Front Cover

First Research Mind Map

Primary Research: Career Choices

Presentation Proposal Draft

Path Research

Narrative Powerpoint Answers

Narratives

Early Character Design Drafts

Second Research Mind Map

Components of Story

Ball Bounce Animation Drafts

Photo Sketch

Original Photo

Sketch Version

Idea Generation

Merging Images & Word Play

Word Play Page 2

Juxtaposition

Physical Characteristics:

Elizabeth Tower: Digital Clock

Eiffel Tower: Arch heightened up to make an ‘A’ shape.

Mickey Mouse: Dumbo Ears.

Comparison/Analogy:

Felix the Cat & Sonic the Hedgehog:

Similarities; Eye arrangement and face placement.

Difference; Head shape.

Mickey Mouse & Oswald the Lucky Rabbit:

Similarities; Face placement, eye arrangement and head shape.

Difference; Ears.

Vile & Boba Fett:

Similarities; Ear cups, helmet shape and visor placement.

Difference; Colouring, Vile’s ‘V’ emblem and Boba Fett’s radar thingy.

Function:

Superman: Heat Vision.

Normal use: Burning enemies.

Alternate use: Shaving.

Mega Man: Power Stone.

Normal use: Crushing enemies.

Alternate use: Can be used as a shield.

Charizard: Fire Type Moves.

Normal use: Burning opponents.

Alternate use: Can be used to make a campfire.

Binary Opposites.

Tardis (Doctor Who): Warps the user back in time or into the future.

Time Stones (Sonic CD): Use of one of them can take the user back in time or alter the future.

Past and Future Signs (Sonic CD): Speeding past them and keeping the pace sends the user back in time or into the potential future.

Time Skimmer (Mega Man): Warps the user back in time or into the future.

Time Hole (Mario & Luigi RPG): Sends the person back to the past or the present.

Ocarina of Time (Legend of Zelda): Playing the Song of Time sends the user back in time.

Natural History Museum: Gives the feeling of stepping back through time.

Spell Book: Possible time spell to freeze time, go back in time or go to the future.

History Book: Gives the feeling of stepping back through time.

Memories: Remembering events from the past.

Time/Consequences:

(for viewers who can’t read my handwriting)

Example A: Harry Potter: If Voldemort didn’t kill the Potters or didn’t go after Harry, Harry would have grown up with his parents and would have grown up with more knowledge of the Wizarding World.

Example B: Star Wars: If Anakin Skywalker hadn’t fallen to the Dark Side, Palpatine would have been killed by Mace Windu and the Original Trilogy would have never happened.

Example C: The Lord of the Rings: If Bilbo hadn’t found and took the One Ring from Gollum, the Orcs would have found it in Gollum’s possession and given it to Sauron, prompting his return.

Robo-Hackers What if?: If the Prowers were spared, James and Talia would have grown up with their parents and the 25 Year War may have ended sooner. Or, if James was taken in by the Dark Legion, he’d have grown up to become an assassin and look up to General Mafia as a parent/guardian.

Irony/Expectations/Literal Meaning:

(for viewers who can’t read my handwriting)

Drawing 1: Steam Roller.

Drawing 2;

Boy 1: You said you’d be back at 10! It’s 10:30!

Boy 2: I said AROUND 10! Not AT 10!

Drawing 3;

Girl: What are you doing?

Boy: Waiting for the paper to blow up in my face!

Girl: *sigh*

Drawing 4;

Boy 1: Are we there yet?

Boy 2: Yes.

Boy 1: Really?!

Boy 2: NO!

Drawing 5;

Girl 1: I’ll believe it when the cow jumps over the moon!

Girl 2: But… Cows can’t jump over the moon. That’s not possible. That would require *gibberish talk*.

Drawing 6;

Ariel: Is his a dream?! Someone pinch me! YOW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!

Ace: You said ‘Pinch Me’!

Ariel: NOT LIKE THAT!!!

Ian’s Creative Matrix activity

Initial idea: James uses a time stone to go back in time to see ‘what if’ events.

Narrative: 10, Tragedy.

Toolbox: 20, Overlays.

Materials: 8, Coloured.

Visualisation Processes: 67, Time-Lapse.

Influences: 80, Adult.

Emotional Content: 27, Compassionate.

Rules: 30, Radical Shaped Compositions.

