PictoPlasma Conferences:

Here I will talk about my favourite PictoPlasma Conferences that I attended while in Berlin:

Cecile Dormeau: 

Now this is an artist who fights for women rights, Cecile is an artist based in France her conference was so inspiring as she told us all how she began illustrating all women from different ethnicities to all different shapes and sizes, her style is quite simplistic however she is able to transfer such a powerful message through her work:

Rex Crowle:

Rex Crowle the designer of little big planet and also tearaway did an amazing speech he went into so much detail about his work and about how he created videos games and also about new projects that he was working on, looking through all of his work was amazing and fascinating for me: 

Mr Bingo:

Finally my favourite conference of the entire festival was mr bingo, he is a UK based artist and his deal is that he sends awful messages to people on postcards for money... yeah I know weird right, his style is traditional like and his humour is amazing overall he is one of my favourite artists:

PictoPlasma Animation screenings:

During Our trip to pictoplasma we saw so many various animations screened within the Babylon cinema I will talk about my favourite screenings:

We Cant Live Without Cosmos:

This animation was a humorous and tragic tale about friendship and reaching for the stars (Literally!), the animation style was simple however the style helped to potray this story in such an amazing way I was dumbfounded by the end of it:

Mr Madilla:

This animation was beyond hilarious it was hilarious because the style suited it and the way it was set up like a documentary was a brilliant idea, the voice actor brought so much enthusiasm to the animation that it was hard to believe that it was not a real documentary:

Tusk:

This was another amazing animation that portrays a mammoth coming to the future and wanting to return back to the past and I have to say that this was one of the most heart felt animation I have seen in a long time, the style was simple but beautifully portrayed important issues such as isolation and depression even though they were represented through such a cute little sad mammoth: 

END OF THE YEAR EVALUATION:

This is my end of the year evaluation of how I perceive myself over the past year and what I have achieved and what I could improve on overall, this evaluation will delve into the experiences that I have had and the ideas that I have formed and the projects that I have made throughout this, I will evaluate my progress along with my workflow:

Throughout the year I believe that I have not actually done a good job I feel like I have worsened since last in all honest, yes I have had concrete experience such as planning projects and writing treatments and proposals, I have had hands on experience within Live theatre within a creative industry however I feel that I have have not truly took the most I could have out of this year. for example with the Compositing module I felt that I was quite confident with the software to create animations with, I had the concrete experience and I felt like through that experience I have broadened my horizons of digital software and tools that can be used to create new and different types of animation and illustrations. I have also had concrete experiences with planning and organising a project within the beginning of the year through experiencing this I have now a new found experience of understanding the process of creating a project and organising it. However I feel like I could have done better with these experiences and I believe that because of my personal well being I could not do that due to having other priorities and problems I feel that I felt restrained and held back, if I were to do this course again and I could try and organise my personal flow along with my work flow I might be able to push myself further and reach my targets that I had set myself over the year.

I have planned and created targets and goals for myself this year which I stated that I would try my best to experience and experiment with new styles, techniques and software however what I have done is attempt a small margin of this, I felt like I was going at conceptualising ideas and brainstorming however I could never think of ways to create a solid plan for these brainstorms and the plans that I had made. I feel like I lacked the effort to bring the concepts that I had formed to life, whether it have been because of the lack of skills that I possessed or because of the lack of experience that I have had with certain software and tools and simply because of the fear of failing so not having the courage to try in the first place. If I were to do the year over this part of the course I would focus more on creating my concepts and actually putting a lot of thought into them instead of idle daydreams without concrete thought. 

Overall looking at the quality of my work I did try my best to make good work however I felt I was lacking in the creative aspect of my work, however I felt like I was quite motivated for the written aspect of my modules, however collectively I believe that I could have tried harder for my creative part of the course through various means and any means necessary. if I were to repeat this year then I would focus on improving the quality of my work and try my best to experience new techniques and opportunities for me to create good and professional work within the modules and within the course, I have done some good side projects of my own accord however I feel that I could have improved drastically on the quality of my work for example with the compositing module I could have created much more unique designs however I had simplified the work down and I Focused more on the writing aspect of these modules. 

Finally I believe that my targets for this year would have that I would have tried to create more independent pieces of work and actively went on my own and focused on making various pieces made from different styles and from different software and different techniques, I believe that I did this over summer last year as to prepare for the second year and I have experimented with various different inks and other traditional methods however I believe that I could have tried my best to exit my comfort zone more often and try and experience new and different ways to create work such as collage or digital formats if I were to improve I would have to actively experiment with also sorts of processes so that I can improve on my artwork and improve on my workflow.

Module Overview and Evaluation

Module 7: Commercial Animations and Illustrations Productions

Within this module the main purpose was to learn how to sell ourselves and promote ourselves within the industry, the main part of this would be our portfolio as it would be used within interviews and it is a collective of our work and this helps employers to give an overview of our work and what we are capable of, this is the most essential tool for animators and illustrators as it helps to promote our work to the employers and it is a collective of our best work.

