Project One

At the start of the summer we were asked to source questions on the website Quora. For my starting point I came across the following question,

Have you ever met someone who was so strange they could have walked straight out of a horror movie?

One of the answers was a short story about a girl who, whilst visiting the city, encounters a strange man on a bus that would not stop staring at her. As he continues to stare the young girl starts to feel more and more uncomfortable. She tells her mum who then confronts the man when they get off of the bus.

It turns out that this gentlemen had previously been a bank robber and had been in jail almost all his life. This was the first time he had ever been in the outside world and it was the first time he had ever seen a girl with red hair, which he thought was quite beautiful. As a result he could not stop staring at the little girl.

First Roughs:

I thought this was a great little story and started to rough some ideas and characterisations. The challenge was to present this narrative in a brief and clean style. Not over complicated by detail but a  simple series of renderings.

Final Draft

All the original drawings were composed onto tracing paper then inked. On reflection this was a poor choice of material as the final scans appeared fuzzy when printed.

 Project Two

Intrigued by a question regarding the ‘worst ranged weapon in history?’ I found, through researching, the Apache Revolver.

You’ve got a revolver, a knife, and a brass knuckle. All bundled up into a small yet lethal package. You can put some lead into a person with the revolver part before they can get near you, then if they do somehow survive that you can easily finish them off by either shanking them or giving them a tasty knuckle sandwich with the knife and brass knuckles respectively. But it doesn’t live up to the hype that you may had for it. You see, the problem with the revolver is that there is something critical missing: THE BARREL. The thing is that with revolvers and guns in general is that there must be a way to make sure that the bullet goes to where you want it to go. The barrel does exactly that. Whereas, the Apache revolver doesn’t even have anything close to a barrel. Making it unreliable even in a short range. .

The Apache Revolver is the worst ranged weapon due to the lack of a barrel, the part of the gun that is the shooting tube. Interestingly this weapon was used as a status symbol by Parisian Gangs in the early 20th century.

Project Three

This body of work came from the question, ‘what is the most accurate science fiction film?’ The answer given was Jurassic Park. Primarily on the scientific accuracy of the genetic engineering part of the story. Through research it appears that there are current programs adopting  similar techniques in the genetic field. Most questionably, the re-engineering of chicken DNA into a dinosaur. Known commonly as “Chickenosaurus”.

This project is the mastermind of Palaeontologist Jack Horner.

Horner has long supported the idea of modifying a chicken to look like a dinosaur, and unlike the researchers on the latest study, he actually wants to raise a live one. And why stop there? By understanding how and when to modify certain molecular mechanisms, countless changes could be within reach. As Horner pointed out, a glow-in-the-dark unicorn is not out of the question.

There are four major modifications needed to make a so-called chickenosaurus, Horner said. To turn a chicken into a dinosaurlike beast, scientists would have to give it teeth and a long tail, and revert its wings back into arms and hands.

The creature would also need a modified mouth — a feat accomplished by the researchers who did this latest study, he said.

“This dino-chicken project — we can liken it to the moon project,” Horner told Live Science. “We know we can do it; it’s just there are … some huge hurdles.”

From this basis I wanted to create a short silent comic about a crazy scientist.

First Drafts

Final Draft

Keeping the overall composition to a minimum was a challenge. Again I did not want to over complicate the drawings with too much detail and instead tried to create a more gothic look from my first project.

I decided I would like to develop this idea further trying to re visualise the creature as a more user friendly beast.

And as a consequence tried to create a three dimensional sculpture.

This is still in process. Using epoxy clay, which takes 24hours to harden, I have to gradually build up from the shaped styrofoam the dinochick structure then drill the details.Hopefully this will be completed soon.

Frankenstein: Workshop

Research

Location

Situated in Steyning is one of my favourite buildings. SME is an engineering company. The building has a simple aesthetic appeal that I wanted to utilise in my comic book. Dated from the 1960’s I wanted it to create a certain feel to the overall composition.

Roughs 

Starting with rough pencil layouts from a sketch book I developed various key scenes. Each frame was then blocked in ink before the nal detail was added. e characters were then placed in a sequence that illustrated the stories main plot points.

Below are the final spreads that were then scanned into Indesign to create the comic. The sequence of pages were not exact to how they would be printed. is was an error on my part. e rst spread was the last spread completed. All the other run consecutively.

Final Drawings

Gigglefish Project: Steam Punk : 

Background: Research Steampunk.

