Extra Design Ideas

Although my tutors are now happy with the progress I have made on my first image, they have advised me to consider printing my illustrations to a smaller scale and surround them by other images that contain objects, which link to each of the stories. I have taken this into account and have begun some designs regarding this new arrangment and the surrounding images. See Sketchbook for original drawings.

Exhibition Space Layout

This shows the layout I have created for my exhibition space. It contains three main doors to smaller scale than I originally intended, which the illustrations will be behind. They are now surrounded by smaller doors of a range of sizes. Some of these will open to reveal digital images that I will create and some will have physical jars containing objects. Each jar will link to the stories in one way or another. This will give the viewers another dimension to see my illustrations and hopefully help them to pick out which stories they are depicting. I intend for some of the smaller doors to have doors, others will just be a frame. I also intend to have some doors which don't open or are empty inside. This will reinforce the idea of opening a door into another world, as they don't all open into a fantasy world.

Jar Designs and Ideas

I have reread all of my stories and picked out some key elements that I have unable to put in my illustrations. Each one helps to define the story it is based on. Although I have more designs to do, I am happy to settle on these for now and perhaps discover some more nearer the time. I also have to pin down numbers and sizes of doors; however, I need to measure my space before this can be confirmed.

Although I am convinced by the extra additions to my exhibition space, I am still unsure on the reduction in scale of my illustrations. My original idea was to make images to fit full size doors, and this inspired me a great deal. I would be disappointed if I was not able to fulfil this aspiration. However, I understand the restrictions that come with such a scale.

Little Mermaid Continued Two

This will the final stage of major work to this illustration, after this I will move on to start a new image and return to this one at a later time to make any final adjustments.

Light Rays and Highlights

To make the lights rays through the deep water, I am using a technique I discovered in my previous project. This is to use the gradient tool on a setting called "Noise", which creates a range of harsh lines. These can then be integrated into the image creating the effect of light. I then used Filter>Render>Clouds and>Different Clouds to create the wavy effect on water. This reinforces the effect of the light rays as well as creates a sense of wavy water movement. Finally, I use Render>Clouds once again to create a set of wavy highlights on the sea bed. I have also experimented with the pathway, as it seems to be less obvious with the highlights; however, it might need more work at later stage.

Adding Brick Texture

It was suggested to me that I consider adding more texture to the image, so I began with the castle and decided to try bricks. I took some first-hand photographs of a variety of brick walls, and began layering them underneath the sand layers in my image. I am unconvinced towards the success of this experimentation. I can see how the addition of this could benefit the image by creating a better sense of reality and depth, but I also liked the imagery it created through the representation of a sand castle.

I decided to continue experimenting with textures, including cracked sand and fewer bricks. The cracked sand didn't work, but I became interested in the potential of fewer bricks. I created the original layer by selecting and deleting all the actual bricks, leaving just the mortar. This could then be erased and merged with each section of the castle. I used the warp tool to create the right shape for the towers.

Below are the three different textures I have applied to the castle. Although I still like the original plain sand walls, I have come to appreciate the effect of the lighter brickwork. The bricks in the centre image are too bold and dominant, it creates the wrong impression in the viewer, and so I will continue with the right-most image.

More Highlights

Looking closely at my piece, I realised that some of the shadows needed darkening, so I used Image>Adjustments>Curves to create a stronger contrast on each element of my image. I then began work on creating water highlights on the castle. I did this by duplicating the highlights on the sea bed and angling them to suite the rooftops. I then erased the sections that weren't needed. I repeated this process on the rest of building depending where the light is hitting it. I am particularly pleased with the outcome of this simple task. The highlights help to bring all the elements together and make them interact more realistically.

Shadows

As an extension of my previous task, I began adding shadows from each element. I began with a shadow from the red trees onto the blue bushes and the side of castle's main tower. The shadows were created by duplicating the layer, painting it black and manipulating it to the right shape and opacity. I used the same process on the castle to create a large shadow right across itself. This took quite a long time, as each element behaves differently on top of another. But I am very happy with how it turned out; each element interacts with another making the whole image more realistic.

Pathway

I have decided to revisit the pathway as it seems to have become buried in the sand. The best way to solve the problem was to make the path darker and more obvious. However, I am still unsure if this works within the composition, but I am prepared to leave it as it is until a better solution comes along.

