Ideas.
Inspiration.
Ani Roschier. Based in Finland, Ani Roschier brings these fantasy like illustrations to beautiful pieces of art. Since discovering console gaming as a child, she’s been looking for ways to combine both her love for games and creative output, and concept art has allowed her to do it. She wants to bring dreams and fictional worlds to life and give them form. Her work is outstanding and shows a high level of commitment and professionality. She uses colour palettes appealing to the eye and goes way beyond your imagination and creates landscapes of a fantasy theme. I really enjoy looking at her work because her final outcomes are honestly incredible and the way she creates these fantasy landscapes that are so realistic and detailed however still obviously digitally produced so cartoon like. I really enjoyed looking at her work and just find it incredibly talented and truly amazing with the amount she goes into detail and creates every effect while following a similar style throughout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSul00KtnJ0 - Mackerel Sky means a sky with rows of small white fleecy clouds, like the pattern on a mackerel's back and I really like the way she twists it and makes an animation out of actual mackerels swimming in the sky playing on the definition and it just looks really interesting. The colours used are from a consistent and well fitted colour palette that I found pleasing to the eye and have really loved looking at all the different work she has produced.
Tim Smits.
Tim Smits is an illustrator based in East London. He is obsessed with designing space and all space themed aspects. However its not his space work I find incredibly interesting, it’s his vast landscapes and amazing ability to design. He started with the usual drawing, painting and model making until discovering MS Paint when he was 9 making him incredibly educated in digital design. He was never content using one medium he also did a bit of technical and architectural drawing, designing crazy buildings. His work is quite similar and follows the same style as the other artist I looked at Ani Roschier however his work is less realistic in my opinion and more geometric to accentuate the graphic style. He uses more square and triangle shapes within his work however it still looks incredible just not as in depth and detailed as Ani Roschier. I like the way his work varies and can go from Typography to portraits to branding, it shows versatility in his work and makes him a good artist to look at for all topics as he uses several different techniques and I enjoyed looking at his work and being inspired by what he has produced.
James Gilleard. Drawing influence from all things 50's, 60's and 70's; pulp comics, fashion, architecture, photography and music, James Gilleard creates beautifully textured digital illustrations and animations that transports the viewer back to a nostalgic era. There's a simplicity and balance to the compositions and it’s contrasted with an overload of texture and geometry that distort the underlying forms in interesting ways. Forms consisting of retro robots, historical architecture and the natural world. His work is more geometric and doesn’t really include curved lines which is a nice touch and technique to use; it makes his work look different and it makes you look closer. I like his work as I’ve been really looking into digitally produced landscapes and fantasy.
Initial Sketches.
I took the mermaid from my sketches and re-created it in Illustrator to get the level of quality higher, I found the hardest part choosing the colours to live paint the mermaid as I wanted it to be more aimed at girls. I obviously went for pinks and purples, I also didn’t want the mermaid to have red hair as I really didn’t want to go down the Disney route as it seems too generic and common. I’m happy with the outcome however unsure whether I will be taking it further in my work. If I was to go back and change anything it would be the colour of the fish as it seems incredibly out of place.
As you can see on the right I went back and changed the colour of the fish, I do think it looks better however I still feel somethings not right about it.
Statement of Intent. My idea for this project is to create digital fish and include several different kinds of breeds of fishes. I intend to create different aesthetic images of cartoon fishes. I don’t want to make the images appear realistic I want them to be funny and cute to look at. I will use traditional methods to begin with such as sketching and maybe some crafting throughout however in the end I feel that digital methods and using Illustrator and Photoshop will make my project where I want it to be. I feel using the software I will be able to create more professional and high quality images which is what I want to achieve in my project and throughout. I looked on the internet and children’s books to find images of cartoon fishes to get inspiration for my own work. I then went on to digitally trace my sketches on Illustrator to show development of ideas and progress. My idea fits into the theme environment as fish are a part of the environment and the idea being very broad and open to interpretation can really be directed in any way. I imagine my outcomes to be incredibly cute and appeal to anyone. I want to include as many different aspects of the ocean/ sea as I can. I want my images to be used for children’s books and just to be appealing to children. I may experiment with pattern to create children wallpaper or something a long them lines.