Based around the world of steampunk which is influenced by the style of the 19th-century work of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelley. Steampunk’s  most recognisable features are the anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions that  people in the 19th century might have envisioned. It is a style rooted in the era’s perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style.

Machinery Concept Drawings and finalised props.

Model Making Development:

Continuation: These models are part of a backdrop scene. The characters are based on preliminary sketches that then need to be shaped and moulded with clay silk. Then using scraps of cloth I then had to create clothing and working arms that can be animated.

Styrofoam moulding is an extremely difficult medium. Using silicone the mixture is created and then poured into the moulds. To get the consistency correct takes practice and the results need to be consistent. The heads, once hardened, are then shaped with sand paper and passed onto the puppet making team.

Sets: The story is set in a steam punk mine where the characters live and work.

Each set is intricate to make and the level of detail required is a time consuming process. Using PVA and DAS clay the styrofoam is gradually built up to create a cooper type effect that is finished with metallic paint.

Shaping and prop making The following are models of chimneys for the houses. They are shaped in styrofoam and then textured with clay before finally being painted.

Each week the sets are built up to include pathways made of cobbles. This process requires individual cobble stones being moulded out of DAS then stuck into a path that has been carved out of the styrofoam.

Bookarts

Manifesto Research:

The Lazy Manifesto

A Shot in the Dark (United Artists, 1964)
Director Blake Edwards Opening Credits (DePatie-Freleng Enterprises/George Dunning and Associates) Director: George Dunning

Catch Me If You Can was my second source of research. The opening sequence portrays a mysterious style title, which both gives the viewer a small insight to the basic plot of the film, but also keeps them in suspense and maybe keeps them guessing before it has even started. Inspired by the work of Saul Bass. This is an effective title sequence that sets up the film and gives a small idea of what the film is about. It is a quirky and an interesting piece to watch.

Storyboards Concepts:

Sequences:

My original sequence was drawn on a chalk board and photographed. Each movement was then rubbed out and replaced with the next series of animation.

Rendered in Photoshop:

Having decided that the chalk board exercise was too incomplete I returned to my sketchbooks and reworked various themes. Then scanning each image into photoshop and re-rendered and animated each action.

Rendered in Photoshop

Title’s:      

Final Sequence:

Critical Analysis

Regarding the storyboards: The introduction to utilising our environment and therefore structuring a narrative was really enjoyable. Within the storyboard i created a brief outline of a broader story based around the structure of the Manifesto. Using  key elements of the agenda was built as a semantic exercise  relying only on these components to propel the narrative. Visually I think my animation is scrappy and underdeveloped however it does convey the general idea. Developing technically the ideas needed to be more coherent and required sound to the final sequence. The overall composition was still not completed by the time of assessment and throughout the second semester I have revisited this project. This was a very steep learning curve and was an extremely challenging project.

Memories: The Don Ameche’s Band

In the late 1980’s and early 90’s I created a fantasy band named after the actor Don Ameche from the film Trading Places. We were a three piece band with Wendy on drums, Terri on bass and me on guitar. At the time I was just learning to play the guitar so the idea of an imaginary band made perfect sense. I had even written songs for this ficticious trio.  These people never existed, but over the years the memory of this false creation has permeated so much that my friends actually think that I was in a band. I have to remind them that I made the whole thing up.

Don Ameche: Trading Places

Research: Raymond Pettibon, Sonic Youth

Influenced by grunge music of the early 1990’s I listened to a lot of Sonic Youth, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and Black Flag. The characters I created all had troubled backgrounds and the music that I tried to create echoed the early punk sound of the 1990’s. For the brief I went through my CD collection and wanted to recreate the artwork of my imaginary band including tour flyer and cd artwork. One artist who was prolific at the time was Raymond Pettibon. He did the cover artwork for Black Flag and Sonic Youth. His use of heavy black lines and hand lettering created an instantly recognisable style. The aggressive and confrontational artwork that I remember from that time seemed to capture the music scene. Using these research points I started to work with this style in re-creating my own band artwork.

Trying to remember other memories I also drew upon a chocolate bar that I recalled my Grandad used to treat us with called Fry’s Five Boys Chocolate. The wrapper was very distinctive, depicting the five stages of being rewarded with a chocolate bar. Looking at the artwork today it seems a little disturbing. Each child was titled with the various stages: Desperation, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation and Realistaion ‘it’s Fry’s’.

Using this memory I contextualised a couple of the titles and reworked them into the cd cover artwork.

