Art Blog for Uni

Louise Daisy

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This is the illustration I created for the Clipstudio live breif. The theme in the brief was 'Admiration'.

I decided to depict a child who admires a doctor or nurse for their work and wants to be like them when they grow older. I decided this as it is a heartwarming, lighthearted story. I also think it was a good theme to choose in regards to societal context with the pandemic we are facing right now and the hard work nurses and doctors do everyday.

I think the colours all compliment each other well and are intended to connote things like medicine and hospitals which commonly have blues, green and soft yellows associated with them.

I do not have much practice with drawing children and it was hard to have the child be mostly anatomically correct and also stylised. I think I was able to show the childish joy in in her facial expression the way I intended but I have now noticed the neck is too long and I the whole anatomy of that area needs revising.

I think the message and story of this illustration is shown well and the lighthearted mood I intended for this piece is presented well. I think I also need to learn how to shade backgrounds with more detail.

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During my research I found that witchcraft practitioners often preform rituals when honouring a passed loved one. I looked at what things are commonly used on an altar to honor such a person and decided to depict one.

I found it quite challenging to shade this piece as it is lit by candlelight which I have never studied before. I didn't want the piece to be too poorly lit but also not to bright as then it would not hold the same calm and spiritual atmosphere. I think the lighting is okay but there is definitely room for improvement with practice.

I thought it would be quite heartwarming to show the story of a woman's life through the pictures on the alter, depicting the stages of her life.

I especially enjoyed creating the insense smoke as you can really feel the motion of it through the swirls and size of the smoke.

Overall I think this piece it's okay but the style of it is a little boring to me. I think learning interesting linear techniques may add to it or maybe adding patterns onto the plain surfaces.

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I found that Hellenic deities are not the only deities witches sometimes worship, they can be from cultures new and old all of the world. This particular witch worships Norse deities, especially Freya.

I took inspiration from existing depictions of Freya, she most commonly wore clothing such as these and had blonde hair and blue eyes like most Nordic goddesses. The wings on her helmet are also common in Nordic artwork. I decided to do a semi realistic style with more shading and accurate proportions than my usual illustrations. I found it really interesting to shade in this way although it took a little longer as it had more detail. The patterns of the falcons feathers were very meticulous but I enjoyed creating the repeating shapes and the complimentary colours on them.

I posed Freya in a position that made her look both elegant and powerful to reflect her status as goddess. I included the falcon in reference to the witches story and because Freya is commonly associated with them. I like how all the colours of the subjects compliment eachother well and the golden colours give connotations of power and regality.

One thing I would definitely improve is the background, which I feel pulls down the quality of the painting a lot. I am not well versed in drawing surrounding especially natural one and therefore need a lot of practice with them.

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During my research I found one of the most common ways modern witches practice is by creating 'spell jars' which contain various herbs, Crystal's, rocks and plants, sealed with different colours of wax to serve different purposes.

I wanted to push myslef more out of my comfort zone and make a piece that did not include any people, which I do not usually do. Therefore I chose these spell jars as the subject. It was very interesting learning how to depict glass and the reflections of light that show. It was also interesting to learn to draw dripping wax as there are varying levels of transparency, light and colour in it. I added a grainy effect to the piece as it made it look better blended and stopped edges looking too sharp. I did not intend to add the labels at first but I found they added to the piece a lot, without it it didn't really serve a purpose or have a message. They also gave it a more educational theme.

I like how this piece turned out however, it was very challenging as I do not have much practice digitally painting objects and natural forms in a realistic manner. I definitely need more practice ein that area to produce more realistic and detailed work.

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In my research I discovered that although it is the moon that is commonly associated with witchcraft, there are some who use the sun in their craft and do not connect with the moon. I thought this was interesting because it juxtaposes the traditional preconceptions of witchcraft and the moon.

I did a piece with a more simplistic style as illustrations such as these are very common to see related to spirituality and witchcraft. I enjoyed working with a limited colour palette but found it unusual to not do any more detailed shading or colouring. The piece is suppose to demonstrate a witch connecting with the sun in her heart, with mystical iconography that is similar to common spiritual art such as stars, hands and symmetrical patterns. I also think the golden beams in the background were a good addition and help reinforce the sun's presence in this piece.

One thing I would improve is maybe studying more patterns seen in this kind of illustration so I have a greater understanding of it and how to apply it.

