MATS2 PART A WEEK FIVE: GIFT - ASSIGNMENT
Ok, I thought I'd better sneak in a post about our last assignment (even though I am supposed to be doing my freelance work!) I can't believe the course is finished and I feel a bit flat these last few days. I miss it!
Anyway, our last week was learning about the GIFT market. This is such a broad market and there are so many opportunities for artists and designers in this area. Our Mini assignment this week was to gather personal things that we "collect", to photograph and draw. There were some beautiful ornate and vintage collections shared in our facebook group, and it made me realise I am a bit of a "plain Jane!".
If I had to confess to being a collector of anything it would have to be books and kids stuff! I have always been drawn to the fun and colour of the kids world, (long before I actually had kids myself) and I put together a small collection of wooden items for my inspiration.
I did not really get any time to sketch and play for the mini this time, but once the assignment was revealed I really enjoyed just playing with ideas based on toys. The assignment was to create a HYPER LUSH zipper pouch crammed full of as much 'stuff' as we could manage!! It needed to really "WOW" and "POP" to create something that would really stand out in a portfolio or at retail.
Given that this assignment allowed me to concentrate on a theme I was really passionate about, the ideas just flowed this week! I have so many ideas and lots of pages full of sketches. I am looking forward to revisiting these pages again at another stage.
This was the sketch that excited me the most, so it became my starting point.
First up, I scanned the sketch and traced over the shapes in Illustrator to create some vector artwork.
Colour is my favourite design element, and I always LOVE the thrill of seeing my characters in colour for the first time!! So here's my little music box bear.
I was tempted to draw up some of my other characters to interact with this guy, but I thought this week I would use a 'focal point" and make him the starring role!
I did not really have a game plan or layout sketch this time, but decided to just dive right in! Lilla encouraged us to use any bits and pieces from previous weeks work and I remembered some water colour experiments that I did not use.
I focused in on one section and repeated it over a yellow background...
...then layered it with some textures from my wall art painting.
I loved how the colours worked together with the bear, but he was already getting a bit lost on the background.
I added some white behind him to make him 'POP'! (Lilla uses this expression A LOT...and I guess it's stuck with me!) The bee was getting a bit lost and changing the balance of the white area a bit, so I edited him out!
I don't normally create the artwork on the product template until it's finished, but this time it really helped to remind me of the end product as I progressed.
Next stage was to "LUSH" it up a bit! FUN! I wish I had more time to create various florals and new shapes, but I will work on this more when I re-visit this project to tweak it for a portfolio piece.
With the addition of more and more detail, the finished piece finally emerged.
I am still really happy with it, but will rework it a little if I am to use it in my folio. I also still need to work on some sort of logo for my name, but I am booked up until Christmas with a ridiculous amount of freelance work, so I will rework my assignments a bit more in the new year.
Oh, I nearly forgot. We were also able to include a few extra products to match our zipper pouch. In the end I felt they distracted a bit from the pouch, so I did not include them in my submission, but I was really happy with this one, so thought I'd share it here!
There was some incredible work produced by participants in this weeks assignment and it really was a great way to bring together everything we have learned over the last few weeks. I also thought it was very clever of Lilla to base this assignment on personal collections, because each person could then create with themes that were special to them. This really came through in the artwork. (Incidentally we are working on some plans to create a blog tour of participants in this recent running of the course, so I will share more detail with you when we finalise things.)
I also hope to share my thoughts on this course, and some self-critiques of my assignments over the coming weeks, so drop by again when you get the chance.
I am also very lucky to have had special permission to share FULL details of one of my current projects with you, including works in progress and various processes, so I hope to find time to get that going for you too! So it's back to work for now...
Anyway, our last week was learning about the GIFT market. This is such a broad market and there are so many opportunities for artists and designers in this area. Our Mini assignment this week was to gather personal things that we "collect", to photograph and draw. There were some beautiful ornate and vintage collections shared in our facebook group, and it made me realise I am a bit of a "plain Jane!".
If I had to confess to being a collector of anything it would have to be books and kids stuff! I have always been drawn to the fun and colour of the kids world, (long before I actually had kids myself) and I put together a small collection of wooden items for my inspiration.
I did not really get any time to sketch and play for the mini this time, but once the assignment was revealed I really enjoyed just playing with ideas based on toys. The assignment was to create a HYPER LUSH zipper pouch crammed full of as much 'stuff' as we could manage!! It needed to really "WOW" and "POP" to create something that would really stand out in a portfolio or at retail.
Given that this assignment allowed me to concentrate on a theme I was really passionate about, the ideas just flowed this week! I have so many ideas and lots of pages full of sketches. I am looking forward to revisiting these pages again at another stage.
This was the sketch that excited me the most, so it became my starting point.
I did not really have a game plan or layout sketch this time, but decided to just dive right in! Lilla encouraged us to use any bits and pieces from previous weeks work and I remembered some water colour experiments that I did not use.
I focused in on one section and repeated it over a yellow background...
...then layered it with some textures from my wall art painting.
I loved how the colours worked together with the bear, but he was already getting a bit lost on the background.
I added some white behind him to make him 'POP'! (Lilla uses this expression A LOT...and I guess it's stuck with me!) The bee was getting a bit lost and changing the balance of the white area a bit, so I edited him out!
Next stage was to "LUSH" it up a bit! FUN! I wish I had more time to create various florals and new shapes, but I will work on this more when I re-visit this project to tweak it for a portfolio piece.
Oh, I nearly forgot. We were also able to include a few extra products to match our zipper pouch. In the end I felt they distracted a bit from the pouch, so I did not include them in my submission, but I was really happy with this one, so thought I'd share it here!
There was some incredible work produced by participants in this weeks assignment and it really was a great way to bring together everything we have learned over the last few weeks. I also thought it was very clever of Lilla to base this assignment on personal collections, because each person could then create with themes that were special to them. This really came through in the artwork. (Incidentally we are working on some plans to create a blog tour of participants in this recent running of the course, so I will share more detail with you when we finalise things.)
I also hope to share my thoughts on this course, and some self-critiques of my assignments over the coming weeks, so drop by again when you get the chance.
I am also very lucky to have had special permission to share FULL details of one of my current projects with you, including works in progress and various processes, so I hope to find time to get that going for you too! So it's back to work for now...
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