Final show considerations

I've been thinking more on how I want to brand myself, while looking at places to get my work printed I stumbled across dStudio which is a printing and framing service which offers bamboo paper which is more environmentally friendly www.digitalprintdesign.co.uk/papers/. 

There is also a 20% discount on getting your work printed on Hahnemuhle Bamboo 290gsm paper which is a nice incentive. It says on the website it is especially good for vibrant colours so it should be perfect for my work. 

Future self: Grief Project

Future self: Grief Project 

My future self project is about grief and the grieving process and specifically helping children and young teens recognize where they are emotionally in the process. This will help aid parents and maybe even school counsellors.

My initial idea was to make a book based off a poem I was writing about the stages of grief, but upon further research I found breaking it down into a linear clear cut process for example

1. Denial 
2. Anger 
3. Bargaining 
4. Depression 
5. Acceptance

Can actually do more harm than good.

No one experiences loss in the same way. Some people might skip certain emotional states, some might experience additional emotions and some may revisit certain stages. I don't want my work to pigeonhole people into believing there is only one correct way of grieving. The only incorrect way of grieving is not letting yourself go through the process. So keeping this in mind I reconsidered the book and/or booklet idea because it is too linear, and I have been considering making cards instead. I am still fine tuning how they are going to work but right now I am thinking of having 3 types of cards.

• Character cards
• Tip cards 
• Blank cards

Character cards will have a personification of the emotion for example Anger on them with the name of the emotion. The child will pick out the card/s which reflects how they are feeling, the descriptions of each emotion will be listed in a booklet which will come with the cards. Parents can get their children to redraw everyday or the children can display the cards on the fridge, their bedroom door, on a notice board ect and change them when they feel the need.

Tip cards are for what the child can do to experience the emotion in a healthy way, for example anger can cause problems if not dealt with correctly especially with school age children and teens.

Blank cards are for if the child or teen is experiencing an emotion that isn't on any of the pre existing cards. I'm including these because as I said everyone experiences loss differently and I want to try and keep all bases covered.

What kind of grief are these cards for?

I wanted to keep the cards so they can be used in any situation that involves loss. This could be loss of a pet, loss of a friendship or relationship, familial breakdown (divorce) and the loss of family members.

Other outcomes?

The other outcomes I want to make are

• Booklets
• Stickers 
• Rag dolls
• Clothing/Textiles

Feedback from Fig Taylor

Yesterday Fig Taylor came in to have a look at out work and suggest directions we could go in.

First she gave a talk on finding clients. She talked about having a strong style with diverse subject matter is what art directors might look for in a portfolio, if an art director can't see in your portfolio you draw cats for example they won't hire you to draw cats. She warned us against buying mailing lists of clients and sending out generic copy and paste emails because it is a fast track to being blacklisted by those clients. She told us to only target clients who you think will be interested in your work, if you are contacting a client who is the wrong fit you are basically just wasting your time.

Fig talked to us about two different illustration pathways

Mainstream which is editorial which has a fast turnover, book publishing where your designs will be heavily shaped by the retailer, and advertising which is where you can make a lot of money but it has to go through a lot of people who will demand a lot of changes.

Gift industry which more about making products like greetings cards, wrapping paper and I assume things like t-shirts and apparel etc.


Fig's Feedback

After the talk she sat down with groups of us and gave us some quick feedback on where we could go with our work.

When she got to my work I couldn't help but feel she didn't know what to really suggest, she told me that art directors don't like manga influenced styles but she didn't know why that's the case because it is rising in popularity with consumers. So pretty much editorial would be hard for me to get into but there maybe some more quirky children's magazines like Aqila I could try. She kept wavering on if my style would be a good fit for children or would be better aimed a tweens and teens.

She suggested I could try and get into character design and if I was to include some of my roughs in my portfolio but otherwise stick with finished pieces. She also suggested I could try selling my work for tattoo flash.

