More Photos from Oxford

I took alot of pictures of things I really liked yesterday. Only seems fair to include some more.

Visit to Oxford

Waking up at 6am to catch a train and a 100 minute bus ride to Oxford didn't seem like the best start of a day, but I was happily surprised by both museums when we got there.

I really loved the Natural History museum for it's collection of things living and extinct. I've always been an animal and dinosaur geek so I was in my element. The Pitt River's museum was also great for its quirky collections, some fascinating and some disturbing and in some cases both. I spent the majority of the 4 hours there drawing and taking photos. With only 19 drawings done you'd think I could of done more in that time but certain drawings had more effort put in than others. This is probably because I tried different approaches, using different coloured pencils and grades of pencil softness to get various results. I think I used my time wisely and would have gladly stayed longer as I didn't even get to see the upper floors of the Pitt Rivers.

The only negatives to this trip was how exhausted I was by the end of the day and the fact (no pun intended) that I now have a plethera of subjects to choose for my project.

Damn you, childhood love of dinosaurs. Damn you to hell.

Below I've included a few drawings and photos from the day:

First thoughts on 'Fact' project and scans from powerpoint

So far the only real taste I've got of this project is the presentation task assigned to us last Thursday. I finished the powerpoint tonight and found it fairly enjoyable.
I worried it was becoming more of an animation than a presentation but I guess it's all subjective. I like how it turned out either way, though it does feel a bit rushed in a 30 second time slot.

Here are some scans from the drawn work I used (some scans shown below weren't used in the final presentation).




Here are some reference images for the presentation too:

Pictures from 'Fiction' book

Bit belated but here are my three favourite images from the book I created in response to the Dunwich Horror. I chose these as I felt they were the strongest and most detailed from the original sixteen.

Nine and a half hours before my crit and my Fiction project outcome is finally finished. I think the pressure actually helped motivate me.

Looking at the book now there are things I'd have added and refined if I had the time. I'd of probably put lettering on the book cover and added extra details to some of the images. However, I think some of the images work fine as they are whether they be highly detailed or quite sparce and open in appearance.
I think my black and white theme works well but adding a third colour might of increased the book's appeal. Having said that, the grim and macabre nature of the Dunwich Horror fits the dark black and white approach.

I'll post scans of the book tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep!

Random find of the day that I find interesting: (Jason Chan)

While browsing on the internet today I came across the work of Jason Chan, an illustrator and concept artist who's work greatly appeals to my usual band of interests. I've even seen some of his work before i.e. the bioshock 2 concept work. Turns out he has a blog on blogspot too, so if you dig digital art (of a high standard) and want to see an extensive range of scenes and characters check out the link below:

http://jasonchanart.blogspot.com/



An illustration by Chan for author Amber Benson's 'Among the ghosts'.





And here's one he did for Magic: The Gathering of a dragon. Just because...


...I like dragons.

Overdue update on 'Fiction' project progress

So, yeah, I have actually been working, just forget to blog about the work I've actually done...
I completed the 'everything drawing' and 4 ways task respectively. I enjoyed both but feel the book format of the 4 ways task is best suited for the outcome I want to achieve.
I have a personal love affair with the book/comic format so it just seems natural to go the route I'll enjoy most.

The crit last week was highly useful in terms of seeing how others have approached their texts and it's always a nice confidence boost when fellow students compliment your work. One in particular seemed really impressed with my fold-out experiment I did for one of the booklets in the 4 way task.

When talking with Luke, my tutor, I decided I shouldn't feel obligated to illustrate for the purpose of story telling and that I could do a book of vague glimpses of the Dunwich Horror itself. This came about because of my confession to him that I greatly enjoyed illustrating monstrous and macabre. He seemed to think if that was what I liked to do then I should do it. I think a few establishing shots for sense of place and moment will be sufficient enough to support a monster-centric story.

Since I'm such an fan of monster creation this whole process will hopefully be a breeze.

More updates soon.