Outcomes: 55, Film, T.V & Radio.

Original Sketch.

Time-Lapse.

Character Designs

Character Information:

Name: Katrina (Katie) Graves

Birthdate: March 22nd 2199

Gender: Female

Height: 6.5 foot

Favourite Colour: Blue

Favourite Animal: Cat

Favourite Movie: N/A

Likes: Friends, family, being helpful

Dislikes: Bullies, being used, jerks

Fears: Failing, letting her friends down

Virtues: Kind and generous

Defects: Naive

Allergies: N/A

Enemies: N/A

Parents: Parents and Eric

Siblings: N/A

Significant Other: N/A

Children: None

Profession: Student

Rank: Office Assistant

Goal: Coordinator/Navigator

Character Information:

Name: Christopher (Chris) Creeves

Birthdate: April 17th 2200

Gender: Male

Height: 5.8 foot

Favourite Colour: Green

Favourite Animal: Dog

Favourite Movie: N/A

Likes: Storybooks & Video Games

Dislikes: Being belittled

Fears: Bullies

Virtues: Responsible and modest

Defects: Easily manipulated

Allergies: N/A

Enemies: N/A

Parents: Reginald and Chloe

Siblings: N/A

Significant Other: N/A

Children: None

Profession: Student

Rank: Game Illustrator

Goals: Game Designer

Character Information:

Name: Willow Nora

Birthdate: July 6th 2199

Gender: Female

Height: 6.0 foot

Favourite Colour: Magenta

Favourite Animal: Rabbit

Favourite Movie: N/A

Likes: Children and friends

Dislikes: Bullies

Virtues: Loves teaching and helping out

Defects: Hyper and gullible

Allergies: N/A

Enemies: Colin

Parents: Meryl and Gordon

Siblings: Luke and Summer

Significant Other: N/A

Children: None

Profession: Student

Rank: Support Teacher

Goals: Teacher

Character Information:

Name: Colin Craft

Birthdate: February 9th 2199

Gender: Male

Height: 6.6 foot

Favourite Colour: Yellow

Favourite Animal: N/A

Favourite Movie: N/A

Likes: Being centre of attention and popularity

Dislikes: Being outsmarted or told what to do

Fears: Being alone

Virtues: Creative

Defects: Egotistical narcissistic attitude

Allergies: N/A

Enemies: Willow and Katie

Parents: Ellen and Aaron

Siblings: N/A

Significant Other: N/A

Children: None

Profession: Student

Rank: Film Director in training

Goal: Billionaire

Reflective Practice

Exhibition Plan

One Small Step: This is a short film about a girl who aspires to become an astronaut. After failing her course for it and being rejected by the work place she signed up for, she studies harder and eventually fulfils her goal.

This short film is quite interesting because it feels realistic and it is one of the key inspirations for my FMP short film. It shows someone’s aspirations, the path they’ve chosen, what they’re doing to pursue their goal and eventually reaching that goal after a few hiccups along the way.

Path Pinterest Board:

Character Design Pinterest Board:

Character Design Research

Charlie & Lola

Charlie & Lola is a children’s television series which focuses on a brother and a sister learning new things as they go about their daily lives.

The animation style the animators use for this series is very interesting because it feels like it’s all in stop motion, and the background, objects and part of the characters use actual photographs which have been collaged for setting and to interact with the movement. For example, Charlie’s trousers, the beds, grass and hedges.

I will try to find ways to add this animation style to my own animation if I can.

Tom & Jerry

The most iconic cartoon animal duo, Tom & Jerry have a simple narrative with Tom chasing Jerry because, depending on the story, he wants to eat him, Jerry has stolen from the kitchen again or just for a laugh.

Tom & Jerry are rememberable because of their comedic and humorous characters and the crazy and ridiculous ideas they do to either get away or outsmart each other. This sort of comedy style is often used in animation.

Phineas & Ferb

Animators & Illustrators:

Ub Iwerks: One of the original animators behind Walt Disney Animations, Ub Iwerks worked on the original Mickey Mouse shorts back in the late 1920s-1930s before making his own studios, creating his own iconic character, Flip the Frog.

His animation work is quite nostalgic because he was the original animator that had drawn Mickey Mouse, as well as defined the characters’ personalities and movements by his cartoonish animations. This sort of animation is something I’ll be considering for my own.

