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DAN FRENCH illustration
@cosmicstories
Ba (Hons) Ilustration Level 6 / Professional Practice Report
DAN FRENCH illustration
@cosmicstories Ba (Hons) Ilustration Level 6 / Professional Practice Report
Inset: digital painting concept for ‘The Tree of Life’ - Level 6 FMP
contents website • Landing page
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• Publishing
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• Illustration
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• Animation & Contact
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• Mobile site
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• Portfolio
online presence
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• ISSUU - Publications
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• Society6 - Online store
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• Instagram - Social media
fmp evaluation
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• Project overview
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• Process & editing
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• Evaluation
prospects
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• Post-graduate courses
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• Film & video game industry • Concept art / visual development
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• Art direction & business cards
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bibliography
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WEBSITE
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hese screenshots depict the visual layout for my website landing page through minor yet important design tweaks. Initially, I favoured the traditional ‘Dan French Illustration’ moniker for the website’s overarching banner identity, though I later abandoned this in favour of my crescent moon logo design. Instead, I moved my name to the landing page banner below, which clearly labels the artwork and is accompanied by the descriptor “Illustration / Concept Art”, which are my two prime areas of professional interest. Moving the title to the middle of the page greets the visitor with a clearer identity than the combined use of ‘Dan French Illustration’ and ‘@cosmicstories’ in the initial layout design. Through each edition I have maintained the 3 categories pertaining to Publishing, Illustration & Animation. Though it is unusual I find that it clearly spells out my principle interests and multi-disciplinary skill-set, while providing direct links to examples of work from each.
WEBSITE
LANDING PAGE
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he landing page for any website is arguably its most important. It’s what wins or loses a visitor’s interest, so coming up with an effective way to engage with an audience was somewhat challenging. After looking at various examples of websites from fellow illustrators and other artists, I decided that direct imagery and an easily navigatable layout was the best way to go. While some artists favour flashy gifs and quirky design, I honestly prefer bold layouts that serve simply to let the artwork speak for itself. In my case, my portfolio is all about the detail and level of craft put into the artwork, so a pared-back website coupled with bold, no-nonsense typography gives those details room to breathe. The logo at the top of each page takes the place of a name or moniker, which is found on the landing page in a distinct banner.
In the final layout, I decided to move my ‘About’ over to the landing page from the ‘Contact’ page, editing it down to preserve that all-important image space. Though most artists keep the wordy stuff out of the landing page, I wanted to give a bit more information than just the categories provided. As I lost the reference to my social media tag @cosmicstories in the final layout, I used it instead to head the About section. Keeping it short and sweet, and small in font size, I find that the single text box doesn’t distract from the imagery or layout but gives any visitor all they need to get a good impression of who I am and what I do on the first page. It’s also a warmer welcome! Following that comes my portfolio. The screenshot on the previous page could well serve as my landing page’s entirety, but after research and speaking to other artistic people around me I learned that most people - whether admirer or commissioner - want to see the good stuff (i.e your precious artwork) as fast as possible. Ergo, no links - just scroll down, and there it is. The images are large and clearly labelled, but not so as to distract the viewer’s eye. As a rule of thumb, the portfolio features work in chronological order, with the newest right at the top for everyone to know where I am with my work and my confidence in it. The general concept for my landing page was for everything to flow with the scroll of a mouse wheel. There’s my logo identity, page navigator, brand banner, principle categories, about and - last but not least - portfolio. Within a single scroll, you can see who I am and the areas I specialise in, find out a bit about me and reach high-res files of my latest work - all, hopefully, without being overwhelmed.
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WEBSITE
P O RT F O L I O
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n illustrator or artist’s ultimate arsenal is their portfolio. In the modern age, we have the ability to put our work out for anyone and everyone to see in seconds. Because of this, my extended portfolio is featured on my website’s initial landing page, giving immediate and clear access to every project in chronological order. This is my stripped-back blog, with newest artwork featured at the top of the portfolio section. The landing page’s name banner can also be updated and changed according to newer work. My website portfolio is an overview of all my work, whereas the categories section gives access to in-depth exhibits of most projects.
THE TREE OF LIFE
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HIS DARK MATERIALS
HIS DARK MATERIALS
FILM SERIES
My website portfolio rolls out like a timeline of my three years studying Ba (Hons) Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth, along with personal projects and commissioned work. In this sense, it takes the form of a rudimentary blog, with newest work at the top. Instead of just listing my projects in strict chronological order, though, I decided to mix it up a bit to make things more interesting visually as you scroll down the page. This also makes my work look more consistent in terms of visual style and quality, so that when you reach the bottom, you aren’t just left with throwaway projects - there’s solid portfolio content all the way through.
PETER PAN
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PETER PAN
PARADISE: PART 1
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PARADISE
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n piecing together this long tapestry of my illustration work over the last three years, I can see where my projects tie into one another and how they contribute toward where I am today. This spread showcases the lower sections of my website portfolio, which is almost entirely comprised of book illustration work and narrative projects. It’s good to see a natural progression of styles within this context, leading up to my increasing interest in the film industry with regards to storytelling through imagery. I also like how my localised use of colour in earlier projects easily breaks them up for the viewer in this layout, while still complimenting one another.
PARADISE
INTO THE FOREST
COMMISSION
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THE JUNIPER TREE
publishing
categories
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he individual pages on my website are assigned to different categories, including Home, Publishing, Illustration, Animation and Contact. My extended portfolio is featured in its near entirety on the Home page (or landing page), but the alternative categories feature individual projects more thoroughly, instead of just in a long list of images. The three main categories of work - Publishing, Illustration and Animation - are clearly displayed with direct links under the landing page banner in Home, as well as on the pages tab at the top of the website at all times, and each contain different kinds of work. The first category, Publishing, features documents created in inDesign throughout the course, covering graphic novel presentation, research and development books, and more.
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ach featured document has a cover image displayed on the right, which provides a direct link to its counterpart full-length Issuu publication for extended reading. Issuu.com is a hosting website which allows users to upload PDF documents for online reading, complete with page-turning animation, full-screen reading and all-round free professional presentation. A short bio can be found on the top right of each project section with publication title, date and project info, followed by a short slide-show of spreads from the document, as seen above in this example of The Juniper Tree.
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illustration c at e g o r i e s
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he place where most of my artwork is shown off is the illustration category, due in no small part to the fact that I am an illustrator. Here, each project is given its own section, much like in the publishing category. As my illustration projects are comprised primarily of artwork, less text is used here, with a large slideshow providing the means to browse all the images produced for a project in one place. These slideshows auto-play, meaning that no visitor has the excuse to view only the first images that pop up when they click on the illustration tab. The page is intended to be image-based, minimal, but also thorough. In the future, I would like to expand upon each project with individual pages combining both imagery and associated publications in one place, with more extensive text information given.
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animation
c at e g o r i e s
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o far, my animation category is dedicated solely to my second-year Convergence/Divergence project for Ba (Hons) Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth, a short animated film titled Paradise: Part 1, which is based on my first-year illustrated storybook project Paradise. The page provides an embedded link to the full short on YouTube, avaiable to view in HD without leaving the site. In the future, I fully intend to produce more animated work, which is why I decided to create a primary category for the subject despite only having one under the belt as of yet. This page will follow a similar formatting style to the publishing and illustration pages, with plenty of room to add subsequent projects in the style of a blog - newest work will always be featured right at the top, as well as in the portfolio on the home page.
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contact
Last but not least, we have the all-important contact page! Without this one, none of the hard work put into organising the rest of the website would matter. Naturally, it is also the shortest page, with my bio from the home page featured on the left with a clear business e-mail on display for anyone to get in contact with me right away. Underneath, I featured some more information about myself, in terms of qualifications, awards and more, rounding off the website nicely.
WEBSITE
m ob i l e s it e
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ith all of the complicated website design completed for desktop, it is also important to note whether any of it works on mobile devices, as it’s just as likely that someone will happen across or decide upon my website while on the go. Thankfully, the stripped-back design approach lends itself perfectly to mobile viewing, as images are clearly displayed and labelled and the tabs section is condensed into a small icon on the top left-hand corner. My logo can be seen at the top of each page, providing immediate access back to the home page. Light-box, a feature also available on desktop, works especially well here, bringing up images for full-screen viewing in a single tap for a wellrounded experience. All of the features on desktop carry over to mobile without any hiccups, including links!
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online presence
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I S S U U I
PUBLICATIONS
ssuu is an extended application for my main website, providing visitors with a direct link to publications in full with a single click on any cover image from the publication category. As such, my profile is up-to-date and consistent with my overarching brand identity used on the main website, most evidently the @cosmicstories acronym. This spread showcases the layout of the website in general, my profile page, and a passage from my His Dark Materials - Research & Development publication. Though graphic design and publication editing are not professional aims of mine, I want to show a strong and varied skill-set that also highlights on professionalism, which my publication category lends itself to well. Issuu is also a good tool for mocking-up graphic novel or narrative illustration projects in a professional manner.
