Artist of interest Isabella Bunny Bennet

Isabella Bunny Bennet is an children's book illustrator and is also part of a steam punk band called Steam Powered Giraffe. In Steam Powered Giraffe Isabella plays the character Rabbit, who is a Victorian Robot who is prone to malfunctions.

I love her style it's very quirky, she incorporates texture into her digital pieces. This piece is called Bathtub Skeleton and is from her book "Pudding Bat's Big Night Out."

She also publicly posts about her transition from male to female and has little comics she posts on her deviantart and tumblr called Trans-form detailing some of the struggles of transitioning.

  

Even if you aren't trans it is very enlightening to she her artwork and her transition vlogs.

Hand Lettering

Something I want to improve on this year is my hand lettering, tutors and other people have told me I have a natural nack for it. I am not into the technical ins and outs of typography but I do like my work when it includes hand lettering. In my recreational sketchbooks I like to sort of journal element, the work I do for myself is very much about what is going on in my life and how I am feeling. Some pages feature dairy style entries some just a phrase that sums up my day or how I am feeling in the moment. Sometimes it's just balls to the walls craziness that just rolls off the top of my head.

I want my work to have a more ziney feel, I like the spontaneous nature of it. I can collect, experiment more like that. One thing I don't like to see in my work is blank space, I like my work to be lively and I feel hand lettering really helps me fill in those blank spaces.

Some YouTube tutorials

How To DIY Modern Calligraphy
Hand Lettering Step By Step
Modern Calligraphy: Marcelle Lettering
Brush Script Lettering Basics This one is really helpful

Overthinking worriers are natural artists?

New Research Says Overthinking Worriers Are Probably Creative Geniuses

 I was reading this article because I am a chronic over thinker and I suffer from anxiety so it caught my attention. Also I am always interested in research about mental health and creativity. I remember someone asked me once if I thought that my trade off for being creative was my health and I think in a way that is true. My mental health has been a problem for over half of my life, before my mental health started to decline I wouldn't say I was particularly talented creatively, yeah I drew a proper stick man before any of my classmates in nursery but noting spectacular.

I remember becoming engrossed with art around 11 years old, this was also around the same time I started experiencing anxiety and a little later on depression. Being creative was for me the most natural cause of action especially when I was younger because I didn't know exactly what I was experiencing yet so I found ways to represent it through art.

So in a way I didn't find this article enlightening but more reaffirming what I had believed to be true for many years. It was comforting in an odd kind of way.

Brighter city project reflection

In this post I am going to reflect on my tales of the city project I have dubbed the #Brightercityproject, for this project I made teru teru bozu's which translates to shine shine monk in Japanese which are traditionally made out of white paper or cloth and resemble ghosts. The cloth or paper dolls are considered amulets that bring good weather (or rain if hung upside down) and were/are commonly used by farmers trying to insure the correct weather conditions for their crops. They started becoming pouplar for urban dwellers in the edo period, Traditionally if the weather is indeed good the day after the teru teru bozu is displayed then eyes would be drawn on them, this is comparable to the Japanese tradition of the daruma in which you have a daruma statue you draw in one eye when you have made your wish and draw in the second eye when the wish has been completed. So I made the teru teru bozu as a metaphor for bringing happiness and I tried to achive this by leaving encouraging messages and words of wisdom on pieces of card hung from the teru teru bozu.

So was the project a success? Short answer not from what I can tell. I attached a hash tag #Brightercityproject to the teru teru bozu but nothing has come up when I search that tag.

Do you think there is something you could have done to make the project more successful?
I could have made more and hung them in more heavily occupied places but I got too nervous to hang them in densely populated places. I liked what I did though putting them in less traveled places quite a few in darker corners of alleyways and places like that because it seemed more apt and like it made more of a statement.

