Here’s a quick test animation we made of the camper moving through the bridge set. Nothing in this is too final; we need to better consider the camera angle and focus of the image, as well as a smoother journey of the camper and backdrop. But overall, we’re pretty happy with how it’s all looking- the colours in particular seem to work well and give it a happy and nostalgic feeling.
Work from the animation unit I’m doing with Maia Weatherley.
The finished piece, both stretched out and folded in the cover.
While I was adding colour I also made cover for the image to be put inside.
As the image is so big I liked the idea of putting part of it on the cover, to give an idea of whats inside. I chose the part with the boat as I felt that it was quite an important part of the story and features in the image a number of times. This boat also worked well as a cover image as the mast sits directly up the centre of the cover.
I chose the blue on the back as it was part of the colour scheme I used on the image and i felt that it worked well in contrast to the black and white cover I had used.
Having finished tidying up the image in Photoshop, I wanted to try some colour to pick out some of the detail, to give it some more impact.
Colour is not something I’m usually very good at, I had a tutorial with Paul Kidby who told me that if I wanted to add spots of colour and not have them stand out as random points, a good way to start would be to put a wash over the image and then the colours would all relate. So I put a yellowy filter over the whole image before adding colour.
I originally choose to do Gulliver, the wasps, the horses, the ships and the floating islands. But once I’d started on the island and boats I realised that they were very distracting and broke up the image to much.
I chose a limited colour palette of four colours and coloured the horses, wasps and Gulliver where ever they appeared in the image.
I also had to cut the image in half for it to be printed as the printer only does metre lengths. I also left a 2cm over in the two images so i couls stick them back together.
Once I finished the drawing I took it into uni to scan it in parts so i could edit it in photoshop and add colour ect. I scanned it in 17 different sections to get the whole image in. I then created a 2 metre image in photoshop and gradually stuck the pieces back together. Using a lot of stamp tool to make the layers fit together.
The final image was 197cm and not completely straight, it twisted off the canvas. I straightened it up and took the merged layers into a new document that was 198cm and enlarged it to fit. The last image shows the first composite next to the second where I’d also lifted the contrast a bit.
The other day we had a book making workshop, I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought that I might end up with something looking very homemade with glue all over and pages sticking out. I was very impressed with both the outcome as it looked surprisingly professional, and the relative ease in making it. This is something I will defiantly be doing again, if not for a project just as a book to work in.
We had a model making workshop last week where i made these.
the original model is the beige coloured one on the far left, it is made out of super sculpy wrapped around a tinfoil filler. super sculpy is essentially like a plasticine/clay material that you sculpt by hand and then cook in a normal oven to harden. This makes it perfect for use at home.
Having baked the model you create and box around it and fill that with liquid silicone to make the mold, this dries over night. You can then pull out the original, making a few cuts to the side of the wold if you need to.
You can then fill it with a material to create the finished model. We used quick setting resin with different coloured dyes added. We were also shown how to use a foamy material which expands to fill the space in the mold.
Our course has bought the supplies for use to create more, this has got me really excited to use it in future projects.
Another illustrator Chris Dent. The first two almost panoramic images with high detail create striking cityscape images.
Another illustrator is Ugo Gattoni, who’s concertina ‘bicycle’ helped a lot with working out perspective and how to lay things out so it worked as a single image.
During this project i’ve looked at a number of artists/illustrators. Paul Noble uses pencil to create large scale landscapes, they have been great help and source of inspiration.
(Images taken from the internet, i do not own any copyright)
