LangiSketches

FYP - Furniture Design Sketches and Final Illustrations

2012-01-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

Greetings, peeps! As promised in last week's post (FYP - Character Bookmarks (Rough Edition), and the Final Year Quest), I'd be showing sketches and final illustrations for my furniture designs this week. Since the chairs are the more technical part of the table/chair set (the table being circular, after all), I decided to focus on them this week. If you want a recap on what I had done before, and where I first drew my inspiration, please check the FYP - Children's Furniture: Chair Designs post.

So, without further adieu, I present character chair designs!

I started off with four Col-erase sketches, drawing half of each character to scale to ensure that the proportions were correct:


Chair Design Sketch - Ramesh Goatee.


Chair Design Sketch - Growlford Barkley.


Chair Design Sketch - Countess Whiskeria.


Chair Design Sketch - Lizzy Rexxy.

After that, I took the sketches into Adobe Illustrator where the pen tool and I became better acquainted. Here's the magic we made together:

Chair Design Illustration - Ramesh Goatee.

Chair Design Illustration - Growlford Barkley.

Chair Design Illustration - Countess Whiskeria.


Chair Design Illustration - Lizzy Rexxy.

I got the finals printed at Repographic of Jamaica Supplies Limited; their work is superb, and their customer service is excellent. Next stop - finding an excellent, highly skilled joiner to help me put this all together. Wish me luck! Suggestions and references wouldn't hurt either. =D

That's it for this week's update! Feel free to let me know what you think of my designs, and even on my previous posts on my Final Year Project. In addition, my Final Year Quest - The Great Fundraising campaign on IndieGogo is still running; every little bit helps in getting all my Final Year Project pieces made, printed, and displayed. =) Thanks for reading!

FYP - Character Bookmarks (Rough Edition), and the Final Year Quest

2012-01-23T10:57:00.001-05:00

Heya! Hope you all had a great and productive/restful weekend! I hope so, because it's time to get down to business - at least for me. =) Over the last week/weekend, I've been tweaking my character buttons (FYP - Buttons Test-Run and Feedback Poll); I'm happy to say that the animal characters at least are ready to be printed, but I've decided to rework Charlene's button illustration. After some time had past, I realized that her expression and overall pose didn't say anything about her personality, nor did it entice the viewer - which is one massive oversight on my part (FYP - Button W.I.Ps!).

Anyway, enough about the buttons! Time to move on to the bookmarks!

Character Bookmarks (Roughs)

I sketched this set some months ago, but I've only just decided to upload them. I haven't been consistent in updating LangiSketches, and keeping my friends abreast with my progress, but I'm aiming to change that. =D The sketches feature the individual illustrations for a set of six character bookmarks, which will measure 2" x 7" each. Drawing from what I learned while drawing the button art, I've put in more of each character's personality into their poses, expressions, and the objects that they hold (with Lizzy Rexxy being the exception, and his dancing prowess speaks loud enough!). Also, this is the first shot of Charlene in her primary school uniform.

Rough bookmark sketches for Growlford, Ramesh, Charlene, and Lizzy.

Rough bookmark sketches of Countess Whiskeria, and Pree.

The Final Year Quest

Last week Tuesday, I launched my IndieGogo campaign entitled Final Year Guest - The Great Fundraising. My aim for this campaign is to raise additional funds for my final year exam and show, and I've also added a campaign widget to the right of my blog (just look for Pree's bright-smiling, feathery face). Since unforseen expenses wiped out my savings (new emergency computer being the main culprit), I'm looking forward to donations in order to get my work printed, which includes the buttons and these bookmarks. Best of all, donating will get you one or more of my merchandise items in return! Sweet, eh? Please feel free to help by spreading the word, as I'll need all the aid I can get at this point. ^^;

Thanks for reading, and be sure to tune in next week when I post about another work-in-progress for my Final Year Project!