I also made a video of all of the places I put them and hoping people can see by the video why I decided to place each message in the place I had put them. I am not disappointed with the outcome of this project in a strange way part of me didn't want to gain from it more than I have done by taking pictures and drawing from my inspiration to do this. It was supposed to be a selfless act if I got too much back from it, it wouldn't feel selfless anymore.

If I was to do it again what would I do differently?
I would probably think more about the construction because the string even though it looked pretty was so hard to get to work and on one of the teru teru bozu it kept coming undone. Apart from that I am satisfied with how the project went.

Book review: The art of Howl's Moving Castle

I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli and my friends have helped me build up my collection of Studio Ghibli art books by buying me them for Christmases and Birthdays.

So The Book I will be talking about today is The Art Of Howl's Moving Castle. It is a collection of Sketches, illustrations, concepts, backgrounds and character design from the making of the film.  

Part one of the book shows Hayao Miyazaki's concept sketches, unlike western film directors Japanese film directors more specifically those dealing with animation are expected to draw concepts and the storyboards for the film before passing them onto other artists.

Hayao Miyazaki's concept sketches are normally pen and watercolour or pencil and water colour. Some are vague some are detailed.

"Howl's Moving Castle is set in a world conceived by late 19th century European neo-futurist painters where magic and science co-exist."

"On a research trip for Miyazaki's new film Howls moving castle. The staff visited Europe for 12 days and, although their research centered on the eastern province of Alsace in Francewhere the film was set, they also spent time in Heidelburg (Germany), and Paris, Visiting the Alsatian city Colmar for its colour and atmosphere proved to be a productive experience for the staff.  

A drawing of one of the scenes from the film.

In the film there is a parade going on which seems to be based around the military, People are waving flags and having a good time. 

The main protagonist Sophie is cursed by the witch of the wastes turning her into a 90 year old woman, she flees the hat shop where she was apprenticing under her step mother, and stumbles across howls moving castle.  

 Some storyboards drawn by Miyazaki as you can see they vary from detailed to rough sketch.

Part two of the book is all about character design finalizing concepts and what went into each part of the film.

Concept drawings of howl's castle.

Concepts for 18 year old Sophie (pre-curse)

Concept are for The Hatter's House at night (the hat shop).

This is how it looked in the film.

Grandma Sophie concepts, there was a lot of thought put into older Sophie's appearance.

"I was determined to make the aged Sophie look, cute, but I had to dismiss that approach almost imminently. She simply wouldn't look old without her skin being wrinkled and blemmished. She might appear plain, but I made sure she would have the appeal of a refined old lady."   

Michiyo Yasuda discusses the subtle changes in colour through out the film to convey emotions.  

Howl's room concept 

Howl's room in the film

 Howl's room (cave) concept 

 Howl's room (cave) in the film

Part three is a write up of the screenplay/script. It shows all of the characters lines and how they are supposed to be spoken any calls to action the voice actors might need to convey the lines correctly. It's really quite fascinating to look at.

Artist showcase Kidura

Kidura is a artist from the UK, whom I bought art from at Japan Day in 2014. She is strongly influenced by anime and manga and mostly draws fan art. I recently won a art giveaway she hosted and she is in the process of drawing me this piece.

The character is called Howl and he is from Howl's Moving Castle which is a book by Diana Wynne Jones which was later made into a movie by Studio Ghibli. I love both the book and the film even though the film follows a different path than the book.

I love how Kidura use's watercolour and her work most diffidently inspired me when I was doing my personal project. Her style is typical of someone inspired by anime and manga but it is the detail that she puts into her work that inspires me the most.

This was the piece I purchased from her in 2014.

This is a piece of Pokemon fan art, Pokemon is something which has always inspired me since I was a child and this scene is from a Pokemon game which was very influential in terms of me finding my threads of interest which lead to my art style today.

See more of Kidura's work here .facebook.com/kidura

Book cover research for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Personal Project

Since I would have to do book cover research for two projects I thought I would post it all in one chunk rather than two separate posts.