Final Image

Above is the final illustration for The Little Mermaid. I am very pleased with the final look of this piece. It has some very interesting elements and some highly detailed sections, which I hope with catch the viewers' eye and intrigue. Although I have not added all of the elements I had initially intended - the shells lining the path, etc. - I am still in the process of evaluation. I will return to this image in a few days and make a decision in terms of additions and alterations.

Full Size Experimental Print

Print in Doorway

In order to get a better idea of scale, I have printed my illustration on several sheets of A4 and pieced them together. Although it is in black and white, it is very exciting for me to see my work at such a large scale and I am still confident in my designs. I was hoping that this process would help to point out flaws in my work, but unfortunately the quality of printing is quite poor and so this became impossible. I may decide to do a further test print, perhaps in colour, before the final show; however, I also have to remember that the pieces aren't designed to be looked at closely. I have designed these pieces to be viewed from a few paces away, not directly face to face. This will give me some leeway for flaws and imperfections, which I don't have time to dwell on in such a short deadline time.

Little Mermaid Continued

I am continuing in my production of my first illustration.

Castle Alterations

Upon reflection, I have realised that the layers of sand don't quite meet up with each other and so I can see white edges between the different walls. This isn't a problem at this stage, but when I come to scale up the image for printing, these gaps will become bigger and more visible. Therefore, I have solved the problem now by creating one layer for the sand and expending its selection by 1 pixel. This has successfully created no joins and no white slivers.

Shell Door Attempt

I had an idea to use a clam shell as the door to the castle, as it wouls link together the whole sea theme. using the selction tool, I created a layer for the shell and placed in position as the door. However, I am unsure how successful this has been. I am going to continue my development and try other things.

Tower Pods

Using the shading techniques I discovered earlier, I created a shape for the pods. I then took a crop of the opalescent inside of a shell and applied it to each pod. I like the effect of the mixture of colours, and it works within the underwater theme.

However upon reflection, I am unhappy with the overall shape of the pods, and have decided to create a slightly altered version. The new version has straighter sides and a flatter bottom. This will help to create a more 3-dimentional effect. I then put the opalescent colour back on top of these new shapes to complete the look.

Tower Tops

Whilst trying to stick to the underwater theme, I have experimented briefly with the tower tops by cutting a swirly section from a photograph of a tower shell. When lined up with the edges of the pod the swirl looks like it could be the roof; however, I don't think this is effective as the shell blurs easily and has the wrong shadows, which would be very difficult to edit effectively. In light of this I have applied the sand texture to the roof tops, as this fits in with the rest of the castle and can be manipulated as required.

I have also experimented with the main tower in the castle's structure. The shell section was cut from a conch-like shell, which I shaped to fit the top of the structure. However, there is the same problem as before in terms of shadows, but also I don't think it fits with the rest of the composition. Therefore, I will leave the sand texture as it surface.

I then spent time altering the shadows on the various elements of castle's structure. This was made easy by the greyscale layers I made earlier as they are still separate from the sand textures, and so can be altered as much as necessary.

Completed Castle

Door Creation

As the shell didn't work out as a door, I have returned to my original idea of creating a wooden door. So, I began by creating the shape I want and filling it in with a light-ish brown. I then got a photograph of wood and experimented with the layer settings to find the most effective in creating a texture - I decided on Multiply.

I also experimented with the darkness of brown, burt decided I liked it as it was.

Door Knocker

Instead of using the clam shell as a door, I have made it smaller and applied it as a door knocker. This is an example of the, hopefully, intriguing details that will interest my audience.

Windows

In the original story the windows are described as being made of amber, and so I have used a mixture of gradient tools and pattern rendering to create the effect of sheets of amber for windows. I used a pillow emboss to make the window look like it has been pressed into the sand. This is surprisingly effective, and I have now applied it to the door and the door knocker.

Completed Castle

Seaweed Development

I used the pen tool to follow the seaweed shapes I drew on my designs, which I then filled in with various shades of green. I am pleased with the shape of each example of the plant, as it has the characteristics known to seaweed - i.e. varying thicknesses and unusually blobby tendrils.

As these still look quite flat, I began adding another shade of green to the centre of each of the plants. I did this by selecting the plant, then contracting and feathering that selection. I then picked a lighter or darker shade and painted that into the selected area. This created a smooth transition between each shade and a better sense of depth.

To increase this sense of depth I added an emboss filter to each layer. This has created highlights and shadows on each piece. The transition is clear below.

