Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

I'm going through my Jackie Chan, Snake in Eagle Shadow style training regime during the summer, which involves a lot of paper and pencils so to sharpen my practice. To help I've been studying Betty Edwards and found this instructional video. Doing her exercises is what I consider a confidence booster, her philosophy is all about trying to get the mind in a mode that works for the artist. It's all about not drawing symbols and icons with the left side of your brain and instead maintaining a focus on gestural marks and having a pre-visualising mentality.

 

 

 

The most interesting thing I learned from her thus far is that if you close one eye you will see the world in a two dimensional way, makes sense since you need two eyes to watch 3D films at the cinema. I'll remember that if I'm doing close up live studies. Another thing is that it is easy for our mind to process symbols, Edwards makes it clear that we should focus our mind on shapes more in order to draw life like imagery.

Podcasts listening + Drawing = Bliss

As I've got use to working long hours drawing at a desk I've learnt to appreciate having some background noise so I don't get bored and have decided to get a hunger for radio shows and podcasts. One of them is from film maker Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast.

Recent podcasts have involved interviews with comic book industry leads such as Bruce Timm, Jim Lee, Greg Capullo and even the legendary Stan Lee. If anyone out there knows of any podcasts and shows relating towards aspirational and creative minds please let me know, Kevin Smith's show is really good but it leaves me wanting more considering it's uploaded weekly.

For 'Fatman on Batman' and more Smodco shows just follow the link: http://smodcast.com/channels/fatman-on-batman/

The Key to Good Character Design

I found another blog which provides tips and hints on good character design from Aaron Diaz. Character design is something that can permeate a wide majority of entertainment media and a good character can act as a mascot or personification of particular ideas. Personally I need to read this because not all my ideas of character come complete, I'll have an idea for clothing or just a face but through this article I have learnt the importance of using cohesion in visual design and its use to build up on raw ideas.

The whole blog post is seen here:
http://floobynooby.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/tips-on-character-and-costume-design-by.html

For more information on Aaron Diaz and specifically what he is working on you can check his latest project that has been successfully funded through the Kickstarter website, here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/156287353/the-tomorrow-girl-dresden-codak-volume-1
More tips and hints for good character design can be seen here:
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/features/20-character-design-tips

Age UK Final Patterns

I've finished the patterns for what I presume is a book cover, it's a very graphic design type sort of thing that takes imagery from stockport architecture (a whole theme of memory of and around stockport has been the main motif throughout the module), I like think that architecture plays a big part in our memories and I'm sure french writer Victor Hugo shared that sentiment too. Below is a drawing I had to do with my favourite pattern of the two

This project which was a supplement to the animation I did for Age UK ended up taking too much of my time and being a very uncomfortable task and I think that's due to the whole graphic design mentality of its creation.

The Untamed Tiger: Commision vs. Self-Initiated

This year one of the forum's that I attended  was a response to the public forum headed by http://www.theaoi.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=100&Itemid=1 Amelia Johnstone with guest speakers Jonathon Rosen, Graham Rawle, Bill Bragg, Matthew Richardson, Anna Bhushan, Andrew Foster and David Kerr. Jumping off from a transcript of what they said, my classmates, Tash Greenhalgh and Bert Gatens chaired the one I attended.Tash's opinion is that commision work is best for those starting out, young and want to make a name for themselves, However they should also find the time to work on their personal stuff.

I agree and I do think commision based work gives you experience which is needed for those who start out but the way I like to see it is that personal work that is self-initiated is a lot like street performances and commision is more like a venue, a musician could get picked up by a producer in both circumstances and that's how they measure their success. Experience is experience and a gig is a gig, doesn't mean they are not hard working, there are those who mix music in their basement too and use the internet as a platform in this day of age.

I believe a balance is needed and I pay very much close attention to how many artist and film makers work. In the end it also comes down to chance, too much of commsion work would bore me and so would too much self-initiated but sometimes we have to adapt to what chance is given to us in that moment of time and it could be dependant on the economy or your brand. Adaptability is key and it is important to change our method if we are not successful.

123 (The Sequel)

As expected of me I get to look back on this past year as an illustrator and pick 3 things that have been important and worth remembering to me in terms of my career prospects and my wellbeing as a creative individual.

1.) "Illustration as an adjunct" 

A conversation with my lecturer Gary Spicer at Stockport College has enlightened towards something that I find easy to forget. And that is it's easy for me to think of the image as a superior form of expression when in reality it is just one sense, illustration should be made not to rival the other senses such as taste and sound. When you look at a movie poster or at album artwork it shouldn't have to be a translation of the other senses that the object already expresses, the Illustration should enrich the experience when there is one already there, in other words it becomes an adjunctive part of the object that the end-user ultimately experiences.