We also were to create a summary of each of our pieces within our portfolio so that its style and meaning are much more understandable for the employer and for funding as well.

From this module I learnt that portfolios are the basis for artists and their work I also learned that a variety of styles and adaptable pieces are able to show to flexibility of the artist and that I should adapt this type of formula to my portfolio.

If I were to repeat this module I would focus on having more of a variety of styles within my portfolio so that I would be more of a adaptable artist within the creative industry and it will show that I will have multiple talents.

Module 8: Personal and professional Development

Within The Personal and professional development module I learned that it is very important to create a collective amount of data to refer back to and to also list down targets and aim to improve and constantly push myself to do much more and learn more, the use of the blog gives us the chances to explore different types of artists and show off our work and show what we have learnt, this helps to develop us as artists and it can be considered as a form of progression and a form of developing oneself as a better person and a better artist by exploring themselves and by understanding their strengths and weaknesses. 

From this Module I realised that to express myself artistically and personally that it is important as it is a major part of growing as a person and as an artist as we realise how we can improve ourselves. 

Within this module I feel that I could have been more enthusiastic about improving myself as a person and as an artist I just didn't have the motivation to improve myself as I believed that I was not worth improving or trying so I believe that I wasn't worth it however as I am better and more sound of mind I have realised how absurd it is that I felt like that and if I could repeat this module then I would persist to create new targets for myself so that I can become a better person and become a better artist.

Module 6: Work Based Learning

Within this module we learned about the industry and what it is like to work within it and how to maintain a steady workflow, this module links in with our digital skills module and the project that we had worked with. Within this module we learned about the planning side of animation and illustration and how we can manage our workflow, the main part of this module was working on the script and the final pieces. 

We are also working on doing a live brief so that we can gain some experience within doing contracted work, some have creative freedom while others were very specific and showed us that within the creative industry that we must be adaptable and that proposals and treatments are highly important if we wish to get work funded or if we wish to organise and create our own projects. 

From this module I learnt that independent work can be the most difficult as working within competitions and proposing ideas can be quite difficult, however through this practice I have learnt the more you work on the more you can build up your creative CV and thus this will help with finding work.

If I were to do over this module I would focus on organising my work flow accordingly and recording all work down that I have done independently also my proposal and treatment would be more organised and I would try to adjust my work flow so that the most optimum amount of work could be achieved at good quality. 

Module 5: Contextual Studies

For this Module we were assigned to create our own subject to write about as long as it was related to animation and illustration, I decided to write about the change in character design within the creative industry over the last 50 years as it always intrigued me how certain styles have progressed over the years and what their influences were whether it have been through society and its social issues or through economic and technological breakthroughs I wished to write about it and research it as it fascinated me as I can see the same type of flow through my own style and I wanted to look at that on a much larger scale within the industry with various styles being passed down to various people and the way that it morphs and changes to become what it is today.

I found this Module quite interesting as it was my own subject that I was researching and arguing about, I found this also quite difficult as it was rather hard to come up with the subject to begin with as it was a creatively free subject that we all could do. In truth I actually struggled with this subject as I found it was rather challenging for the compare and contrast as certain parties for my research some had no style change while some had clear social and economic impacts so I found it difficult to include all of this information.

If I were to go back and doing this module again My main targets would be that I would think harder and focus more on a clear subject that I can compare and contrast with better understanding of my conclusion and of My argument.

Module 4: Compositing

During The compositing module we learned a variety of things about the placement of 2D and 3D foreign objects in live action photos and footage, I found the mechanics of this module fairly simple to understand especially the use of cinema 4D and After effects I believe that if I were to do this module again I believe that I would be able to adapt these skills that I have learnt in the same way and create a perfectly animated or illustrated sequence. 

For my piece I created various simple design characters and I mainly used after effects to create these animated pieces as this is what I felt most comfortable with doing this I attempted one tracked shot and I used 2 locked shots for my animated pieces. 

If I could improve on this module and the weeks within it I would have tried to challenge myself more and attempt trickier animation styles and techniques furthermore I could have drastically improved on my own well being as I have let a lot of things effect me in my personal life which have drastically effected my work flow.

For me to serious improve on this I must prioritise a section of time a day so that I may contribute more enthusiasm to my work and focus on producing something, due to the lack of this I have not put in as much effort as I should have, this has made me realise that the industry will be a stressful environment however if I wish to progress through the industry and create work then I should try my best to overcome these challenges and try to better myself through practice if I wish to become a professional illustrator, progressing through this module has inspired me to do so. 