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society6
online store
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hough most of my illustration work is conceptual and responding to particular media and projects, I have also produced a handful of standalone illustrations which lend themselves to sale as prints and merchandise. Society6 is an American-based website which allows users to upload images for sale as merchandise such as T-shirts, throw pillows, clocks, iPhone cases and much more. My store is modelled on the '@cosmicstories' illustrator identity, with an overarching banner and colour scheme specially made for the website. As well as selling standalone images, I have alos edited a number of other project illustrations to fit the merchandise context, seen in the screenshot on the opposite page.
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instagram social media
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nstagram is one of the most effective social media venues for artists, due to its focus on image-based media as opposed to much broader and multi-purpose inter-platform sites such as Facebook and Tumblr. Of the social media platforms available to general worldwide audiences, Instagram is also primarily mobile device oreintated, so its interface is relatively stripped-back. This means that the images speak largely for themselves and reach a much wider audience that is not restricted to an inner circle of friends, but freely accessible. Instagram is where my @cosmictories identity first originated.
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Screenshots from my Instagram account on mobile devices.
fmp evaluation
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fmp overview the tree of life
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or my Final Major Project, I produced an animated film proposal in the form of a 'The Art of...' publication comprising concept art, storyboarding, character designs and more, for an original story called The Tree of Life. In the film, which is based on traditional Norse cosmology and various world cultures, a young woman from a small clan living at the top of the world journeys to distant lands in an effort to restore balance to the cosmos. For the project I began experimenting with digital painting and conceptual work for the first time, moving away from hand-drawn illustration.
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A
s well as producing original artwork and story content for the project, I compiled all my work into a contextual publication that explains my ideas for the characters and narrative. This includes creating a logo for the film, seen above, and framing my work within original layouts, seen below, complete with borders and consistent colour and design schemes. As a cohesive project, The Tree of Life is my personal favourite this far, most extensively and successfully reflecting on my original ambitions and vision.
In the final layout, I decided to move my ‘About’ over to the landing page from the ‘Contact’ page, editing it down to preserve that all-important image space.
p ro c e s s
fmp overview
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he Art of The Tree of Life, my main submission for FMP, features extensive concept artwork and other original pieces, though I left out examples of work-in-progress and my processes in favour of showcasing final work as clearly and directly as possible. Here, I have compiled a handful of process stills that show different approaches taken to producing digital concept work through the project, where I first began experimenting with digital painting. These include working from reference photos, background pencil illustrations and more.
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or the concept piece ‘Path to Light’, I based my image on a reference photo, seen above. Using Photoshop, I used the reference for the different planes of perspective and positioning of elements such as the boat and forest realistically, based on a real environment. The top work in progress image shows the development of these different planes, including placing Ani in the foreground and mountains in the back. Later, I changed the lighting on the mountains and their shape, making them more stylised. To complete the final image, seen bottom right, I flipped the sky horizontally and used this as a light reference for the mountains, whose presence and depth is much more effective here. This also creates a focal point for the piece that corresponds with Ani’s positioning and view. Ambient effects and colour scheme editing also contributes toward a more cohesive mood and image, bringing everything together. A few finishing touches include the distant eagle, stars in the sky and further texture on the ice environment.
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ater, I tried a different process for creating compositions for digital painting: creating a background illustration in pencil first, then scanning this in and working on top of it in Photoshop as a digital painting. In this piece, 'Sacred Blossom Tree', knowing exactly where the focal elements of the composition were going made it a lot easier to create a realistic and solid colour palette. For the final image, seen below, I expanded the scope and filled in the outer details in Photoshop, working on top of the original design. Leaves flying through the air, with blur effects to simulate motion, help bring the final image to life, as well as creating depth of field.
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ike the piece 'Sacred Blossom Tree', this setting design for Shaman Sila's tent is based upon a pencil background illustration, though in a much simpler and faster fashion. Instead of removing the pencil outline after filling the image in with colour using the layer effect multiply in Photoshop, I used lighting gradients and ambient effects to finish off the image. This approach is less of a digital painting but allows for faster generation of concept designs with colour being much easier to place.
character design 1
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n designing story protagonist Ani, I used the same approach taken for Sila's Tent on the previous page, as seen in image 1 & 2. After this, however, I went over the pencil outline in Photoshop much more accurately using the brush tool, then polished off the colour scheme and finishing lighting and texture details to produce the final render, 4, seen below. This is by far my favourite process for designing characters, from pencil sketch to clean final digital concept.