Her biggest suggestion was for to try and sell my work online on sites like etsy and redbubble. But she also said hardly any artists get popular selling online.

My Thoughts

I don't think Fig Taylor seemed to grasp my work and it's audience. I have most success selling to people aged 11-25 yet Fig kept telling me my work was only for children, tweens and early teens. She didn't explicitly say I should go into the gift industry even though that seems to be the obvious best fit for my work. The whole experience was very de-motivating for me but I have to keep in mind my work is a bit out there and is very niche so I can't expect everyone to understand it.

Days of hope

Saatchi & Saatchi launched a campaign called 'Days of hope' in 2013 to raise the profile of increasing homelessness in major cities across Europe. I have been looking at a lot of Saatchi related artists for my dissertation which is project based.

This video highlights the struggle that homeless people face in winter, with the homeless population rising I feel this kind of campaign would be effective here in Britain.   

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.

Whitworth

I visited the Whitworth art gallery with university.

The blog keeps crashing I can't write more than a few lines.

To explain why I have resubmitted and edited this post, As you can see from my first line while I was writing this post blogger kept crashing I had plenty of time to write the post if it had been under normal circumstances but due to a technical error outside of my control I could not write this on the 6th of may. If you need a witness to my technical difficulties Connor from Motion design saw everything and saw my distress. Also I noticed on the due date on moodle it said the 8th at 4:05 I have screenshots to prove this.

The 3 exhibits are fantastic and all feature a dominate motif of destruction and how it brings about awareness. I think all of the touch up on important social issues Feminism, war, and loss. You may even say the work conveys a loss of innocence. It felt like I was really experiencing the destruction depicted in these pieces as I walked through the places they were displayed. They all made me think about the world around me and the fragility of it. The work itself did not inspire any of my practical work or inform my keywords essay even though Sarah Lucas had many ideas that I could have translated into my essay.

Out side these main three exhibits I saw a lot of work that I could few from a feminist perceptive and many had connotations linking to war. two piece which stood out to me were the dress made from camo and the room with the waste material from remembrance day poppies, Both have clear links with war and the camo dress felt like it was trying to push the boundaries of what is and isn't feminine or making a statement that femininity is perceived and is a social construct rather than rooted in nature. 

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.

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.

Difficulty getting interviews

I have lost count of the amount of artists I have tried to contact just to name a few who have not replied Erik Jones, Glenn Arthur and Camilla D'errico who said she would answer my questions and never got back then I contacted an artist I have bought artwork form before called Destiny Blue  and this is what I got back.

Any responses other than answering my questions was pointing me towards a previously done Q&A or an FAQ.

Also a lot of artists I wanted to contact didn't have a contact email that I could find and on there facebook pages had taken off the option to inbox them. I am starting to feel very apprehensive about if I will get my final interview and if they interviews I have done will be seen as being suitable. I have tried my best in interview people who's work inspires me but they seem quite hard to get a hold of. 

Ode to Manchester

Salford maybe my "hometown" but I feel myself more strongly in Manchester. Today in order to find places to hang my #Brightercityproject Teru teru bonzu I just wandered. I went with my gut and what way peeked my interest, if you asked me to find the exact locations of where I hung the Teru teru bonzu I probably wouldn't be able to find a large number of them. It was fun to think of how long it might take people to find them hours, days, weeks...who knows. One thing I noticed while straying from the frequently traveled paths is that Manchester is a city of irony and juxtaposition. How so you may ask? A posh restaurant, bar or cafe next to an old abandoned building or a neglected alleyway. This was surprisingly a common sight. Austerity in the middle of abandonment. There were times where I felt threatened I walked down several streets and saw men staring me down. When I stumbled across a familiar route I felt comfortable and relieved. I have walked through the city many times but never like that. When I got lost in the city it would reduce me to tears, shear panic would rip through me I would feel helpless and small against the buildings and other people. The crowds would churn around me engulf me and drag me further from the path. Little did I know back then if I had just removed the path and aimed to just eventually stumble upon what I am looking for it could all be avoided. I didn't feel small, I didn't feel panicked, I felt like a tower, I felt confident and powerful somehow by relinquishing the control that was tied to I final destination. My goal was to wander and hang my signs and leave them behind and not look back and not care about what would happen to them afterwards. I noticed many things I wouldn't have noticed otherwise, a little boy walking with his mother and a friend through a seedy part of town carrying his toys with him. A wannabe gangster taking a piss in and ally next to an expensive bar. The only times I felt somewhat anxious is when people we watching me, cars drove slowly past me and when I was going to take a picture of where a homeless person sleeps (I got too anxious to actually take a picture). That is a lot less anxiety than I would normally have. This experience has been eye opening and I hope through this post and through the work itself it will be eye opening to others as well.

Doll test how ingrained is racism?

I just watched this video and the video really made me feel uneasy, which I think is what it is supposed to do.

This video is entitled Doll Test and in the video the people conducting the experiments ask children from varying racial backgrounds questions about two dolls and a diagram with different skin colours. What really pulled at my heart stings was watching the children of colour pointing to the "black" doll and labeling it as the ugly doll, with most preferring the white doll. And when asked to give the researcher the doll which looked like them they handed over the "black" doll which they had earlier categorized as the ugly doll.

The fact they considered a doll with a similar skin colour ugly just shows how much the stereotypes made by white people have been rooted within coloured children. I felt tears come to my eyes several times no child should think that their skin colour makes them ugly or untrustworthy.

PDP interview #2 Liara K Crane

Interview with Liara K Crane

I was recommended Liara K Crane's work by a friend of mine after looking at her artwork I saw she was doing things that I really want to do, like selling my artwork online and working on comics.

Q1.What inspires your work; do you actively pursue standing out from the crowed with your art style?

A1. I would say that my work is chiefly inspired by my desire to tell stories. I have a catalogue of future personal projects and original characters whose stories I hope to finally share. Narrative is very important to me. What I try to do with my art is prove wrong the teachers I had for 99% of my academic life. All through my childhood I had art teachers saying ‘it’s nice but anime is unoriginal and you won’t get anywhere unless you change your style.’ It wasn’t until I studied art in japan that I truly saw how different my style was, and how it was far more a marriage between the West and the East. Q2. Do you sell your work at any events or are you mostly online based?

A2. At the moment I am exclusively online however now that my finances are looking a little brighter I am putting time and money into developing stock to sell at future conventions. Q3. Any legal procedures you need to know before you start selling your work?

A3. As an illustrator I think the most important thing you need to know in regards to the law is copyright (and as a fan-artist you need to realise the fire you are playing with if selling your work.) Q4. What do you prefer long ambitious projects or lots of short projects?

A4. I like either short projects or longer projects made from shorter parts. I could never paint photo realism as a career or paint anything too large and ambitious because it would just take too damn long and I confess I’ve a limited attention span (especially as my favourite part of the whole creative process is the drawing!) I am looking forward to doing some comic work in the future. Q5. If you were to give someone who was thinking about selling their artwork one piece of advice you wish you had known when you started what would it be?

A5. As briefly mentioned earlier, it’s good to know where you stand in regards to intellectual copyright, as well as the terms and conditions of selling at places like conventions and etsy.


Check out her work here
www.facebook.com/LiaraKCraneIllustration

PDP Interview #1 with Jellie Bee

I first discovered Jellie Bee via her YouTube channel after buying some of her artwork I had the pleasure of meeting her at Japan Day 2014 in Manchester. Since Jellie Bee is influenced by very similar things to me I thought she would be interesting to interview.

See the picture on her Facebook page

1. You're work looks anime/cartoon influenced; did standing out from the crowd ever cross your mind when you were developing your style?

Actually, when developing my work, I actually wanted to have my work look more like everyone elses, particularly successful artists. However, people started to compliment me on the fact my work was really recognisable to them and that's when I realised being myself was easier and better all along.