FAVOURITE TRADITIONAL ART:

Here is a list of my favourite traditional artists whether they be small or large this will mainly conduct of sketch work and also of ink work since this tends to be the most frequent method I use:

Qinni Art:

This artist is one of my most favourite traditional artists as she adds such detail to her work also she tends to sketch and also uses water colours, although she does dip into digital work she mainly uses traditional methods to create her artwork. She loves to use a purple combination within her work almost giving off a galaxy feel to it:

 

Mr Bingo:

Mr Bingo is a UK based artist and his work consists of ink work on the back of postcards which are usually quite comical, he also has done a multitude of commercial work, furthermore his work is more practical as he is commission to do these artworks on the back of postcards and sends them to people:

Sophira Lou:

Sophira Lou is one of my favourite traditional artists because she experiments and usually tries to expand her knowledge of illustration, She tends to work with copics, promarkers and ink and she tends to delve in drawing the female form, she tends to issue challenges to herself and records them so that many more can get involved:

Isbeth (Liz Clements):

Isbeth is another traditional artist who uses paints and tea's and inks within her work, she creates outstanding semi realistic portraits and she has amassed quite the following her work is beautiful and vibrantly colourful:

Favourite Digital Artists:

This is a list of my favourite digital artists and examples of their work, this will be a list of artists that inspire me to experiment with Digital software.

J.Krul:
J.Krul is a digital artist that specialises with Photoshop work, he has a sketch like style and he also tends to sketch the female form with a variety of colours, this style really inspires me to illustrate digitally and the use of colour and detail in his work is superb:
Here is a link to his work:
https://www.instagram.com/j.k.draws/

Muna Draws:
Muna is a digital artist who is a digital artist she uses a large amount of earthy colours in her work and she sketches a diverse set of people, the way she uses dark colours is very beautiful:

Cailey Miller:
Cailey Miller is a digital artist that uses parallel symmetry as a major design technique in her work, her work is very bubbly and vibrant and extremely colourful:

Hallie Elizabeth:
Hallie Elizabeth is a known digital artist her work is usually semi-realistic or full realistic, she uses a lot of dark toned colours within her work giving a dark atmosphere from her artwork however since she tends to draw the female form it bring a sense of elegance to her work:

Finally realising my strengths and weaknesses:

I have begun to realise and establish my true strengths and weaknesses, I have realised that I am indeed strong at traditional work, that I am quite skilled with ink and sketch work however my biggest strength is also my biggest weakness as I realise that I am too comfortable with how I work and with how I experiment with different styles and techniques. 

I always tend to try things however I will never stray too far from what I like to do most which is not a bad thing however if I truly wish to gain true experience of all different styles and techniques I must realise that I sometimes must try and persist with my experiments and I must try and stray from my apron strings of ink and pencil.

If I am to gain any form of concrete experience in the creative industry I must be flexible with various tools and software so that I can create a multitude of different and unique work, so I must focus on trying new things and trying my best to not get into a comfort zone.

Favourite Ink artists:

LoserShpinx:

This is an ink artist who creates short comic images using black ink, the combination of her style and the dark ink creates an amazing style that is unique to her and her comical effect adds much more to her art:

Trungles:

Trungles is an ink comic book artist his work is inspired by eastern culture but his concepts are inspired by western fairy tales, he usually uses ink and digital combination to create his work, he is usually most fond of drawing the female form quite often the amount of detail that he puts into clothing and items is amazing:

February Targets:

as February is here I am now start to feel the stress of work piling on my shoulders I thought that I should come here and begin to write about what targets I need to fulfil:

1. I have notice that I am staring to lack the motivation for work and for general things in my personal life I would like to try and motivate myself somehow by possibly drawing more as I have noticed that I have begun to feel less and less for art over the past few months sketching more things might get my motivation back.
2. Focus on deadlines as I am beginning to slack with keeping up with my work I do not know what but I just have become more sad recently and I find it very hard to try and motivate myself however I will try my best to do what I can.

Progress: Module 3 Digital skills Application

Within this module so far I have began creating storyboards and rough sketches of panels to get as rough Idea of how I want my project to look, I have began to look and the story and script and have began to simplify the story so that it is more understandable and straight forward for the audience to understand and comprehend.

Mainly my concept art is also becoming simplified, I will not be putting too much detail into my backgrounds making the characters the main visual stimulation in the project. I am still uncertain of the layout of the project, either picture book style or comic style, I am considering taking out the use of a script also and see if this can still effectively show the story and if it can I will be able to incorporate the script into the project.

Main Influences:

My main influences for this project is the majority of graphic novels that I have read and comics that I was exposed to as a young child, For example In real life has been a massive inspiration for me and also Vera Brosgols "Anya's Ghost" is also a massive influence as its style of black and white and digital take really inspired me to try it myself. 

Work that I have created this year: 

This is a collective of work that I have created over the year and this shows the process that I have went through to change my styles and techniques: