Samantha Landells

For this module I was required to create at least 3 illustrations across a front cover and double page spread based around one movie from the selection of 3, which could then be used as editorial illustrations within the ‘Little White Lies’ magazine. The movie options available were The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Birds and Tetsuo: Iron Man. I decided to go with Tetsuo: Iron Man as my film choice as I felt it would be the most challenging to work with considering it is a Japanese film with very little narrative and is filmed in black and white. I am pleased with this choice as it forced me to work on my values and understanding of limited colour palettes, helping me to respond to the criteria at an industry standard. For this module I had to make sure to incorporate the opinions and feedback of others considering the purpose of my designs and them needing to appear attractive and enticing to an audience. I’m not sure how I feel about my final illustrations and feel there is probably ...

I was really excited for Day 16’s prompt of a bag as I wanted to recreate one of the bags I own which are more unusual for this illustration. I decided on my bear head bag as it is not only cute which I felt could work well, but also is fluffy in texture and I wanted to explore recreating this within my own design. I felt by choosing one of these more unusual bag styles it would make my design more interesting and appealing to an audience. I quite like how this turned out, especially the lighting on the face as I was initially concerned by all of the elevated areas that my design would end up appearing flat. I love the colour scheme I used for the creation of this design alongside the texturing, if I were to repeat this in the future I may have attempted to make the fur a lot more dramatic and noticeable however I wanted to take into account its style consistency with the rest of my designs within this series, and instead chose to use a texture within the necessary areas instead. ...

This project was highly unrefined and created purely to explore the options and settings available within Procreates symmetry tool. However, I have chosen to upload it as I am rather intrigued by the concept I created and would be interested in exploring this further in the future. Whilst i was playing with the concept of symmetry I have created a design which not only references the form of a female face but also highlights a second depiction based around a full bodied woman who may have markings on their back.  I feel this could be improved dramatically if I had been working on this as more than an exploration piece as I would work on fixing areas like the formation of the eyes and how they were portrayed, perhaps they could be part of a beautiful butterfly tattoo along the top of the woman's back? I would also correct the hairline as I have placed it too high making it look as though the face version has a protrusion at top of their head almost.  However, this has given me ...

The prompt for Day 15 was ‘sharing’ for this I wanted to create something which highlighted the importance of diversity and equality within society, as to me this would encompass the true concept of sharing. For this I created a 2 hands reaching out to one another to signify the union and love created by sharing with another, whether that be an experience, an emotion, a bond or a memory, our connection to others is vital and it isn’t without sharing these important aspects of life that we can truly grow. I loved this concept for the prompt as it didn’t focus on the instant thoughts of gift-giving and caused the audience to have to think more about the purpose of the illustration. Considering I have had limited work with both hands and this style of illustration I am really pleased with how this turned out. I feel perhaps there are areas where the contrasts could be darker, but overall I really like this illustration. I decided to add a texture in the background of the oval in ord...

Coming up to day 14 and the prompt was ‘time’ considering I had already created an hourglass for one of my prompts I decided to create a more literal concept, designing a pocket watch. Initially I had trouble creating the numerals so that they followed the circular frame correctly, but overall I am really happy with how this design turned out. I found by leaving an edge of highlight between the areas of shadow on the left hand side, it created a much more realistic perception of depth within the clocks frame. I shall try to remember this within my future designs to help ensure they are as effective as this design. I really enjoyed the process of creating this illustration, however if I were to repeat this in the future I would love to have explored the inclusion of some form of chain protruding out of the oval background, as I feel this would help create a much more fluid design, although I still like the illustration without this component. I really like my choice of colours for...

The next prompt was ‘temptation’ so I decided to reference the Bible’s story of Adam and Eve as I feel this is a commonly understood imagery of temptation due to depictions throughout time. I like how on this design I made sure to add shadowing underneath the leaf to ensure the lighting remained correct visually. I like how this design turned out overall, it is simplistic yet effective. Perhaps I could have enlarged this slightly to force the leaf to extend beyond the oval background like I did for my lemon in Day 9, but honestly I quite like the contained approach to this design. Considering it is talking about temptation, I feel having it fully encased within the background creates a concept of discipline behind my design. I feel my areas of lighting worked better within this design although if I were to recreate it I would definitely increase the contrast of the darkest shadow area on the left hand side. I feel because  it shares the same level of darkness with the shadow un...

