Yesterday we presented what (little) work we had to the rest of the group, and I was relieved to see that I was not as behind on my projects as I initially thought. In fact, I was even further ahead than some people. And yet I’m still panicking because the deadline for four of my projects is fast approaching, and I’m not making a vast amount of headway.
I guess I should really stop taking on so many things at once. That or I should learn to be more organised. But when you’re a lethargic young woman, trying to juggle a boyfriend, an education, a social life, afterhours clubs, commissions and personal time, it can get extremely overwhelming, and I find that trying to plan things out is much harder than just diving into things and getting on with it. I’m no different from anyone else my age (well, a little different).
So here’s a brief update of where I am at the moment:
1. My first paid commission, aka: The Mabinogion. Well the deadline is just over a month away (ironically the same day as most of my other projects – nightmare) and I haven’t gotten as much done as I’d hoped by this point. But I’m not too worried, as I always do my best, fastest work when I’m under pressure. I was hoping my first real piece of outside-work would be handled a lot more professionally, but I’m still getting used to the idea of doing this stuff for a living.
I’ve pretty much gone through each and every story in The Mabinogion, and applied one or two ideas to each one. There’s a total of about thirty for me to mess around with, and I only need twenty. I’ve also drawn up some thumbnails to represent what my final illustrations may look like. All that needs doing now is the full-sized images, which I think is the part that will take the longest. Then after that, a quick clean-up and I’ll send them off to the client, who should hopefully approve of them pretty quickly. What I like about this brief is that I’ve been pretty much left to my own devices and imagination. What I don’t like about this brief is that that I’ve been pretty much left to my own devices and imagination. It’s a double-edged sword.
Finally, the colouring should be done over Christmas, which shouldn’t take too long, as I’ve been asked to keep it simple.
2. Work is underway on two short comics I mentioned before: a Horror-story, which isn’t horrific at all, and also an autobiographical piece that references the plight of the Collyer brothers. The basic stories for both comics is pretty much sorted, I’m just now working on character and location designs, along with some thumbnails, then the final comics will be finished over Christmas.
The horror story is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz of sorts, except it’s aimed at very young children. Dorothy is replaced by a baby girl, whilst the scarecrow, tin-man and lion have been changed to a spider, a broken tin-soldier toy and a one-piece baby suit. I am avoiding the use of greys and blacks in the story to appeal to a young child’s sense of wonderment for colour and brightness, and there is absolutely no dialogue in the work, because I wanted to represent how a baby cannot speak and will have to communicate with body language and expressions.
The second comic on the Collyer Brothers has developed into an autobiography, whereby I refer back to the famous pair as a means of getting over my own struggles with OCD and paranoia. So far I have some character designs for my boyfriend Dan as he will look in the comic:
I was inspired by not only my own experiences, but by two books that I was lent by Dan Berry; Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Unlikely by Jeffrey Brown. Both books depict a semi-life story told by the authors in a very honest and touching way. The art styles differ, as do the storylines, but both have enormous heart and left me experiencing a weird emotion that I’ve never quite been able to put in to words; like happy and sad at the same time.
Watch out for my reviews of Fun Home and Unlikely, as well as my finished comics.
3. Also in the works now, and this I’m very excited about, is my documentary on body modification. It’s called “Pins and Needles,” and is being filmed, as I write this, in high definition. It involves the participation of many of my friends, colleagues and some strangers, who I have asked very graciously to give me their views and opinions on body modification or, to be more specific, tattoos and piercings. I am looking forward to posting it online when it’s finished, as I’m hoping it will spark some good discussion, so keep your eyes peeled. For this I also have to write a 1200 word journal, so hopefully that should be up soon too.
4. One of my more abstract projects is an album cover design for my partner’s local Metal band, Taste the Blood. They’ve recently started recording their material after only a year of gigging and playing some great venues.
They’ve pretty much let me take over the cover, so I’m free to do what I please with it. So far I’ve come up with three basic ideas, the first being very basic: a beautiful, gothic woman, sitting drinking from a glass of blood.
The two other ideas I have are based on their main song on the EP, “Medusa’s Serpent”. One image is split in two and shows Medusa looking like an innocent young woman on one side, whilst her evil side takes over most of the album cover. The other idea is slightly more raunchy and features a topless woman holding a snake whilst blood pours from her eyes, nose and mouth. All very Metal.
All the ideas are based around the bands love of B-Movie’s and Hammer Horror films, hence the band name Taste the Blood (of Dracula). So as well as, I hope, giving the band a brilliant cover for their first EP, I will also be getting my work out to the general masses in the music industry, which suits me fine.
And so, that’s basically all of my professional work put into context. As always, comments and input are very welcome.
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