The Final blog post...

I'm going to summarise some final bits and bobs before hand in tomorrow.

1. Self publishing
I've registered with createspace, took time to learn the ropes and now I'm eagerly awaiting the proof copy of my book in the post. I had to scale the book down to 8.5" squared from 10" squared but that's okay, it's not a huge difference and it will only make the artwork appear sharper, since sometimes it can look slightly foggy at the larger sizes, possibly because I've been working on a small laptop screen. When my proof comes and I approve it (assuming all is well) then I can give it the okay to be sold on amazon. The royalties are approximately 30% which means that sales in the UK should yield about £2 per book. Not bad at all really. In the meantime I'm working on some promotional images to share around the facebook groups for when the book is available to purchase. Finally, once this is all sorted, I intend to set up a lightning source profile. This will enable me to get hard-back copies of my book made which I could then push to stores rather than just the digital domain. I would also like a hardback copy for my show if I can get it done in time. Also, I'm going to use the first run of my book as a way of gauging the popularity of the characters. If it's well received then I intend to set up an educational website using the Takers in order to be a veganism resource to children. Once this website is complete I will pull my original book from amazon and include the website link as a resource at the back of my second edition.

2. New stories
I've got two other stories on the go with working titles "Liar" and "I wish I wasn't scary". Liar is almost complete and I've already done two images for that particular story with the intention of sending them out to publishers with the manuscript. I wish I wasn't scary is less complete but designed for a younger audience and will take less time to write. The reason I have two stories on the go right now is because I want to have something else to offer to potential clients if anybody expresses an interest at our grad show. Also because I can't help but write stories. I'm thinking of exploring different techniques for these stories too instead of my sketchy scanned pencil thing. This means I have to order some vegan ink/paint products soon but I think it'll be worth it to further my practice. Who knows what kind of new work I'll start creating!

3. Competition brief
A brief was sent out recently to illustrate a children's book and I've done a little work on that. The idea is that we send an image from the book and then the work is selected based on that, however if we land the commission we do get a lovely £1200 which I could really use.

4. Advice from Mice

I never got this finished because I got distracted by other projects and ideas, but here are some of the images I was going to use for my Advice from Mice fanzine.

5. Paid work

I also did this cover design for an e-book recently. It was easy and fun work and I'd definitely enjoy doing more stuff like it. The client went for the side-view image although personally I prefer the front-view. I've popped that one in my portfolio as it happens.

5. Gina Cross interview
I think that went fairly well. She said that I seem to know what I'm doing and have most stuff figured out. She did suggest that I keep the text on my PDF portfolio to put images into context and to show that I'm interested in writing too. She also said that I should tweet the publishers that I follow. So tweet I shall!


Well I guess that's it! I'll be double checking everything is in order today so that I can get into uni early, hand in my stuff and chip off to get some work done. Eek! It's over! Although we still have to set up for our show so it's not ENTIRELY over. I need to buy a shelf and get some images framed but other than that, over and out! Or whatever.

Professional Practice...

Eugh. What a ball-ache. This didn't take me too long to put together and in all honesty it's not that great. There, I said it. But still, I'm at that point now where I'm becoming more focused on the actual practice of illustration than ticking the boxes on the marking criteria. This may come back to bite me in arse if I don't pass! Check it out...

First page and business cards...

My book has now been sent to Macmillan! Hooray! So we'll see how that goes. As mentioned previously though, I'm working on a new story already. In fact, the writing is almost finished and today I completed the first finished page. I've also uploaded a test drawing of the main character enjoying the rain, just because. Oh and he's also managed to get his face on my business cards, although he is still orange and without his little cheek blushy stuff because that was an earlier incarnation. My cards will be picked up tomorrow!

Verses and concepts...

I've already written some verses to my story now. Also, here's the breakdown of it: The boy (or whatever) meets various animals who are doing what they do best (bird - flying etc) and he tells them that he can do better, then going on to tell an anecdote about a time in which he did something amazing. The animals don't act impressed because there is no logic to the stories and they are so ridiculous that they cannot possibly be true. He eventually realises that the last animal he talks to has walked off during his story, at which point he walks home. Then *SPOILER ALERT* we see his trophy collection, showing that he was actually telling the truth. So here are the verses I'm happy with so far and a page of sketches for the protagonist. As per, we're rhyming.

You call that swimming, fishy fish? That’s nothing, don’t you see?

One time I swam as deep as whales who all applauded me.

I met some mermaids, yes I did. I found Atlantis too.

And then the mayor proclaimed me king of all the deepest blue.

You call that running, furry feet? That’s nothing, what a bore.

One time I ran a race with cheetahs, antelope and more.

I ran around the Earth, I did, I even stopped for tea.

And for my speed I did receive not one medal, but three.

You call that flying, feathered friend? That’s nothing, not to me.

One time I flew out into space for aliens to see.

I flew beside an asteroid, and all cheered with delight.

And then I got a trophy for my brilliant skills of flight.

Now, why a fox? Well, foxes are often portraid in fiction as cunning, sneaky and sinister characters. This adds weight to the story. The reader will (hopefully) already have this in mind when they begin to read. This will make them believe that he is lying all the more, thus making the reveal at the end more poignant. Also the fox is native to the UK which I think is an added benefit for the child reader.
Also, here's a sketch showing the character in context a little.

New projects...