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This piece was inspired by a category of witchcraft named 'green witchcraft' and most of those who practice self identify as 'green witches'. Through my research I found that almost every form of witchcraft incorporates forms of nature, plants and the earth, however green witchery uses these aspects in almost all of their craft. They believe the magical properties and energy of different plants can be used to assist them in achieving different goals such as self healing, protection, spiritual cleansing or sleep aid. However, the way each witch practices is very individual and some even worship deities such as 'the green man'. They also value the medicinal properties of herbs and plants and often enjoy herbal teas and collect garden and house plants. I found all this through the subreddit 'Greenwitch' which is full of thousands of accounts of practicing witches.

I chose to use warm but desaturated colours to bring a calming, earthly feeling to the piece to reflect the beliefs of green witchcraft. Not all of the plants are based off real plants as I wanted to make them more more fantastical and interesting. I chose the girls clothing to based off of the 'cottagecore' style, full of comfortable long skirts and dresses with earthy tones. I did this because plants and flowers are associated with both cottagecore and green witches, therefore they overlap quite often.

Overall I am mostly satisfied with this piece but I feel there are a couple colours like the red of the berries that don't quite compliment the overall colour scheme. Therefore I would like to further study colour theory and techniques of colouring.

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This piece was a focus on the ancient greek goddess Hecate, who amongst other things is the goddess of witchcraft. In my research into the practices of modern witches, I found Hecate is one of the most commonly worshiped deitys, however its largely 50/50 that a witch incorporates deity worship into their practice. I have found many images and storys of practitioners devoting shrines and offerings to this goddess. There are even entire forums dedicated to sharing experiences from witches with Hecate and how they incorporate her into their craft.

This is one of the many posts relating to the worship of Hecate in witchcraft which I found during my research:

As a result I wanted to create a piece that features the most common associations with Hecate in modern witchcraft such as the night, keys, torches, wolves and the three heads she is regularly shown to have. I also tried to compose the piece in a similar way to tarot cards as they have heavy associations with witchcraft.

I was inspired by the black and white, bold work of Aubrey Beardsley to try this style of illustration. The only shades on it are black and white and so I had to create depth and shading using liner shading which I found very enjoyable and an interesting change. I feel it gave an atmosphere of mysticism and darkness which complements the subjects of the piece well.

Overall, despite the actual line art and shading being simpler, I still found it quite a challenge to use techniques so vastly different from my usual but I feel it was a great learning curve and in the end this is a strong piece that portrays a strong theme. I think with more practice in this style I would be able to create better and more polished work.

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For this piece I took the story of a witchcraft practitioner who practiced in secret and in turn had to use easily available materials in lew of the expensive ones some modern witches use. She recalled often using birthday candles to complete spells in secret. I thought the story was especially interesting as it disproves the common misconception that witchcraft can only be completed using expensive and complicated tools and items. I also thought it was very beautiful someone could find such a spiritual purpose for an everyday item.

This is the original post I found during my research:

I chose this colour pallet to connotes an earthy, calming feeling and kept the appearance of the subject very everyday and casual to show witchcraft is practiced by everyone, not just someone dressed in a cloak and pointed hat on a broom. I took inspiration for the iconography in this piece from the items used commonly in modern witchcraft, such as natural forms, jars and pouches.

The style of this piece was very different to my usual, as I wanted to bring a wholesome feeling to it. However I am still happy with how it turned out and would like to use this style again, and in turn perfect certain features I am not as confident with, such as the facial features. I will most likely revise the face and the positioning of the facial features.

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This is the line art of a concept piece for the 'new normal' situations the Monster High characters I designed. It shows social distancing and PPE which is prominent in current places of education in real life. It is to show how characters would interact and the changes in the new concept for the brand that incorporates feature of a covid-19 world.

I plan to add colour to this piece and add a background that fits the Monster High brand.

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I did a few quick ink pieces of the characters of the brand 'Rainbow High'. I wanted to practice incorporating the key features of the brands style into my own and am pleased with the results. I like the difference in attitude and emotions each character portrays and it was fun to try a new style. I may use these characters in a new normal situation in the future, where they will wear PPE and be in a post-Corona world.

Experimenting with a different style of character design, more modern and realistic, was an interesting experience for me, as I do not often create designs that reflect current trends. I also dont have a great deal of recent experience using ink pens, therefore this was interesting to create and I found many ways in which I could improve my inking skills. For example I need to know how to shade irises more effectively and learn more intriguing techniques of shading.

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Third Garrett Sanders reponse

In this response I chose to incorporate a different from of PPE into the character design of this character 'Clawdeen'. Therefore I drew her with a clear face covering a gloves. I think i successfully created a realistic merging of the existing brand and character styles with the common iconography of a world battling covid-19.

I found it interesting researching the character style; her association with 'royal colours' ie gold and purple, the wolf and dog related imagery in her clothes and the sassy fashionista attitude that is portrayed through her clothing. I think I have successfully incorporated these aspects into this character design without taking away for the 'new normal' that is being portrayed.

I also really enjoyed merging mine and Garret Sanders' illustrative styles, I especially love the exaggerated, large features such as the shoes and the unpoportionally long legs. My intention with choosing this pose and facial expression was to show the attitude of the character, confident and bold, without her appearing overly aggressive or imposing.

In my opinion this is my strongest Monster High piece and if I were to make any edits I would probably involve more complicated prints in her clothing designs, as it is a common feature of her existing character designs, and add more detailed accessories to really flesh out the design and make it more visually interesting.

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Second Garrett Sanders response

This piece focused less on hospital PPE like in my first response but still features gloves and masks which are everyday PPE most people wear. Because her existing designs show similar fashion styles, I gave her a more modern ‘kawaii goth’ style which is rather popular, therefore I was able to find a lot of inspiration online. 

I kept the pink and black colour theme from most of this character ‘Draculaura’s previous designs and incorporated character design trains such as bat wings and fangs as she in a vampire. I think I should have added more traditional gothic features to her clothing to establish the vampiric connection to her character as Sanders’ designs incorporate character traits heavily into their clothing. I also think this piece is more disconnected from Sanders’ art style than the previous, the legs are shorter, the feet smaller and hair made of sharper angles. However, I can’t tell if this makes the piece stronger of weaker. I love colour pallet of this piece and really enjoyed creating cute and creepy clothing for this character. 

I created little designs in the top right inspired by social distancing and PPE promotion seen in real life, but blended them with brand associated images. From my research, it is common to have little designs like this on the packaging of Monster High merchandise. 

The background was inspired by existing backgrounds created by Sander for this character. Think this background is good as it has a solid colour scheme that is appropriate to the character and does not distract from the main focus of the image.

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First Garrett Sanders Response

In this piece I took a character designed by Garrett Sanders, the creative director for monster high and other Mattel brands, and designed a medical PPE inspired outfit for her based on images I found during my research online.

 I took inspiration from other versions of this character ‘Frankie Stein’ to make this, adding a key character design traits such as stitches and lightning bolts so it could realistically fit into the Monster High brand. 

The background is inspired by existing Frankie Stein box art and character pages created by Garrett Sanders.

 I really enjoyed making this piece and particularly like how the outfit I designed has interesting details despite being based off very plain PPE. I found it so interesting to incorporate the art style of Garrett Sanders into my own, changing the proportions of limbs and facial features. I want to get real torn paper to add to the left background as I think that is the weakest part of it and to experiment more with makeup on this character. 

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Brand Research

Today I have done thorough research using the internet on different fashion doll or toy brands, including some of their history, the style of their products, different illustrators and designers who work on them (where possible). I next plan to look into and analyse the work of the illustrators I have found. Brands I researched include:

Monster High 

Barbie

Ever After High

Rainbow High

Bratz

Capsule Chix

L.O.L Surprise

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Personal Breif

I have written for myself a personal brief, detailing what my aims and intentions for this project are and the things I would like to look into. This will help me hit everything I initially aim to achieve throughout this project.

‘My initial idea is to look into illustration in the fashion doll industry, in concept and character art as well as packaging illustration. These are a vital aspect to any product made in this area, whether it is an adult collectors doll or targeted toward children. I want to focus on this as I have found inspiration from these illustrations for years and am interested in pursuing a career in this industry.To apply a ‘New Normal’ to this, I aim to place the characters and settings of these fashion doll brands into a world similar to ours, with Covid-19, PPE and social distancing being a regular part of daily life. I would like to do up to date character designs with PPE mixed with their usual over the top fashion and creating concept art with situations that would occur in the brand’s universe. I feel the merging of such vastly different concepts would be interesting to look at and also subconsciously bring attention to how surreal the things we apply in our lives due to Covid-19 are when seeing them in worlds where such concepts usually do not exist.I aim for my work to convey a strange unease to see such universes, which once were so separated from our own, struggle through the same situations we are due to Covid-19. I also want my work to be a statement on how in such a capitalistic world ruled by monopolies and designer brands, many companies will take advantage of something as dire as a world wide pandemic to profit and create products to sell at heavily marked up prices. Something as innocent as a children's doll company being insensitive and making products to profit off of a global pandemic will surely be a good way to convey the outrageousness of companies actively doing this in our new normal.’