Brian said that he really liked how I had gone about combining digital and traditional practices in a way that suited me, rather than by following an way someone else had done before me. He said this really made the processes in my work my own.
I appreciate that this has been picked up on by Brian as coming to find a happy medium between my digital and traditional techniques was a core focus of the research in my project.
David said that my rendering ability had improved throughout the project and I am glad this is the case. Earlier in the project I got feedback from David saying that his preference was my pencil work so, referring to Brian's feedback, I'm glad I was able to combine the feel of my traditional drawings into my final outcome. Doing this created a style of drawing unique to me.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Sunday, 10 April 2016
Where from here?/Evaluation
My vision statement for this project, was to "Improve my rendering techniques and develop my own visual style in order to begin practicing as a freelance Illustrator", and I feel over the course of this semester I have met the aim of my project.
This was my illustrative ability prior to the start of this project:
And these final images from this semester show how my rendering techniques have improved throughout the semester.
I feel my ability to create images has really improved. My knowledge of composition has expanded due to my reseach in this module has expanded, as well as my knowledge of tchniques, due to my research into the workings of other artists.
Through creating my own set of brushes I have also been able to personalize my own artwork and really create my own signature style through the use of my brushes. My ability to create my own brushes has helped combine my digital and traditional work, and the knowledge of how to create my own brushes opens avenues in the future for me to define by visual style further.
My research into marketing myself has really helped my progress further into setting up my own business online and my use of social media has helped me begin building a client base onlline. The combination of my social media and the way I presented myself at the convention has already started to build me a client base (see messages I have begun to receive below.)
I have even received my first comission request which begins my journey into paid illustration work, which was the aim of this module.
The commission I am currently working on is seen below ( it is the clients own character).
I am really enjoying where this project has taken me and I'm having a lot of fun drawing this original character.
Obviously my research into art/the art industry doesn't stop after the completion of this project and completing this project has lead onto greater things.
After the completion of this project, my goals are to continue working on expanding my client base. I would like to continue creating paid commission work but also continue expanding my own base of work. Now I have significantly improved my rendering skills and started working as a freelance illustrator due to the research/progress I have made in this project. I would like to progress further by creating more original work and original characters to expand my portfolio online. I would also like to focus on drawing more complex images from this point on, incorporating full bodies of characters and beginning to include environment work as seen in the commission process above.
This was my illustrative ability prior to the start of this project:
And these final images from this semester show how my rendering techniques have improved throughout the semester.
I feel my ability to create images has really improved. My knowledge of composition has expanded due to my reseach in this module has expanded, as well as my knowledge of tchniques, due to my research into the workings of other artists.
Through creating my own set of brushes I have also been able to personalize my own artwork and really create my own signature style through the use of my brushes. My ability to create my own brushes has helped combine my digital and traditional work, and the knowledge of how to create my own brushes opens avenues in the future for me to define by visual style further.
My research into marketing myself has really helped my progress further into setting up my own business online and my use of social media has helped me begin building a client base onlline. The combination of my social media and the way I presented myself at the convention has already started to build me a client base (see messages I have begun to receive below.)
I have even received my first comission request which begins my journey into paid illustration work, which was the aim of this module.
The commission I am currently working on is seen below ( it is the clients own character).
I am really enjoying where this project has taken me and I'm having a lot of fun drawing this original character.
Obviously my research into art/the art industry doesn't stop after the completion of this project and completing this project has lead onto greater things.
After the completion of this project, my goals are to continue working on expanding my client base. I would like to continue creating paid commission work but also continue expanding my own base of work. Now I have significantly improved my rendering skills and started working as a freelance illustrator due to the research/progress I have made in this project. I would like to progress further by creating more original work and original characters to expand my portfolio online. I would also like to focus on drawing more complex images from this point on, incorporating full bodies of characters and beginning to include environment work as seen in the commission process above.
Post Con Analysis
I think I did really well at the convention. I'm really happy with the amount of prints I sold.
The most popular by far was my frank print, which was surprising. I did do very well on social media so the success did correlate but even so, I was surprised that at an anime convention it sold so well because the smaller, selective audience (anime loving teenagers) weren't who I thought would buy the print.
The Princess Mononoke print did the second best. This again surprised me because I thought it would sell more than the Frank being that it's a Ghibli print at the anime convention.
All the rest of my prints sold more or less the same amount except for the Frozen print and the Harley print which I didn't sell any of. I sold quite a few of all the others so this was odd.
The prints did garner a lot of interest but none of them sold. I think this is because the audience that was looking at those prints was a lot younger (14 ish) I think the price point of £15 may have been too high for that audience as they don't have that much to spend, hence the prints not selling.
All my research pointed me towards selling the Harley print in a deal with the ivy print, but I backed out of this last minute because of positioning, but also because I was afraid of underselling my work. I feel because of this, I didn't sell any so I should have listened to what my research told me. This was a good learning experience though and a wake up call for me to really pay attention to market research. This knowledge will help me when I am designing my own business (hopefully) in the future.