Primary Research:

• Take photos of paths
• Ask people about their career choices.
  • Look into other people’s stories.
• Storytelling Narrative
• Think about the Characters
  • Which people they are based off
  • Personalities
  • Goals
• Observational Drawing
  • 360 angle
  • Details

Who is the audience –

• Gender – Male/Female
• Age – Children, Teens, Adults
• Cultural (optional) – Natives, Foreigners
• Religion (optional) – Christians, Catholics, Muslims
• People giving attention towards something. E.g., your art

Visual Studies –

• Fashion Designers
• Portfolio
• Viewers
• Galleries
• Commissions

Ceramics –

• Galleries
• Museums
• Designers, Interior, Table wear
• Animation
• Commissions

Animation –

• Education, School
• Social Media, YouTube, Facebook
• Children, Teens, Adults
• Commissions
• Websites

Illustration –

• Packaging
• Fashion Designers
• Magazines
• Brands
• Animators
• Authors
• Designers
• Companies
• Marketing
• Commissions

Graphics – 

• Public
• Companies
• Charities
• Marketing
• Websites
• Logos

Fine Art –

• Galleries
• Commissions
• Exhibitions
• Animators
• Illustrators
• Designers

Research

Early drafts

Additional ideas and research can be found in the Sketchbook ‘RIOT’

Final design:

Original draft: Sketchbook.

Procreate edit.

Line work on another layer.

Trying to draw the Hospital sign wasn’t easy. I’m still learning how to use the brush tools and auto-shape on Procreate.

I had deliberately made the hospital white out of all of the buildings to show some light in the city.

I took a look at the fonts in Procreate and found one that seemed appropriate to the message. All I had to do was add some sort of natural colour.

For the lighter colours on the the trees and the ripples in the water, I had made a small amount to make it appear as if the sun was shining on the trees. I might go back and edit to make it look like all of the trees have the sun shining on them.

Timelapse Video

During the lockdown, I used the resources provided to construct two armatures. See my Ceramics Blog entry below.

https://euansblog.home.blog/2021/02/13/ceramics/

As I had already used up all of the chicken wire, I decided to use the steel wire for the final pieces. Unfortunately, I discovered there wasn’t much wire for two complete armatures.

While working on the armature parts, I took the time to practice and construct two pairs of hands for the armatures. Experimenting with them wasn’t easy, it required time and a lot of patience. Half the time, I struggled with making the fingers until I decided to stick them on then smudge them in place.

Next was working on the heads. I decided not to worry about the eyes and mouths until later on (likely once everything is done). Instead, I focused on the noses since I struggle with facial features. This time, I scrunched up the plasticine a little while pressing with my fingers, then added a bit more plasticine then smudged them altogether to construct the noses. These are definitely my best attempt at a face. In fact, I believe this is my first time making a nose out of either clay or plasticine!

Going back to my earlier statement that I didn’t have enough steel wire to construct a complete armature, I had decided to use spare coat hanger wires instead. They were tougher than the steel wire, but with a bit of bending and wire manipulation, I managed to shape a figure from it.

The first thing you should always do when constructing an armature is secure the wires. You can either do this through smaller wires or through masking tape.

I tried the wire trick, however, the wire was too small and difficult to wrap around the coat hanger wires. So, instead, I used the masking tap trick instead, making it easier.

Next was to add the steel wired legs. With that, I wrapped masking tape around it at the bottom and the top to secure it.

Then the next task was to make the armatures more 3D with tinfoil. Compared to the wire bending and joining them together, I think wrapping it all up in tinfoil was the easiest thing I had to do.

However, to secure the tinfoil, I made sure to wrap it all up with masking tape, learning from my past mistake with the last armature I covered in tinfoil. Then, I bended the wires again to give the armatures a pose. What I discovered when doing so, however, was that the legs were far too thin.

To fix this issue, I went back, added on some more tinfoil then secured it with more masking tape as seen here.

Looking at the figure here, the top part of the body seems quite flat. That’s something I took into thought when working on the second armature.

With the second armature, I followed the same process as the previous armature.

When it came to the top part of the body, I added in additional tinfoil at the front and back, making it a bit more 3D.

Next was the plasticine, starting with the legs and feet. I began by sticking a few small chunks of plasticine on the leg parts then spreading them out as I pressed and pinched the plasticine.

