Stories and Sketches - yum!

It has been a little while, but after finding a decent job to get a steady income, illustration has taken a back seat!

I recently found out i got highly commended in the Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2014 again! Here's my image;

The theme was 'Being Human' and i looked at the concept of freedom!

Better luck next year for me! c:

I've started on some new projects as well, though i am still working on the bird illustrations, i am working on an original story and also a mini story!

Have some images/sketches!

Just a bunch of ideas/practices with face styles and having a bit of fun before i commit!

Until next time~

Gigantasaurus Break Over

So i'm back after a gigantasaurus break!!

As for my final degree result...well....

I got a First Class Honours!!!

I feel i've come such a long way after getting a C in Art at GCSE level
and a D at A-Level (yeah i know...)

But getting these nasty grades pushed me to do a Foundation Diploma in Art to prove that i was not rubbish and to prove people wrong! (which i got the highest grade in, a Distinction).

So i feel like all this hard work really has paid off

I know grades ain't everything, and you shouldn't be bothered about what you get as a final portfolio is what counts, but i agree and disagree! It is a measure of the time, work and effort i've put in (also amongst my hobby which is making costumes), so how on earth i managed both of these i have no idea...maybe just my stubborn Taurus nature and perseverance has helped me!

So my piece of advice is, yeah grades are not everything, but just try your hardest and you may just be surprised! ◃┆◉◡◉┆▷

-------------------------------------------
So since then, i've exhibited at New Designers in London with my group and now i am working on some projects to improve my portfolio! The first one being a series of bird images!

Final Exhibition Done!

So i have been away for a good few weeks, but for good reason!
But it has been really stressful and busy, however i can safely say that i have finished putting up my final exhibition and i am so glad!

I will do a write up and put up a photo at the weekend after our opening night, but i thought i would post an update after quite a while!

Now i just need to look to the future as i have so much i want to do, and also try and grab myself an agency to represent me! To New Designers!

(Photo by Alex! Ta!)

Editorials

So it kind of feels like i've been winding down on my work load, and i'm exhausted!

Since finishing my art doll, i've just been working on some editorials! All of these were from the New Scientist.

Collage and inks

I experimented here and used solely PS to create it using a few textures/monoprints

Collage and inks

I've actually enojoyed doing these, and i plan to do a few more, with maybe another art doll....

That's pretty much all i've done amongst doing my Professional and Commissions folder which is getting there! (basically a compedium of competitions i've done, research into agencies and post-grad etc)

Hopefully i have just enough steam to finish this semester!

Thanks for reading, and see you in a fortnight!

Lots of Updates!

So i know it's been 3 weeks since my last post, but yes i've been busy!

First things first, the Cheltenham Books have been sent out which has my competition entry in which i entered last year!

There is some serious talent in it, and i still can't believe i got in it.

So moving on from that, i have finished my children's book, well the 4 double page spreads and the dummy book, here is [just a small image] of one of my pages:

A usual i kept it very much collage and ink, however, i experimented with a different more controlled way to using the ink to keep it in a consistent style - which is what is needed in picture books. I also experimented with text etc which is pretty new to me to include into an image.

I found this project really difficult as i was working in a narrative context, plus the fact that the story was original made it even harder, so i' a bit iffy on the results, but i did try hard with it.

Moving on from this i have worked on and pretty much finished my new Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2014 entry which i won't post online till the closing date in June.

I've also been making an art doll since i have done quite a bit of work, i thought i'd take it easy for the past week and ended up sewing and carving a plushie doll.

Here are some sneaky shots until i get some professional looking shots taken!

He was quite a challenge to make but it was really enjoyable, i am considering making another one, or should i say a friend for him.

Now i am just working on some editorials and tomorrow us 3rd years are presenting our work to the 2nd years! They will know just how stressful the final year is!

That's it for this week, my next post will most likely be in a fortnight now,

Thanks for reading.

P.S i also got a feature on Design Juices, so big thanks to them!
Read it here

New Project! Picture Book and other Goodies

So i missed out on my post last week, why? Because i had nothing to show.

I just couldn't decide what to work on and do next and when i had decided there was nothing really to show except for some compositional ideas.
I thought lino prints? more screen prints? a book? editorials, the list was never-ending, so i decided to just go for one, that being a picture book.