Day 12’s prompt was ‘Strong’ and for this I wanted to attempt another slightly unconventional idea which wouldn’t typically be the first thought to mind for many when thinking of this prompt. Instead of designing a something to depict physical strength, I wanted instead to display the strength of the mind. I feel it is often overlooked just how strong our own minds can be, and how truly powerful we are when we trust in our own capabilities. I wanted to design this as I felt as someone living with multiple disabilities it is often the strength of my mind which I rely on a lot more than my physical strength, whether that be to maintain motivation, manage my stress or ability to keep going no matter the odds. I really love the concept I came up for this being the Queen’s chess piece, as it is considered the most powerful chess piece due to its ability for the most movement across the board. I wanted to create something more interesting than just a basic chess piece though, so I decide...

For me the prompt of ‘messy’ for day 11 was a simple choice, I decided to portray a messy paint palette whilst maintaining a certain level of order to the design didn’t become too overwhelming. I decided to alter the shape of this oval slightly to fit in with the messy theme as I felt this would be more appropriate, to do this I added splashes of the background colour around the edges so it wasn’t perfect and appeared to be one large paint drop. I really like the composition for this design having both the palette and the brush in one design, although I chose to keep the paint brush clean for some reason. This is a minor detail which if I were to rework the design I would definitely go back and add as I feel having a clean brush doesn’t encompass the theme of this design. I chose to add very vibrant colours as well as black and white on the palette considering these are primary colours, followed by two similarly vibrant colours which they can create. I felt the use of heavily sat...

For the 10 th day of the challenge the prompt was ‘dance’ and at first I was unsure of what to create. However I remembered the illustration I made within day 2 and how I used the liquefy effect for the blade and had wanted to explore this technique further. Due to this I chose to create a ribbon wand which is predominantly used by small children or for rhythmic gymnastics. I chose to create the concept for a younger audience which would enable me to explore a similar rainbow effect as I felt this was a more audience appropriate use of colours. I found the use of colours and liquefy worked really well for this concept as it gave a more natural fluidity to the ribbon. I also applied a slight motion blur to the ribbon area to enhance this perspective further although I’m unsure whether it works to improve or hinder the creation as it looks a bit too blurred in comparison to the handle now. I once again overextended the oval, however I fell into the trap of using a light, desaturat...

Considering I had recently been working on my processes and practices module, I was still highly inspired by the use of citrus fruits within my designs which is why for prompt 9 ‘fruit’ I chose to create a lemon using this textured style. Taking note from my previous challenge day I chose not to use a light tone for the background so both components of the design would pop on screen, which I feel worked really well especially within this design. I love the use of light blue alongside the yellow and it truly makes the design appear fresh and appealing. I once again took note from the previous challenge, day 6 illustration where the wire over-extends the oval background; I really loved how this impacted the composition and wanted to replicate it in some way again. I achieved this by using the leaves to extend slightly past the border; I feel this helped create a more realistic perception of scale and helped make this design a lot more interesting. I love how this design turned out an...

The prompt for day 8 was ‘Ritual’ which led me to thought of divination and witchcraft. Due to this I chose to base my illustration around the use of tarot cards however I made sure these showcased a more appropriate styling which would not cause offense to anyone by designing the illustration on the back of the cards, this also allowed me to be a lot more efficient with my time rather than having to design each individual tarot, not only this but by only displaying the back of the cards it leaves my design up to the interpretation of the audience more. It wasn’t until posting this image online however that I noticed how light the colours really are and how this really diminishes the overall impact of the design. I will need to return to my Procreate file before submitting this design to make sure the colours have a better level of contrast, so they remain visible to the audience. This is unusual considering they are vibrant on Procreate however upon exporting their colours have beco...

During my free time I have completed a variety of designs, the majority focus on the use of human anatomy in fan art versions of characters I really like from particular games, TV shows or from my own concepts. The first illustration I started with was a basic anime style design; I used a reference drawing to complete this design and added particular features such as the bear hat and teddy. I decided to create a textured background for this design so it would contrast with the clean line work of the character. I really like the hair on this character and the clothing colours, however I’m not so sure on my inclusion of the hat it looks slightly off balanced which I wasn’t pleased with. But I’m glad I completed this so that I can continue developing my skills and hopefully become more acquainted with designing with human anatomy. The second illustration was fan art of the ‘She-Ra’ character Catra as I really loved their personality and style; I resonated so much with this character e...

The third artist I decided to research from the online Pictoplasma conferences was Jon Burgerman as I really liked the way they created characters from the use of abstract shapes created using various mediums. This was inspiring to me and I was interested by this concept to possibly explore the development of some characters using this method myself in the future. Concept: Burgerman likes to encourage mistakes and improvisation in art and this is clearly demonstrated within his illustrations, which I chose to reference from his Pictoplasma conference. Visuals: For the visuals I chose to research for Burgerman, the visuals in all 3 of the images are heavily abstract and playful, creating a childish appearance through the mediums and simplicity. The characters are created using abstract shapes from materials like paint, spray paint and water colours yet all remain recognisable as the work of Burgerman due to their over exaggerated googly eyes which I love! I love how all of the...

