Weekly Update, SMART Targets

Since my last post about the character design project I'm currently working on, I've made quite a lot of progress and working towards the final piece. It took a while to produce all the research and development, looking into the Brothers Grimm context and artists who work in children's illustration/publishing so I could get a good understanding of the direction I wanted to take. This allowed me to explore storytelling and character design, looking into how artists use archetypes to develop personality, both through colour choice and iconography. 

Below are some of the mood boards I made a few weeks ago, gathering inspiration for how the character would look, possible colour schemes and how their environment might influence their overall aesthetic. 'Fundevogel', like many Grimm Fairytales, is set in a forest so this was the main influence, thinking when thinking about the context. For example, their clothes would be ragged, the cottage could have a log burning fire so it would be a warm environment to contrast the dark woodland that surrounds it. 

Fundevogel moodboard and initial sketches 

Lina moodboard and initial sketches

After mood boarding and mind mapping everything I wanted to achieve in this project, I began looking at artists such as Beatrice Blue, Oana Befort and Mary Blair who all incorporate character design into their work. Each had individual approaches to facial expressions, simplifying shape and stances so it was beneficial to explore different styles. In response to Mary Blair, I took inspiration from one of her colour schemes to produce a digital painting in Photoshop. This process is still pretty new to me but I'm hoping to get more comfortable with picking colours and using brushes more fluidly. 

I chose a scene where Fundevogel and Lina find themselves in a stone circle deep in the forest and meet the magical creatures they'd been warned of by their father, the forester. By altering the original narrative, I wanted to emphasize the magical element, with Lina learning more about her powers of transformation as there would be more to work with in the final illustrations. In addition, I want to produce children's book-style illustrations so the visuals can be more imaginative, with creatures hiding behind the rocks and in the trees as it will appeal to a younger audience; also good work to add to my portfolio. 

Mary Blair, original concept artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1950

This past week, I've tried to push myself to practice drawing the human form and did a 45-minute online lesson on the fundamentals of anatomy. I enjoyed this and found it beneficial for learning how the structure is altered through movement, with compression and extension. This makes the limbs appear longer or shorter and changes the overall stance. By working with more dynamic poses, the composition becomes more energetic as there's more opportunity to explore shadows and where the light hits the body. My illustrations are usually aimed at a younger audience therefore the character designs are less realistic but it was good to learn the fundamentals and be able to apply them to my process. Drawing the human form is something I've always struggled with so I want to try and do more of these lessons in hope that I'll become more confident with it. After this workshop, I started looking at different facial expressions for the main characters.

Figure drawing workshop by Richard Smitherman

Fundevogel facial expressions

Hopefully that updates you enough on my progress! I feel like this project took longer to get into than others, with all the research and development it left me with less time to explore my ideas. That said, I'm feeling more confident now and want to start refining my sketches and work on the finals. 

I'm thinking of producing a triptych or 4 storybook illustrations that tell the story of Fundevogel. From him being found in the tree and taken home by the forester, to the witch's evil plan to boil him, to the two children escaping into the forest and finding the magical creatures. I think this idea will work well as I want to incorporate the narrative context and tell a story through the panels. In addition, I could produce the book cover to match, inspired by the traditional Grimm Fairytale/Folklore cover designs. 

SMART Targets

• Start refining sketches, thinking about how the characters will interact within the environment based on their personality. Lina is adventurous so would go through with confidence, more likely to take risks. Fundervogel is more reserved and follows Lina, takes in the environment by fishing or foraging. 
• Thumbnailing ideas from the story based on the narrative, use my typewriter to write out the scene or any dialogue.
• Figure out what mediums and colour schemes will work best, think about lighting and atmosphere. The witch brings negative energy/ambience so the forest would be darker. The panels could get gradually darker until a resolution is found in the form of the forest creatures. 
• Sketch out the triptych panels with circular illustrations like a storybook, a few sentences underneath to simplify the story.
• Could make a book cover with one of the illustrations, whether it would be monochrome or in colour.  
• Finish off annotation in sketchbook and show final piece development, any thumbnail sketches and colour testing should be documented.