Marc Johns Marc Johns creates random drawings filled with dry wit and humour. His creations are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes with just a few strokes of the pen. He's been drawing since he was incredibly young and I like how his images he’s created still look like he is young and drawing the images he’s drawn. I find his work incredibly simplistic however still nice to look at which is the thing I want to achieve in my work. I want people to look at my work and think its simple but still incredibly detailed and aesthetic. Some of his work doesn’t really make sense to me however I enjoy looking at them as they look like images drawn by children which I find funny.
My responses inspired by Marc Johns.
I took my sketches into Photoshop after looking at Marc Johns work and decided to colour them in using a watercolour brush selection as I knew that going back over the colour originally chosen it would make the colour more vivid, which I wanted to include in only some parts of the sketches. I liked the transparent effect of the brush and the way it still shows sketchy lines as that’s the technique I was looking for. I feel these responses were a nice addition to my project however decided I wanted to do more digitally drawn work and didn't want to pursue this idea any further as I just felt I couldn’t take it further or develop it very well.
This was the first fish I designed in my project hence why it is the most simple one. I feel like it would make a great contribution if I was to make an aquarium later in my project however I don’t feel it would do very well by itself as its just not complex or interesting enough. I find it quite a boring fish however I felt that children really like goldfish and they are the fish you keep as pets so I included it anyway as some people may like it. I did experiment with it by including it into a piece of work however it wasn’t really fitted in with the theme or technique I was pursuing in my project as a whole.
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Development.
This is the brush stroke I decided to use to make the image more pleasing rather than having all the lines cut straight off I feel it would ruin the image and I wanted to make it look the best I could.
This is the process from the original sketch to the image to the left, I didn’t illustrate directly from my sketch as I didn’t feel the sketch was in proportion or in any position to use as a final outcome. Above is where I have show the digital process simplified to show the steps taken to finally achieve the outcome to the left. This is just something I needed to do to create many other images, this is a character I need to create other outcomes. I feel incredibly happy with how it turned out and will use it further.
If I could do this again I would change a few of the lines (circled in red) to make them have a stroke on them because a few of the lines just cut straight off simply because of a technical difficulty I had as the lines that need correcting needed to be included in my selection to create live paint and it wouldn’t let me have a stroke setting on a line included in live paint. However I am still incredibly pleased with the outcome and will be taking my idea further and including it within the outcomes in mind. I also really liked the colours I used but still went on to create different colour vaiations shown on the next page.
These are the different colours I decided to use baring in mind how they would contribute to my further outcomes. I really like the first three as they all fit really well within each other however the red one for some reason just doesn’t fit in with what I was trying to achieve, I feel the colours don’t go well together and vary into different shades too much which is why I decided to only use this one once which I will explain later.
DID YOU KNOW? Too much red causes loss of temper, agitation, anger, and overbearing, demanding, and oppressive behaviors. Too little red causes lethargic, cautious, whiny, and manipulative feelings. To get out of control emotions under control add green, the opposite of red.
This is where I used the red fish I spoke about disliking in the last page. The reason I used it is because its very well known fact that red means anger. I wanted to portray this fish is angry, I digitally added teeth and made it seem as if all the other fish are scared and shocked as they’ve got their mouths open. It looks as if this fish is a lot bigger than the tiny school of fish swimming away to safety. I like the outcome however it was a small edition to my project.
Here I went through the process of three layers, one was completely desaturated, one was completely red and the other was completely blue. I then slightly moved the layers to create this image.
I wanted to include these because I like the effect that 3D makes and I wanted to add different techniques and aspects of design into my project. I didn’t want my work to seem repetitive or boring so I edited some of my illustrated work in Photoshop Here I only went through two layers and I then played with the blending options to make the images blend over each other and create an effect I found quite cool and interesting.
On the left is my originally created coral reef, and on the the right is the same thing with changed colours as I wanted to experiment with grey and brown rocks as I felt one is more for the sea and one more for a fish tank. I personally prefer the brown one as it includes more vibrant colours however when asking peers they added that they think that certain aspects of one is better than the other. They like some of one and some of the other so I just decided to use both further in my work.
I took the coral reef into Photoshop and duplicated it on a separate layer then played with the layer options and blend modes to create a psychedelic effect. I just wanted to include this as something different as I felt my work getting repetitive.
