Quick Update!

It's been all "go!" since the start of this third and FINAL(ahhh) year. Hmmm, I'm sensing it would be a bit much if I went babbling on about what has been happening over the past 5 months... so here is a photographic account (am saving heavy writing for the dissertation;P ).

Summer Project, 2012

Folio Society Competition submission - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

University trip to Rome - Vatican, Dec 2012

In the caaaave - working on stop-motion animation

Illustrating 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett... still have improvements to make so here's just a sneak peek

Submission for London Film Locations Exhibition accepted :)

Cosmology Project

For this 2nd year project, we had to create a few page spreads that illustrated how the world was created (with no need to be realistic). This was a challenging brief as it's often quite daunting when you suddenly are allowed a lot of imaginative freedom... especially when not used to it.

I don't regard my images as finished, but they were what I could do in the time allowed.

Pages 2-3, Jan 2012.

Pages 4-5, Jan 2012.

You can view and read the rest of my creation story here...

2nd Year Projects

Christina Rossetti

19th century poet Christina Rossetti, Dec 2011.

I was absolutely over-joyed to have my submission for 'The Haunts of the poets' exhibition accepted last year! This piece was shown along with fellow BA Illustration (Middlesex University) students and tutor's work at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, London. 

The exhibition also earned the attention of Creative Review... click here for their article.






Recently had some more film developed and it was a great relief when the below photo turned out okay despite the low-light conditions (only had 200 ISO film at hand). Certainly beat my digital camera's efforts hands down!

Sculpture in De Young museum, Golden Gate Park California, summer 2011.

The Seagulls of St Ives

'The Seagulls of St Ives' hand-bound book, Nov 2011.

For the second project of the 2nd year, we had to illustrate a news item of our choice. Here I illustrated a short article about two seagulls who were being unusually protective over a flock of birds at the beach. Funnily enough, the cover of the book I made is my favorite and (I think) most successful part of the whole thing... probably because simplicity is sometimes far more effective! 


To see the rest click here.

Front and back cover of hand-made book, Nov 2011.

3rd of three double page spreads inside book, Nov 2011.

Endpapers of book, Nov 2011.

Now THIS one is particularly good if you have trouble getting to sleep.

However...

if you are sick of seeing birds now (or drawing them in my case), how about some pleasant seascapes devoid of the blighters?

Light house on north coast California, summer 2011.

Hazy sunset California, summer 2011.

Lamplighter Project

Part 1 (1st of 5 mono-prints), Oct 2011.

For the first 2nd year project, we had to illustrate a particular job - in this instance, a lamplighter's - that is almost non-existent today. The images above are two of a series of 5 mono-prints done for part 1 of the project. Here I focused mainly on conveying the atmosphere surrounding the time of day lamplighters would be attending to their job. 

Below are two cut-out illustrations I made for part 2 of the project. Here I followed the theme of light by trying to make something that could manipulate it. These two pieces are intended to be hung near a strong light source like on a window. My overall intention was to apply the theme for practical/decorative purposes.



See the rest of the work here. 

Part 2 cut out hangings, Oct 2011.

And now for a change - but not altogether different - note...

San Francisco at night, photo taken summer 2011.

Victorian Portraits

This is one of a series of mono-print studies I did based off some of Hill and Adamson's - photographers based in Scotland around the 1840s - calotypes of working folk. I really wanted to see how far I could push the process of mono-printing by trying to see how much detail I could obtain with the technique. It was a bit of an arm breaking experience... but was thankful that I made each one no more than A6 in size!

Here are the other mono-prints that I put into postcard no. 1 for my tutor...

Over the last few years I've been a big fan of early black and white photography. The posture and expressions of the people photographed look so alien to the way we pose for photographs today - let's just say you don't see many toothy grins! Quite a few people seem to be posing like they would for a painting. I suppose this is due to the fact that photography was such a new concept at the time AND was a far more laborious process than it is to now.

White Widow

"White Widow" storybook, 2011

This was the outcome of a 1st year BA Illustration project where we had to illustrate a story from a childhood memory, and bind the images in a handmade book. My story revolves around a girl and her frightening encounter with a large white spider. Again, this was another project that was very new and exciting to me as I had never before created a set of images to illustrate a story - let alone, one of my own creation! 

Page 5 and 6

Click on the link below to view the other pages!

1st Year Projects

Shop Front Design

Shop Front, 2010

As part of a 1st year Digital Media Project, we had to design our own shop front using adobe photoshop and illustrator. It was a really exciting brief - especially since I had never really used digital media in such a way before! As you can probably guess, my shop is a café and gift store (which would include drink, cakes, handmade crafts etc). The only thing is...I kind of wish this was a reality now. 

Click on the link below to view more 1st Year BA Illustration work!

1st Year Projects