Mermaid-Shaped Fish Shoal

By creating the outline of a mermaid, I will be able to create the same shape out of individual fish. I have downloaded a brush with a variety of fish, and I have chosen one of those, which I will duplicate and move around to fill the mermaid shape. This is another example of curiosities that I hope will intrigue my audience. By changing the angle and size of each of the fish a little bit, they will each look individual. I will be sure to make the shoal look quite thick, but it will be important to leave some blank areas, as this will maintain a sense of definition amongst the fish. After applying all 300 fish, the mermaid has taken shape. I am pleased with this element of my image, as I was unsure how I would create it, but it has turned out well.

Above shows how I have experimented with different shades for the mermaid. However, as I want it to be quite subtle, I will stick to the original colour as it matches well with the background.

Creation of Little Mermaid Illustration

The illustration I have chosen to work on first is the Little Mermaid, as this piece the furthest along and the most inspiring to me at the moment.

Castle Attempt One

I have begun work on a new improved castle. The process started by creating blocks of greyscale shading. This will help to create a sense of depth underneath the colour/textures that I add on top. I am pleased with this part of the process, but am unconvinced by the textures and colours I have tried so far. I have decided to continue improving my image and return to this at a later stage, when I have more ideas how to create the texture I want.



Bushes Improvement

I have now moved on to creating a more density in the blue bushes. In the original mock up, this section was one bush scaled up; so, I am now duplicating the bush several times, layering them on top of each other and arranging them in a more realistic way. This will avoid stretching the pixels too far and maintain the shape of the leaves. In this process, I was also able to give each bush a slightly different shade, once again increasing the realism. I have created new pearl-like berries for the bush and placed them strategically throughout the composition. By erasing the sections that overlap leaves, I was able to create a sense of depth.

Completed Bushes

 Trees Improvement






I have applied the same technique to the trees on the other side of the castle. I used the magnetic selection tool to cut out a better shaped tree from the original photograph, and copied this to make several different trees. I also flipped one vertically to make it look different to the others. I tried to create a wave effect with the top leaves, as if the water current were making it waft. I have also used the burn and dodge tools to increase the shadows and highlights, creating better depth.

After completing the alterations to the trees, I zoomed out and realised that the edges were blurry. I decided to use the eraser tool and follow the shapes just inside the each image and create a more tree-like shape. By following the highlights and shadows, I was able to create an outline that wasn't blurry and a better sense of leaf shapes. I am now pleased with how this looks and am happy to move on.

Pathway

As the title of my project is "Pathways to Fairylands", I am trying to create a link between each image by giving the audience a pathway into each one. Therefore, I need to create a clear pathway in this piece. I began this process at the mock up stage by adding in some tower shells that will line the path; however, I need to re-photograph some shells to complete this, so for now I will create a sense of a walked pathway in the sand. I did this by using the paintbrush to draw wavy sand grooves. I then applied a shallow drop shadow and changed the layer settings until they created the impression of sand grooves. I am pleased with the look of these groove, however, they may need some alterations later.

Castle Attempt Two

I have decided to give the castle the texture of sand - to create the effect of a sand castle. So, I have begun with the greyscale version I created earlier and used some filters (Clouds and Noise) to create a digital version of sand. I then used this to cover the entire surface of the castle and changed the layer settings to allow the shadows I created to come through. This has created a good sense of depth and a realistic sand texture.

Completed Walls

I then applied the same techniques to create the towers. I used the gradient tool to create a smooth transition in the shadows.

Direction

I have taken into consideration the concerns of my tutors and have so far decided to continue on my original path. I have spent the last few days trying to think up a new alternative, but nothing has grabbed my attention. Therefore, I will continue with my original idea and see how the piece turns out.


I have set myself a target to work on one image until Thursday, at which point I will see my tutors again to get opinions and make a final decision towards my final presentation.

Redirection

At this stage in my project, I felt it necessary to get approval from my tutors before beginning major work on my final illustrations. Unfortunately, they have expressed concern over the large scale of the final pieces. They believe that once my pieces are blown up to such a large scale, they will be slightly empty looking. This is due to fact that when the images are blown up there will be areas of quite flat colour that will suddenly be huge and quite dominating. I can understand this concern and listened to their other suggestions.

They suggested that instead of the images being behind full sized doors, that I design and build a set of cupboards - perhaps modified bathroom cupboards etc. - which contain lots of smaller and doors and draws; behind these structures will sit my images. This will maintain my interest in creating an atmosphere where my audience have opened up an access point to another world, but also create more of a transition between this world and another. Also in the different sections of the structure could sit a variety of objects that link back to the story.