I created these outcomes in hopes that it would look as if you’re looking out of a submarine window, I then soon realised that this is looking from the outside in. However, these are my favourite outcomes and I still really love them as I feel I tried really hard and they look great. I wouldn’t change anything having gone back. To create these I drew two big circles within each other and then some smaller circles to look like bolts keeping the window ceiled, I then added my own work that I drew digitally inside the windows to make it look as if you’re looking out of the window. I feel these are high quality and would be used as canvasses or images to be put up on a wall in a children's bedroom or even for a children's book.
Next, I decided to create a full submarine, I feel that the outcome is exactly what I expected however I soon realised that all the fish were on the inside of the submarine. I then had the thought that this could be an actual fish tank rather than an image of fish through the window. I found the outcomes to be really what I wanted and high quality. I feel I chose the colours all correctly however having gone back I would’ve changed the sea colour as I find it a bit off. I could use this a lot in further outcomes whether I decide to create an underwater image or using it as an ornament within an aquarium constructed by myself and my own work.
Here I created the famous light fish from Finding Nemo however, we all know that one is incredibly scary and not at all child friendly. I wanted mine to look not scary to children but more dopey. I created one for the girls (pink with eyelashes) and one for the boys (dull blue colour with tooth), when an idea came that I could make them together in the same image in love. I found it incredibly cute and the outcome great. However, I thought I could try these in different colours to experiment with what will look best for the outcome.
When asking my peers they said they prefer the two colour technique rather than two different shades however I myself prefer the green one. I also wanted to change the eyes a little to make it look like they’ve got electricity running through their bodies to make sense for the light bulb. All in all I prefer the green one with the fins and tail but I just found the colour a bit too much so decided to stick with the original ones I created.
This is the final outcome for these fish I created. I really wanted to emphasise the darkness of the sea where they live so that I could ensure to make their lightbulbs glow. I downloaded two paintbrushes to Photoshop so that I could ensure to create bubbles. I also found this cute brush that was bubble love hearts so included that too to get the message I was trying to portray across. I also created and included fish bones as it felt necessary to go with the fact that fish can be electrocuted and these specific fish electrocute. I really like the outcome and I really like how the bubbles are subtle in the background however the love heart bubbles are pink and quite prominent. Also, I decided to put the fish bones in the shape of a love heart to really accentuate the fact they are meant to be in love. The message is that no other fish could be in a ‘relationship’ with this kind of fish but at least they can still find love, even if it is just a cartoon.
Pattern I then wanted to include some more actual techniques of graphics for example pattern design. I created swatches and then filled shapes with my designs/ fishes. I think these would be incredibly cute fish patterns that will appeal to children. The colours and the style of the illustration I have come up with is incredibly childlike therefore I feel it would be used more in a child’s bedroom/ book. It’s not very well suited to adults as they normally have more traditional and more detailed and precise designs in bathrooms and stuff like that.
I used a double exposure technique in this image changing the layer options and blending modes to create a blurry but pink and green effect.
In this image I went into the advanced blending section and created three layers each having one individual option.
This created a 3D effect which I think is pretty cool how it plays with your mind.
I then took the pattern aspect and started to work it into outcomes. I used the same love heart bubble brush from before and decided to create a swatch that then created a patterned background for the image I wanted to create. I took the idea of fishes in love and now made them kissing as I feel it would be so cute to see fish kissing to children even though it is only an illustration. This is one of my favourite pieces of work that I’ve produced. I really like the colour scheme and the illustration itself with the detail with brush strokes and everything.
^Swatch.
DEAD FISH
In this image I was experimenting with all kinds of techniques such as typography, where I wanted to have a serif font to be quite formal however it plays on it because the image itself is very formal. I was experimenting in Illustrator how to make the pattern of the swatch outcome differently. I wanted to try a different shape and different spacing between the swatches as well.
Here I illustrated two turtles, one is the dad and one its baby. I tried to do different things in my work and on this one in the dads eye I experimented with different gradients. I am happy with gradient I stuck with and I think it made a difference and made my work better. I really love these illustrations and definitely wanted to take them into further outcomes. Even by themselves they would make incredibly cute characters however I just wanted to create some images with them and take them further.