So with my book awaiting being sent off to Macmillan and my PP under way (kind of, must work on that actually), I've decided to undertake new projects. First of all I'll mention Advice from Mice. This is going to be a straight up silly fanzine based on some silly comics I did a few weeks back. Here's an example of how these images will appear.

Second, I'm writing a new kids book. This one is about arrogance and the folly of bravado. Since I know how stimulating it is to read ALL of my notes (ha) I've decided to just copy and past them from the word document I was working in. Also a page of horrible sketches while I tried to figure out the main character.

Version 1

Eq – Boy (whatever animal) is lacking in friends and he can’t understand why because he thinks he’s brilliant [character note: He is confident and arrogant, not unhappy]

Dis – Boy talks to people (animals) who are doing various activities. We will see the whole cast from the off and each time they say what they can do the boy says “that’s nothing.” And makes up an elaborate story to better them. He does this several times (to be determined) and eventually they ask him to prove it at which point he says he must go to bed.

Rec – At the end he reflects on how amazing they must all think he is because of his great triumphs, though the next day when he goes to find them, they aren’t around. At this point he recognises his error and the story ends.

Version 2

Rec – during his last exaggerated story the other people all walk away. He doesn’t notice until they’ve already gone, at which point he exclaims that they must be jealous. He then reflects on how brilliant he is. The illustration then conveys how alone he is, and we see a look on his face that indicates how sad he is. In this version we can see the characters as they begin to walk away because he will have his eyes shut as he starts to talk.

Version 3

Dis – they all get sick of his bravado and ask him to prove it. Eventually he is *forced* to take part in these activities which proves he was lying. They all laugh at him and he feels humiliated.
Rec – He feels sad and realises he was stupid to lie in the first place. He runs off and cries alone.

Rep – The other people (or animals) return to him and tell him that it’s okay not to be the best at EVERYTHING, and that he’s the best at telling stories (maybe).
Note: This message feels shallow. It implies that there’s always something you can be the best at, but this isn’t true. Maybe the message should be that we’re all the best at being ourselves and that it doesn’t really matter whether we possess traditional talents. Maybe not though. Maybe they say as long as they have fun and are good to each other then it doesn’t matter? I’m not sure. I don’t think it even needs to have this happy ending. I like it ending with the boy NOT learning a lesson. The reader can learn the lesson but the boy doesn’t have to.

Notes: It’s probably best to tell it from the perspective of the boy, with no narration. Although in order to set up the Eq we may need a line of narration. *once there was a rabbit who…* etc. Or maybe we don’t need to start on the Eq at all. It’s possible to start on the disruption.

Possible titles: Bunny bravado. Bear bravado. Bravado. (something to do with conceit).  

Note: All those titles use words that kids won’t know.  Braggin’ Bunny is better, although still entirely shit. The bunny who bragged? The bear who bragged? What the hell animal is this going to be?!

Printed book etc...

So I got my book printed! Hooray! I will say this though - It's not as good as I'd hoped and not as bad as I'd feared. Basically the colours are somewhat desaturated and they apparently *had trouble with the binding* which resulted in quite a deep crease which cuts off about half an inch of my double page spreads and leaves some images that should sync up across pages looking disjointed. I put this down to incompetence on their part, but this will suffice for my Macmillan submission so no big deal for now. I guess. I'm going to wait and see if anything happens with Macmillan, then I'm going to contact *vegan publishers* which is a relatively small, but you guessed it, vegan publishers. I think they're US based though so that may be problematic but we'll see. I'll also do some research into self publishing costs and effectively plan a kickstarter to raise funds for that. I know that I can get donations from vegan groups if I get a nice video put together. I might be able to wrangle a student to do that for me too, thus cutting my costs down.

Also I did this He-Man image partly for fun and partly for my portfolio. I love 1950's poster art, something I didn't know until I played the first Bioshock game many years back, so I thought it would be fun to do something funny in that style and also in my way of working. Et voila!

It's quite exciting applying this way of working to new stuff. I also want to pursue my advice from mice fanzine just so that I can get something else before the end of the unit to boost my marks (hopefully). I've got a few narrative ideas in my head but I don't want to half-bake them due to time restrictions. I was still editing The Takers right up until the last minute, meaning it took me over half a year of back and forth editing to get it right, now I only have five weeks to do a new narrative - not gonna happen.

Competitions I've entered...

So this year is probably the first time I've felt like I'm good enough to enter competitions *tiny violin plays*. First off I submitted a skateboard design to Crowd. I was selected as one of the five winners with this design. Can't say that I've noticed any additional traffic head over to my facebook page or twitter as a result but it was still cool. Plus, £100 prize money.

Total goonish smile

Next I submitted the animation that I did in my second year at university to the creative conscience awards... Or something. I'm not really sure what it's called, I did it on a whim. My animation focused on depression and took the form of a narrative surrounding a little blue monster. Blue. I know right? Subtle. I haven't heard anything about that but I don't even know when the deadline is, it may still be going on. Here's that animation.

Finally, thus far I've submitted two designs to a competition run by Ohh Deer. It's one of those social media competitions and I don't really like them because it can essentially be a popularity contest, with social butterflies getting the most points (that's right, we get points). Aside from that, it's kind of a useful way to gauge the market. You can see what people want on t-shirts and what they don't want. So whether I win anything or not, at least I can see that if you want to work in *that* industry, a certain degree of pandering needs to occur. Here are the banners I downloaded from Ohh Deer showcasing my work.