This is really good market research though. When I go into freelance illustration as I would like to, I need to make sure my price points are relatable to the target market I'm aiming at so my work sells. I didn't really think about this before the convention so I've learnt something there. I was only thinking that I myself, would prefer to buy A3 art prints and wasn't thinking about what my target audience would be able to afford. I don't plan to lower the price of my A3 prints because I think doing so would be devaluing myself. I think instead I need to print out smaller sizes which I can price lower and make more affordable to my target audience.
I do also wish I'd kept Ivy and Harley together and done the offer as I think more would have sold. This is something to keep in mind for next time though.
The most popular by far was my frank print, which was surprising. I did do very well on social media so the success did correlate but even so, I was surprised that at an anime convention it sold so well because the smaller, selective audience (anime loving teenagers) weren't who I thought would buy the print.
The Princess Mononoke print did the second best. This again surprised me because I thought it would sell more than the Frank being that it's a Ghibli print at the anime convention.
All the rest of my prints sold more or less the same amount except for the Frozen print and the Harley print which I didn't sell any of. I sold quite a few of all the others so this was odd.
The prints did garner a lot of interest but none of them sold. I think this is because the audience that was looking at those prints was a lot younger (14 ish) I think the price point of £15 may have been too high for that audience as they don't have that much to spend, hence the prints not selling.
All my research pointed me towards selling the Harley print in a deal with the ivy print, but I backed out of this last minute because of positioning, but also because I was afraid of underselling my work. I feel because of this, I didn't sell any so I should have listened to what my research told me. This was a good learning experience though and a wake up call for me to really pay attention to market research. This knowledge will help me when I am designing my own business (hopefully) in the future.
This is really good market research though. When I go into freelance illustration as I would like to, I need to make sure my price points are relatable to the target market I'm aiming at so my work sells. I didn't really think about this before the convention so I've learnt something there. I was only thinking that I myself, would prefer to buy A3 art prints and wasn't thinking about what my target audience would be able to afford. I don't plan to lower the price of my A3 prints because I think doing so would be devaluing myself. I think instead I need to print out smaller sizes which I can price lower and make more affordable to my target audience.
I do also wish I'd kept Ivy and Harley together and done the offer as I think more would have sold. This is something to keep in mind for next time though.
Convention day set up
I think all my practice and research really paid off.
The overhead stand really made our stall stand out against the other tables and more importantly, gave me enough room to display my work as it would not all have been visible on a half table.
Thankfully duct taping the stand to the table did work really well without mishap and everything seemed very stable.
I ended up not putting Harley and Ivy prints together as I'd planned. This is because when I saw the set up, I wanted to move my Mononoke down to the table so it would be at eye level with the people as they were walking round. As Frank had a lot of likes online I also wanted to keep him at eye level, the same with Frozen as it is such a popular film. I wanted to keep Rey, Mulan and Dany up top as they were the most colourful prints (by having those up top I hoped they'd be eye-catching and draw people over to the table.) This left Harley and Ivy split up unfortunately by dint of everything else. I also didn't put an offer on the two of them together because of the fact it would be hard to put on two prints that were no where near each other. I was also worried about underselling my work by having an offer and letting the prints go for cheap. As this would be my first ever convention, I wanted to see how things would sell and then adjust prices for my next con based on the results of this one.
Goodie bags | more marketing
As I don't have any small prints or very many offers on my prints I thought, based on my research, that creating a set of goodie bags might be a good marketing ploy as an incentive for people to purchase one of my prints.
In the bags I included some sweets and a business card so anyone who purchases my work will be able to see where they got it from and look me up online.
The goodie bags I made:
In the bags I included some sweets and a business card so anyone who purchases my work will be able to see where they got it from and look me up online.
The goodie bags I made:
Friday, 1 April 2016
Colouring books
To create more variety in the products I'm selling at my stall, I decided to create some colouring books. These are very popular at the moment so I'd like to see how they do at the convention. If they sell well this could give me another string to my bow and something else I could sell as a freelancer that would set me apart from other freelance artists.
This will also allow me to produce some lineart of my work (to allow it to be coloured in). Lineart (digital lineart) is something I usually avoid as my style of drawing is very sketchy and scruffy. Doing this lineart will allow me to improve my rendering techniques by trying a new style of drawing that is very new to me.
Before I started creating my own colouring book line art, I decided to look at some line art in existing colouring books.
These colouring books for adults have patterns that feature a variety of shapes, and sizes to colour.
they also feature full page designs and ones that are surrounded by a white area.
Above are my designs for my colouring book.
I decided to have varying shapes and expanses of white to colour in on the different pages to ass a bit of variety.
To get the lineart neat, I traced over my original drawings in their full, A3 size and them shrunk them down to A5 (the size of the colouring book). This way the lines are a lot neater as youre not seeing them full size.