FYP - Buttons Test-Run, and Feedback Poll

2012-01-17T15:44:00.002-05:00

Hi, people!I know I haven't been here in too long, but I've been busy with a number of behind-the-scenes work. Part of that has to deal with illustration and making my buttons for my merchandise. The last time I mentioned those buttons, I did so in my FYP - Button W.I.Ps! post. Since then, they've been coloured and I've also done a printing test run at Labels and Supplies Ltd, a local company.

Eraser present to show scale.

The buttons are approximately 1.25" in dimension, which was decided upon based on the results of my Pin-Back Button Poll on my Langi Lala Studios Facebook Page. The poll is still open, so please feel free to participate in it. The more feedback I receive, the better.I also have other news to share, but I will leave those for this Friday's post! Yes, pees, I am striving foir a once-weekly post from now on - and what better way to kick off the weekend? See you later!

EDIT: Just to clarify, Labels and Supplies didn't have 1.5" button options available, but I will contact them for the nearest available size ASAP.

FYP - Button W.I.Ps!

2011-10-24T15:34:00.001-05:00

Still brainstorming for the furniture, but I've just finished sketches for half a dozen character pin-back buttons.


The Whole Gang!

From left to right, we have Ramesh Goatee (Goat), Pree (Parrot), Countess Whiskeria (Cat), Growlford Barkley (Dog), Lizzy Rexxy (Lizard with the shades), and our main girl Charlene 'GirlChile' Robinson. :) I might tweak Pree some more, but I'm satisfied with the designs overall.

What do you guys think?

Edit: While looking at furniture, I see that many manufacturers are still stuck on the 'pink/pastels and princesses for girls' mantra. The unisex ones (according to my Google-search anyway) tend to look bland, while the boy-specific designs are just full of bright colours, great characters, and just plain fun. :(

FYP - Children's Furniture: Chair Designs

2011-10-13T14:19:00.001-05:00

Well, lookee here - an update! In order to show the versatility of illustration in my entire project, one of my ideas is to build children's furniture (yes, I'm ambitious). I spent yesterday sketching and devising possible looks and poses for four of my characters (Countess, Ramesh, Lizzy, and Growlford) as chair-backs. The character designs themselves are not final, but the basic poses will likely remain the same in the final drawings.

The gang as children's furniture designs.

The idea came to me when I was looking on Tumblr, and came across this children's table set:

A friend of mine later told me that those characters were Moomins, trolls (they look like hippos, don't they?) from a Swedish book series that was evidently popular enough to even spawn an amusement pack. You know where I want to go someday. ;)

New Year, New Zeal...and a New Look!

2011-09-26T15:33:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

I know, I know....I haven't updated this blog in what feels like eons, but there's a good reason for that. I've been without my computer for over a month*, and I've been relying on the kindness of neighbours to get periodic internet access. Unfortunately, said neighbours have computers without any graphics software whatsoever, so that meant no new artwork from me. :(

Well, all that should soon change! Speaking of changing, a layout and design overhaul for the blog is also due, and in the works. Sounds great, huh? Another thing is that I'm going to be posting all of my sketches on here from this point on, and not just the ones I'm doing for my Final Year project (yes, that's still going on but that's an explanation for another day).

Sit tight, stay tuned, and thank you for putting up with me for so long! :D

*Don't worry, it merely died on me. The new one should be ready by this weekend.

FYP Character Sketches - Ramesh Goatee & Growlford Barkley.

2011-06-15T17:04:00.000-05:00

Hey, peeps!

In between commissions, I've been slowly but surely re-tweaking (sometimes outright redesigning) Charlene's roster of animal friends. Rather than wait until I had more finished pieces to display - whenever that would be -, I decided to break the long drought on LangiSketches and upload this little rough-paper bit:

The little goat is Ramesh 'Ram' Goatee, an enthusiastic little kid and aspiring chef - and with eyes as big as his stomach. The dog in the sketch is Growlford, 'G' for short. That is far from his final design, so I'd expect some minor to major revisions to be in place before the finals are uploaded.

