Catching up on Andona

I was meant to post this a couple of weeks ago!  Yikes.  Time is just slipping away...

So, I had to present all the final major project work I had so far to my class and lecturer, in an effort to pitch my planned exhibition pieces.  It has been well received, and I got some good grades which is big a bonus!

After trying to imagine every aspect of the world I'd created, and writing the whole story, it all boils down to four images.  The four pieces I'm creating will (hopefully) look as if they're stills taken from an animated feature film.  I'll try to present each image on multiple layers of acetate to give the illusion of being from a cel animation, or a single print out on photo quality paper, A2 size.  It's a lot harder than I imagined it would be!

Finalising Andi

Piper Design

Visualising the Princess of Andona

Andonian Housing

Concepts for my final exhibition pieces

Developing the throne room scene

Designs for the palace guards and handmaids

Piper capturing the rodents on Andona

Andi dragging an unconscious Piper post-explosion

Drafting the scene on the Odd-Job Space Station.
The crew have just got the Andonian children on board

No doubt I'll put up images when they're done.
I'm excited to see mine and my class' work framed and displayed!
The exhibition will run from June 1st to 8th.

J. x

At the Flickrs

I love getting feedback on my drawn images but I also like having a place for my little photography hobby.  I haven't uploaded on Flickr for a couple of months, so I went through all my latest photos I took to make them Flickr ready.  This time round I was looking at creating a cinematic feel through composition and colour tone...

I'm very lucky to have a massive park to walk through to get to uni.  A thick mist descended upon the city creating an amazing atmosphere over the river and through the trees in the morning, and a horror feel during the walk back at night.
As always, I had my trusty ol' camera in my bag!  I was aching to have had a top of the range camera.  And if I had a hoard of models at my beck and call...  What a photo shoot there could have been!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicaonpaper/

I do love photography, and I suppose it's not so surprising when films play such a big part of inspiring my drawing.  It's also a really valuable tool for me to learn how lighting affects environments.

J. x

Bollywood, The Works!

In Britain we have an amazing little high street chain called The Works which has some great discounted books and art equipment.  I went in on Tuesday to meet a friend, and spotted this for £2.99:

I saw it and got very excited!

I love the sumptuous colours and designs of Indian film and culture.

I had the excuse of needing change for the shopping trolley and cheekily bought it.

It's filled to the brim with colour page spreads and a concise history of Bollywood, broken down into film genres...

Posters for the film Jodhaa Akbar - one of my favourite films!

About 216 pages 'with 225 colour illustrations', it's well worth trying to find!

Next year I might incorporate elements of Eastern/Indian culture into my graduate project.

Shadowline

I recently purchased 'Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig', and I can tell you now, it is beautiful.  Stunning.  GORGEOUS!

Every page is filled with his art.  Work from Star Wars to Harry Potter, storyboards to illustrations.
Not only that, it has mini-drawing classes inserted in booklet form inside.
It is a book that is both fiction and a presentation of-- baaaah!
Let him show and tell you himself!

Iain McCaig on Shadowline


I'm not a particularly big Star Wars fan nor am I much of a fan of the Harry Potter films, but you don't need to be to admire these works of art.

Buy it!  You will not be disappointed!

J. x