One of Jellie Bee's digital paintings, she often does these on a single layer.

See the picture on her Facebook page

2.When did you start selling your artwork and how long did it take you to build a steady amount of people who buy your work?

I started selling my artwork on stickers from around early 2010 and it picked up quite quickly. I started my own online store in 2011 but it took until 2013 for it to become a lot more steady. Convention selling has kept the interest in my online store going strong.

 3.What is the most interesting medium and/or canvas you have ever worked on?

My absolute favourite canvas is the sketchbooks that I customise. There's a real sense of achievement when I've finished one, because it's original art, but also a useable product. I find it interesting every time, as they always come out more special than I expected.

One of Jellie Bee's custom sketchbooks she sells on storenvy, she sells some pre-made and is often commissioned to do custom designs. 

See the picture on her Facebook page

4. What are your favourite artists? Have they influenced your style?

Massively so. My favourite artists are Lois van Baale (Loish); Marc Brunet (bluefley/Cube Brush); Mary Blair and Victoria Ying.
Each one has inspired me in different ways: Loish represents the skill levels I've always wanted to reach; Marc Brunet's techniques have always pushed me, his tutorials improve me in a way no-one else's ever have. Both of these artists pushed me to try single-layer painting, colour experimentation and portraiture and even though my painting skills are lightyears away, they've helped form who I am today with my digital art.
Mary Blair and Victoria Ying represent the illustrative side to my work, the side I find more relaxing and easier, but also the side I tend to criticise more.

See the picture on her Facebook page

 5. Do you feel your style is still developing?
Oh, always. I had a funny conversation with someone in a livestream recently, who said they felt comfortable with their digital style after only two weeks of experimentation. I said that it's taken me 9 years to become comfortable with my approach and to have more pride in my work. I started in Dec 2005 and it wasn't until Dec 2014 that I really felt connected. It will always develop, because I'm always torn between sticking to one style - painting, or illustrative?
Not only that, but I also like to practice with sumi-e and ukiyo-e style art a lot, so there's a third style I like to do. It's so confusing sometimes, but I'm happy right now with the progress I'm making. I'm just excited to see how I improve over the course of my life!

See the picture on her Facebook page

Want to check out Jellie Bee for yourself?

Here are some of the places you can find her.

Art Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/MorganAmeliaBromage

Business Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/JellieBeeNews

Storenvy

www.storenvy.com/stores/120039-jellie-bee

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.

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.

Astigmatism

This is a more personal post but hopefully an insightful one, on Monday the 3rd of November 2014 I went to the opticians for the first time in 8 years. I left it 8 years because up to the age of 12 I had eye tests regularly and never had any problems, up until the last few years when I noticed I was having trouble with bus numbers.

So I booked an appointment and found out I have an Astigmatism. Astigmatisms are common and most don't need any correction but my astigmatism requires correction in the form of glasses or contacts. My astigmatism is 180.00 in my right eye and 5.00 in my left, the optician said this is something I have probably always had but it has gotten worse without correction.

In primary school the teachers were convinced I had dyslexia due to issues with reading, spelling, maths and to some degree just communicating in general. Most of these things I have found through my excessive amounts of googling maybe typical for people who have an uncorrected severe astigmatism. The more I thought about it the more everything fell into place.

• Teachers always commenting that I wasn't paying enough attention.
• My terrible hand eye coordination and balance.
• My troubles with stairs, uneven ground and jumping from small heights.
• How hard it was to focus on reading books and subtitles.
• When my friends pointed out something right infront of my face I could never see it.
• How often I would just feel like all my senses were overloaded.

An astigmatism is caused by the eye/s being more rugby ball shaped rather than spherical, this causes the eye to focus on two different point instead of both eyes focusing on one point. This makes it harder to process information because the brain is taking in two completely different points and trying to fill in the blanks.

