wasn't just simple outlines. Making it look a little bit more finished.

I also decided to play around with a little Montgomery pattern, which I might end up using for the inside sleeves of the book, as I think having a pattern there would look nice!

(this was a bit of fun so i decided to add it in) For the dog's speech, I didn't want it to have the same put together look as Monty's and be more childish, so my boyfriend suggested that he do the writing for the dog as he has quite scribble-y writing and it works perfectly!

ep: pitch a papergang instagram post

 here it is! out in the world! doing this brief was really fun and helped me to discover that i quite like doing packaging, patterns and merchandise! i wish to continue doing more things like this in the future and learning more about making patterns.

ep: ohh deer papergang sketches

the box that they are asking us to design is for the october subscription, therefore i decided to go with an obvious halloween theme because i have noticed that they do festive themed boxes before so it's not too out there.

the first sketches:

i became more drawn to drawing animals and ghosts instead of people because i thought that they are more easily relatable. if it's a human girl and you're a boy, it's hard to relate to but if it's just a ghost you don't have to 
try and look for yourself in the imagery. at least, that's what i think anyway.
plus who doesn't love cats?









developing these images further, i decided which were my strongest sketches and transferred them to digital. 

started to colour this and then thought it was stronger in white.

cute little pin idea! might actually make this if i don't win because i love it so much!

I shall finish off the designs on the template that we were giving and then send it off! fingers crossed.

ep: templar...

So. It's past the deadline. I failed to submit.
BUT. It doesn't mean that it's over for Biff! I really want to carry on with his story SOOOO I'm going to make a second substantial brief and make Biff's children's zine!!

I'm really excited because now I don't feel like I'll be too rushed as I was trying to get it to the deadline for Templar, although I am a bit sad that I wasn't able to do it in time because I'm really confident about the story. C'est la vie.  

Also, as I have decided to turn Montgomery's book into a shorter adult version zine, it makes sense to make another book because that way I am pushing myself more to do more work and try more things! And Biff's story is a little shorter than Montgomery's childrens story was, so it will be a bit easier for me to make the deadline.

ep: oh deer papergang - research

ohh deer have released yet another competition which i am pleased to say that i am entering! i'm trying to enter as many competitions as i think i fit into because i want to try and broaden my horizons even more as an illustrator.

decided to do some research into papergang. to see what other designs are out there and see what it is that they're looking for.

 At first I was a bit concerned because a lot of their boxes seemed to be really simple pattern work, whereas obviously my style is more character design.
































However, i did find some that were more character based and that made me a lot more confident that I can tackle this brief! A lot of the styles of the box seem to be quite 'cute' which is perfect for me, and very stylish. A lot of them seem geared towards women with the obvious colour choices of pinks, (not discriminating tho) so I think I will go for something a little different and hope it pays off!

ep: drawing my friends 2.0 - photoshop enhancement

ep: templar - sketches & idea generation

Some sketches of the character that i have decided to be the main focus of my book, Biff. I am getting nervous as the deadline is fact approaching and I don't know if i'm going to have time to focus on Biff as well as make sure that I am up to date with all my other projects. Only time will tell.

ep: drawing my friends 2.0 - side project

SO after beginning to do some of my other character designs for childrens books, monty etc. I decided to rework my drawings of my friends. I nearly forgot about this project and I really liked doing it so here goes.

I decided to go with a more childish look, rather than super stylised. I think the other drawings look nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure where they would fit in the industry. I wanted to do some character designs that I could see actually getting used somewhere, i.e children's books/animation etc.

Here are some headshots that I decided to do:
(sorry about the terrible lighting)

ep: templar publishing competition

might have found out about this one a little too late...

ep: montgomery - zine storyboard & sketches

storyboard for the new zine idea, took out a few pages to make it flow better and more simple. also liked the idea of having everything he hates and then at the end having one thing he loves, makes it more special (aw). 

then i did the sketches that i want to add to the zine because sometimes i like getting a feel for the drawings with pencil before going straight in with digital.

ep: 27 club

so i really wanted to enter the exhibition for 27 club, because one of the artists, Kim Jonghyun, is someone who i held close to my heart and i was very devastated by his death so i thought doing a piece of art would be a good way to honour him.

i did the sketch for the piece and finished inking it, ready for the exhibition, however i have been really struggling at the moment with my depression and anxiety and i ended up missing the deadline. i was really disappointed in myself and i hope to learn a lesson from this to just do it and push myself further because the disappointment of not doing it hurt more than the depression itself.

here was the inked piece i would have submitted:

ep: montgomery - zine making research & insp

As i have decided to create a zine instead of a children's book I wanted to do some research to inspire myself and learn more about the art of making zines, as i have only create one before and want to know more about the craft.

the first zine to ever be created:

the comet 1930s. http://fanzines.lmc.gatech.edu/history

Fanzines date back to the 1930s starting with the first science fiction zine, The Comet which was published by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago [2]. The growth of fanzines flourished as printing technology advanced allowing for faster reproduction and distribution to fans. To recieve an issue of a specific zine, much like magazine subscriptions, there is a process of requesting the zine from the publisher; some zines are sent free of charge while others required a fee. Generally, zines are distributed either through the mail or in person. Today, print fanzines are still being produced and distributed; other zines have been converted to "webzines" in hopes to reach a larger audience across the Internet.

to sum up: 'Zine' is a shortened version of the word 'Magazine', therefore making it similar in style, a thin and sleek booklet. Kind of like a pamphlet. 

I think making a zine is the best way for me, as a student and poor illustrator, to easily create my designs into a book without the extortionate costs and making it easily accessible. 

Some inspos:

Andy Rementer - Love & Hats

I really fell in love with the simplicity of this zine, not only in imagery but in colours. Discovering that zines don't have to be fancy colours and really intricate makes me feel a little comforted as some of the ideas i had in my head wanted to make a black and white zine.

Robert Hunter - The New Ghost

 The reason why i liked this season was for the exact opposite reason that i loved the other one. Look at the detail! The colours! This kind of zine is one that is so complex and beautiful, i have no way i would ever be able to compare but maybe one day, I will strive to do this!

ep: self portrait #3

ep: montgomery children's book proposal

as there has been a change in plans in what i want to do, i decided to therefore create a mock-up double page spread of the children's book that i want to create in the future and do a proposal.

I still want to create this book, so doing this proposal will show the style and the way i want it to look.

I really love how this mockup turned out and if I had the time i would've done the zine AND the children's book but I think I've made this decision a little too late and i have other ideas I want to work on.