Re-doing the rocking card.

I decided (last minute!) to re-do the rocking card and see if I could adapt the concept to promote other areas of my portfolio. 

My original spinning card doesnt spin any more - it's been squashed flat by being in portfolios.  I tried to make this one a little more durable by filling the gap with foamboard (my newest toy), and replacing the buttons on the back of the spinner with washers to give more weight.

I had to print this at home, ad as you can see, the colours differ hugely from the items I got printed at the printer - so everything must be printed on the same printer to keep consistancy.  I actually managed to adapt and produce the card quite quickly - my photoshop skills are getting better,, but again, this is an item I would re-do for the show if it is to be included at all.  I've lost confidence in it as a product, as it's not going to impress anyone if it doesn't work  

Business cards.

I looked at different business cards, I have a stack at home that I also looked through.  Just as an immediate response, I find a lot of business cards too bulky, too white, and too matte.  I really liked Laura Weeks business card from last year, as well as the card of the first World War nurse in your office because of the curved corners.  They stand out immediately for me, and look more expensive. 

I had a look at business card printing on line, which is cheaper than most printers I have looked at (unless you print them double sided on their card stock and then cut them out.  I particularly like the smaller mini-cards that Moo do.  I like the idea of a small image on a card rather than trying to squash down a large painting into a small space, and then adding text.  I also like the idea of a gift-tag that turns into a business card – or vice-versa. 

I also like the idea of customising business cards, I don’t think it’s practical to do so by changing the shape radically, and would increase the cost if they had to be lazer cut.  I think I could do so by adding ribbon or beads, and although this might make them irritating in a wallet, they would have a double life as a bookmark.

I need to be careful how much I add to the cards though, because too much ribbon/beading makes them difficult to stack and store neatly, so I will tone down my 'extras' to make them easier to handle in bulk. 


I made these card by getting them double side printed at the printers and then cutting them out myself to save money.  As usual, it has printed darker than I imagined (you cant make out the text as well as I would like, and I need to look at where I position the text so that it is not compromised when I punch holes in them.  This is another 'back-to-the-drawingboard' item, which I will work on before the show.

Exquisite Corps card and envelope

Exquisite corpse

I have wanted to do a set of exquisite corpse cards since doing the project at the beginning of the academic year.  This is a step towards another project I would really love to do, a full set of playing cards. I found this image of uncut playing cards ages ago, and like the potential they have - all those games you could play when they are cut out, although these look more like tarot cards, cups, swords, coins and wands?

 

I think Exquisite Corpse is a good way to show off characterization, and also that I can illustrate to set sizes and dimensions.  The characters had to hit certain places at the neck and waist, and it was fun drawing those out.  I need to another two characters to really make this set complete, as there aren’t enough girls to boys ratio.  There needs to be another dress in there and a strange tummy - Queen and Caterpillar, or Griffin.  I did sketch out a Queen originally, but she looked too squashed and there was too much red, so she was rejected before I even got to the scanning stage!

Because they easily reproduced, the time is in the designing and cutting.  The cost is in the card and printing, which is about £2.00 a set.  I printed a set of business cards along with the Corpse cards, so it would be a cost effective exercise to get a set of cards and envelope on the same A3 piece of card. A simple band round the cards would bring down the cost, but I do like that envelope, it has a solidity about it.

I can imagine doing cards with politicians/current affairs, or maps and machines as a good way showcase some editorial work.  I like this product, it feels very me!  It’s a product you can play with, so it might not end up in the bin immediately, and there are lots of opportunities to get your contact details on the back of  the cards.

As a promotional thing, just like the Itialian cards, you could sell them uncut, printed onto card back and front.  This sort of goes with the idea of cut-out dolls, where the buyer has the opportunity to either play with the image or leave it as a piece of artwork.