 Tour Flyer Outcome

Using a  rendering of Don Ameche I stencilled the image with various colours in an attempt to block out any detail. Then working away from the sketch book scanned the image into photoshop to create the flyer. Originally I was going to incorporate the Fry’s boy image but instead I decided to use the titles.

Adding the Admission Free tabs at the bottom of the flyer and the title tracks of the songs help create the overall effect of an authentic tour flyer of my fictitious band.

Outcome: CD Cover

Building from the theme of the ‘Fry’s Five Boys’ I twisted the wording to ‘Five Boys Fry’ with an image that characterises the resistance of acclamation and is replaced with the title ‘Desperation, Expectation and Fuck this shit!’. The idea behind this concept was to illustrate the exact opposite of what a good boy receives. Rather than the reward of a chocolate bar this particular boy commits a crime and will end up in the electric chair.

Conceptualising the artwork into other  mediums pushed the initial design.

Critical Analysis

The challenge presented a visualisation of artwork. Within the exercises I attempted to explore and create different realisations of the initial concept. The rendering of the subject and the placement of the composition within the tour flyer is effective when contextualised in the poster montage. Reworking these themes and utilising bold lines and block colours of the pose is an attempt at being  reminiscent of the tour posters of the early 1990’s. Overall the project required a representation of an imaginary imagery. Visualising the memory was a challenge to convey.

Vinegar Valentine

Research Brief:

“Vinegar valentines are greeting cards, or rather insult cards. They are decorated with a caricature, and below an insulting poem. Ostensibly given on Valentine’s Day, the caricature and poem is about the “type” that the recipient belongs to—spinster, floozy, dude, scholar, etc.”

Below are various examples of  vinegar valentines. Largely they evolve around one illustration depicting  satirical look at the chosen figure.

Gustave Dore:

As a starting point I looked at the work of Gustave Dore. Although satire in the 21st century is by and large a television-based affair; Doré’s considerable career as a satirist for Parisian publications, including Le Journal amusant, Journal pour rire, and Le Monde illustré. Doré’s fame and productivity translated into humour in magazines at the age of 15 and by 16 was the highest-paid illustrator in France. However, they were also dependent on the emerging industry of immediate news. Satire is often based on swift response; a cartoon in the same week’s paper would have a far more pointed impact than a delayed one. The news cycle allowed Doré to extend his lampooning pen internationally, pricking national self-conceptions as he went. Below are some examples.

Subject: SNP, Nicola Sturgeon.

Rise of Nicola Sturgeon: Shallow empress of north Britain

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon. She has been continuously in politics since the age of 16, and for the last 8 years has been at the top of the Scottish government. Sturgeon is relaxed about Scotland being a province of the EU with far less power than it now has in devolved Britain. Her primary drive is divide the UK with divisive referendums. Hell bent on politics based around self entitlement that has little if any true political clout on an international stage. The SNP is convinced that, regardless of the subsidies from the British government, they will better off out. I say ‘fuck off’ then!

Concept Drawings:

Initially I played with the idea of depicting Alex Salmond as a Jack in the Box caricature. The idea being of a joke that never goes away. But the development of this concept was difficult to execute.

Ode:

Nicola Sturgeon the Shallow Empress

Pushing your agenda down our necks

Your resolute to break my heart by making sure that we will part

Trying to divide and trying to spilt

the UK up…

you fucking bitch.

Critical Analysis

The overall composition of the final piece contained all the elements as intended. However, the material used was difficult to use and the colours and inking become transparent and illegible. As a satirical exercise the illustration contained elements that are recognisable as the subject.  There is room for further development and perhaps a greater exploration of this subject. The rendering of Sturgeon lacked the visual vitriol that I had intended to convey which is why the final composition is a little lacklustre in execution.

Life Drawing

Below are a series of sketches drawn from around Brighton. There hasn’t been much life drawing this semester however there are plenty of opportunities for people studies.

Chris Riddell Lecture Wednesday 12th October

Live Siddell Lecture Wednesday    October

Seb Lester Lecture Wednesday   October

HTML

Throughout the Semester we have had an introduction to HTML and CSS script. Using Brackets as a platform, each week we have coded the templates of workable sites for future use. Using my self initiated project The Little Book of Leviathans I have created a website with the intention of outlining the inspiration and development of these sequence of illustrations. As a sample I have used Lorem Ipsum as selected text. Due to issues uploading the sample website I have had to include screen shots of selected pages.