I am not sure who the artist of this cover is but this is the Japanese cover created in 2009, I was drawn to the cover because of the flat colour style which is something I have tried in my work before.

Hugh D’Andrade’s pink, leather-bound Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is very eye catching I love the black and pink together I think it really stands out. The limited amount of gold is also aesthetically pleasing. The cover is very bold and something I would definitely pick up out of interest.

Images from flavorwire.com

This cover by Sophie Douglas really helped inspire the more handcrafted feel I went with in my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I really love the lino cut look of this cover it wasn't the look I wanted to go with but it was the rough and readiness about it that I was drawn to.

Image from cargocollective.com/sophiedouglasillustration

This is not an offical cover but this design by pannucabaguana on deviantart, I really liked the blues they used in this cover concept  and I also thought the font fit nicely with the aesthetic.

Image from deviantart.com

I found the cover for this book very creative I just had to mention it because it is simple but absolutely genius. 

Image from flavorwire.com 

These are some beautiful book covers for Ian Fleming's James Bond, I absolutely love these covers, the colours the women's expressions and how they fit together as a series.

Image's from littlegoldpixel.com

I also looked at some comics, indie comics and zine covers to get an idea for my personal project.

This cover from the indie comic Godkiller has a wonderful colour scheme it is limited but very eye catching the comic is post-apocalyptic and I definitely get that vibe from the cover alone.

Image from www.wired.com

Nurse Nurse by Kate Skelly has a very simplistic style that isn't seen much in indie comic's, the simplicity of this cover is what drew me to it. The cover has an even more limited colour pallet than Godkiller looking at how effective the two covers where made me want to experiment with limited colour.

Image from bitchmagazine

John showed me a Japanese manga called Uzamaki which was disturbing but had an interesting aesthetic.  

Images from popculturesocial.club and bloody-disgusting.com

I went to the Salford Zine library earlier in the year, The visit really helped inspire me for both my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and my personal project. The organicness of the drawings and type is what I really liked most.

Image from viralart.vandalog.com

I wish I had done this

There has been several artists that have really inspired me since the start of the course but Glenn Arthur has to be the one I go back to the most. I think it's that his main subject is women like me that draws me to his work, among his artwork their is also fan art of anime classics such as sailor moon and dragon ball. I tried my best to contact him for an interview but I got no response. It was very hard to choose one single piece of work of Glenn Arthur's I wish I had done because in reality I wish I had the skill to do all of them.

This was one of the first pieces of Glenn Arthur's work I saw and it is called Groundskeeper, so it is only apt I choose this one to talk the most about.

I love the detail in Glenn Arthur's work, the folds in her clothing the dappled appearance of the skull, the petals falling from the blooms on her dress and the detailing on the grave stones. Glenn Arthur does his work mostly in acrylic paint how he makes acrylic paint look almost air brushed is something which will probably always fascinate and boggle my mind in equal measure. He uses tiny brushes to achieve the flawless look of the paint. One thing I really love about this particular painting is her posture, it strikes me as very proud and I feel this when I look at Glenn Arthur's other paintings to. The motif of the strong proud woman that still retains a sense of fragility and grace. He paints the strange and the bazaar conjoined twins, bearded ladies, vampires and tattooed princesses. 

A motif that shows up in most of his pieces is a humming bird, if I had gotten an interview with him I would have asked him why the humming bird? I have my own theory however, humming birds are always close to starving because they have the highest metabolism of any bird a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings during hovering and fast forward flight. To conserve energy when there is a lack of food hummingbird's go into a state similar to hibernation. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. My theory is that he includes hummingbird's to symbolize death or to symbolize making the most of life. In Groundskeeper you see both a skull and a hummingbird this leads me to think they might be juxtaposing each other the skull quite obviously representing death and the hummingbird to remind us of our mortality.