I've done a fair bit of work over the past week and a half, from creating my story, compositionals, dummy book and now i'm onto the four (maybe six...) final spreads. I only have 9 weeks left and i'm worrying even though i've already done two projects (the angora work and screen prints) The life of a student!

I drew out loads of compositional ideas, photocopied them, then ordered the best ones, it was really quick and convenient to work in this method.

To the top left of this image is my dummy book, which includes all my final compositional sketches, and here i am working on a collage of the boat which is a part of the first spread i'm doing.

I've also worked on creating some business cards (seen below) I used Moo! and got the Minimoo cards. I chose to have a range of designs which makes them exciting, and on the back i used hand written text for my contact details etc. I'm looking forward to New Designers in London that bit more now!

This week i also put together a portfolio site too, using Cargo. I'm still in the process of uploading my work but it's a very nice professional website to use and looks clean and easy to navigate. The only thing is that you have to apply for an account, but this ensures the quality of work on their website!

http://cargocollective.com/hcoote/

That's it for this week, hopefully next week i'll have these spreads done and i'll be underway with the Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2014 brief...not long to go.

Blurb Book [Review]

So i said i'd do a post when my book came, and it actually came in around 2 days after dispatch! From America to the UK, that is astonishing.

This book was printed on Blurb.

The book was very well packaged, maybe too well packaged as i really struggled to get it out. I noticed that because it had no bubble wrap around it, on the back cover at the bottom it had accumulated a few dents from the tight packaging or shipping... i wasn't too pleased with it!

This is the colour trade book, and it's a fantastic size, fitting nicely in the palm of your hand. The cover is nice and the print quality on it is very good! Though careful if you print black on just white, ensure the image is 100% cleaned cos you will see every little mark. 

The print quality is flawless, and looks great on the uncoated paper. The only problem though with the uncoated paper is that it is slightly see through. So if you don't have full images on the page in full colour, you can see through onto what is on the next page.

Because of this, for my final story book which i've decided to do, i will opt for a photo book and the better quality paper! 

This is still a great book, and i love the way it feels.

It's simple, cheap but professional.

This book would have originally costed me around £21, however because i had a discount code it came to approx £6 - i cannot moan at that price! 

I would not have bought this book for £21, mainly due to the dents in the back, the slight bit of glue on the end papers and the see through paper which takes away from its flawless finish; i would probably pay between £10 to £12 for this book - and the £4.99 postage on top is value for money (delivered by fedex).

However i am very pleased with it as its purpose was just as a reference book for myself for when i write stories.

It is somewhat fulfilling having my work printed professionally and seeing it in print for the first time!

Thanks for reading.

Finished Angora Poster and Self Publishing

Since earlier on this week, i've been up to a few little things.
Firstly, i've printed out my dissertation and had it spiral bound ready for hand in tomorrow! (Just need to check it over then it's all ready to go)

I've also finished my Say NO to Angora posters (i chose to do two, and still debating on a 3D piece),
One of them:

Here i used dip pen and ink, with a small bit of collage and oil pastel.

I really wanted to experiment with some text also, which is used in my second poster too, i really enjoyed doing it! 

The concept behind it is trying to come up with a different slant of portraying what the rabbits go through, instead of showing obvious plucking, this shows the dominance of man over the rabbits and the rough treatment they receive, which may make the viewer question our motives for doing this to them!

I've also been up to self-publishing. Well not really as such! But i've ordered my own book on Blurb with all my folklore creatures illustrations so i can basically see how the colours turn out and the quality overall for if i decide to go onto doing a picture book before i finish!

I'm really looking forward to receiving it! And when i do, i will do a post specifically for it, looking at the quality of printing, the colours, binding etc!

I'm currently undecided what to do at the moment too, i feel so much time has passed and i haven't accomplished very much! I'm debating whether to carry on doing some more screen prints (which actually do take up a lot of time between preparing the picture, coating screens, exposing, printing, cleaning) or whether i should more onto something else,  maybe a small picture book would be nice! (i can always go back to doing some more screen prints...or maybe lino prints)

Hopefully in my next post i can fill you in on all the stuff i've been (or will be!) doing.
Thanks for reading and see you next Sunday.

