Sources of Inspiration – “Charlie Bears”

A few months ago, I went for a trip with my mother to one of the local Garden Centres. Upon arrival, we were met by an abundance of these fluffy and unusual teddy bear faces. “Charlie Bears” is fast becoming a popular brand amongst a wide spectrum of people. The high quality of the cuddly toys as well as the lovely vintage-yet-contemporary aesthetic really quite lovely.

After having a browse of which were on offer, I was inspired with some ideas for my Kittypillars, especially through the colour schemes of some of these bears. These bears have a very similar ‘look’ to the Kittypillars, in that there are some based on actual breeds of bear and some which are a bit more fantastical. I was really taken with the quality of the fur on these critters. The different consistencies and textures were fantastic.

I am definitely going to do a few Kittypillar colour tests based on some of these bears. Some of them are just too good not to have a bit of an artsy experiment with! Pictures to come soon, everyone.

Client-Based Practice Notes (18/10/2013)

It was a very brief catch-up session this week. We relayed several ideas back and forth to each other about where we were in terms of research and project development, and then went on our merry ways! Definitely going to be back to the grind after this coming Reading Week! I think the first thing we are all going to get cracking on when we get back are storyboards. They come first and foremost. Once we have them then we will be able to get together a definite idea of how we will link each of them together.

So, in case you can’t really read my writing in this post (this weeks notes feature particularly poor handwriting) here is everything I’ve written down:

ALEX –

• Doing more research + content
• Looking at visuals for motion graphics
• Looking to do tutorials in After Effetcs
• Series of sketching of ideas
• Art Nouveau – MUCHA

CALLUM –

• Concentrating on CATS work
• Research
• Which historical people from Hull
• Symbols of historical events
• Aiming to be sorted after Reading Week

MADDIE –

• Taking Pictures of architecture for research

ME –

• Drawing lots of octopuses!!!
• Looking at individual objects character can be wielding

FOR NEXT WEEK:
BUMP UP ON EVERYTHING DURING READING WEEK AND DO CATS WORK!!!

Sources of Inspiration – Butterflies

I’m still dabbling with the concept of having Kittypillars turn into ‘Kittyflies / Kitterflies’, so at this stage this is all very ‘maybe maybe’. Unless I can find a way around it that I find personally acceptable, they will be just in the works until that point. The colour schemes of butterflies and their coccoons are what interest me the most and give me the most ideas to work with where the butterfly stage of Kittypillars are concerned, but the designs of them with wings is hindering me at the moment.

This summer there was an abundance of butterflies near where I live so I took the opportunity to try and get some artsy and useful reference images of my own. I was quite surprised how close I could get up to them before they flew away. Some of the photographs came out quite blurry but the ones that worked were a real gem!

W.I.P Vlog – Week #09

So, what do we have in this weeks video?

1. Me & Callum  messing around during a break.
2. Me, Callum & Alex messing around during a break.
3. Drawing up a Kittypillar expressions sheet.
4. My art on the merch table at an NGW show in Goole.

Okay, so it is becoming quite evident that I am falling a bit out of sync with these weekly updates, but I assure you they will be back up and running in good time soon! I just have to sort out my abhorrent laptop and its bad temperament first! It is fast becoming the bane of my existence! ARGH!

It was good getting back into the swing of things at University in the recent fortnight. It is so good to have deadlines and projects to work to again! Plus, I’ve missed everyone off the course a lot having been stuck at home all summer. There are going to be a lot of collaborative efforts between us this year so watch this space!

In my first session back at uni I decided to put my time to good use and create a Kittypillar expressions sheet, which I can use for future reference on any drawn or animated works. I used a few ‘chibi’ expressions sheets found online as a reference point for this.

Finally, I also got my first opportunity to sell some of my work at an NGW show this week! It was quite a proud moment indeed!

Sources of Inspiration – In the Garden

It goes without saying that my parents did a fantastic job of sprucing up the garden this summer. There were so many interesting and beautiful flowers and foliage spread about that I had to get a few reference photos for my F.M.P  (Final Major Project). Over the course of the summer break, I took the opportunity to get some nice macro shots of the flowers that were there, in order to use as reference / colour inspiration / stock images.

So, without further ado, here are the best of the best of the images which I took!