I'm back! Missed me? You had better! ;)

2011-04-10T01:28:00.000-05:00

Long time no post, I know. Things were rough this semester, to say the very least, but I just finished some major paper work. Now that those are behind me, I'm ready to jump back into the project saddle with a focused mind - and I'm loving it! Part of my 'fresh mind and spirit' approach to my project will involved a redesign of my blog's layout, but that is quite a ways away. In the mean time, I have these:

Remember some posts ago when I alluded that research is important? In order to reinforce that statement (not that it really needs it, but hey!), I'm adding 'research is ongoing'. Trust me, that phase never stops. For my project, I wish to include a handmade book/portfolio as part of my display. I figured I could either go the slow and quality-dubious way of trying it myself, or learn from an expert in the book making field.

Since you have the crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run, here's my first little step in book making:

Don't laugh now! I know it's not much to look at, but I have to learn the basics first - an X book (1), from scrap paper (which I have plenty of after all that theory work!). Not to worry; it will all make sense in due course. ;) My first little book rests on top of an old project logo design (2), and a scrap paper from a previous draft of my thesis (Hi, V!) (3). I happened to be browsing Brittney Lee's blog when I snapped this photo (4), and that yellow piece of paper contains an ancient to-do list - most of the items on it have either been finished, forgotten or outright discarded (5).

That it so far, but stay tuned! I'll try my best not to be gone for so long again - unless I'm on an all-inclusive vacation. ;)

FYP Character Sketches - Lizzy Rexxy

2011-02-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

I still have Part III of my poster maquette experiment to post, but I wanted to show this first.

Lizford 'Lizzy Rexxy' Rexxington

The hyper-energetic dancer and party green lizard - Lizzy Rexxy!

What do you guys think? No constructive criticisms will be refused or deleted. :)

FYP - Poster Maquettes Pt.2

2010-12-18T21:10:00.003-05:00

No, I haven't forgotten about this at all! In fact, I've just put together a little outline of my process thus far. To be honest, I had been hoping to have had this finished before my exam on Thursday (Dec. 16, 2010), but I had gotten far enough for people to get what I'm trying to accomplish.

Anyway, on to the process!

*Re-edit* Found an image hosting site that will allow the file to show at full size! Link has been updated!.:D

FYP - GirlChile's name is...

2010-12-13T00:45:00.001-05:00

The polls are now closed! Sorry for those who missed it, but such is life. According to the results, the winner is 'Charlene' with 22.7% of the 44 votes cast. 'Sasha' and 'Kadianne' tied for 2nd place with 20.5% each, followed by 'Janine' (18.2%), 'Christina' (11.4%) and 'Yvonne' (6.8%)

So GirlChile's name is now Charlene Robinson. :D Many thanks to all who voted and helped me out with this task!

FYP - Give 'GirlChile' A Name!

2010-12-07T17:11:00.001-05:00

After many, many weeks of brainstorming, I am stumped where giving 'GirlChile' a proper name is concerned. Of course, 'GirlChile' has grown on many of my classmates so I'll keep it as a nickname, but she still needs a proper 'birth certificate' name! ^^; Since I'm useless on that front, I realize that I need your help. A lot. :D

Just to give some background information on the character, here's a brief data sheet:

Age: 7+

Location: Jamaica

Physical Characteristics: Tall and very skinny for her age.

Personality: Highly imaginative, observant, jovial, sensitive, a thinker, a little stubborn

Likes: Reading, drawing, writing, playing games

Dislikes: Being bored, mean people, being alone, not being able to draw

Family: Everton (Father), Janet (Mother), Pa Bap (grandpa), Ma Millie (Grandmother)

I've made a shortlist of names and set up a poll on the right side of the blog, so I can get your opinions. If you don't like any of the names listed, or you''d like to make a suggestion, please feel free to do so in the comments. Thanks in advance, guys! I appreciate it!

Polling ends on December 13, 2010 @ 12:15 a.m., so hurry and get those votes in!