The thing I am disappointed in is that the backs of my card look much darker printed, than they did on the screen.  It obscures my contact details, so I will change that.  I also had some trouble getting the back and front lining up.  I had deliberatly made the backs into quite organic squares, with the suites not entirely central, to make them look hand painted and not machine made.   They need more of a margin to really work, and lighter colours in the centre.

Book in a Box

Book in a box

I have wanted to use this folded book for promotional purposes ever since I learnt how to do one for Contextual Studies.  If the individual squares are less than 8cm, the whole grid can be fitted on to A3 paper, which makes it a viable book for promotional purposes.  As images could be printed on both sides (I’ve chosen to put contact details on the reverse), something like18 individual images could be used.

I wanted the book to look like a present, something expensive, like a box of perfume, and played around with the colours for quite some time.  I came up with the idea of having three boxes each with different parts of my portfolio, with a different coloured ribbon on the top to denote which section, which would have tied in with the different coloured sections of my website. 

I initially wanted the book to be blue, with a white ribbon, like Alice’s dress.  I bought organza to cover white cloth, which just would not stick when I came to make the books themselves – the organza is made from man-made fibres.

 When I did manage to get the book stuck, I wasn’t happy with how the printed part of the book made a lighter coloured line that divided the box near the base.

 Several people had picked up my prototype and asked if there was anything IN the box, so I decided to put the book in the box, which I feel makes the object more intriguing.  The label is one of my business cards.  By keeping the cards as playing cards and using plain fabric (the fabric is linen) the present can then have different bow and different beads to give it an individual feel.

To re-make the book as a flatter post-able version would be quite simple, but I have indulged with this version.  The foam, trimmings etc cost very little, and have been left over from other projects.  I have also customised the books with beads and found objects such as shells and keys, which is something I would like to continue exploring.

The cost in producing this is in the time, and the postage.  I was reasonably happy with the way these printed, although the back of the book needs adjusting to fit the folding really accurately.

Portfolio Squares

Portfolio squares

I want to market myself as an illustrator who has painting skills, and who uses bright colours.  I wanted my portfolio squares to reflect this, and to read as colourful from a distance.

Just putting all my favourite images together didn’t quite work.  After playing about with several versions, I decided to colour co-ordinate my squares, using the background colour as the base.  I also changed the way some of them faced to keep everything either heading inwards or looking out directly at the audience.

I have kept a record of my progress using screen dumps.

I first thought of telling a story (I'd love to do a birthday party - another project), and I liked the idea of splitting an image over two or three squares, as if hey were looking through windows, but even though I like these images, they didn't have the colourful element I wanted.

So I pulled together images I liked, but tried to get diagonals of colour running accross.  I liked the idea of Jessie and Patch in opposite corners.

 I also played around with the idea of perhaps having vertical lines of insects and characters (which I didn't record) but went back to colour.  I liked the idea of having a central blob of red.

I finally settled on the idea of horizontal bands of colour, and after that it was just a case of tweeking the images.

I changed the direction of the fish, flea and rabbit so that they all faced inwards.  Other characters like Jessie and Patch are looking directly at the audience.  And that's it.  Theres a mix of large and small brushstrokes to give texture.  I did mu best to get text in using photoshop, and had to cut down on what I had written.  If this causes problems, Ill do it again in Indesign and re-submit.  I wasn't sure how you needed it for printing.

This has been good for me to do.  Last year at this time I would have really struggled with getting the images on the template, let alone cropping and turning them. This year all I've struggled with is the text box!

The Stuff I've Not Bought Into College!

Different star shape trials

3 different owls with different expessions using embroidery

Different amounts of embroidery on the stars

Three cheeky aliens.

I made three of each finished toy after I had got the shape, and I have submitted 4 toys in total, 2 aliens for different embroidery and facial expressions, one star with the amount of embroidery that I felt was the best, and the owl I liked best for finish and expression.

Evaluation and Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed doing my Final Major Project.  It’s combined two things that I enjoy doing – creating something using fabric and creating images.

