Season’s Greetings

Good evening folks!

Well, well, well. It’s that time of year again. The university deadlines are down from a long list to just one more presentation, and I’ve been gradually wrapping the stockpile of gifts I’d been hiding in my wardrobe for months. Having a Christmas with no immediate project work to attend to means I’ll be happily filling myself with mulled wine and turkey for about three weeks, before it all starts up again of course. Time flies when you’re having fun! Or stressed.

So, I have been a busy bee working on several things at once, but last week saw the completion of my graphic short story that I submitted for the V&A’s Illustration Awards 2015 in the student submission category. Although, I won’t lie, the V&A was just a formality and university requirement for this brief. I couldn’t wait to write and draw my own story with so much time allocated! The story itself is hard to summarise, though my best attempt would be this; Influenced by the text ‘To Walk The Red Road’, a Native American poem by an unknown author, I developed a story based on a young woman and her spirit animals – Bear, Coyote and Lark. The story is about a physically and mentally arduous journey, ascending up the Rocky Mountains; exploring themes of violence and sexual abuse, alongside companionship, bravery and areas of Native American beliefs. Here is an obligatory snapshot:

The Red Road cover
The Red Road cover
Oooh.. shiny.
“What’s going on there?” – I hear you cry!

 

This project was my baby from start to finish, I absolutely loved it. Never before have I had the chance to really cultivate my own story for such a length of time, and with all the practise I made myself do over the summer with Lost and Found, and then the Christmas Tale, I finally had a chance within university to put it all to good use. I started with the poem, and then came up with some ideas that I wanted to include in the story, and then slowly but surely put the story together. From there I wrote it out into a graphic novel script, and after some sketchbook work and a mock-up book with my thumb-nailing I went straight to paper. The story is a total of 24-pages, not including the covers and somehow I managed to write and create the whole thing in 8 weeks. Nifty, eh? There are some logistical kinks that need working out, and I need some willing un-biased readers to give me their opinion on the content, but all going well after editing I’m looking into getting this story printed to sell. How exciting! It’s a new kind of nervous for me – I’m used to having my drawings thrown in peoples faces for judgement.. But writing? Well, apart from waffling on here and there, crafting stories is only something I’ve been practising in the last year or so. Let’s hope people like it!

Aside from this project I’d been working on a few other things but nothing I really felt as passionate for as this. Most of my university assessments are well under way and I’ll be looking forward to some nice, positive (hopefully) feedback from tutors over the winter break. Going into term two of second year, I believe the evil ‘D’ work is going to start being thrown around.. Dissertation. Eurgh. But on the positive, hopefully there will be lots more projects I can sink my teeth into and really make into something I love. Anyway, I will be around and updating things a bit more over the holidays so keep an eye out for more updates! Over and out x

 

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines..

Good evening ladies and gents,

So, I’ve managed to temporarily peel myself away from the looming pile of degree work I have next to me to remind you all that I’m still alive and kicking. I have decided that whichever smug bastard said that art courses at University are easy, clearly never did one. You can kind of swing copying notes and blasting out essays a few days before, but making a whole book? Writing and drawing? That takes some next level commitment and organisation skills (if I may say so myself..).

The good news is that I have a good feeling about this book. Essentially, it’s a 24-page graphic short-story based in the land of the Rocky Mountains fuelled by my desire to be back in Colorado drinking a Mountain Dew the size of my head whilst looking at those glorious mountains. I have written a short story based around myths and legends of the various Native American tribes who lived around Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Otherwise known as the four corners. Or, my other much missed home-from-home. Then from myths I made a plot, then that I developed into a graphic novel script, and from there thumbnail sketches, a mock-up book, and now I’m working my way through each final page tweaking as I go along, plus digital editing to finish it all off. It’s not a cheery book in any sense, but then none of my favourite books are, so I guess that’s just how I roll. Over the summer I spent so long practising writing comics and short stories, it finally feels like something has paid off and I’m well on my way to making this book hopefully the best thing I’ve ever written. The downside of having such a tight schedule and so much to tell, is that the level of detail is far less complex than what I put into, say, a one-off piece illustration. However I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, if I had 6 months to work on this and make it into a beautifully crafted standalone book to sell then it would be different, but for now I’m doing what I can with the limitations put in place. And I’m still determined it will be a success! In fact, I re-did 6 pages today, so I’m dedicated to making this awesome.

On completion of the book I will be looking into getting copies made and put up for sale in the new year which will be exciting! But for now, I can only show you all a sneak preview of some of the progress so far..

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Other than that, not much to report. I still need to design my Christmas cards this year, as well as my parents Christmas cards, making presents and a few other exciting things up my nifty sleeves! That’s as well as completing the book, writing an essay, completing another practical project consisting of four final pieces, constructing a seminar debate, making and presenting a 45-minute presentation and submitting to the V&A competitions. Phew! For now, that is all. Best get back to the grind; Over and out! x