Distracting...

It's very distracting to to be working on the first draft of your first novel at 4.30am and have your housemate shagging some fella next door.  And doing so whiles have her arse slapped.

Or his arse.

"Sigh". For the first time EVER i actually feel old. I've really gotta get out more.....when its done.

Back to work.

Doing things traditionaly

I used to make things up.  I used to try to draw things out of my head without knowing how they worked and what they really looked like.  I used to draw without using reference.  And it always showed.  My work was terrible.  It looked completely unprofessional and when held next to the illustrators who inspire my work, it looked EXTREMELY amatureish.

This came from unconscious (concious) desire to draw EXACTLY like the illustration greats never being prepared do the hardwork nessecary to improve.
I wanted to jump to the steps that every artist goes has to go through because I could fake IT. 

I've finally accepted that this is not the case.

One of those steps is collecting reference.

Every great illustrator has a pull file.  A collection of reference material that they have access to that enables them to draw anything they want because the have photos of what it looks like it the real life.  You want draw to VW golf?  Go out and find/take a photograph of a VW golf.  You want to draw the Buckingham palace?  Find/take a photo of Buckingham Palace.  You need reference of a bloodied warrior woman wielding two swords after going 10 rounds with a 15 foot giant?  Persuade one of your female friends to allow you to photograph them in the position needed then take a photo of yourself in the position needed for your giant.


You can't make this shit up.  If you try to IT WILL SHOW.  And your work will NOT LOOK PROFESSIONAL.  Do you think the illustration giants you admire make that shit up  off the top of their head?

It's hard work but my G-d it pays dividends.  And do it enough, your work will improve.

Or my work will improve.

Character Specific and thematic illustration and creating a rod for my own back

This post is going to be kind of long winded so you're just going to have to bare with me.

Here we go.

Normally when you want to do something creative in the shape of something that already exists you have to do the research. You have to find example of the things that you want to do so that you can learn for them. You have to follow the trail. You have to learn the thing those who have gone before you had to learn.

You want to learn how illustrated books are created and conceived, you have to go out and research in to the creation of illustrated book. You have to ask the questions. You have do the hard work. And so in the source of following the trail I've noticed that there are two distinct type of book illustrations:
There's character specific illustrations
and thematic illustrations.

Character specific are, well character specific. They highlight a specific character instead of illustrating a specific scene or passage.
Thematic illustration are illustrations are that illustrate a particular scene or passage. They dramatise and breathe into passage.
Most illustrated books tread a fine line between an equal balance of the two whiles some are made up primarily of one or the other.

You, sometimes ambition can be a rod for your own back. It really can. Doing this project is asking of me more than I've ever given before. In stating that I wanted to throw down the greats of illustration I created a certain level of expectation. Indeed it forced me to up my game substantially.

I'll give you an example: I've just spent two days working on the composition for one illustration.

Two days doing thumbnails.

Two days.

I've had to do loads of layouts. Hundreds - Okay. Maybe not hundreds- lots of thumbnails of how I want a particular character to stand. Working on it over and over again until I've got it right. Then lots more thumbnails get the posture correct. Then even more working out the separate elements. Then, finally marrying the two together. I tell you, I've got new found respect of illustrators who labour tirelessly to get their work looking perfect. So much so that it looks effortless. It reminds me of a quote attributed to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche:

""You admire the beauty of my spark, but you don't feel the cruelty of the hammer on the anvil that makes it happen."

Yes. Now. Finally I'm being to feel and appreciate the cruelty of the hammer on the anvil. In truth a part of me has always what was necessary for me improve. And i've known that I was dodging the bullet. A part of me has always know that I need to work far harder learn what I need to learn. But I was always afraid of the pain that came with it.

Well, now, I've finally reached the point where the hardwork can no longer be avoided. The bullet can no longer be dodged.

Lets call a spade a spade: I've been a work shy bastard. Now I have to learn on the job. Its going to be painfully but its a rod i've created for my own back.

Still. What I'm doing isn't impossible. It just gong to take very hard work is all. Very, very hardwork.

Tomorrow, i'll talk at length about what i find inspiring about the artists who inspire me. I'll try to tackle one artist a day for a week. Lets see how that goes.

Frostfeld illustrations Inspiration

Final Major Project(Frostfeld Illustrated Book) Inspiration
Originally uploaded by J.E.Cole

Well, here's where I start crating the layouts of the images I'll be creating based on the novel I'm nearly finished writing.

I'm still taken aback whenever I say "the novel". I still have some difficultly coming to terms with the notion that I'm actually doing something that I enjoy and That I'm creating something which previously had only existed in my head.

WOW!!