The coding is as follows:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Elavate</title>
<!--
Elevate
http://www.templatemo.com/tm-481-elevate -->
<!-- load stylesheets -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?
family=Open+Sans:300,400">  <!-- Google web font "Open Sans" -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/bootstrap.min.css"><!-- Bootstrap style -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/magnific-popup.css"><!-- Magnific pop up style -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/templatemo-style.css"><!-- Templatemo style -->
<!-- HTML5 shim and Respond.js for IE8 support of HTML5 elements and 
media queries -->
<!-- WARNING: Respond.js doesn't work if you view the page via file:// -->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/html5shiv/3.7.2/html5shiv.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/respond/1.4.2/respond.min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="tm-sidebar">
<img src="img/menu-top.jpg" alt="Menu top image" class="img-fluid 
tm-sidebar-image">
<nav class="tm-main-nav">
<ul>
<li class="tm-nav-item"><a href="#home" class="tm-nav-item-link">Home</a></li>
<li class="tm-nav-item"><a href="#about" class="tm-nav-item-link">About</a></li>
<li class="tm-nav-item"><a href="#ideas" class="tm-nav-item-link">Ideas</a></li>
<li class="tm-nav-item"><a href="#contact" class="tm-nav-item-link">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
<div class="tm-main-content">
<section id="home" class="tm-content-box tm-banner margin-b-10">
<div class="tm-banner-inner">
<h1 class="tm-banner-title">Suzette Moon</h1>
<p class="tm-banner-text">Illustration <br>Brighton University</p>  
</div>                  
</section>
<section>
<div class="tm-content-box flex-2-col">
<div class="pad flex-item tm-team-description-container">
<h2 class="tm-section-title">From The Deep</h2>
<p class="tm-section-description">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque vel nisi pharetra nibh varius 
pharetra ac sagittis nisi. Etiam pharetra vestibulum hendrerit.</p>
<p class="tm-section-description">Donec ex libero, fringilla vitae 
purus sit amet, rhoncus pharetra lorem. Pellentesque id sem id lacus 
ultricies vehicula. Aliquam rutrum mi non.</p>  
</div>
<div class="flex-item">
<img src="img/squid%2001.jpg" alt="">  
</div>                      
</div>
<div id="about" class="tm-content-box">
<ul class="boxes gallery-container">
<li class="box box-bg">
<h2 class="tm-section-title tm-section-title-box tm-box-bg-title">The</h2>
<img src="img/white-bg.jpg" alt="Image" class="img-fluid">
</li>
<li class="box">
<a href="img/fish%20head%20large%2002jpg"><img src="img/fish%20head%2002.jpg" 
alt="Image" class="img-fluid"></a>
</li>
<li class="box box-bg">
<h2 class="tm-section-title tm-section-title-box tm-box-bg-title">Little</h2>
<img src="img/white-bg.jpg" alt="Image" class="img-fluid">
</li>
<li class="box">
<a href="img/from%20the%20deep%2001%20large.jpg"><img src="img/from%20the%
20deep%2001.JPG" alt="Image" class="img-fluid"></a>
</li>
<li class="box box-bg">
<h2 class="tm-section-title tm-section-title-box tm-box-bg-title">Book</h2>
<img src="img/white-bg.jpg" alt="Image" class="img-fluid">
</li>
<li class="box">
<a href="img/Scary%20fish%20large.jpg"><img src="img/scary%20fish.jpg" 
alt="Image" class="img-fluid"></a>
</li>
<li class="box box-bg">
<h2 class="tm-section-title tm-section-title-box tm-box-bg-title">of</h2>
<img src="img/white-bg.jpg" alt="Image" class="img-fluid">
</li>
<li class="box">
<a href="img/Octopus%20Large%2001.jpg"><img src="img/Octopus%2002.jpg" 
alt="Image" class="img-fluid"></a>
</li>
<li class="box box-bg">
<h2 class="tm-section-title tm-section-title-box tm-box-bg-title"
>Leviathans</h2>
<img src="img/white-bg.jpg" alt="Image" class="img-fluid">
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<!-- slider -->
<section id="ideas">
<div id="tmCarousel" class="carousel slide tm-content-box" 
data-ride="carousel">
<ol class="carousel-indicators">
<li data-target="#tmCarousel" data-slide-to="0" class="active"></li>
<li data-target="#tmCarousel" data-slide-to="1" class=""></li>
<li data-target="#tmCarousel" data-slide-to="2" class=""></li>
</ol>
<div class="carousel-inner" role="listbox">
<div class="carousel-item active">
<div class="carousel-content">
<div class="flex-item">
<h2 class="tm-section-title">The Ideas</h2>
<p class="tm-section-description carousel-description"
