Digital Painting
Digital painting is something I like to do in my spare time. I don’t get to do it as often as I would like but i’m not strict enough in making myself do it. There was a time when this is what I wanted to do for a living. I guess there still is that want there. Need to work at it a lot more than I do, step it up a bit. I used to have a subscription to Imagine FX magazine, a magazine dedicated to all things digital paint and would collect the DVD tutorials and resources they came with almost religiously. Stopped buying them now though, as I realised that after a while the topics would revert back to something they had covered before, which isn’t a bad thing but I also noticed more and more adverts creeping in there too so it put me off them! I will take another look at them again one day and perhaps may even subscribe again.
I post these works on my DeviantArt account ( http://sofee-c.deviantart.com/ ), but that in turn is neglected as I don’t have new works to post frequently. I sometimes go on there and look at my old stuff, I can see the mistakes and how I would improve them now. Kind of embarrassing, but I leave them there so I can see for myself how I have improved. It’s hard to see sometimes and feels like you’re not getting anywhere, but when you take a step back and look at where you’ve come from it gets you motivated.
Some of my digital painting ‘heroes’ are Bobby Chiu and Danny Luvisi. Both incredible artists and highly successful in what they do. Huge inspirations for me! Bobby Chiu has released a book/audio book called ‘The Perfect Bait’ which is a book he worked on for 10 years before he became a successful artist, he wanted to write a book on the perspective of success from someone who had not gotten there yet. I will be buying it next pay day. He’s done podcasts and livestreams too which are very motivating so if they are anything to go by this book will be too.
Not sure what my point is with this post, however I felt it would be beneficial to show this side of my work. I’m not going to get anywhere keeping it hidden away! The images in this post are just a few of the things I have done, not the best but just an example of where I am at with it at the moment. I am determined to get better at this!
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About 2 weeks ago with a few friends, I went to the Manchester Art Gallery to have a look at the Raqib Shaw exhibition they are currently showing. To start with I thought that the roots and flowers that were on the gates outside were beautiful. I really loved the way these encased the gallery and it made me want to go in and see what else was in show.
I’m usually not a fan of art galleries because I find it boring looking at oil paintings of dead people.
When you first walk in you see a statue of a swan eating? a man with a bat face… how surreal. I got a closer look and the detail was amazing although it did make me wonder what the hell the artists was thinking when creating it. Throughout the gallery there were some really interesting pieces and I especially love the way the artist used glitter his work - you can’t go wrong with a little glitter!!
While in there too they had a jewellery showing as well which were all handmade. As I’m into crafts and things handmade this interested me because I’ve dabbled myself in handmade jewellery. There were some really beautiful pieces, all rings. There were some that no way would you wear as I doubt you’d have a finger left. Really enjoyed this visit and came out inspired to get on with my NMP! A great visit.
Really enjoyed the art gallery. Definitely worth a look if you’ve not been yet! Particularly enjoyed the rings they had on show, never seen anything like them before! I’ve forgotten the name of the artist that did them now unfortunately. Lots of stuff in there for all tastes I would say!
I will definitely be going back again.
samteeeee: Freelancing/Setting Up Own Business Talk
I attended this talk before christmas but before to blog about it and found all the notes in my notebook recently!!
I picked up some great tips about making sure you know what you’re doing when wanting to set up a business which is something I’m interesting in doing in the future.Some great…
Golpys freelancing talk was very helpful. Freelancing and doing my own thing seems to be quite appealing to me and has always been something I wanted to regardless if it’s graphic design or not so I found this talk incredibly helpful and it made a lot of sense. Covered things that you’re likely to overlook or forget about while you’re a newbie to setting up a business.
Third Year - What I have done.
Created three designs for the theme ‘What would you change?’ I based my pieces along the theme of ‘Cryptozooology’. As in I would change their existence from myth to reality. I chose to do these prints with lino.
As for my print skills. I would say I have definitely improved upon them, I used to do it in college so was quite rusty and it was nice to do it again. Lino cutting is my favourite process, the sessions this year helped me improve my lino skills and see just what I am able to do in the medium. I want to focus on or at least try using screen printing more for my NMP work.
University work
- Magma Brief - Munchies
- Roses Competition - Doggerland
- YCN Competition - LEGO:
http://www.coroflot.com/sophieculton/LEGO-YCN-Brief - NMP -
Munchies
Developing my idea further to create a whole complete range of 50+ characters.
Creating my own figures and casting them in resin.
Packaging design for figures.
Developing my existing branding for the Munchies.
Posters and stickers.
T-shirt designs.
Hopefully creating an animation as a form of advertisement.
Dissertation
- Topic: Are video Games replacing Film?
