you and me

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zine fair

i was excited to participate in the zine fair held in Nottingham together with the course.

i don’t really make zines, but a piece that i did last year was featured in one of the zines being sold, which was exciting for me to see.

i was very interested in making something that represented “me” as an artist for it. i started by drafting some ideas. i was really drawin to the idea of selling stickers that i truly put “myself” in as an artist; to have something that truly represented me.

i took my favorite sketches from this lineup and made this initial concept. i knew that i wanted to make holographic stickers, so i added the holo texture to help simulate what they would look like when printed.

the bottom panel was very self-indulgent, and was an illustration of me and my soulmate, ran. i really liked it visually, but it wasn’t really something that would sell in my eyes; it was too personal.

these iterations, however, did not feel right, especially to make into a sticker.

so instead of the large bottom panel, i split it up and created two “stickers” instead.

i then shuffled things around, made me and ran into a smaller “chibi” version of us that was more paleteable to the general public so that they could project themselves onto our little characters more easily.

at the bottom, i added an illustration of one of my OC’s matteo. Although the drawing is cool and i think people would like it, i still wasn’t happy. i think this was because it didn’t really represent “me” as an artist. i wanted these to be a sort of “slowy” profile reflection

i ended up drawing an angel to the shock of no one. but it fit and felt right to me. i love angels and i love drawing them.

i sent off these four in a big square format to get printed, and planned on cutting them up myself to make four seperate stickers.

heres the final printed stickers!

i also wanted to make a quick business card for the fair. something simple and small. i never want to give off a sort of “corporate” feel to anything i do, so i was aiming for something simple and human.

drawing it digitally didn’t feel right though, so instead i started drawing on scraps of paper i had lying around with ink and a dip pen

i then took this into procreate and layered and layered until i was happy

it really felt like me, after all.

I BOUGHT A ZINE THAT WAS PUBLISHED BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ALL TIME ARTISTS AT THE FAIR! I WAS SO SURPRISED TO SEE IT THERE. IT WAS A GREAT DAY!

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the illustration open challenge

luke launched the illustration open challenge, with some prompts that really got me thinking.

> where lost thoughts go
> before it disappeared
> something that remembers you

i was instantly drawn to the idea of “your heart remembering you”. i liked the idea of your heart being removed and you losing yourself. we all remember ourselves, and we hold it so close.

I REALLY LIKED THE SECOND THUMBNAIL ON THE LEFT, SO I WENT STRAIGHT INTO PROCREATE AND JUST STARTED SKETCHING.

I DIDN’T TAKE ANY PROCESS SCREENSHOTS, BUT I HAVE A TIMELAPSE HERE:

these are two “progress” milestone points in the piece.

heres the final piece:

i’m really happy with the final piece now, but at the time after finishing it, i was deeply unsatisfied with it. i think this was because i thought i could get more emotion into the piece than what i actually ended up with in the final piece.

the block never really left until the people around me said that it was beautiful to them. and if someone can find themselves in it, then thats enough for me.

i was nominated for several categories and won an award! yay!

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christmas market

i knew that i wanted to make “more” for this. it was exciting to come together with everyone in our cohort and work together as a collective.

i did a mass set of sketches to try to find something that i liked. i really wanted to make something “cute” to add to the stickers i made previously as well as the prints i was going to sell of the ioc piece and the altered “business card” image that i made from the identity project.

i cut out a square and drew some of the bunnies that i was drawing so many of.
i then scanned it in and altered it

i printed out my set of designs onto acetate and cut them out to fit in the keychain frames.

I ALSO MADE THESE BADGES, BUT BECAUSE I MADE THEM IN A WAY THAT MADE THEM ONE OF ONE, I WAS VERY HESITANT TO SELL THEM. I THOUGHT THAT THE DESIGNS WERE TOO GOOD AND PERSONAL TO ME FOR ME TO SELL THEM.

the fair was a major success! i sold out of most things which was really nice. i loved the environment a lot and it was beautiful to see everyone’s work together.

i also drew the chalkboard sign to go outside the store with jasmine and mel!

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cd art for tenshi

i was commisioned to do an illustration for an artist’s album cover. this was also an indirect opportunity to work with one of my favorite graphic designers, aletiune.

i started off with these three concept sketches. i did these digitally simply because it’s way faster to draw something semi-polished digitally rather than in graphite, which was what i was being commissioned specifically for.

i then drew this image, which i thought fit the theme at the time.

however over time, i became deeply unsatisfied with it, and decided to make a second version to submit

this version resonated with me a lot more deeply than the first image and i was much more confifent in it’s ability to convey the concept of the album.

despite this, the graphic designer decided to go with the first image for the final album design.

to me, it was a shame, but a lot of people liked the final image

i think a lot of people really liked the album art, i think it went somewhat “viral” within the sphere that tenshi’s art lives in, which was more than enough for me to get over myself. Sometimes the things you want don’t go the way you want, but it doesn’t always mean it’s a bad thing.

it really made me a lot more confident in my commission work. if people like the stuff that i don’t consider my best, then maybe i’m better than i think i am?

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dinosaurs for kiedis

i took a silly commission for a set of very specific dinosaurs for a client’s children’s brochure they were producing.

they requested an accurate raptor next to a media-ified raptor, a brontosaurus and an archaeologist looking confused.

i have never in my life drawn a dinosaur before, so i did a couple of pages of testing before i went into the final pieces.

Because it was for a brochure aimed at children, i decided to use ink and watercolour to illustrate them.

i touched up the drawings in procreate and edited the colours so that they were more “uniform” and sent off the three illustrations

they fit the theme! i was pretty happy with how they turned out, and so was my client. it was definitely different from the usual stuff i do, but i think it was a good test to myself to show that i can still draw “other things” and not just anime girls. HAHA.

I WAS TOLD THE BROCHURE WAS PRETTY SUCCESSFUL AND KEIDIS GOT A LOT OF GOOD FEEDBACK ON IT, WHICH WAS PRETTY NICE.

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living for myself

some of the sketchbook pages which weren’t documented that helped influence a good portion of my work this year:

thank you for it all. I appreciate it more than I’m able to convey.

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