Ella Nightingale

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As of May 18th;

The first week’s goal of this impromptu project was to have a timeline from which to draw sketch inspiration, which Ive succeeded in. So far, only Dazai’s design has been sketched, but i have a lot of notes covering other characters. Additionally, Ive developed the kitsune system that I placed in the context of Noragami’s world, which has made Dazais life’s timeline much more interesting. From this Ive managed to write one scene very briefly. This week, I aim to have most of Dazai’s stages as a kitsune sketched to final designs and recorded in my sketchbook, which will require researching historical fashion of different eras through time that Dazai will reflect. I touched lightly on a loose timeline in the first week enough to know the time periods from which I’m drawing information, which will hopefully make that easier.

Beware of the potential and likely inaccuracies in the naming system, i do not speak Japanese. I did the best i could 😗

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As of June 13th;

My tabled plans for the week have been delayed but I should be on track to having things done first thing next week. I have two posters done, ready to be made into smaller prints too. next week I’ll finish my Hunger poster, preferably by Tuesday like I’ve planned, and then begin on the extras. I doubt they will take long at all, just some simple edits of my already done artworks for prints and setting up a sticker sheet that I can cut up and figure out a way to present. I should have everything prepared to move over to my exhibition space on Friday.

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As of June 6th;

As of now, when I don’t have anything but this sketch and my Elian poster done, I have the idea to be consistent in closing in on details of the monster that are unpleasant. For example, where the skin mask meets with Hysteria’s bridle and the bare bone of the dog jaw beneath. For Hunger, I’m thinking of the clamps that open the chest cavity. I’m not too sure about this idea being interesting enough on its own, though, so I may forego having Hunger part of the second poster. This will mean the final poster has to be a choice between Cimex and Sectum, Exhaust and Hunger. If I’m focusing on the most interesting and disturbing designs I have, I may go with Exhaust. This is subject to change.

As for the progress on the posters, Ive decided I definitely want them printed at A1. My Elian poster turned out extremely well.

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As of May 23rd;

I’ve finished my 3Ds cases entirely now, meaning I can move. I’m on track for making all my posters and organising potential other components to the exhibition. i’m considering the possibility of a sticker sheet, which depends on materials available to me. I’ll make 3 a1/a2 posters to surround the cases like advertising a real game, some merchandise. In the meantime, especially when I’m at home and I don’t have access to printers, I should focus on finishing my essay and figuring out how I want to display that.

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As of May 16th

This week I managed to complete some of the base necessities for the case that won’t change and prepped all of my backgrounds for either putting onto the front cover or placing a monster into. Most importantly, I have a completely finished logo for the project to work with, which I can use not only for this outcome (the game cases) but for my posters, too.

Next week, I want to work on getting this outcome completed. The booklets inside, the covers done, including the back of it, and then writing done. I should have this all done and printed, put into cases, and ready to evaluate by the 23rd of May.

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As of May 9th;

I’ve finished all of my monsters and have done a lot of development since the last review. I’m officially halfway through the project and I’ve saved a lot of time by readjusting how many monsters I want. I focused my attention on creating backgrounds according to what I developed of each monsters purpose and where they aesthetically suit. Hysteria and Hunger are the weakest and therefore come first, located in an abandoned human environment, which has been decided to be old flats with some woods behind it. Then is Cimex and Sectum, plus their small counterparts, in a dump. They’re stronger in numbers. After that, there’s Exhaust on a bridge, where the player is then thrown off (Exhaust isn’t beaten). In the water, Elian drags them down, and they’re the last monster and therefore the strongest.

The plan has developed into creating 5 character individual 3DS games with character illustration cover, informational back, and displayed development within the case booklet. Ive designed what I want my exhibition to include and be set out as, plus some measurements for the 3DS cases that will be used in the template itself and for setting up. After that, I’ll create the posters for the game. The time remaining can be dedicated to setting things up and potentially creating merchandise like stickers.

Required for the coming week;

- 5 empty 3Ds games. Maybe go to CEX so I’m not destroying childhood games.

- Game logo and text

- Template on CSP program, breakdown what a 3DS includes and looks like.

- Illustrations and notes to put into a template — I’m designing some kind of larger location for them to be stored in, inspired by SCP Foundation, an internet fake database of fan-created monsters that are all contained by an organisation named ‘SCP’. Alternatively, I’m inspired by the idea of Silent Hill, where it’s the location itself that pulls from the psyche of the protagonist going through it to create monsters catered to the darker parts of the character.

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As of April 24th;

I have just had a crit, and I have an idea for the last monster. I received a few more monster ideas from the classes’ fear responses and advise, namely hair-pulling, skin picking, and other habits like this. It reminded me of domesticated birds and their tendency to over-preen, which results in being bare and unwell. Their habits are similar to human habits, or at least mine, where the plucking is at first brought on by stress, under or over stimulation, and desire to remove imperfections or seeking the satisfaction or removing the imperfections. What is at first a recognised bad habit becomes normal, and in birds where the plucking can cause a shoot of dopamine per feather or pin feather removed, it becomes an addictive habit. Birds that have been removed from their negative environment that at first caused the habit to form may still pluck. Birds that are feeling hormonal will begin plucking for no reason. It’s a lot like a relapse into addiction. If I can liken human hair and skin picking to a bird’s much more graphic destroying of pin feathers, I think there’s a strong monster idea there.