I think I must have repeated the plasticine bits a few times on the legs before moving onto the feet.

The feet were a little difficult to do since I hadn’t added on any tinfoil or masking tape on. However, I managed to spread the plasticine to make it look 3D and have some sort of shape instead of making it look flat.

This part was definitely the most difficult. I attempted to try and put together two rings around the knees to make it look like the armature had boots on.

I feel like the rings are too big, even for boots. Especially when you look at the size of the feet. However, I haven’t made any changes yet because doing so could ruin the balance of the armature since the left ring is keeping the armature standing along with the left foot.

When I went on to do the legs for the second armature, I followed the same process. However, instead of adding on the rings, I just carried on with the legs.

Then I went back and did the same with the first armature, then carried on covering the armature body in plasticine.

Trying to get between the legs and attach the plasticine wasn’t easy. I had to keep smoothening the plasticine out without completely breaking it apart. It didn’t help that the plasticine I was using was as dry and hard as Raku Clay.

Attaching the arms and shoulders was more or less the same results with the problem I faced between the legs. However, it wasn’t as difficult since I was able to spread out the plasticine then smudge it into the plasticine on the chest and back.

While working on the chest and back, I had a bit of trouble connecting the plasticine underneath the arms and over the shoulders as I did between the legs. It wasn’t easy and required a lot of concentration and patience.

At last, I went back to the second armature’s legs and added in the rings for the boots. I think this version of the rings is better than the first one since it doesn’t overtower the legs and feels similar to actual boots.

This is how the armatures look currently. Hopefully by the next lesson, I should have it all complete and ready to finalise.

For the items the armature characters carry around, I used the laser cutter in 3D to laser cut the designs in paper.

While doing the laser cut designs in paper, I was experimenting with size. The shield is the same size as the second armature because it’s a riot shield. The beam sabre was originally at 60mm, however, it seemed too small, and so, I went back and reset it at 90mm.

Another problem I noticed was that the grip handle for the beam sabre wasn’t attached to the sabre properly. To rectify this, I went back, edited the lines to engrave and recut the design.

For the Rex-Buster, I had done it at 70mm and 90mm because I was uncertain of how big the piece should be. After comparing the two, I decided to go for the 70mm piece.

For the shield and the blade part of the beam sabre, I had laser cut them in clear blue acrylic because they are supposed to be futuristic.

I had to go back and redo the blade because the first attempt didn’t cut through completely. When I tried pulling it out, it only made it rough on the edges.

After laser cutting 3mm plywood for the grip handle, I super glued the blade to the wood carefully along the cut sides. This task required a lot of concentration and patience.

As for the Rex-Buster, I decided to use Styrofoam as I had do so last year. It was easy using the hot-wire, but very dangerous. The hot wire is hot enough to burn your hand if you’re not careful.

Fortunately, I’m always careful when using dangerous tools. Cutting the styrofoam was a piece of cake with the paper staying in place. Another advantage was that the paper didn’t get burnt by the wire.

Once I finished with the hot-wire, I used a needle file to smoothen the curves of the buster. It didn’t take much work since I wasn’t trying to make it too smooth.

On the first week back to UCM, we were introduced to Performance & Installation Art. In our first Fine Art lesson, we were given a practical task to draw a figure as colourful or as odd as we liked. My first one was the head with the scribbly hair and dizzy eyes that would later have a muscular body by another artist. The second one I did was the chest. To find it, look at the figure on the left with the hairy chest. The third one is next to the second one. With that one, I had to do legs and feet. I more or less gave the figure hairy or ripped legs and odd shoes.

This was a very fun lesson. It felt more like Animation, Visual Studies or Illustration than Fine Art.

Our second task was to pair up with someone and make a noise with our objects. My partner and I used my wallet to make a ‘Ch-ch-ch-ch’ sound, a piece of scrunched up paper to make a ‘scrunch-scrunch-scrunch’ sound, my iPad stylus and fine liner to make a ‘bang-bang-bang’ sound and keys to make a ‘ting-a-ling-a-ling’ sound. It was so much fun.

Our next activity was doing a blind drawing while also feeling ourselves for detail. I think this is probably the strangest blind drawing I’ve ever done. Of course, this was the intention, but still. Not sure what to think with the second attempt, however.

RIOT Poster.