FYP Character Sketches - Countess Whiskeria

2010-10-28T12:12:00.001-05:00

Countess Whiskeria is one of the first animal characters to make their appearance in the book. She's a sassy diva with a heart of gold and an eye for fashion. Yes, fashion as in clothes. Don't let the animal nekkidness fool you; Countess and the gang will be wearing clothes. :)

Countess Whiskeria - Initial Sketch

This was the very first sketch that I did of Countess, and it's quite rough. ^^; Countess would require some cosmetic changes before she was ready for her close up.

Countess Whiskeria - 2nd and 3rd Sketches

The second and third sketches for Countess came closer to being 'Countess' than the first, but they still lacked something that would make me go, "Aha! Now she's finished!". I had been looking at some photos of cat breeds and was trying to incorporate physical characteristics of the Abyssinian and the Colourpoint Shorthair (the long, sleek body, with a bit of the ears and facials features). However, I still wasn't quite feeling it. She looked great here, yes, but was more 'fashion magazine' than 'children's book'.

Countess Whiskeria - 3rd Sketch feat. possible hat, scarf and dress design options

The final is dead close to being Countess' final design. After looking at images of cats as well as my own live-and-breathing house/yard puss, I noticed that their hind legs are thicker than their forelegs. Which makes a lot of sense, since much of their hunting relies heavily on sprinting after and pouncing on things as well as the occasional climbing exercise. She has no bust, since I'm not going that anthro/furry route for this project, but I did play up her feminine traits with her hips. Since cats also walk on their toes, so does Countess - which is why her feet aren't flat on the ground as one would expect with, say, a human. She's still smooth-coated, as I find this type of fur easier to work with in a project of this scale.

FYP Character Sketches - 'GirlChile' and Pauline

2010-10-22T23:56:00.009-05:00

Just to set the record straight - my main character will not be called 'GirlChile' forever! Nope. No way. The problem is that I have quite a list of potential names for her and none of them seem...right. I knew I couldn't possibly plot out the story by calling her 'She' throughout the whole thing, so the 'GirlChile' nickname was born.

But fret not. She will have a proper name one way or the other, even if I have to host a poll right here. *hint hint*

In the meantime, I'll show you the initial sketches that I made for 'GirlChile' Robinson and one of her best friends, Pauline Richards done up in Col-Erase Pencils*!:
*Makes me feel all...animatorish and shiggity. :D

'GirlChile' Robinson

These aren't the very first sketches I've done of 'GC', but these are the ones I'll show because the initial sketches were some crappy stuff. I consider those my detox excretions, and who in their right minds want to see those? In the book, she's a very tall and skinny little country girl who's bright, highly imaginative and loves life. I did a full body sketch and several facial ones to try and get her character to match the way I've envisioned her. The one with the darker outlines closely represents 'GC' the most, but the design process is far from over. It's getting there, but she's not quite 'GC' yet.

Pauline Richards

Next is the smart Pauline Richards. This is the very first sketch I've done for her...isn't it odd how some supporting characters are just easier to put on paper? Weird. In any case, this isn't her final design either and I realized in retrospect that she looked similar to 'GC' in the face. I'm still trying to balance my characters being distinct yet being cohesive in overall style and design. I've made some notes on Pauline as to how I could distinguish her features more the next time I attempt to sketch her.

So, what do you guys think?

FYP - State of the Union Address (or WTFudge Has Peta Been Up To)

2010-10-13T16:59:00.001-05:00

September 26, 2010 - October 13, 2010

I made my proposal presentation on Tuesday (Sept. 27, 2010), and it was a HIT! Final Year Project systems are GO! *cabbage patches - the only victory dance she knows* That was the one really bright spark of good news for the week, and Tropical Storm Nicole's back end completely shegged the island from Tuesday night right into Friday morning. The most damages we sustained were a muddy veranda and a few minor leaks, but plenty of others had it worse. :( The rebuilding process is just beginning.

In terms of my project, I'm still mostly in research mode so output has been limited. On the other hand, the knowledge I've been gaining so far has been invaluable. True, I may not be as far ahead as I had hoped but what I've been learning so far has helped me avoid some glaring mistakes that would have sent me sailing straight back to the drawing board. Three words - Not. Gonna. Happen.