On these two images I was working with gradients again experimenting with which ocean/ sea colour would suit fit. I really like the one on the left and so I decided to include the coral I created near the beginning and a few bubbles to make it a little realistic. I also chose to put the dad turtle behind the coral so it looks as if they’re swimming past rather than just looking like stickers stuck on top. I decided to use that coral reef as id already used the other one for the submarine and I stated I liked them both so why not use the other one too. The image on the right is incredibly boring and dull and I don’t like it very much at all. I do like the gradient colour as I feel its realistic and obviously the sea gets lighter towards the top because of the light shining through. If I was to come back to these outcomes I would definitely spend more time on the right one and maybe even add a part on top where you can see land like turtle beach or maybe just add some sun rays coming through the water just to lighten it up and make it not as boring.
I took aspects from both images combined, so the gradient from the left image and the love heart bubble brush from the right image to create a background. I wanted to capture a small message and just show a father and son/daughters love. It could also mean that life’s still ok even for them kids that only have one parent. I find it incredibly important to love parents and I feel kids should too therefore I included a huge love heart around them both and smiles on both their faces. I also really liked the coral and how it fitted really well with the image to make it look a little more entertaining. I cut the coral off a little early at the bottom to show that underneath the image is more coral and this is just the top of the rock because otherwise I would’ve had to show the whole ocean floor to make it realistic.
I wanted to include many different kinds of underwater animals. So I included some crabs too, the big crab is the mum and there all her little babies. I wanted to include the coral because my initial idea was to have some kind of animal walking on it, at first I thought a mermaid but then when going back through my sketches I thought a crab would be well suited.
For this image I researched what walruses eat, and non of the fishes I created matched therefore I decided to create some little dull fish swimming around under the frozen water. I initially was going to make it funny and have the walrus holding a fishing rod however I thought all my other pieces of work have been mildly realistic and not nonsense. I like this image although having come back I would add some dots on his mouth to create like where they have little hairs as at the minute it is quite plain.
I really like this image although it is plain and alike the image I have of the fishes kissing I find whales so cute and friendly therefore assumed children do too. I decided to not go with a blowhole however if I was to come back and change anything I would definitely include one as I feel it would just top the image off and make it look fun and cool.
I created these two sea horses as when I was generated ideas of what I could do right at the end of my project I realised I have a lot of the same fish in different colours however not a lot of different kinds of fish. I wanted to create a parental figure alongside a lot of small baby seahorses following closely behind, because when a seahorse gives birth it sprays thousands. I love the outcomes of these illustrations as I feel I have really come to terms with illustrator now and have come a long way since the beginning of the project. I feel more confident that my work has grown to be a lot more professional and detailed. I feel the colours work really well together and are all from near enough the same colour palette. If I was to change anything it would be that some of the curvy lines sometimes end up quite sharp. (See example below).
This design was simply created because when creating my aquarium later on, I really wanted to have something different and cool, therefore I created a fish that will appear to be sucking on the glass. A photo of this was near enough impossible to find however I came across this to go from.
I drew this on Illustrator free hand and wasn’t too sure whether I liked it or not however I still decided to go with it and use it as it was something I really wanted to include in my outcome. I still think its pretty cool however if I was to change it I would research more deeply into it maybe finding books or anything with a better image to go off.
Tank Decorations. Now I realised I had all the animals and a coral reef however nothing to now decorate the tank with so I got thinking with what I could put in. These are what I came up with. I am incredibly pleased and don’t think they could’ve gone any better they are incredibly simple but they look effective and will make great contributions to the aquarium. I really like the unique individual corals. I will use the bubble brush technique from the left to make it appear as if the chest to the right has bubbles coming out of it as I feel it will make it a little more realistic and aesthetic.
The reason for having the castle tank decoration a very similar colour to the sand I will place in the tank is because I feel like kids love sand castles and they will see it and get excited or it will remind them of going to the seaside and good memories. I really like the outcome of this decoration and it took me the longest out of all of them to finalise. If I was to do anything differently I would try to add wood grain or some kind of texture to the wooden doors making them appear to open for the fish to swim in and out, or I would put flags coming out of the top of the roof.
Exam plan.
Under the sea image?
Present with one fish to one small fish bowl? Whale in a circular gold fish bowl = funny. Aquarium?
Ideas to include.
Choose one final image and print large?
Show all my characters presented like this?
Characters presented in a grid?
Aquarium? -
Decorations.
Tank Sand Coral Bubbles
Include.
Fishes.
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