Signing Of

Well,

Two years has come to an end, awfully fast I have to say. This course has taught me a lot and helped me refine my specialist area in ways I could not have guessed.
I have really enjoyed the traditional animation techniques, but I do not feel i will go on to be an animator. This course has shown me how much I love pre-production work and character design, which are skills I will take forward into my career. I hope to be a childrens' illustrator ultimately but could not have seen the other great possibilities if I had not studied on this course.

Whats next?

Well I am going on to do my final year in creative practise, I have applied for a position working with the exhibition and seminar creative team at Seven Stories - the centre for childrens' books, and I plan really starting my first dummy book to send off to Alison green publishers next year - following a meeting with them. My career is looking bright, and I am excited to get going, but I could not have had these opportunities, and the skills to go for them, if it was not for the work I produced on FDA Animation.

My major highlight was out class visit to Berlin for the Pictoplasma Conference in 2012. This was so influential to my work, and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet professionals from around the world under one fantastic blanket event. This should be mandatory for every year to have to go!

I may be keeping this blog open, or setting up a new one for my company name, I am unsure yet....so keep an eye just in case over the summer.....especially for the work on my dummy book.

In closing, I cant thank my tutors enough,  and I am so grateful to have been lucky enough to study on this course, with fantastic people and great opportunities for two years. However with another year to go at the college....they have not seen the last of me yet!

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Nearly there...

Everything is looking good,

I have to print everything and mount some boards for my Work based learning briefs I did. As promised here is another of m early concepts for my business cards. Obviously they need much more development, but hopefully this gives you an idea.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Supporting concept work

I have got some rough concept ideas for my concept visualization  page, for my Berlin residency proposal.

Now I have many printing and binding to do for final hand in later on today.
I will be posting the development ideas for my business cards and then I shall be signing off...I know *tear*.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Cover letter...

Here is one of my latest versions of my cover letter, this will go with my creative CV, which will look like it is a book cover design.

I wanted a nice, hand crafted look so I signed it digitally, using my graphics tablet which I really quite liked.

Walk on the wild side..

I went back to my Chameleon character and gave him a proper little walk cycle as part of my initial development work for one of my modules. The back ground is really rough, and I want to work more into his movements, like adding a tounge, his tail and his eye. However I'm happy with him as a starting point.
Have to also say a big thank you to fellow illustrator/animator Georgie Goldsmith for her aid :)

In other news I have been accepted onto BA(Hons) creative practice so another year here I come...

BUT I have to pass this year so with the final hand in tomorrow, I still have a few last minute things to be getting on with so off i go..

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Geeting closer...

Well the final week rush is on for final hand in! (queue biting nails) but although there seems to endless jobs to do, it all seems to be coming along nicely. My once epic to do list is reducing in size at a lovely speed!

Below is one of the initial rough lay out ideas for my business card, featuring one of my little whale characters I produced for my Greetings card work :)

As well as finalising these, i am finishing of my proposal for my Berlin Residency tomorrow so it shall be revealed....

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Final card designs

For my final greetings card designs i8 chose to do some 'new baby' greetings cards. I felt the theme I was working with went well, it had not been done from what I looked at in my market research and I also felt that it would allow me to produce soft imagery for a product that people ages 16-35 would purchase (this being the ages in the brief).
Here they are...

All cards measure 148 by 148 mm, and indicate where the glitter would go when prototypes are created.

Im very happy with the final designs overall, however I may work more with he 'baby girl' design, and re-work the octopus character.

Thanks

Leonie Elsa

More Nautical Fun

I have completed the first mock up design for my first card, along with a couple of gift tag ideas, these will be developed more as well as the other two card designs for the collection.
Really happy with how they are going, and I have gotten so good feedback on them, so I'm going in the right direction!

Front Cover

Back Cover

Insert

Gift tag designs

Thanks

Leonie Elsa

Nautical Logo

I have finished the design for my Nautical but Nice collection logo. This design will feature on the backs of the greetings cards and on the gift tags, however I may play with the shape more, especially when thinking about it being a little gift tag. Possibly an anchor or port hole cut out shape, which will add that little extra touch to the design.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Nautical development....

Today I have been experimenting with materials, fabrics and the wonder that is Illustrator and Photoshop to develop the style and look of my sea life characters for my greetings card collection. I really like the direction they are going and I feel am very close to being able to design my final cards, logo and gift tag designs for my brief and portfolio.

Targets

1) finalise greetings cards collection, ready for printing tomorrow.