Chosen themes, Police Brutality (installation) & Climate Change (prints)

Week 2: We each had an activity to do in the session. My one was to make a rhythm in eight notes. However, due to certain conditions and circumstances, we were unable to do this task, and so, we did something different. Our first activity was making our initials out of food starting with the same letter as ours. Unfortunately, I misinterpreted the activity and made the letter ‘E’ out of raisins instead. Then again, the only food we had in the house with the letter ‘E’ were Eggs, and even if I did do the task, I don’t think trying to use eggs to make a letter is a good idea, especially with how fragile eggs are.

Our second activity was to do a recreation of an artwork. I chose Banksy’s Red Balloon and edited it into noir to make it look almost similar to the real thing only without the red. If I had more time, I probably would have photoshopped it.

Materials used: Fine Liner Colouring Pens & Eraser.

Before going into Lockdown, we were given some equipment by our teachers so we wouldn’t be unprepared and have something to do during lockdown.

Throughout the three weeks, I took the liberty to work through my Lino Cut designs and Aluminium Plate engraving.

For the first two designs, I didn’t go into too much detail as I was experimenting. Initially, these were meant to be tests and not the real thing.

The two topics I chose for my prints were Acid Rain, which is the Lino cut design right here. What the design shows is smoke rising out from a factory and merging with the clouds, then when it next rains, the smoke within the clouds become acid and pour down on the land, killing trees and crop within the area.

In my first attempt, I had focused on lining. On my second attempt, however, I focused more on shape and depth, as seen here. Personally, I think the second attempt is more successful because of how well it printed when I was printing ink with this piece.

The other topic I chose was Plastic Pollution. The objects show plastic products such as takeaway boxes, bottles, etc, and fish passing by getting affected by them. The fish that’s sinking into the dark water shows that plastic is harming sea life.

Just like how I did the Acid Rain designs, I made two designs. One where it focused more on line and the other on depth. I think both work well on their own.

With the Aluminium Plates, I did the two designs for Acid Rain and Plastic Pollution on the two plates I was provided with. Compared to the Lino cut designs, the aluminium plates were harder to do because I had to keep engraving into the plates daily.

Comparing the plates to my first time using aluminium plates, I think these two are better than the last plate, especially since I went deeper into the lines unlike the last time.

Aluminum Plate Prints:

The first session back at UCM, I worked on my Aluminium Plates with dry ink and would use the Lino cut designs as the final prints the next week.

Print 1: The first colour I used was black. However, I don’t think I cleaned off enough of the ink since part of it does look harsh. At the same time, it kind of symbolises what the piece is representing still. One of the most unexpected results, however, was the inclusion of a small gem that you can see in the middle of the print. I have no idea how that got on there, but at the same time, I feel like it carries a bit of weight, like it’s the sun, or a light of hope in a dark atmosphere.

Print 2: For the second print, I made sure to rub out the top, the plastic products and fish so they would stand out. I think the red ink kind of fits with the print because it makes it look like a red sea or a contaminated sea. However, part of it looks like it could use with an improvement. For example, maybe next time, I could rub out a smidge of the waves and add a different colour to the bottom of the water to show it is deeper water.

Print 3: This one is definitely an improvement. The mixed colours, the rubbed out areas and where the ink has been placed feels almost realistic and similar to an illustration. And where the ink has been left underneath the factory looks like a shadow!

Lino Cut Prints: Rather than make a bigger version of the Lino cut designs I made back in the lockdown, I used the original prototypes to make the prints instead which made for interesting prints and collages.

I started off with just one colour, using wet ink. However, I used too much ink which resulted rough early prints and difficulty with the brayer. However, as I progressed onward, I became a bit better.

Printing Process:

Step 1, have two pages from a newspaper on both blankets provided.

Step 2, place the Lino cut design that’s been inked up in the middle.

Step 3, put a piece of blank paper in clean water for thirty seconds, squeegee the side of the paper you’re going to put the print on then place the paper on top the inked up design.

Step 4, Sandwich the pieces together with a two boards, then place it on the presser opposite.

Step 5, twist the handle clockwise on the presser until it stops moving then turn it back anti-clockwise to release the sandwiched print.

Originally, I used the smaller presser, but then moved onto the bigger one since it was working that day. To use that, use the same method, only without the boards, always push and pull the piece out with the handle underneath so you don’t trap your fingers. Then, turn the handle left and right to press the piece and once you can’t move the handle any further, use the wheel above and the smaller handle to release the presser and bring it up so you can pull out the piece safely.

