"How To Be An Illustrator"

Just a quick blog to totally accidentally advertise this book:

How To Be An Illustrator by Darrel Rees

 I think this has been the most inspiring by far for getting me to get up and begin work. It offers help on every aspect of being an illustrator I could think of, as well as some other sides of the job such as pros and cons of working from home opposed to a studio as well as how to deal with companies and finances and most importantly, how to begin your preparation for leaving university.

Helpful thinking really.
One point was to get going on a portfolio and research, and "add to the blogggg...." came to mind so here I am. I would recommend this book if you're a bit stuck and need a bit of help getting unstuck.

Arty word of the day: Objet D'Art. This literally means a 'art object' or 'work of art', however in French, the term is used for artwork that is not a painting, for example sculptures, sketches or carvings.

How to make snowflakes; The Animation Begins.

So "This, Is, Third Year" is a blog to catalogue everything I find out in the final stage of my third year at University. I started fresh because my last blog was a bit thin and my first ever blog, so hopefully this will be a new and improved version of the old (=

First off, my first project is about how to make paper snowflakes. I got the idea over the Christmas break, and it's designed to be a short animation to illustrate how to create a snowflake decoration.

 

These are two stills from the very very early on animation, portraying how she is both larger than and smaller than the paper. I thought a mix of perspectives would keep the animation more engaging, and also more fun to draw and test my skills. The second image comes after a sequence illustrating anticipation, where the character makes a few failed attempts to fold the giant paper before it falls and knocks her over, as well as staging, which clearly highlights the character in both images as the center of the viewers attention.

This is an image I drew [on a page full of sketches] of the main host of the animation. She has no name, she just acts as a cute character to help illustrate the points and act as the idea of appeal to the viewer. The symmetry and simplicity of her face is deliberate so as to not overwhelm, and keep her character appealing and easy to read.  I can't wait to get more of this animation done, so I'll stop blogging it and start working on it (=


 

Arty word of the day: Counteraction. This is where, in an animation, the movement of a body of object has a secondary action, such as hair or clothing moving as a result of the initial movement. They often move in the opposite direction of the first movement, and occur simultaneously  with the first movement, unlike 'follow through' which occurs after the first movement.