2) Complete my digital storyboard which I have using to experiment with drawing completely digitally.            Although its very rough, I am enjoying playing with it.

3) Make plan for what I want to do for final show after final hand in.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Octo

The line work for my little Octo friend is coming along, I have decided to gather material and scan them in to use these to colour up along with digital colouring for my character for the cards. I think this will work well and produce some really nice, interesting final pieces.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Background Ideas

Good Morning Everyone!
I have been experimenting with the very rough layout of background ideas for my Nautical but Nice collection. These are just a few of them, as I say these are just to help my rough out where potential shapes could go, pattern ideas and colour palettes I could think about, however very basic as it is so early in the developmental stage.

These were done digitally, where as much of the final design for the card will be done by hand and then digitally enhanced. However I am finding it very quick and helpful to use Photoshop and Illustrator to generate rough plans such as these.

Todays Targets

1) The main thing I want to get done today is the finalisation for my octopus character, working out his final colour ideas and get him finished.

2) refine or develop more layout concepts for my greetings cards

3) Collect and print a black and white copy of all the work I may want to include to begin putting my portfolio for my interview together. 

Thanks

Leonie Elsa

Meeting the Gruffalo..

I had the fantastic opportunity to go along to a master class at Seven Stories, the centre for childrens books, with non other than Illustrator Axel Schiffler, along with his art director and publishing company.

It was a great lecture and I got to see his very initial, early workings for some of his most famous childrens books. I also got some one to one advice on how to contact people in the industry, especially when starting out, and how to present my work. I took a great deal from this session, and there was talk of more and more people of the industry returning to Seven Stories in the future. 

I would urge anybody who is interested in Illustration, commercial illustration, publishing, or writing for children to keep up to date with there adult sessions, there worth it!

Thanks

Leonie Elsa

Nautical but Nice

I am developing some initial sketches for one of my live briefs which I am working on. This brief is to design three greetings cards designs, and a name for the collection. After much mind mapping I decided on a nautical theme for my greetings cards. My collection will be called 'Nautical but Nice'.
I will be developing three sea creatures to base the each card around, and my first I am playing with is an octopus character. Below are the initial ideas for his shape.

I really like the plump, cuter look rather then working with long wispy tentacles, and I think I will be taking forward character idea 3 for further for the development of my first greetings card.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Paul Hess Workshop

I had the pleasure of taking part in a great lecture and workshop with Illustrator Paul Hess.
It gave me a great opportunity to see how a contemporary artist is working within the industry and I was lucky enough to talk with him during a stylistic change he is going through, which was all the more interesting.
He also gave me some great tips and ideas on how to approach the development stages of illustrating something, as well as a inside look at his own process. This helped me think and reflect on where my work is at the moment and what it could develop into using different approaches. It also reminded me that not every up tire I draw is going to perfect, it's part of the beauty of developing visually creative work and he taught me to relax with my work and really enjoy it, this is when you get some if the most rewarding and end peeved results.
Even more exciting is I got two stories from a current project he is working on to approach and illustrate, this will help me start putting my own creative process into action and see what happens!

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

As promised...

As i promised in my smart targets last week I have below the final model boards for my rag doll character which I was working on.
I really like how they came out, and I grew quite attached to the story. I feel this is something i will continue to produce concept work for and supporting characters for.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

My 7 Week Plan

With 7 weeks to go there is a lot of work to get done for final hand in. Although there is much to do , its quite exciting because there is a variety of tasks and concepts to work on for my live briefs. The key to hitting my deadline and make sure all these tasks are complete and to high standards is to keep to a time plan which I have put together.

Week 1
A) Segmented character walk cycle on after effects & evaluation for re-subission of Alternitive techniques module.

B) Finalise work for the Seven Stories Competition.

C) Friday this week is the session with Paul Hess in which will do a work shop and recieve a live                
     project for me to complete for him.

Week 2
A) Develop work for the first of two projects from Paul Hess.

B) Clean up work produced in session for portfolio.

C) Plan portfolio work so far

Week 3 & 4 (Easter)
A) Develop, refine and finalise projects for Paul Hess.

B) Blog it and evaluate.

C) Greetings cards project

Week 5
A)  Finalise greetings cards

B) Begin development of Wind and the Willows Compeition

Week 6
A) Refine and Finalise Wind and the Willows Competition work.

B) Edit and refine reel

Week 7
A) Printing new work

B) Organise work based module

C) Organise PPD paperwork.


Todays SMART Targets:

1) write up seven stories session notes
2) Refine work for seven stories so far
3) Post final model boards for previous module

Lets get going!