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This more basic study cuts out the pencil stage, using a reference photo to trace over the pose, over which I designed my own character clothing and props. Tones are made out in black and white, seen in a, then coloured in using multiply and colour burn as seen in b.
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evaluation fmp overview
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verall, I am very satisfied with my final submission for FMP. As always, I wish I could have done more, but I am happy with the amount of conceptual work I have produced considering that it is an area of illustration that I have not fully experimented with before - especially digital painting, which I had never attempted before this project, but had always personally appreciated and looked to for reference in the past. The Tree of Life is an admittedly large concept, one that I might have wanted to break down into a more reasonable scale for FMP, but I decided early on that I had to jump at the opportunity to create whatever I wanted for the last few months studying at Arts University Bournemouth, so that's exactly what I did. Even though the story is not fully formed just yet, I have built a solid foundation for an original concept with a large amount of thought and care put into various aspects of crafting a new idea, one that I can take forward with me into the future as a live project and as a strong example of my professional aims within the industry. Moving forward with my career prospects, I aim to continue crafting a portfolio that demonstrates a keen interest in narrative set within the frame of illustration, including book illustration and visual development for film - especially animation, which is the intended vehicle for The Tree of Life. Through the project, I experimented with different angles on visual development, including storyboarding, environment concepts, character design and even title design. While I have enjoyed trying my hand at each of these, digital painting is the medium that has seen the best translation from previous work to a new practice - in the past, I have concentrated on hand-drawn imagery with lots of detail, so I thoroughly enjoyed crafting environment concepts with a lot of depth and with the tools available to me via Photoshop using a stylus and tablet. I feel that I have improved exceptionally by moving into a new method of working, with considerations such as colour theory, depth of field, composition and values all contributing to much stronger imagery overall. Digital painting is certainly a process that I will take forward into the future and one that I am excited to improve with via online classes and tutorials now that my time studying Illustration is coming to a close. Although I aim to continue producing work for this original animated film concept in my spare time for the forseeable future, I feel that I have come to a natural conclusion with the experimental stage of producing this kind of work for a university course context. Compiling my artwork and story concepts into a professional publication context has helped bring my ideas into a cohesive format, which allows both myself and others to comprehend my thought process and demonstrate my abilities as an illustrator and storyteller. As my time studying at Arts University Bournemouth comes to an end, I feel very confident that I have taken the necessary risks and opportunities to position myself as firmly as possible in preparation for entering the real world of professional illustration, with a number of areas of interest within both freelance and film industries in mind as I take the next step...
what's next?
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prospects
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Inset: concept art from The Art of How To Train Your Dragon 2
ma courses n
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n order to receive the very best help and education in regards to this career path, which follows a separate path from the norm of freelance illustration, I have been looking into UK-based Post-Graduate courses within the animated film area. My current course choice is Directing Animation at The National Film and Television School in London, which lasts 2 years and is appropriate for my skill set in regards to application requirements. The course involves learning the craft of visual development for film, the technicality of film direction and animating, as well as the practice of directing itself within a live brief scenario. Originally, I intended to apply for this Ma course this year, immediately following graduation, with a course start date of January 2017. However, in review of my current financial and skill circumstances, I have decided to push back application until the following year.
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film industry the big three
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hefilm industry is a vast and varied place with a large number of studios working on various media around the globe. In terms of animated film, the three big studios are Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and Dreamworks - all American-based, big-budget animated feature studios. The current gold standard for animation is produced by these principal studios, with Walt Disney and Pixar both being owned by Disney. Each have strived to keep with the times, and within the last 10 years, CG animation has pushed out 2D animation as the forerunner of production quality. While these major studios are highly successfully and mostly critically acclaimed, in recent years, alternative studios have entered the scene with less mainstream animation techniques and styles, bringing with them a greater comradery between different platforms of media - such as television and the video game industry.
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rguably the most famous of animated and rekated film media, Walt Disney Animation Studios is renowned for producing top-quality family-comedy features, often based on fairytales and folklore. In recent years, the company has entered a neorenaissance with CG animation, taking traditional concepts and modernising them with such titles as Frozen, Big Hero 6, Tangled and Zootopia. On ther hand, Pixar was founded independantly in the 90's and pioneered modern CG animation techniques with the popular feature Toy Story. Disney acquired Pixar in 2003, and all further released titles have continued to meet general critical acclaim and push the boundaries of the medium.