I love the expression on the girls face and the way he has painted her hair. I am normally one for vibrant colour pallets but the colour pallet Glenn has used in this painting is beautiful and gives an ethereal feel, there are other pieces that Glenn has done that exhibits much more vibrant colour pallets. The pink of her dress and the cream of her cloak really makes her stand out from her darker surroundings. The main elements are actually mostly grey with hints of blue in the headstones and yellow in the over cast sky.

The composition is quite standard with most of the key elements cantered in and towards the middle of the piece. The only thing I would have done differently if I would have painted this piece is I would make the gravestones in the background have different patterns/engravings rather than the same for all three. 

I don't think my working style will ever be anything like Glenn Arthur's and even though I love his work I wouldn't really want to pursue making work like his, I would feel like I would be ripping him off which I wouldn't want at all. I think I am satisfied with following his work and admiring the skill he has. I would one day really like to dive into painting with acrylics and maybe achieve that flawless look in my own style, I would also like to really start looking at the poses in which I draw my characters so I do can make my characters more fleshed out, for this I will have to look more into anatomy.

1,2,3

This post is about three of the best pieces of advice I have been given since starting the course some of these will not be a piece of advice per say more of a turn in the right direction.

1. The zine making workshop

In the zine workshop I learned that working on pages which already had some preexisting texture or image on really help one overcome blank page anxiety or new sketchbook anxiety. I am someone who can get very hung up on their work and want every page to be perfect while in the zine the perfection is that it isn't perfect it has misspells, it has sketches done on lined paper, receipts, napkins, photocopies from things that inspired you through out. for me I think it is the perfect way to document and brainstorm (and kick a sketchbook buying addiction). There is something wonderful about making it yourself, selecting the papers and the binding. It's like having a little nugget of personality. Personally next year I want to do away with having sketchbooks and just bind my own zine style sketchbooks I think it really helped me with my process when it came to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

2. Be a flaneur

There are so many things you miss when you have your mind set on a destination, enjoy just taking everything in and being purposefully lost. I made another post called Ode to Manchester which really explains in depth what happened when I was being a flaneur in Manchester during my Tales of The City project. I class Manchester as my hometown over Salford and I was surprised by how much of Manchester I have never seen before despite spending a lot of time there over the years. What really grabbed me was how much of Manchester juxtaposes, I saw posh bars next to dingy alleyways and crumbling walls of old factories. Austerity and prosperity dwelling right next door to one another, I felt like if the bars could speak they would be gloating.

3. Don't be afraid to take on more than you can chew (sometimes)

I have a habit of doing very ambitious projects, I feel like a cat with nine lives just managing to pull through every time. The good thing about having ambitious projects is it keeps you engaged because you have to stay engaged or the project will crumble, it forces you to make use of all the time you have. It's stressful but seeing the final outcomes is a great feeling.

Personal Project: Choose your own ending

Before this project began I was in a comic book shop in Manchester called Travelling Man and my friends found a Batman choose your own adventure book. I have come across this concept before but it had never really inspired me, I also came across a comic by an artist I follow called Sophira-Lou and ended up buy it. I started to look at the indie comics in the store and came to the conclusion I could do it if I put my mind to it. The two ideas merged later that day and I decided I would propose it for my Personal Project.

My idea is to write 2-3 open ended stories and have other people decide what the ending should be. I would have my own ending I would keep a secret until the end. At first I wanted to send out physical zones but now I have thought about it I may do it via digital download.

I am buying two books I am hoping will help me with this project

How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum

Picture from www.farwakazmi.com

and 

The Imaginary World Of…

Picture from www.groovinmoms.com

by Keri Smith

I'm also considering buying

Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes also by Keri Smith

I think these books will really help me with this project by loosening my creative muscles and help me think more open-mindedly about my project.

The purpose of my project is to help people understand how creativity can enrich your life via

• Community projects and collaboration 
• Creative achievement 

Choose your own adventure stories are commonly written in second-person so the reader can assume the role of the protagonist. But my story will follow a half monster called Grenade and how she deals with getting used to the human world.