>Suspendisse fermentum auctor turpis quis volutpat. Ut 
sed nibh non purus porta lacinia. Donec et euismod elit. 
Aenean vitae quam leo. Pellentesque interdum metus sed 
massa rutrum.</p>
</div>
</div>                              
</div>
<div class="carousel-item">
<div class="carousel-content">
<div class="flex-item">
<h2 class="tm-section-title">Inspiration</h2>
<p class="tm-section-description carousel-description"
>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. 
Quisque vel nisi pharetra nibh varius pharetra ac sagittis 
nisi. Etiam pharetra vestibulum hendrerit. Pellentesque 
interdum metus sed massa rutrum.</p>
</div>
</div>                              
</div>
<div class="carousel-item">
<div class="carousel-content">
<div class="flex-item">
<h2 class="tm-section-title">The Project</h2>
<p class="tm-section-description carousel-description"
>Donec ex libero, fringilla vitae purus sit amet, rhoncus 
pharetra lorem. Pellentesque id sem id lacus ultricies 
vehicula. Aliquam rutrum mi non. Pellentesque interdum 
metus sed massa rutrum.</p
</div>
</div>                             
</div>
</div>
</div>                  
</section>
<section class="tm-content-box">
<img src="img/Head%2001.jpg" alt="Contact image" class="img-fluid">
<div id="contact" class="pad">
<h2 class="tm-section-title">Contact Us</h2>
<form action="#contact" method="get" class="contact-form">
<div class="form-group col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6 col-lg-6 
form-group-2-col-left">
<input type="text" id="contact_name" name="contact_name" 
class="form-control" placeholder="Name" required/>
</div>
<div class="form-group col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6 col-lg-6 
form-group-2-col-right">
<input type="email" id="contact_email" name="contact_email" 
class="form-control" placeholder="Email" required/>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<input type="text" id="contact_subject" name="contact_subject" 
class="form-control" placeholder="Subject" required/>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<textarea id="contact_message" name="contact_message" class=
"form-control" rows="9" placeholder="Message" required></textarea>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary submit-btn">Submit</button>
</form>    
</div>
</section>
<footer class="tm-footer">
<p class="text-xs-center">Copyright &copy; 2016 Company Name - 
Design: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.templatemo.com/tm-481-
elevate" target="_parent">Elevate</a></p>
</footer>
</div>
</div>
<!-- load JS files -->
<script src="js/jquery-1.11.3.min.js"></script>             
<!-- jQuery (https://jquery.com/download/) -->
<script src="js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>                 
<!-- Bootstrap (http://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/getting-started/download/) -->
<script src="js/jquery.magnific-popup.min.js"></script>     
<!-- Magnific pop-up (http://dimsemenov.com/plugins/magnific-popup/) -->
<script src="js/jquery.singlePageNav.min.js"></script>     
<!-- Single Page Nav (https://github.com/ChrisWojcik/single-page-nav) -->
<script src="js/jquery.touchSwipe.min.js"></script>         
<!-- https://github.com/mattbryson/TouchSwipe-Jquery-Plugin -->
<!-- Templatemo scripts -->
<script>                    
$(document).ready(function(){// Single page nav if($(window).width() 
<= 1139) {$('.tm-main-nav').singlePageNav({'currentClass' : "active",
offset : 100});} else {$('.tm-main-nav').singlePageNav({'currentClass' 
: "active",offset : 80});}
// Handle nav offset upon window resize
$(window).resize(function(){if($(window).width() <= 1139) 
{$('.tm-main-nav').singlePageNav({'currentClass' : "active",offset : 
100});} else {$('.tm-main-nav').singlePageNav({'currentClass' : 
"active",offset : 80});}});// Magnific pop up $('.gallery-container').
magnificPopup({delegate: 'a', // child items selector, by clicking on 
it popup will opentype: 'image',gallery: {enabled:true}// other options}
);$('.carousel').carousel({interval: 3000})
// Enable carousel swiping (http://lazcreative.com/blog/adding-swipe-
support-to-bootstrap-carousel-3-0/) $(".carousel-inner").swipe( {//Generic 
swipe handler for all directionsswipeLeft:function(event, direction, 
distance, duration, fingerCount) {$(this).parent().carousel('next');},
swipeRight: function() {$(this).parent().carousel('prev');
}
});
});
</script>

The extensive exercise resulted in the screenshots of the website below.