2.) "Art is the ultimate goal" - Young Ha Kim

You can learn a lot from children as they build their sand castles not caring how the sea is going to wash it away. Kim describes within his TED talk that work needs a purpose for it isn't something you can enjoy, hence it being work, not play. It's easy to forget how fun art can be when you want to get payed for it and be professional. To a child art is the goal, they get to make something and that is their reward. Half way through a project when things seem not so fun I'll remember how lucky it is to be rewarded just for what I'm doing, the goal of art is just to make it, getting payed for it, that's the bonus.


3.) "Respect the arts and protect your career" - Steven Silver

Going completely against the last one and making sure no one misinterprets the last advice, I have chosen to paraphrase the title of two youtube videos from Steven Silver, Although being creative can be fun it is something that does take our time and as an adult we do need a goal to our actions and we do have bills to pay. Silver uses the allegory of mowing a lawn. A brilliant way to describe what creative professionals do because being creative is just as relaxing as mowing someone's lawn but no one in their right mind would expect someone to cut their grass without paying them for their time. Time is money after all and Steven Silver gives me confidence towards pursuing illustration as a career.

An Interview with Sonia Leong

As part of my contacting practioners module I'm posting the interview I had with Sonia Leong back in the August of 2012, it's really the first time I am posting this. Sonia is a comicbook artist and illustrator who has produced work through SweatDrop, a studio made by manga artists from the UK. (link to their website here: http://www.sweatdrop.com/about-us/ )

Sonia is a hard working, intelligent and articulate person, within Sweatdrop she has made three manga comics, Once Upon a Time, Love Stuffing and Aya Takeo. Her past clients include Channel 4, Axis publishing and Seven stories Press. To see her portfolio, contact info and anyother info just click on the link below:

http://fyredrake.net/me.html  

Now for the interview...

Jim:    Comic Conventions over here and overseas must make for great publicity but how would you be able to cope if you didn’t have them?

Sonia: Art fairs, animation fairs, Japan-related cultural fairs, local markets - there are always opportunities and it's just a matter of seeing whether you can fulfil a niche. That said, I don't think events are the be-all/end-all, most of the time my work is done from home, along with my advertising - there are lots of places to get noticed online. Publicity is something that you have to peg away at on many fronts and it can take years for the results to roll in.

J: Being freelance do you work at home or in a studio and are you always in a position to have a choice between the two?

S:  I work from home. I would always prefer to work from home. I like being alone. But that is a huge contrast to when I travel to attend an event where I deal with thousands of clients, or have to give talks to hundreds of people at once. So I need to be alone to make up for it! I like having all of my stuff to hand and not having to worry about travel for everyday work.

J:    How did you get the opportunity to work for movies and TV?

S:  Publicity - a film person looks specifically for a Manga artist, finds my stuff online, and emails/calls me. Networking - I know a lot of film-makers and I have friends who work with film-makers, so if they know of something that would suit me, they pass my details along. It's the same for any other industry or hobby.

J:    Since working at Sweat Drop studios what is your responsibilities and working process?

S: Sweatdrop Studios is something a bunch of like-minded people just set up. Some of us have administrative responsibilities -  for example, I'm the official Company Secretary, which means that I deal with submitting Tax Returns, Accounts, company records and sign all legal documents. Another one of us deals with distribution, another one of us manages group commissions/events. But that's all the designated responsibilities. Creatively, we all do whatever we want - we mostly produce comics entirely ourselves, just with backup and advice from each other. Sometimes we swap jobs as needed - i.e. we write something for another person to draw, we are the Editor on the next anthology.

J:    I believe your work has been promoted and published overseas, how does the translation process work? Do have a lot of control over it?

S: Afraid not! I guess it depends on the ownership over the work in the first place, but for Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet for example, SelfMadeHero (http://www.selfmadehero.com/about.php) own the whole work copyright and can do what they like to negotiate a foreign deal on it. Sometimes, the results can be really funny! Like some countries prefer crazy colour combinations. Ultimately it rewards me though, as I get cuts/royalties from such deals. There are times when a foreign publisher approaches me to acquire one of my works, then I have a little more say, but it's not really been something I worry

Sonia has done work that includes making mascots, such as this character here who narrated

for visitors at the 'How Manga Took over the World' exhibition that I visited at the Manchester Urbis in 2008.. ah now certainly  that takes me back.

J:  Your philosophy is to never reason away from your vision but what are the necessary steps for those who wish to pursue a similar career to your own?

S: "Never reason away your vision" - means don't talk yourself out of your dreams. If you want to do something, and that something is actually real and possible, however improbable, then there will always be a way of doing it. A little bit of luck makes things happen faster, but lot of hard work is absolutely necessary. Put in lots of hours improving your artwork, networking, going to lots of events, making sellable products, promoting yourself, enter competitions, look for job opportunities, talk to other artists, talk to publishers, pitch, pitch and pitch your work, learn to handle rejection and criticism. And you'll get there.