Toy Development.

Because I already had a strong idea of how I wanted the characters to look, toy development became an exercise in problem solving, and to a certain extent compromising, when it came to the materials I could source.

Trial shapes for stars.

I had sketched the alien as far back as last summer, Little Star and Owl had started to develop during the early part of Self-Promotion when we were doing badges and cards.  I had a fair idea of their shape and relative size.  The hardest one to develop was the star.  It took me several attempts to really get the shape I wanted, even though it’s actually the simplest character in terms of colour and facial expression. The Owl also needed more work on the block shape.  Both the alien and owl had more surface decoration and details to work out, and take more work in terms of embroidery and sewing. 

Owl needed to change shape too - so his wings didn't stick out!

As Ben pointed out, these are only proto-types, which someone else would have worked on independently from a finished book, so developing toys first and then using them in illustration is a topsy-turvy process.  I appreciate this, but part of the challenge for me has been to make a character and then express it as closely as I can in a book form.   Who knows, I might one day be presented with a developed character and told to illustrate exactly that.

I have used lots of skills I already had, like pattern cutting and sewing for this part of the project, but I had not looked at or done machine embroidery before.  I can see myself using this again (when I can get hold of a second-hand machine), maybe to produce things to go on Etsy.   I can see this sort of embroidery adding value to promotional goods as well.  I have thought about sewing/applique for creating images, but I’m too fond of painting and I would need to find a really good photographer to get the image digitalised.  I’m also not sure I have the patience to work in this sort of way either – paint is such instant colour.

Book Development

I looked at a lot of board books before sketching, and it helped!  My instant reaction to the whole board book and toy thing had been to dismiss them slightly as an inferior product to Picture Books, or just a truncated version with a spin off toy.  I now see I was wrong and that there is a whole pre-school, pre-reading set of books that are very cleverly devised, written and illustrated for this age group. 

 

I really enjoyed painting my images for my board book.  It was fun to crank up the colours and get out a big brush to do the backgrounds.  Whilst I am pleased with the images, I realise now that one of my biggest shortcomings is to leave the text as – almost – an afterthought.  I need to have a clearer idea of the text, font, size and space it will take up on the page from the work go, and should concentrate on page design as much as character design.  I think I got a bit carried way with the whole ‘making-a-toy’ thing, and left the text behind.

I also enjoyed the challenge of physically making a board book, it made me consider the needs for that age-group more, and do more research.  It’s a different approach to making a hard-back book, for an adult or older children, who are more likely to treat a book more gently.  There are lots of things to be taken into consideration to produce a more durable product that can be used independently by little people with little (but very strong!) hands.  I’ve explored things like different card and paper finishes, as well as size.  

The more I look at other board books, the less convinced I am that these particular characters are as good as some others for toddlers.  For me, Bing bunny is spot on, a toddler with appropriate responses, and whilst Maisy has friends, her story lines are very direct and accessible to toddlers.  I think I might be slightly out of touch with this age group, and need to rethink some of the story lines before approaching publishers, or use them for picture books instead of board books.

Conclusion.

There is a large chunk of publishing aimed at small children, with some exciting, colourful and interesting products around.   I feel I need to do more research into characters and images, and perhaps even sit in the corner of a playgroup to really get back to how these little ones look at life.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Lucy Cousins (Maisy’s author) is a mother of four, or that Ted Dewan had a toddler underfoot when he developed Bing.   I hadn’t appreciated how long ago it was since I had toddlers running around, and it’s dangerous to think you know an age group just because you’ve experienced living with a couple. 

This has been an interesting project.  I feel I’ve learnt a lot and discovered some gaps I need to fill, particularly with page design, text and bleed.  The feedback from group tutorials and the power point presentations has been very valuable.  The experience of talking about my project in front of others felt nerve-wracking, but it was really useful to put my aims into words, and then do the work needed.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.