Visual: ‘Immersion’
http://www.coroflot.com/sophieculton/Dissertation-Visual
Other
- Visited BCNMCR exhibition.
- Visited Raquib Shaw exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery.
- Visited MOSI exhibits.
- Attendted Creative Stitches and Hobby Crafts convention.
- Attended Golpys Freelance talk.
- Attended GFSmith paper talk and got some lovely samples.
- Will be entering the Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2013.
- Will be entering the World Press Freedom Cartoon Competition.
- Will be taking part in We Made A Show.
- Emailing agencies regarding placements.
- Working on developing my Self Promo project idea and actually send to agencies.
Online Presence/Website/Social Networks
- Created my Coroflot page. Still a work in progress:
http://www.coroflot.com/sophieculton - Currently in the process of creating a personal website and purchasing domain.
- Twitter account: https://twitter.com/SophieCulton
- Tumblr: http://sophieculton.tumblr.com/
All I can remember right now, will edit as I remember.
Yum Yum London.
Doing research for my NMP I stumbled across an image of a range of vinyl toys. They included a cactus with a cigar in his mouth. A naked man with a tub of popcorn on his head. A kung fu fighting granny. A hot dog with arms and legs and a zombie with his brain on show. Of course, curiosity got the better of me and I set out to find what they were and where they come from. I soon found out that they were made by Yum Yum.
Yum Yum is a studio based in London. They do character design and “tell stories through animation, illustration and toys.” I was smitten as soon as I found the website. I also felt really inspired for my NMP, but at same time deflated as I hadn’t come up with them first. Ah well.
Taking a look at their images on their website and watching their short animations, you can see just how much thought has gone into their character designs. At first glance their stuff could seem simple and perhaps random, but when you take more than a minute to look you can appreciate the thought and the detail that has gone into what they have created.
Their short ‘Parallel Parking’ for instance. First viewing you see a cute short animation with lovely music and an unfortunate ending. Something makes you want to watch it again though, and on the second viewing you notice the details. The poor squashed animal on the road. The ginger cat asleep on the shop roof. The birds on the telephone line. The sheep in the back of the truck. You also notice the shop in the background, the world feels alive in this animation, full of little easter eggs if you take the time to look. I also noticed the sign next to his car… I’ll not spoil the ending if you haven’t seen it!
The animation on their shorts is incredibly well done and smooth. It’s easy, interesting and a pleasure to watch. As is their other short.
Couldn’t not do a blog post about these guys! Go and have a look at their website: http://www.yumyumlondon.com/hello (that’s lovely too)
MOSI review
I went to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) on Tuesday. I popped in at around 3 and had a quick visit around the place (it shuts at 5). I’ve been wanting go for a while now and seized the chance when I had a few hours free to actually get down there. I just wished I had, had more time to go around it at more of a leisurely pace.
As soon as I walked in the doors I was impressed and we were greeted by a very friendly man who told us where to go and what to see and how best to get around. He was very informative on the exhibits too. We were handed these cards, each with a unique bar-code on them which we would use to sign in/register with the museum at these screens which then also took our pictures, then uploaded them on the tree of monitors which showed the visitors throughout the day. The cards are also used to interact with certain exhibits, some of which took your picture and then stored them on their website which you could then access by inputting the code on your card. Pretty cool! Never used anything like that before.
I was keeping my eye out for old typography, signage and posters. There was definitely some scattered around the place, but not as much as I was expecting, however it is likely I missed some as I went through the place quite quickly. I will be honest though and say I was more interested in the exhibit of planes, cars and bikes that they had, I come from a family of petrol heads so it can’t be helped!
Overall it was an enjoyable way to spend the rest of my afternoon and definitely and interesting one. I would recommend it to anyone interested in history and say get down there if you can! Especially if the admission is free and all they ask is, if you can, to donate £3 to keep it that way.
I went to the GF Smith talk the other day and had a look at their lovely paper! They had a lovely set of samples for us to look at and take home if we so wished. Particularly liked the sample boxes they put together. Very well made, looked and felt nice. You could see the time and thought they put into it so that it would best compliment and show off their papers. Worked very well I thought!
They also showed us some examples of publications using their paper stock and as well as looking nice had some lovely examples of design and illustration in them. Really loved the wooden paper examples. Looked very convincing!
Definitely glad I went and had a look as I feel it was helpful and I would definitely consider using them in my work in the future.
I saw these lovely posters in Paperchase a couple of weeks ago. Really love the simplicity of there only being 3 colours throughout. Really effective and powerful image! I like this style of ‘retro’ illustration. The colours are bold and complimentary, would look lovely on my wall. Reasonable price too! May have to pop back and get myself one.