Grenade in this story is based off a ball jointed doll I own, who's character I modelled after a character I created for a project back in foundation. (for more on bjd's take a look at my last post)

The series was based on a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery's Vermont Crossroads Press as the "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's Sugarcane Island in 1976.

Picture from www.goodreads.com

Ball Jointed Dolls and How They Inspire My Work

So first off what is a Ball jointed doll or BJD?

A ball jointed doll is an articulated doll which was first made in Rome and Greece out of clay and wood, but the start of modern bjds started in France and Germany in the late 19th century. Today the market is dominated by Asian ball jointed dolls which are normally made out of polyurethane resin.

I own an Asian ball jointed doll. She is from a company called Angel Fantasy and her sculpt name is Alice. The name I gave her is Pandora I have had her for about 4 years now.

Why do I like bjds?

I got into bjds after stumbling across them on the internet while looking for manga and anime related artwork, I was taken a back by how stunningly detailed they were.

Bjds are fully customisable you can buy eyes, wigs, clothes, shoes EVEN eyelashes and you can paint their faces however you see fit (or have a face up artist do it for you). It is a great (but expensive )way of bringing a character to life. Since picking up the hobby I have noticed most people who partake in the hobby are artists and writers wanting a visual representation of their characters.

How are bjds influencing my representation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

I thought dolls fit in rather well with the story and is the closest thing I have physically to an automation. And automations are the aesthetic I am going for with the characters, like the red queen, mad hatter and tweedle dumb and tweedle dee.

Is Moving Image/Illustration the Way Foreword?

I feel moving image/illustration is something as illustrators we will need to adapt to. BUT I feel there will alway be a place for traditional illustration like there will always be people who would like to buy a hardcover special edition of a book.

Moving illustration is best for online use like apps, articles, websites, promos act. But even if traditional illustration does dwindle it will be brought back into fashion because of nostalgia. Thinking more about this reminds me of my essay on Peter Lyle and how he says that traditional illustration is becoming a luxury, and that it is being sort after by people with money to spend.

Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a motion picture by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.

 Spirited Away wast most successful film in Japanese history, grossing about $330 million in the box office. The film was based on a friend of Hayao Miyazaki's daughter. Miyazaki himself has said that it has darker undertones. If you have watched it before and don't know about the dark undertones you would just think it was a wacky coming of age/romance film. But if you listen to the Japanese dub 10 year old Chihiro Ogino (also known as Sen) if referred to as a Yuna and Yuna in the Japanese edo period was used in reference to prostitutes and bath houses in eco period offered brothel like services.

Chihiro was given the name Sen by Yubaba who is the madam of the bath house, Sen is Japanese for Thousand and was also a common name for prostitutes in the edo period. 

Haku is the love interest who ends up rebelling against Yubaba, if we look at him in context he would be a pimp who draws the line at child prostitution. This would explain why he is so stern and cold while he is working and he is friendly and supportive when him and Chihiro are alone. It also explains why the female staff seem to dislike him and seem to think it is odd for Chihiro to be so fond of him.

When the spell that is keeping Haku obedient breaks, the first thing he does is to try and release Chihiro from her contract with Yubaba. Another character called No Face takes a liking to Chihiro for letting him into the bath house, No Face is actually a lonely man with a lot of wealth who takes a liking to Chihiro and want to keep her all to himself. No Face makes money out of dirty which is probably a metaphor for the money being corrupt.

It is very interesting to look at Spirited Away from this perspective.

Howls Moving Castle Review

I will be reviewing Howl's Moving Castle a fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones.

HEAVY SPOILERS!

The main characters of the story are Sophie and Howl, Sophie is beyond her years and apathetic about life. In the world she inhabits being the eldest is a bad thing and means you are doomed to failure, Sophie has come to terms with the "fact" she will never amount to anything. When her father dies her sisters are sent to promising placements, Martha the youngest is sent to study magic and Lettie the second eldest and the prettiest daughter is sent to apprentice at a bakery while Sophie is left at the hat shop where she grew up to become a milliner. She becomes bored of the hat shop and decides one day to visit her sister Lettie. On the way to see Lettie she gets accosted by Howl. 