As it stands, I'm in the process of writing rough chapter plans for my story before I start typing a manuscript. It's a great way to lay out the direction in which you want your characters and their story to go without a big intimidating blank screen with a blinking cursor in front of your face. :D Besides, having a rough to show at critique is a lot better than having a sob story. Speaking of characters, character sketches are in progress (yay!). So far I have initial sketches for the main character, one of her best friends and one of her other friends. Yes, other friends. More details to follow. ;)

In the mean time, I've been trying my hands at handmade folders for my future manuscript and other notes. Bookbinding supplies are next to impossible to locate here, so I've been doing a lot of improvising and recycling. So far, I have three cover bases made (yay!) and I plan to photo-document the process with those as well. Look out for those too. :)

FYP - My Life is like a Rollercoaster

2010-09-30T13:18:00.001-05:00

September 19 - September 25
Hit a pothole, in that I lost my sculptor for my character maquettes. Le boo. After spending Sunday night in a frantic state, and Monday in a livid state, I had a talk with one of my best friends and the Go-To guy in my inner circle. Rather that sculpt clay maquettes, he suggested I go a different route with materials I could handle - like paper. I felt a lot better after speaking with him, and 100% back to normal after I did some research on the net that very night. I found a blog entry featuring the work of a number of super talented paper artists: Masters of Paper Art and Paper Sculptures

These are three artists whose work really caught my eye, and whose technique I think my novice self can emulate without effing it up:

I doubt I'll go as elaborate as she has with her work, but paper cutting is something I've done before and have enjoyed (yes, I am a freak).

Her work reminds me of the paper sculptures I used to do for fun as a child - only, back then, I didn't think of them as sculpture at all. I guess I do have a 3-D art streak in me.

Yes, I know: I am a complete and utter nut-ball for even thinking of attempting to do something like this! I may be a nut-ball, but I don't care. Just look at how flipping cool this artist's work is!

It's going to be interesting to see what I can come up with for my show, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the process of getting there.

On Thursday of this week, I got the chance to speak to some children at a nearby prep school and hear straight from the source what they like in a story book. Ideally, I wanted to speak with Grade 5-6 students since they fall in my target range but those grades were out on a trip. However, I got the chance to speak to some 3rd graders and...wow, lemme tell you - those children are flipping SMART! There was a little one in the class, literally the smallest student in the room, and she gave me more feedback than I could have ever dreamed. Child just turned 7, and she's in 3rd grade. :D So although they're a little out of my target, I believe I have some potential readers and fans in that class (yay me!). I'll be returning next week to speak with the older students, but these little ones were such a great help that I have to stop by their classroom again - even if it's just to say 'hi'.

FYP - Research, Research and More Research

2010-09-18T23:36:00.002-05:00

A key part of this project is research - this post will cover my progress in researching children's book illustrating and writing, and in shopping around for excellent local printers/graphics firms.

I've been speaking with Vanessa Brantley Newton, a children's book illustrator and writer, and she's been kind enough recommend some books to me. They're must-have reading material for newbie illustrators. I haven't gotten them yet, but I know in my gut that they're chuck full of knowledge and will help me out with my research paper:

You Can Write Children's Books - Tracy E. Dills
The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books - Desdemona McCannon, et al
Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication - Ann Whitford Paul
2011 Children's Writers and Illustrators Publishing Market - Alice Pope

A couple titles I picked on my own are:

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books - Uri Shulevitz
Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration - Dily Evans

Thanks for the titles, V! I ordered them Tuesday (Sept. 14), so I'm just sitting here cooling my heels figuratively speaking until they arrive.