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Essay Writing Fun...

Well,
After finishing my model boards for my module, which I was very pleased with (images on the way), it was quite refreshing to write an essay on my chosen subject. It gave me the oppurtunity to do more research and get a better understanding of the contemporary market I will be going into.

This week...

I am now focusing on finding different live briefs and competitions to work on for PPD, my portfolio and to give me more experience of working to tighter deadlines and for a client with i think is paramount to my development as an illustrator.

Some of the ones I am focusing on are:

Penguin Book Cover Design 2013
This is looking at designing a cover for a childrens' book and an adult one, although they are two separate briefs i think I will be entering both. However my focus will be on the childrens' one.

Seven Stories : Over The Hill & Far Away 2013
This is quite a close deadline, however I think it would be really good for me to look at as my main interest is Childrens' illustration. I also really like the idea of it being a local source, with seven stories being a local establishment. This is also very interesting because it is conceptually based on

Cheltenham Tall Tails 2013
This is another illustration competition I am very interested in. It is a highly regarded competition and offers great exposure for my work. On top of this it will make me work outside me comfort zone which I feel can only be benifical to furthering my professional and personal development as an illustrator.

I am looking at more competitions and will by the end of the day I will have a plan for the next 9 weeks of my course and completion of my briefs and portfolio work.

Leonie Elsa

Lyras' Model Board

This is the first model board for Lyra, my rag doll :)

I am really happy with it and I am looking forward to finishing the expressions sheet for her to match this board.
I think she has cam along way from the initial designs and ideas I had and I am very pleased so far!

Leonie Elsa

Introducing Lyra...

I have finally finished my colour up work and final details. This is my final character design for my little rag doll....introducing Lyra:

And her model board is on they way, this is a shot of it in development:

I really like her, I have enjoyed developing her so much and I look forward to completing her dummy book :)

Leonie Elsa

Colour Ideas

I have been experimenting with different colour pallets and combinations to pin down the one I think suits my character well...

I then went ahead with the blond idea that I  experimented with during my line work development to produce this initial colour up version of my final character:

I will be adding further colour detail using Photoshop to finish her up, before taking her to the model boards.

Leonie Elsa

More Line work...

I have been refining more of the line work and digitally drew in more detail to my characeters design. I will doing some colour experimentation using photoshop and will be applying this to the final look for the model board.

Now to finish the colour work and expressions to finalise the model boards......

Leonie Elsa

Further Doll Development...

I have cleaned up some basic line work, although this needs more work in illustrator for the final design, in order  to   begin experimentation with colour ideas and  brushes in photoshop which I will continue with the rest of today. Im hoping to finalise my line work and color palette, with full detail for the model board creation tomorrow.

Basic clean up line work

Basic first colour & Brush experiment

More development and finalization on the way!

Leonie Elsa

Running Out Of TIME...

Well,

This past week has been one thing after another and not I am running very short on time! I am finished the roughs of my character and have fleshed out what she looks like. This final rough designs are below:

I took forward three of the  dolls from the previous development stage I felt embodied my character best, she has to a little rough looking, but charming and nice at the same time. I didn't  want something that looked to clean, too nice or too scary, but a happy balance between these traits.

The one I think lends its self best from these final development sketches in number 8, although I really like the longer hair, I think this leans to much in the "too  nice and clean" category. I think if I chose the longer haired design, too much of this quality I am looking for would depend on the eyes, I want the whole design to be reflecting my characters person, not just a feature. 

Final Character look:

I will now further develop her line work using illustrator, neaten up the design digitally and put in more detail to finalise her design.

Leonie Elsa

Skillset

Hello!

Well below I have compiled my skill set analysis and gathered the roles which I am hoping to go into after I have completed my 3rd year ( next year). This is stages 1-2 of the whole analysis, which will help me put together my learning plan. :)

SWOT Analysis

I have compiled lists of different factors that will influence my success and growth within my creative discipline. These include the skills I already posses, ones I may need to acquire or develop, things that may hinder my progression and opportunities within my practice. By reflecting on these I hope to map out what I need to focus on within my practice to help strengthen both my personal and professional development. I will use this to form the basis for creating my personalised learning plan, which will help me highlight the areas that I need to develop for my chosen career path. To fully explore all possibilities I will also be exploring branches of my chosen area that I may be well suited to, due to the skills I already have, some of which I may not have considered.  I believe this will enable me to get the most out of this self-reflection task, and I will have a more focused direction for my work.