Bunbuku Chagama Screen Print (and angora rabbit illustration)

Now that my dissertation is completed, i can concentrate 100% on illustration work now! What a relief!

Last week i complete another screen print! So now that's three down, hopefully i'll be able to get some more done soon;

"Bunbuku Chagama"

This one was really enjoyable to do, and i think the composition turned out great

This is also another image from my Angora awareness project i have done more recently, inspired by some of the photos i've seen of the rabbits being plucked (horendous!). I've done another 2 illustrations and i will be putting them together into posters and maybe doing some 3D work. I really hope the rabbits get the freedom they deserve after so much tragedy and horror surrounding them....Stop buying angora! I just wish i could do more to help...

2 Screen Prints Complete and REDBUBBLE Store

So since last week, i haven't managed to do too much. I spent the first few days this week getting my images put on screens and exposing them etc. I started printing on Weds and finished printing on Thurs!
I had 8 layers to print, which was a lot of work saying that i had to change and clean each screen (which were varying sizes) etc. in inbetween! But here are my first two finished images:

NINGYO

Edition of 10

UMIBOZU 

Edition of 10

I am also selling the prints for £25 each so if you are interested in purchasing one of a kind prints, don't hesitate to contact me!

I have also gotten my next image ready and i can announce that it is...

a Tanuki!

One of the creatures i admire the most which takes me back to my Foundation Diploma FMP! I'm hoping to get it printed this week in addition to the possibility of doing some laser cutting (trying to make the most of everything before it starts to get busy!!)

As well as all of this, i've been working extra hard on my dissertation and i feel that it is finally coming together...i still have some stuff to do on it, but i'm looking forward to finishing it.

I've also created a REDBUBBLE account, and i've started to upload some of my folklore creatures illustrations onto it, so if you're interested, you can purchase cards and prints of them!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/hcoote/shop

Some of the illustrations on there:

SHACHIHOKO

SHUG MONKEY

Check it out!

That's it for this week, hopefully more will be happening in the next few weeks to come, thanks for reading.

Screen Prints and Angora

Sunday has come around quickly! The weeks are going to fly by.

As well as working very hard on my dissertation and its deadline in 3 weeks time i've been working on a couple of projects!

The first one is the folklore screen prints. Because i couldn't get around to print my first this week (which has 4 colour layers) because the UV screen is being fixed (because people don't use it properly and don't dry the screens after being coated!) I went on ahead and did my second screen print.
What i mean by that is draw up all the elements and construct it on PS, colouring and deciding on the different layers - that being 4, one black line layer and 3 colours!

This is just a small sample of the picture, and the colours aren't yet finalised, but it gives me an idea of how it will look when it is printed! I'm modernising that long procedure of using light boxes and re-drawing! They have been really enjoyable to do, but they've taken a lot of my time up already!

I've also just started on another project, that being an awareness campaign, to link in with my other one for Save the Arctic! I have chosen to do Angora fur, as after recently looking into it more, i think more needs to be done and awareness raised. Here are a few initial sketches and ideas:

So a lot of work has been done in the past week, but not as much as I would have wanted to; but to end on a lighter note here is my current desk at uni. I take up so much space, and even though it may look tidy at the moment, just wait until i get going in my last semester!

Thanks for reading and the next update will be next weekend.

Final Semester Plans and Current Work

So now i have just started my final semester at university, and it's safe to say i do not want to leave!
I have enjoyed these past few years so much, and i have grown up; both in person and in artistic capabilities, i definitely have my wonderful tutors to thank!

But before i get ahead of the game, i do still have around 17 weeks left, where i have planned no less than 6-7 projects to do.

I am currently working on two;
Folklore screen prints - taking my image a day brief and developing it. I have already created the black line work for my first print, i just need to put it together in PS and add the colour layers/decide on them

 Some of the ink work...

The second project i am working on is a collaboration with Rachel. We're both making masks based on two of the four symbols of the Chinese constellation. I'm doing the Azure Dragon, and Rachel The Vermillion Bird. These will also be used in a performance later on in the year, but for now, here is a miniature (i mean miniature) mock up made of masking tape of how i would like the frame to look. Tomorrow i will most likely start on a rough wire version, then move to the final willow one. They will then be decorated.

I will now be updating once a week, most likely on a Sunday to show progress for that week.

Thanks for reading!