The first print wasn’t too bad. However, it’s clear I should use less ink, or it could result in a smudge if I was to accidentally crease a blanket and ignore it before proceeding with printing.

The second attempt was a double print with the Plastic Pollution. The yellow one had too much ink while the purple one used less ink. This was where I began to improve by adding less ink to the prints.

Before proceeding onward, my teacher guided me on the right path in order to produce better prints and add in mixed colours.

My first attempt at this came out beautifully. The mixture between orange and purple really shows what the piece is representing. However, one of the mistakes I made was that I left the paper in the water for too long, which made the print come out damper than it should be.

This is how I mixed the colours onward. I had two ink colours separate, then rolled the brayer back and forth between them, mixing them up in the centre but being careful not to make them overlap each other.

My second attempt with these mixed colours came out better than the first, as seen here. The one on the right stands out well. It almost looks like graffiti. The colours also match what is going on because the blue could represent the sky while the green and yellow could represent the contaminated water.

For my last few attempts, I mixed and matched colours which worked out excellently. I was really pleased how they came out, and how I mixed them up with placement which made for an interesting collage. The first attempt could have gone better if I had checked the top blanket hadn’t creased, but it still came out perfectly.

The second attempt was an absolute masterpiece because it took all that I had learnt up to that point and the colours just go so well with what the pieces represent. Overall, I’d say I’ve made a major breakthrough with Fine Art this term.

Final Installation Piece

For my final piece in Fine Art Tuesdays lessons, I chose Installation. Originally, I was going to do a Performance, however, I found it best to do a Installation piece instead mainly because I couldn’t think of how to do the performance.

Originally, I was going to do the Installation piece at Castletown Police Station itself. However, due to weather and temperature conditions, I would have been unable to do so.

To work around this issue, I used Photoshop to edit it all. Using a dissolving brush feature on Photoshop, I painted the pavement in red for blood.

Then, using the same brush tool, I painted in white to make it look like chalk and make it seem like there is a crime scene at the station.

To add a bit more to the piece, I used black paint to write in bold capitals ‘Black Lives Matter’, similar to how Thomas Hirschhorn made his Bastille Monument piece seen below.

This is the final piece as it is.

If I was to go back and change anything, the first thing I’d do is be a bit more practical with the work and not use Photoshop.

Performance Piece

The day we were showing our Installation & Performance pieces, we were entertained by one of the performers who allowed us to paint her once she was done with her performance.

The way I had painted her was a bit brutal but not too harmful because I didn’t want to hurt her. I did it brutally because that way, I could link it back to my Police Brutality topic. So, in a way, I did my Police Brutality Performance piece after all.

Storyboard Draft: A fight between two characters in a prison ward while a riot plays out in the background.

Character Designs: Prisoner

Warden

Lego Character Designs

Storyboard Drafts.

To speed things along and so I wouldn’t get too caught up with storyboarding, I only storyboarded out a few scenes for my digital animation. Most of the fight scenes in Lego is completely unscripted, taking inspiration from the film & TV research I did earlier this term. Link is in the Inspiration point below.

Inspiration.

While gathering research for fight scenes in Film & TV, I took the opportunity to turn back to my Nintendo Switch for inspiration as I did way back in Level 2 for my FMP taster comic. I designed two characters in Mii forms and made a five minute fight scene between them in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Then, I saved the recording of the fight and took images of the frames afterwards to help with storyboarding a few actions as seen here.

https://euansblog.home.blog/2021/01/08/film-video-game-fights/

Animatic Drafts.

Stop Motion: Behind the Scenes

Props: Tripod, Lego Police Station, three Minifigures, blaster, shield, arm cannon and sword. Camera, iPad.

While filming the Stop Motion scenes, I used the app, Stop Motion Studio on my iPad to take images, then for some scenes, went into the Edit settings and added in some drawings for special effects.

Below is the final animation. While editing it on iMovie, I decided to have a play with the filters. When I tried the comic filter, I instantly changed the stop motion Lego scenes to a comic filter, and I think it makes it so much better. It almost looks like it was straight from a comic book page!

I’m really proud of the outcome because this is probably the best animation project I’ve done so far, and hopefully, I will be able to incorporate what I have done here into my FMP work.