Although this is an interesting idea, I am so far unconvinced that it is the best way to go. I will carry out some research and create a few design sketches based on this idea and hopefully come to a decision that satisfies all concerned.

See sketchbook for designs.

I will also complete my experimentation of Lenticular lenses as this will help me to make a decision on my final piece and its presentation.

Large Scale Print

I have chosen one of my designs to print to full scale on several A4 sheets, the Little Mermaid. This will help me work out if the photographs and other sections of the image will scale well, or if they'll pixelate, as the scale at this stage is almost 5 times bigger than the digital versions.

Although it was difficult to piece together the 33 sheets, I am pleased to say that the majority of the images have scaled fine. The only section that looks odd is the pieces of coral in the foreground; however, I was going to change these anyway as they don't really work as I thought they might. It is exciting to see my work on such a large scale and working as I expected it to. It has also helped me to consider how I will print the images for the final exhibition, as the process I used was quite easy.

I will now plan my time around creating the actual illustrations. I will increase the size of the digital paper I am working on to aid the scaling up process, but I am glad that the current scales have worked fine. I may wish to repeat the process at a later stage in order to fully evaluate my development and find sections that need improving.

Mock Up Reflections

Now that my initial mock ups are complete, I have evaluated them and decided on some changes and additions to be made.

Mock Up Creation - Rapunzel

The final mock up I have to do is for Rapunzel. I began with the plait, as this was the simplest section as well as the most important to the illustration. I created a longer version of the plait I photographed for research by cropping a section, duplicating it several times and merging them together. I then altered the colour to make it more blonde, as it is compared to spun gold in the narrative. The castle was the next section I began work on. Using the pen tool in Photoshop, I was able to create the shape that I wanted and add a sense of depth through an alteration in fill colours. This will need more work for the final illustration, mostly in the process of building texture, i.e. bricks wall and straw roof.

I then began work on the path to the tower and the surrounding forest. The part of the image isn't quite as simple as I was hoping; the path doesn't look long enough and the trees aren't dense or have leaves. However, after some experimentation I was able to create a better sense of perspective and thicker forest using images from my trees and bushes research.

The development continued and I know have a range of background options. Some of these compositions look more realistic than others; obviously all of them will need a lot more work. At this time, I think the left-most image is the most appropriate composition, but I will most likely create a combination of all of these images until I find the best looking illustration.

Experiment with Little Mermaid Castle

The original narrative describes the castle as begin made of various shells; however, during my designs I realised that I wanted to create a more traditional castle, as this would speak better to my audience. But I have decided to experiment with creating a shell castle.

I began with the outline of my original castle design and used various shells from my research photographs to fill in each section of the building. I like the idea of this and the tower shells work well as turrets; however, I don't think people will see this structure as a castle, rather a gathering of large shells.

I have imported the new castle design into the composition I created to see how well it fits together, initially. I don't think this is a good way to go. The castle doesn't look particularly castle-like and it will confuse my audience. Therefore, I have decided to use my original castle design, and built it up with textures and decoration. However, this experiment has given me the idea to use the tower shells as posts marking a path down to the castle. This will help build a sense of scale and distance, and incorporate more elements from the narrative.

Mock Up Creation - The Little Mermaid; Fri 13th May

This post documents the process I took to produce my mock up for the Little Mermaid illustration.

As with the last image, I began with a copy of my design sketch and began to build on top with a variety of images. I am very pleased with the red trees and blue bush; I think they work really well in the composition, they just need a little work to make them less stiff and they will be ideal. However, the coral in the foreground may need changing; it looks a little strange, perhaps seaweed will work better.

I think the castle is going to be a very important part of this illustration, and I want to make sure it looks right. I began with creating a digital linear copy of my design and then filling in each section as I thought most appropriate. I have used the opalescent inside of a shell I collected for the windows; and the shell of a large clam for the roof tops. I think these work really well, as they help to create a sense of depth and link to the original narrative which described the castle as being made of various shells. Although I currently like this castle design, I am going to experiment with creating a castle made entirely from shells soon.

Above are the final touches I put to the image, including a brief surrounding sea and some light rays. I think these are quite effective for this stage in the design process. Below is the final mock up for this illustration. There are a few things that will need to be altered in the next stage, but I am certainly pleased with the outcome so far.