Because the colouring books needed a cover, I just re appropriated the image I created for my business card.
For my first attempt at creating a cover I used a white border effect that bled into the lines separating the images.
I created white text that also bled into the border. I underlined this with black text that displayed my name.
I didn't like this version. I decided to make a cover that had all the images on it available inside the book so the client could see on the front what they would get to colour in. I also didn't think the text looked very good placement wise. I also used arial as a font in this mock up and decided instead I wanted to keep the font on the cover of the book the same as the font on my business card. This keeps my brand image consistent.
This is my re-try at creating the cover. I learnt a lot from my first attempt. All the drawing included are now on the front cover and the font is consistent with he font on my business card, including the fact that the text is comprised on images. To make the text stand out, I used a semi-transparent back drop and a drop shadow effect on the text to make it look more dynamic.
I kept the back the same as the back on my business card for consistency.
After finishing the books. These were the printing preferences I chose:
I chose 300gsm for the paper weight so the book would look thicker and also so if someone coloured in the book using felt tip the colour wouldn't bleed through the page onto the image behind.
I also chose one sided pages to give the book more of a luxury feel.
I used un-coated paper to make sure the pages had a matte finish that would be easy to colour on.
I chose wiro bound so the books would be easier to colour on/in.
When the prints arrived however there was a problem, they had been printed on gloss (the company's mistake). See below for images:
Because of this I had to contact the printing company and request a reprint of my books as they were not suitable for purpose as they were.
Luckily, the company agreed to a free reprint and sent me out some replacements.
I'm really happy with how the final prints turned out.
Even the printing mistake made me deal with contacting the print service. This is something I will probably come up against as a freelancer and it's good to know I can deal with printing mistakes now, it's a good sign for the future.
Eventually, I would make a plan to get my own printer so I can produce prints by myself. But affording an a3 printer and ink for a printer is out of my price range at this stage of my career. Because of this, it's good to know I have the confidence and ability to communicate and negotiate with other business' online.
This will also allow me to produce some lineart of my work (to allow it to be coloured in). Lineart (digital lineart) is something I usually avoid as my style of drawing is very sketchy and scruffy. Doing this lineart will allow me to improve my rendering techniques by trying a new style of drawing that is very new to me.
Before I started creating my own colouring book line art, I decided to look at some line art in existing colouring books.
These colouring books for adults have patterns that feature a variety of shapes, and sizes to colour.
they also feature full page designs and ones that are surrounded by a white area.
I decided to have varying shapes and expanses of white to colour in on the different pages to ass a bit of variety.
To get the lineart neat, I traced over my original drawings in their full, A3 size and them shrunk them down to A5 (the size of the colouring book). This way the lines are a lot neater as youre not seeing them full size.
Because the colouring books needed a cover, I just re appropriated the image I created for my business card.
I created white text that also bled into the border. I underlined this with black text that displayed my name.
I didn't like this version. I decided to make a cover that had all the images on it available inside the book so the client could see on the front what they would get to colour in. I also didn't think the text looked very good placement wise. I also used arial as a font in this mock up and decided instead I wanted to keep the font on the cover of the book the same as the font on my business card. This keeps my brand image consistent.
I kept the back the same as the back on my business card for consistency.
After finishing the books. These were the printing preferences I chose:
I chose 300gsm for the paper weight so the book would look thicker and also so if someone coloured in the book using felt tip the colour wouldn't bleed through the page onto the image behind.
I also chose one sided pages to give the book more of a luxury feel.
I used un-coated paper to make sure the pages had a matte finish that would be easy to colour on.
I chose wiro bound so the books would be easier to colour on/in.
When the prints arrived however there was a problem, they had been printed on gloss (the company's mistake). See below for images:
Because of this I had to contact the printing company and request a reprint of my books as they were not suitable for purpose as they were.Luckily, the company agreed to a free reprint and sent me out some replacements.
I'm really happy with how the final prints turned out.
Even the printing mistake made me deal with contacting the print service. This is something I will probably come up against as a freelancer and it's good to know I can deal with printing mistakes now, it's a good sign for the future.
Eventually, I would make a plan to get my own printer so I can produce prints by myself. But affording an a3 printer and ink for a printer is out of my price range at this stage of my career. Because of this, it's good to know I have the confidence and ability to communicate and negotiate with other business' online.
Sunday, 27 March 2016
Printing Results!
I was really happy with the quality of the prints and how they turned out. They all printed out a little darker than they looked online which was a little disappointing. It wasn't that obvious though. I did convert my prints to CMYK before printing but I didn't paint the images in this setting because my version of Photoshop errors when I try to do that for some reason. I wonder if this is why. If not (because I did res-ave them as CMYK before printing) maybe a higher quality paper would have brought out the colours better. This is something to think about for next time I get my work printed off.
It's really nice also, to see all the work I have done this semester collectively and physically. I feel my ability to render images has really improved over the course of this module and I feel having 8 completed images for the end of the semester is a great achievement.
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