Book Cover Research

Book Cover Draft Examples:

Typography Research

Initial Plan

Mood Board

Typography drafts.

Book Cover Drafts

Coloured Drafts.

Final Design:

Chosen Book Cover: Departure of Nature, Draft 2

Why I have chosen this cover: My chosen theme is ‘State’. With this book cover draft, I think it fits the theme in a way to show how states can be harmful to nature. In addition, this can also be linked back to my RIOT topic in Fine Art. See my Fine Art Blog Entry.

For the final design, I decided to use Procreate on my iPad because then I can work on it in my own time during Half Term and won’t have to worry about limitations.

After tracing over the design digitally, I went over the title words with different fonts to make the design stand out a bit more.

Unfortunately, one of the problems I encountered while tracing and colouring in the design was that I can’t add colour to the piece on a separate layer unless it is on the same layer as the drawing. And I can’t add shading and lighting without back tracking to before I added the colours and fonts. Therefore, I’ve decided to try and use Photoshop to help speed things along without back tracking.

After showing my teacher the work, I had to go back and add in shading and lighting to make it stand out because the piece itself was too flat, and looking at both of them before and after, I see his point. Instead of using Photoshop this time, I did the Shading & Lighting in Procreate.

Timelapse Video

Original Plan – Plaster Casting practice.

Research plans: Character Design, armatures, fight scenes in films and video games. (Part of this applies to Animation as well)

Armature Plan

Step 1: Have a sheet of A4 paper.

Step 2: Fold the sheet in eighths back and forth.

Step 3: Number the eight boxes, then start drawing by sketching the head in box 1. Draw the neck underneath the head and halfway into box 2.

Step 4: Sketch the shoulders and make sure they’re size and space.

Step 5: Next, draw a straight line along box 3, then on the line between 3 & 4, either draw the end of the line, or draw a circle at the end of the line.

Step 6: Continue or start a new straight line in box 4 from the two lines, then stop right at the line. Again, you can choose to either end the line there or draw a circle for the end of the line.

Step 7: In box 5, draw two hands at the end of the lines to finish off the arms.

Step 8: Next, go back to the neck. Mark the line between box 3 & 4 in the centre of the figure.

Step 9: (optional) Draw a straight line to the mark from the neck.

Step 10: Go around the mark and draw a rib cage by sketching along the shoulders, then draw a line down in the middle of the shoulders, stop at the line then draw up a bit towards the lowest end of the line, close to the mark.

Step 11: (optional) Sketch a rough circle in box 4.

Step 12: Sketch two lines from the line between 4 & 5 and draw all the way down to box 8.

Step 13: Draw two circles for feet.

Facial Expressions: Plasticene.

Angry.

Shocked.

Clenched Teeth.

With each facial expression, I looked at the selfies I took for reference. Some of them are a little daft. However, I think I’m getting better at facial expressions. One of the things I need to work on however, is definitely the noses.

Armature Figure: Tin Foil.

With tinfoil, it’s not too difficult. You just have to make sure the tinfoil will stay and not to overdo it.

Step 1: Have a roll of tinfoil and an armature.

I started off with the feet, wrapping the left foot round with a few pieces of tinfoil then making my way up the leg.

I find it easier to start from the bottom and make my way up.

However, with the wrapping I did on the legs, I don’t think they are quite secure. It looks like it could unwrap or fall off.

After the first leg, I moved on to the right leg. Again, starting at the foot then on to the leg.

I find it best to have something between the tinfoil for a 3D effect or some sort of shape. For the feet, I made small tinfoil balls then put them in the middle of the foot.

Next was the torso, starting from the legs.

I think this was one of the more difficult areas as I was trying to spread the tinfoil a little so the piece wouldn’t look so thin.

Then came the stomach. First, I wrapped the tinfoil round the wire,

then wrapped it all round. Just like what I did with the feet, I had a small tinfoil ball in the middle for a bit of a 3D effect. However, I don’t think it sticks out well here.

Up next was the chest, doing the same method as before with the stomach.

Then I moved onto the arms. I think the arms was the easiest part to do. But the hands were a little difficult to stand out.

Afterwards, I went back and wrapped round the torso. I don’t think this was a good idea. It makes the figure look flat with the torso. In future, I will try to make the chest and stomach stand out a bit more.

Armature Research