Since my last post, I've been keeping on top of my written work as well as my project's proposal. Where the latter is concerned, that's 70% complete. I have enough put together to make a draft for my lecturers and advisers to read, but I'll probably add more to it before this weekend is over. The Product Description aka. the Story Summary needs a lot of work. It's bad when I'm the one who wrote it and it's failing to convince me to be interested. ^^;

Other things I've been looking into since are ISBN registration, and looking for full-service printers/graphic designers. For the first one, I'll have to go through the National Library of Jamaica. At least I won't have to worry about making a bar code, since I was directed to a free generator on-line: link. For the graphics/printing, I have two I'm looking into:

Pear Tree Press Limited - I need talk to them face to face, but they got the thumbs up clearance from a graduate and one of my lecturers. That's pretty good news for me! I can get most of my print media done through them, but they (currently) only offer off-set printing (translation: low cost printing at high volume) for books. I don't need that for this year.
Jemar Printery Limited- I can get short run digital prints done here. Translation: get a small number of books done for my school project. If interest is high enough, I'll go the off-set printing route with Pear Tree Press.

So far, that's all I have to report. All being well, I plan to work on character sketches tomorrow as well as some other written work. *crosses fingers*

I'll keep you posted!

FYP - It's Back to Lab Again!

2010-09-06T13:21:00.005-05:00

One thing that life throws at you, maybe to test you or to shake you up...perhaps even to be a right bastard, are set-backs. They vary in size, but set-backs are usually occurrences that make you stop, reassess and then progress with a more learned view point about getting from Point A to Point B.

I had such a bitch-slap wake-up call set back just this morning, in my first consultation for my senior project. ^^;

As it turned out, my target group for my project and the project itself weren't compatible. And since this is something I desire to publish at some point, missing the target market completely is as wrong as wrong can get. In short, I have quite a great deal of research ahead of me in order to get this thing done right.

Wish me luck, people! (Post illustrations to follow. School's scanner's too danged far.)

Ward Theatre Poster Project

2009-05-01T19:39:00.004-05:00

Wow, I haven't been here for a while! Anyway, let's move on.

For one of my illustration assignments, we were asked to design a poster for a Ward Theatre production. Ward Theatre is, or WAS, Jamaica's version of Broadway. The annual pantomimes were normally held there but, unfortunately, the grand old theatre has fallen into disrepair. The pantomimes are currently held at another theatre that's closer to the theatre-going public, but I decided to use the current pantomime production for the year and redesign its poster for this project. The pantomime is called "Runner Boy".

My first attempt at the project was rushed, safe and bland. I won't even show it here. I was lucky enough to get a chance to redo it and I did a series of sketches for that purpose.

I call this my 'brain fart' sketch. It's the first sketch in the process and it was basically done to get the main ideas down - 'Runner Boy' in his country clothes and bare feet among more traditional track and field atheletes. Long before I finished, I considered this sketch to be rather uninteresting but I continued nonetheless. It's all a part of the process after all.

This second sketch was an attempt at more dynamism. I tried some foreshortening, although it's quite unsucessful here, and I maintained the idea of concealing his face as I had with the prior sketch and with the prior attempt at the project. The hills in the background reference his origins (i.e. a country boy from the town of Yam Hill). Liked it better than the first, but it still felt a little weak - as if he was out for his morning run and not a country boy called to participate in a city sporting event as the play's summary indicated.

A little better with the foreshortening, but not anything to write home about. I included two traditional runners in the background, with the barefoot Runner Boy beating them by a mile. The placement of the figures cost me the hills in the background, and also left me with an empty space to the lower left. Another trip to the sketch paper was in order.

I finally have a sketch that I'm almost satisfied with! I say 'almost satisfied' because I'd like the opinions from the viewing public before I start on the final. I changed the placement of the figures, which allowed me to reintroduce the hills (which will be faint in the background so as not to subtract from the other two runners), and gave Runner Boy himself a more dynamic angle and a more pronounced position in the foreground. I'm considering moving the title a bit lower and more to the left so as to give more balance, and the play information will occupy the space below that.

Any suggestions before I start the main piece?

A Guy and a Girl

2008-06-23T14:05:00.006-05:00

One of my first sketches since getting the 'break' from school. I sketched these images of a random girl and guy while waiting around for an exam to finish, and realised how great it was to finally work on non-school related things after a nasty first year. I'm not sure what or if I have anything planned for these two in the future. We'll see, right?