Any who, there are the guys I'm going to be looking for for inspiration. In my proposal for my project I wrote:
"Firstly, I wish to create work in the spirit and with the same values as the great illustrators of yesterday. I want my work to encapsulate that same draftsmanship accuracy and bravura as the pen and ink masters of the turn of the 20th century. E. H Shepard, Joseph Clement Coll, Charles Dana Gibson, Alfons Mucha and Arthur Rackham to name a few. Although this is a high bar I’ve for myself I believe that you should always aim to create work that stands toe-to-toe with those whom inspire you.

Secondly I want to create material that inspires the reader in the same way that I was inspired to be a storyteller when I was a child. I find that too often people aim to create work that is merely acceptable and rarely attempt to create work that fantastical."

Now know that I creating a rod for my own back, but my G-d, If we don't at least attempt to be ambitious in anything we do then what's the fucking point?

Missing for this picture is Alphonse Mucha:The Spirit of Art Nouveau.

I've already taken almost all of the photos I'll need for reference and I've laid out the compositions for a hell of a lot of the images I'll be creating(I took an evening off from partying in Prague to put some ideas down on paper and ended up down way more than I thought!!) but I've barely scratched the surface. I'm aiming to have all the roughs done by Friday so that I can send them to my models and hopefully have the photos in my mailbox by the end of the next week.

To work then.

It occurs to me that....

It occurs to me that I really should be working on the images for the book simultaneously as finishing the first draft of the manuscript.
The reason for this is obvious: It will take me far longer to created the images to the level of quality I need them to be then it will for me to finish working on the manuscript.
(Why am I not calling it a novel)
Everyday that I spend on the novel instead of working on my illustrations is another day lost to make them look amazing.
I'm going to have to set myself a flexible routine that will allow me to juggle my many balls without dropping them. The finishing novel (Ha! See now, that didn't hurt did it?) will be far less work intensive than finishing the artwork. And besides, I'll be getting marked based on the images I create instead of the words i write won't I?
I'll have just have to do as much as i can for Tuesday then present them the manuscript as work in progress that is closer to being completed than it is to being half finished.

And I really, really need to start getting some early nights in. This waking up at 10/11/12 and sleeping at 2/3/4 at night malarkey is completely counter productive. I need to start getting up at 8 in the morning. 9 at the latest.

Crape diem

I hate Mondays:(

So, I'm mostly recuperated and I'm back on the ball. By Tuesday next week I have to have done the following:

Finished the first draft of the manuscript.

Have layouts of the images i plan to illustrate ready so that I can:
Send them to my models so that they can photograph themselves in the positions required.
Construct a list of places I'll need to visit in order to collect reference.(Thank Hashem for the Prague trip)
Have character designs completed.
All of this will be handed over to my lecturers on Tuesday morning.


Tall order? You think?

Wish me luck.

No. Scratch that. Pray for my arse!!

Reclaiming lost days

I've spent the past 5 days in bed with a nasty cold. I wasn't able to write or draw for 5 whole days. That's time lost. And I'm steadily running out of time to waste.
On top of all that I have to accomplish I have to keep a record or diary of my work process during this project, It's to enable the lectures who'll be marking my work to see and understand my decision making process.

Understandable as the journey is often as important if not more so than the destination.

So I'm sitting here and I'm thinking: I've written the proposal for my final major project. But I know I going to encounter difficulty in getting them to believe I'll be able to accomplish the extremely ambitious project I've set for myself. Why? Because I've no previous examples of me being able to accomplish anything of this magnitude.
They are going to have to take a lot of what I'm going on faith. And I doubt whether they are going to be that lenient.
The way i see it one of two things is going to happen.

1: The will activity force me to undertake a project that is less ambitious and demand that I abandon the frostfeld novel and help me to create this less ambitious thing.

2: They will leave me to my own devices and allow me to create my project the way I see fit. But in doing so they will withdraw all support.

I want and need them on my side. I need them to help me to create the images that I want to create. So what do I do to get them on my side instead of actively working against me? And yes, it happen. I've seen lecturers- though thankfully not at this institution. The lecturer at my uni actually give a damn-go out of their way to sabotage students project because they didn't understand/like/agree with/appreciate what they were attempting accomplish. And that I believe says more about the lecturer than it does about the student. Surely an image should be judged not on whether it is liked but on how well its communicates it's message/idea and whether it work?

Style is worthless if your image doesn't work. Style is worthless if you can't draw.

I'm ranting aren't I? Sorry. Where was I? Ah yes.

After a long conversation with an artist friend I've decided that there is only one way to ensure their support: To present them with the finish manuscript and character designs. By presenting them with evidence of the level of work and the commitment I'm prepared to make in order to complete this project I believe this will go a long way to to get them on my side.

This is what I should be been doing over the last week. Now, I'm going to have to shorten my time scale by a week and speed up this part of the process.
More tomorrow.