Howl is a pretty boy who loves to accost women, once they fall for him he loses interest and moves on to the next girl. The first impression you get of howl is that his is selfish, cowardly, vain and a drama queen. But howl is actually under a curse by the Witch of the Wastes who is a powerful and beautiful witch whom Howl had once foolishly accosted her. The Witch of the Wastes feel in love with Howl but after awhile Howl came to realise she was beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside and left her. The Witch of the Wastes in anger put a curse on Howl that means if he ever fell in love his heart would belong to her. Which explains Howls behaviour when it comes to women.

The Witch of the Wastes hears about Lettie and how beautiful she is and she gets jealous she unknowingly puts a curse on Sophie whom she mistook for Lettie. The curse put on Sophie turns her into a 90 year old woman and she is unable to tell anyone about the curse unless someone knows about it.

She leaves the hat shop an stumbles across Howls Moving Castle. The relationship between Howl and Sophie was very well written and started out as Sophie becoming Howls cleaning lady and her antics infuriate Howl but he lets her stay in the castle with him and his apprentice Michel. Durning the course of the book we her about Howls escapades, Sophie starts to slowly develop feeling for Howl while at the same time finding him immature, petty and shallow. Howl starts to accost Martha who has switched places with Lettie, but it is revealed later on by this point Howl has figured out Sophie is under a curse and is trying to get to know more about her and trying to find away to break the curse. It is also revealed that from the moment he found out Sophie was under a curse he hoped she was the girl he had tried to accost but failed because she was on her way to the bakery to see her sister (Sophie pre-curse). The book on drops subtle hints that Howl is falling for Sophie until the end where he fights The Witch of the Waste because she has kidnapped Sophie to lure Howl so she can claim his heart.

The best parts of the book is when Howl is being a drama queen. At one point Howl gets ill and complains that he is drying of neglect as he crawls on his hands and knee's up the stairs. Sophie just rolls her eyes and keeps cleaning.

The book is geared towards children and teens but I think the book is a great read for anyone who is into fantasy.

YouCanNow

My tutor Jo sent us this link to YCN magazine in an email so I decided to have a look through it, the video at the bottom of the page is what I want to review the most.

Michael Wolff talks about design (blogger doesn't seem to like vimeo)

What Michael Wolff said made me question my artwork. Michael says about how he thinks the feelings behind a piece of art and/or design and how it is communicated is what is important, I feel my work is very based off my own feelings and emotions but does that come across to the audience viewing my art. Does my art satisfy people are improve their life in anyway? It satisfies me but I'm not other people.

It definitely provided some food for thought.

Salford zine library

On the 12th of November I went to the Salford Zine Library in the basement of the Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester. The first thing I felt when I walked in was that I was an outsider, I felt really awkward walking in just to look at the zines.

After wondering around and not being able to find where the zine library was I asked the guy at the counter. The salford zine library was through a door I assumed was staff only. 

When I got into the room there were shelves and shelves of zines stacked haphazardly on top of one another.

Not sure why this picture is sideways but this was a very small zine, probably one of the smallest in the library. The zine is called disintegration. 

I really loved the crudeness of this zine.

There was also some more lining the walls on small shelves.

This one was mostly in what in spanish (I think) and I really like how hand made this one looked.

From what I remember this one was screen printed and I really liked the limited colour palette.

I like how this one has been drawn, again rather crude.

Another crude one.

This one seemed to be portraiture based. 

I really liked the idea behind this one but not so much the execution, this zine was made from sand paper and held together with clips. I didn't like how the pictures were just stuck on and just seemed to be floating in space. 

The zine library gave me a lot of ideas to experiment with.