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As of April 18th;

The past two weeks have been spent on the one monster, which is due to time mismanagement, but I’m ultimately happy with how the end result turned out. The amount of time I spent with ideas I had meant the outcome was more refined than the last monster, but it also was out of my comfort zone, so if I went without the time I spent, the result might not have been as developed as what I got. I need to decide on a name.

I’ve had to reassess the time I’m spending in the coming weeks and my plan. I want to be able to create a poster and other small designs for this project by the end of it, plus the organisation for the printing and potential merchandise at my exhibition, so I’m going to prioritise this next monster as the last of the set. I’ll then take a week to explore my characters in more depth, give them facts, names, and organise my essay with the imagery in a Bestiary book. From that point, I can begin poster designs.

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As of April 4th;

My project now has a name, Amygdala’s Bestiary.

I finished my second monster first and foremost this week, and then began my third. It is a monster based on Hunger, a prime desire in humans. The design is wasting away and insatiable, a d is one of the weaker monsters thus far with its head too heavy to even hold up and it’s body too gaunt to be useful. It feeds on rodents. As for the depersonalisation monster, I’ve temporarily named it Alien, as in the alienation from its sense of being. It may change, it may not.

I also experimented with book-making this week, making a mock up on a Turkish fold, a concertina, and a zine. These gave me ideas of having some kind of cheaply mass made ‘merchandise’ for the end exhibition that can include my monsters or fact files, perhaps. I’ll figure it out in time.

A lot got done this week and I’ve figured out a lot of my schedule for the coming weeks. The end product is now more clear to me, especially with it having a name now. Next week it is a break, but I hope to keep the momentum going with monster-creation. I’m going to look into bugs, I think.

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As of March 28th;

The beginning of my second monster. I’ve yet to solidify the design as I had spent a day this week animating and editing this short concept for how the monster may move. It took a while, so I’ll finish this monster next week instead. I hope to have it done on Tuesday, and then I can start on my third.

This monster is yet to be given a name but its concept is centred around the deep sea and depersonalisation, which inspired the translucency factor. You see its insides, it knows how it works, how it is alive, yet the chord connecting itself to reality is severed. There’s a struggle to connect to humanity in any other way than knowing it has similar biology. It is also a disturbing image to see its insides. The scale I introduced with the animation, that being the little guy that goes spinning into its mouth, brings in the fear of larger scale things that lurk beneath the sea. The mouth lacks teeth, as i thought it would not only subvert expectations of what monsters can be, but because i find the imagery of being gnawed on in a gummy mouth disturbing.

I’m dissatisfied with the amount of work produced this week, so hopefully i can keep myself on a stricter time frame for the next monsters coming up. I should have time regardless.

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As of March 21st;

I dedicated this week to the creation of Hysteria; a monster inspired by the Scold Bridle and dehumanisation. It’s a writhing embodiment of the madness induced by belittling and womanly suffering. Its skin is a veil, its body takes a bitch-like form, the bridle squeezes the veil to the skull, and a flower crown decorates the misery. This process of creation was experimental, and I found it was quite rushed due to having an idea for it already. I’d have liked to include other influences. I’ll keep this in mind for future creatures. As for if I succeeded in making the viewer uncomfortable, a lot of my feedback assures I’ve done so. It’s a strong start to the project’s intent and I can use what I’ve learned as a blueprint in my future designs. I think I’ll hold off on illustrating scenes for these characters for now.

Next week I want to explore other potential creatures and representing irrational fears. I’ll use other animals for reference and my initial sketches from last week to influence the aesthetic for consistency.

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As of March 14th;

I’ve took away from the past week’s initial exploration a variety or traditional media drawings. I’ve enjoyed using gouache paints and ink with a dip pen most, have learnt a few techniques for drawing things such as flesh and how to use marks for a gritty outcome. I want to work further towards producing an uncomfortable feeling with my work, which i feel a very limited few of my initial work has succeeded in. I need to overlook my predisposed approach to making gruesome things ‘pretty,’ and focus more on what makes an organism uncomfortable to look at. Despite this, i feel the above painting is my best exploration into the concept of combining the patterns i recognise between the natural forms of all organisms so far, and the drawing of organs will be useful in the future too. I’m going to bring forward these colours in digital and painting.

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Crime and Punishment spot illustrations and cover end result;

The text in penguin vintage translation’s version. Intentions were to present some of Crime and Punishments in an imaginative way whilst learning many facets of illustration. This project covered a range if skills, such as character design, backgrounds, both realism and surrealism, mixed media, fonts and text, and then measuring these drawings to fit over a cover.

The resulting illustrations combined into this format are my gothic take on the book.

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A series of character / world development sheets;

Five of many sheets in a series. These are my original characters, which I’ve developed the world prior to this project. This project is one during my foundation course, wherein i explore creating an artbook adjacent format for my character. This allowed me to explore both characters and the world, plus the different aspects of these things such as character design, lndscapes, illustrations, and the use of text. All aspects are hand drawn, including the paper textures.

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A-level exam;

Close-ups on the birds I painted for the final piece made during my exam. The longer piece is my larger scale that these were placed along the right edge of.

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Foundation year; collagraph

Brief experimentation with the medium. Based off of tiles and footpaths.

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A-level coursework;

A watercolour painting of a girl and a pelican. The second, a gouache painting of the same girl and a hyacinth macaw. I wanted to so display companionship between girls birds, taking the innocence of the new generation and bringing it to the inherited bird’s declining population.