One of my first reactions was one of anger, I had been put through so many tests to try and prove I had some form of learning disability, I was put in classes with children who needed extra help which brought down myself esteem. I was told in primary and my first secondary school they didn't expect me to pass a single GCSE due to my unidentified "learning difficulties". And then it turns out all a long if I had been given a proper eye test and an early age that could all have been avoided. People I have spoken to who have the same thing had glasses for it when they were barely out of nappies.

It was a smack in the face in a way, I had been struggling all these years to find out I didn't have to struggle at all. As much as it is a relief to have my glasses and to finally be able to function correctly, it still angers me that none thought to check earlier. Why would you not think to check? If  you think a child isn't taking in information as they should that maybe the eyes could be the key to the problem. 

Now for the exciting things about having my astigmatism corrected.

• I can pay more attention rather than  have my brain trying to make sense of everything I'm seeing at the same time.
• My hand eye coordination and balance will probably get a lot better.
• I have noticed already stairs don't swim around like they used to.
• Reading has become a lot easier.
• I have been a lot less fatigued at the end of the day.
• I have no idea how this will effect my drawings I presume it will effect them in a good way or there maybe some regression before I get the hang of it again. I have already drawn somethings but they haven't been overly complex so I couldn't see much difference. 

I think it will be very interesting to see how I progress now I have my glasses, I have heard people like me who have only had their astigmatism picked up as an adult say that glasses changed their life. I guess I will find out over time if that will be the case.

Police Cadet Anti Bullying Project

Really looking forward to furthering my anti bullying work. I have been working on a little test animation (I have done 2 prior).

I have had quite a few ideas on what style I'm going to do for my animation. The animation will be aimed at year 6-7's which personally I think is too narrow an age group. I was bullied quite badly at school and I would say year 7-9 would be a better age group to target. I will probably bring this up with the police cadets.

Animation style ideas

-Stop motion
Drawing over the top of some of the photographs
Puppets/Shadow puppets
Claymation

-Mixed media (digital and traditional)
Photographic element cut up such as buildings or background images giving it a Dada feel.
Maybe include childrens drawings I could maybe get these from the police cadets so they are more age appropriate.
I could also used patterns in the back grounds or on the characters themselves like I have done in these examples.

I could drawing the scenes in sand or mud. But I don't think that may suit the style or audience I'm going for.


I want my animation to have a zany, gritty, cult, retro feel to it.
I also need to consider if I want my animation to be grayscale with key points in colour, monochrome or full colour.


Points I want to bring across in my animation

• I want to humanize the bully not demonize them, because they are suffering too.
• I want to get the audience involved, maybe by acting out some of the characters this will help make it more relatable and memorable. 
• What support is out there, how to deal and cope with bullying.
• Let them know that bullying can happen at all ages.
• To include consequences of bullying.

Anti Bullying Zine

For my second project of level 5 I chose to do a project on cyber bullying, I have very strong links with this subject matter and have always wanted to do something to raise awareness.

I decided to do an 8 page folded zine, these are easy and cheap to make and distribute if needed.

I have so far done 2 pages of the zine.

The front page, I wanted to use different typefaces to create a cut up dada style. I also wanted to make it quite high contrast so it would stand out and people would be drawn to it but I also wanted to stick with gray scale for the cover just to keep with the typical zine look.

With the first page I wanted to get straight into how to deal with being cyber bullied. I narrowed it down to three simple steps Ignore, Record and Report for bullying offline I would give different advice. I found I was bullied less when I stood up for myself instead of staying quiet. But online standing up for yourself only adds fuel to the fire.

When I'm done I would like to make my zine free and available for people to print out and distribute as long as they keep the end page (which will tell people it was written by me and where contact me).

I want the zine to include why people bully and positive traits which are common among people who are bullied. But I also want people to reach out to the bullies, because bullies bully for a reason and more time needs to be spent on listening so less will be spent on bullying.

This is one of the video's I watched when I was first thinking of making a zine.

I would like to do more zines like this focusing on bullying and mental health.

Sense of place #3

I used this picture in my artwork