The second artist I decided to research from the online Pictoplasma conferences was Hattie Stewart as I was captivated by their interdisciplinary style combining the use of photography and illustration, which is something I covered briefly during my time on my BTEC Animation, Games Design and Visual FX course a few years ago and found really quick and fun. Concept: As with my first artist I chose to use illustrations which were used during Stewart’s conference as the base for this research. The first image is a magazine cover which I feel communicates the overall style of the artist brilliantly. The second is another magazine cover however this one shows more of the model, and the third image is a more controversial up close of an edition of Vogue the artist worked on. Visuals: The visuals of the artist follow a heavy grunge / alternative styling with a clear sense of rebellion within each of the chosen illustrations. Within the first image they have used a limited colour palet...

Considering I have rarely used any sort of textured brush to create a full illustration I decided to create this character during the development of my Editorial module. I felt this would help me be more confident working with this style should I need it for my final creation considering the efficiency of my experiments so far and it would support my development into illustrating without the use of black outlines as well. I used one of the photo references of my partner I had captured when asking him to recreate a variety of poses to use as reference for my illustration experiments, and although felt this position wouldn’t be appropriate for my Testuo illustration, felt it would work perfectly for a creepy, demonic concept due to the structure of the body. I began by block colouring all of the separate areas using a midtone grey on Procreate which I then layered using a heavily textured brush with various tones in order to achieve the desired outcome. I then chose to add some soft ...

The first artist I decided to research from the online Pictoplasma conferences was Dan Woodger as I really liked their style of illustration and loved the variety of compositions within their work. They get their inspiration from the animated TV show The Simpsons which is evident within their style of work by the use of bright colours and emotive content. Concept: All three images were included in Woodger’s Pictoplasma event which is why I chose to use these images for my further research. The first image shows what appears to be a modern day street, commenting on the concept of technology dependency, by showing the emoji’s on each individual’s phone it makes this image fun to explore. Visuals: The style of Woodger’s work is clearly based on humour through their use of over-expressing characters and concepts. I love the bold and bright visuals within these images and how realistic they feel despite their lack of detailing. The visuals take on a simple graphic style I feel because it is...

I was asked to complete the following questions in relation to my current Editorial project and the movie, Testuo: Iron Man Please give a recap on your chosen film, research and proposed outputs The film I have chosen to work on is Tetsuo: Iron man and I am aiming to create 2 spot illustrations and a main cover. I am aiming to create one large spot illustration which will frame the page. What is going well? I really like the concept I have developed, especially for my 2 page spread of having the iconic use of wiring to frame certain areas of the page. I feel this will make my design unique and appropriate for the movie it is aiming to convey. I love how I used first-hand reference imagery to create the pose of my front cover’s character as it provided me with so much more freedom to control and reposition the actor so I could achieve exactly the pose I needed. What has been problematic with your projects? Obtaining the correct positioning and style for my cover design, I am a...

  For today’s prompt the concept was based around the theme of a ‘pocket’, I was inspired by the fun t-shirt designs where there are animals hiding within the pockets. I chose to use a theme like this as I felt it would help make a more interesting design as I was struggling to begin with to come up with a concept for this design. Personally, I really dislike this design and it certainly does no justice to the skill set I have been developing during this challenge. I think the underlying issue may have been the shape of the pocket itself alongside the simple features of the rabbit which look too flat. I really struggled with the completion of this design and was tempted to move on to the next one at multiple stages, but I felt it was important to push through regardless of my disdain for the design so I could identify the areas I felt caused this. I feel the detailing on the face is far too simplistic for this style considering the level of texture, perhaps if I had created a r...

  The prompt for day 6 was ‘soothing’ due to this I felt the theme could be aimed around something more personal considering what may be soothing to one individual may not be to another, leading me to believe this prompt was more individual to the creator. Due to this I chose to design my hair dryer, this is because for some reason ever since I was a child I have always been calmed by the sound of the hair dryer. Perhaps it reminds me of the times I would sit with my mam as she dried her hair and we would laugh and make memories, perhaps it was the moments my mam helped me dry my own hair as a child. Regardless it has become a key staple throughout my life of calming and serenity. I love the way I have formed the wire extending out of the canvas as it really helps make the overall design appear a lot more fluid. I’m super happy with this design and feel it was such a cool concept to get to work with. I can definitely see improvements to my lighting within this design, and a lot...