Aside from Disney studios, Dreamworks is the next biggest animated film company, who came to the foreront with the Shrek franchise, after following Disney into the CG age. Other acclaimed titles include the Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon franchises.
video game industry
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he video game industry is an increasingly popular and significant aspect of the modern film and media industry, with recent years seeing the platform reach a new height of optimisation in regards to graphics and general visual and storytelling capabilities. The medium has been adapted into film features, while stripped-back indie games have also started to take precedence in PC gaming through services such as Steam. The industry has inflated in size and is highly lucrative. Job roles in the video game production industry are similar especially to animated film production, as the two share a digital platform in their creation in aspects such as 3D models and direction. In comparison to animation, video game concept art is much more rigorous and extensive, as even greater levels of content are expected of recent releases. Indie companies such as telltalegames and Ubiart Framework concentrate on alternative styles of gaming, often featuring 2D and traditional animation, or a less polished aesthetic than big platform titles. Choicebased games are becoming increasingly popular, such as Life is Stange, The Walking Dead and more.
Inset: promotional art for the indie video game Child of Light.
concept art visual development
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isual development for film and video games is made of many moving parts and roles, and while concept is an important aspect of that process, it isn't the only one - as is often promoted by common misrepresentation of the media and the industry as a whole. Released concept art is just a fraction of the quantity of work that is produced for a title, and its often edited, redone, and also comprised of promotional art made after the release of the game showcasng polished visuals. In the early stages of production, artwork is usually fast-cut and somewhat messy, featuring texture overlays, mirroring and other shorcuts used to generate as much work as possible.
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s an artist, I have always taken a considered and relatively paced approach to producing artwork of the highest quality, not one to sketch or accept percieved shortcomings in my work. This is partly due to having primarily worked in the traditional medium in the past, on illustrated work that needs to be polished and print-ready - coming into the concept art game, I took that old mentality with me, so its been hard to shake the need to zoom into a painting and fill it in with as much detail as possible. More recently I have sped up my production of work, though I still prefer to spend time on larger pieces, that more resemble promotional art than images that would be made in the production stages of a feature. Because of this, and my inclination to continue producing freelance illustration work as well as pursuing the film industry, I have considered that my skill set may be more suited to the promotional side of things over the production side. I will still aim to create new and original story and artwork, though I will have to learn the necessary shortcuts and process tricks of professional artists to achieve this. As well as looking into postgraduate study, I have also considered enrolling on a live course with concept artists Noah Bradley and Titus Lunder on Art Camp, an online school which focuses on digital painting and environment design. Enrolling on a course like this will inform my knowledge and understanding of perspective, colour theory, technology, and more, getting me more up to speed with industry-grade working skill-set.
Previous page and middle: art from The Art of Bioshock infinite; top and bottom: art from The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3.
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art direction
visual development
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he role covered in the Ma course I am considering studying at NFTS, directing animation, is held within the realm of directing art in general in the production of film. This involves organising a creative idea via teams of people working on a sole title, including concept artists (visual development), writers, actors and animators in the pre- and production stages of filmmaking. As someone whos strengths include a strong imagination for producing original story concepts and visual artwork, I am interested in the production of a feature as a whole, and would enjoy influence on both the visual development and writing aspects, as well as filming and music. I don't claim to have skills in all of these professional arenas, and would have to work on social and confidence skills to become a full-fledged director, but I would seriously consider orienting myself in this career prospect in the long-term future.
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professional business cards
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o round out my general professional practice and solidify my brand for actual business, I have produced a simple but effective business card with my contact details and the overarching flavour of my 'cosmic stories' identity, bringing my portfolio, website and online presence together on various platforms, visual and digital. The card combines my moon logo, example of concept art and carries over the typography from this professional practice report.
bibliography A A B B H N S S
tkins, A. (n.d) About. [online] Available from: https://annieatkins.com/about/ OI. (n.d). Welcome. [online] Available from: http://www.theaoi.com
radley, N. (n.d). So what exactly is Art Camp? [online] Available from: https://artcamp.com radley, N. (n.d). Founder of Art Camp. [online] Available from: http://www.noahbradley.com ow To Not Suck At Game Design (n.d) Let's get real about concept art. [online] Available from: http:// howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/2014/02/lets-get-real-concept-art/
FTS. (n.d). Directing Animation. [online] Available from: https://nfts.co.uk/our-courses/masters/directinganimation
chool of Design, FZD. (n.d). One-year diploma. [online] Available from: http://fzdschool.com/fzd-courses/oneyear-diploma unshine, L. (2014). The Art of How To Train Your Dragon 2. Titan Books: London.
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summary of my professional aims and evaluation of the relevance and effectiveness of my FMP submission in this context. Includes process deconstruction of visual work, evidence of career planning and documentation of active industry research.