Strengths

·      Organised             

·      Story development

·      Ideas generation

·      Illustrative drawing

·      Character design

·      Enthusiastic

·      Software skills – Photoshop & Illustrator predominantly

·      Very good communication skills

·      Good presentational skills – Oral & work based

·      Attention to detail

·      Leadership skills

·      Team work

·      Industry awareness- up to date with developments in the practice as well as exhibitions/external lectures & workshops that are beneficial to my learning.

Weaknesses

·      Digital skills need improving – especially uses of Cinema 4D

·      More knowledge on layout software such as InDesign

·      Time usage – can spend too much on pre-production phase, I sometimes leave too little time for actual production. This may be because I want to specialise in the pre-production areas within the industry.

·      No exposure for my work

·      No work experience of the industry as yet.

Opportunities

·      I have purchased InDesign and will be doing online tutorials to get better understanding of it.

·      I could use Cinema 4D more within my studies, but first I need to decide if 3D work is needed for my chosen career path.

·      National and international festivals – Both entering and attending is very beneficial to my creative growth.

·      Live Briefs – both independently researched and as part of the course gives some understanding of what working for a client is like, along with how the guidelines can influence the work produced.

·      Local, national and international competitions – there are so many, that could provide such important exposure and networking possibilities.

·      Internship/ work opportunities – using organisations such as Northern TV and Film can give access and information on both national and international roles.

·      College work experience – I will use the placement team at the college to broaden the possibility of getting more experience.

·      Student funding possibilities

·      Specialisation in children’s animation & Illustration is a huge market currently.

Threats

·      Highly competitive industry

·      NO EXPOSURE = NO WORK

·      Lack of layout software could put me at a disadvantage, especially for illustrative or storyboard roles.

·      Extensive software knowledge is very sought after in many areas within the industry. The ability to be versatile is hindered by my lack of some software packages.

·      Very focused on children’s work – I need to be more aware and versatile for other areas not just the one, especially when starting out.

Stage 2

Roles that I have went onto research using the skillset website, and that i will be using when creating my portfolio and CV include:

Runner

Storyboard Artist / Assistant

Clean Up artist

Background Designer

Character Designer

Storyboard Supervisor

Layout Artist

Layout Supervisor

Production Assistant

Director

Art Director

Producer

Illustrator

Visual Development Artist

There are lots of choices out there, and I will now be focusing on the skills needed for these roles and see what I need to work on further to get there :)

Development.

Well,

This last week or two I have been developing some initial ideas for my toy character, which I am fully designing and basing my final character boards on, as well as my final prototype toy.
I want the doll to have the ugly duckling type of feeling, as in she looks scruffy and perhaps not as desirable as other toys children may pick but still have a charm, in order for the audience to like and respond to her.
Rough development so far...

My next stage is to flesh out the eyes and hair of my developed doll character which I ave begun to do below:

I really like how this character is taking shape, out of the above doll designs I fell numbers 2 and 3 are the ones I will be developing further, for the basic version of my final character. 

Leonie Elsa

Rag Doll

I have started my initia ideas for my rag-doll character, for which I am basing this module work on. I will refine these throughout the module and produce a final set of boards, a concept piece of artwork and a 3d Model toy of my final character.
Although these are early ideas I am excited about the possibilities for development.

Leonie Elsa

Unbranded

This week I will be looking to finalize my brand and ident, in order to finalize my website which will be up and running very soon. I will also be producing various business cards and promotional merchandise.
I am working on some designs, which will be uploaded soon, and I want it to be personal to me but eye  catching and something thats fresh.

The next project I am working on is to produce a set of concept illustrations and realization of a character for my portfolio development. This character will also then be translated into a prototype toy, enabling me to brush up on my digital skills. I am hoping this work will ultimately aid me in the development of a dummy book(s) which I will want to produce when I begin thinking of going freelance.
The initial idea generation stage of this module is going well, and am looking to finish my final set of character designs by then start of next week.

In other news...ANIMEX is coming up fast and I am looking to have my business cards ready to handout and use the festival as a platform to network while I am there, with both national and  international artists.

Thanks
Leonie Elsa

Logo Concepts

I was asked to produce a logo/banner design for a local band over the last few weeks. I had to listen to the music and really try to embody what the client was about and channel that into my design. All they wanted specifically was the union Jack flag included in the design. These are some examples of what i cam up with, which were produced on Photoshop and illustrator:

I really liked working on these and it was a great opportunity to experience working for and communication with a client. They ended up choosing the second from the top, although some minor alterations we requested. The final design will be the face of all there merchandise and will be made into a banner for their stage shows.