Rough Plasticine Character Design for ebook!

I spent this afternoon playing with plasticine! It was very satisfying, I've never used it for faces before, I always used Daz an air dry clay, so it was brilliant as you don't have to be so careful with it as there is no water involved. I like to be able to paint faces, thats why I've always used clay, but I was surprised how easily plasticine blends. I could experiment with that as I need her face to be malleable for stop motion. 

Softer hair is appealing, I might opt for that.

Next Stages! 3D set

This week I have been working on ideas for the ebook to go with this set. There are lots of different clips of animation I could plan so that people could explore the shop and watch and read the story that surrounds it. I have also done the next stages of building!

I had a lot of fun with the floor, I used polyfila, and once it was dryer, I scraped into it to create a white washed wooden floor. It was time consuming but I think its effective!

I had to steam the wood again so that the bay window could have a curved middle bar, I used a lot of super glue to hold the bars in place. 

I added colour to the walls with watered down acrylic. I went for a warm palette.  

3D SET!

I started building my set this last week, its very exciting and theres always a small problem to be thought through. I've learnt about materials as I went so here is a sped up version of the stages. After many hours sawing, discovering a longing for many power tools, and lots of decisions about the overall shape of the space this is where i've got to!

I used a straight saw to cut my base and sides to the right size and a hack saw for the corners.

For my circular platform, where my character will sit overlooking her shop from, I had to use a straight saw to cut the edges of before using the hack saw... It took quite a while...but was very satisfying.

A circle at last.

After gluing my sides on and hammering little nails into place, I steamed a small piece of dowel so that it would bend around my circular platform.

Here are some experiments with polyfilla. I will use it on the floor  to add texture, such as wooden flooring. 

I spent a while cutting out my bay window in thick cardboard, I was worried it wouldn't bend or would lose shape because of the cut window, but it held its shape woo! I nailed it to the base. 

I wanted to create warped and bumpy walls to make it less harsh and more weathered looking, so I glued paper onto the walls in shapes that followed the curves of the walls before covering them with mudrock. I love mudrock its perfect for softening looks and the joins work as wall paper joins.

I mainly include this because of the twinkle on the paintbrush... It was lovely being able to work outside in the sun for a while!

Here I'm polyfilling the floor so that I can scrape in a wood plank effect, which follows the curves of the walls and where I will position the artefacts in the shop. I like the idea of creating a path in the shop and stuffing it full to the brim, in curves. I ran out of filler, so now I'm off to Trago. 

New 3D Project for a narrative book or Ebook

So, my next project is in the ideas stages, but I know its going to be a narrative, based around building a set which is highly exciting. I thought about settings as a starting piont as I knew I would be spending a lot of time building a space and before Easter when i was thinking generally, I narrowed it down to either an Artists studio or an antique shop, as both have the potential for a little charracter to come in and cause chaos. I've now decided on an antique/costume/nick-nacks shop, as it has so much potential for stories to be told aboout the origins of the objects. I can use this to photograph for a childrens traditional book or animate with for an Ebook, which would be a new experiance. I will upload some pictures when I try out some roughs! 

Puffin Post for Pufflings Competition!

I'm not very good at blogging as I go, so this is going to be the start, hopefully, of a better blogging phase! Last week I used the same technique of oil on paper to do a quick project for a Puffin Post magazine competition. It was such a great brief, as the only requirement was that it should include puffins. I decided to paint a party in the sky, where the puffins who are very fluffy, are bobbing on a fleat of balloons and edging towards a fish-filled cake. I loved adding details such as the goldfish in the tea cups and the crab on the baloon string. Its sometimes just so great to paint something thats purely a happy scene.

In The Attic

This was a children's book I illustrated earlier in the term, using Hiawyn Oram's poem 'In the Attic.' It was a really exciting project and one of my favourites so i thought I should post it! I decided to interpret 'the attic,' as a huge tree over a house boat. I used oil on paper which was brilliant as I loved the vibrant light you can achieve with it. Although the originals will deteriorate, oil on paper was great as it dried so much more quickly and could be scanned in. I enjoyed painting my glowing character and making the dummy book, I would definitely think about trying a similar style again.

Tatty Project

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks, by making some big mistakes! I created several dummy books for the project, but the mixture of ideas and styles in the book ended up as overcomplicated and confusing. I liked some of the general compositions, so they will be useful. I'm going to move on from this project and use the things i've learnt! I would keep narrative scenes where the character appears, very separate from elements which are 'drawn' or stuck in (photos) by the character, perhaps using inserts. I wouldn't be tempted to add narrative scenes to a book which was planned as a simpler thing, e.g. Tatty's Scrapbook. It would be fun to plan a narrative where I could add props and more action to the photos on location.

These were some visual experiments: