Week 9 + 10

Week 9 class was not held in University and instead we all went to the McManus gallery. We were given a sheet to fill out about pieces of artwork we had selected, however I have since misplaced the sheet so I have nothing to show for from this trip. It's a regret of mine and a wasted week.

Production of the box is going very slowly at home, and I am beginning to lose motivation about this and other modules. But at this point I am still trying to get it done.

Week 10 I was terribly ill and bedridden with a cold so I did not attend class, but when I had the energy I compiled mock up images of possible postcards of the songs from the musical Heathers that when I'm well would like to illustrate and print real post cards.

Week 7 + 8

Week 7 no lectures were on but I continued to work on the box at home around other responsibilities from another module. Week 8 was mostly spent in printing and compiling all my research into my sketchbook as well as analyzing the prototypes I had already made prior to this point.

[Insert Image of Sketchbook]

Week 6

This week I had begun a big construction project as a piece of merchandise; recreating the miraculous jewelry box from the show Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir (commonly shortened to Miraculous). I am following the following tutorial to create the box but making a few changes to the production due to the current resources I have an what works better for me.




It is a slow progress as it takes time to sand and dry the pieces I have but progress is being made.

And another step of my research has been made, analysing the characters from the show Miraculous.

Week 5

This week I came in with another prototype in production, and illustration for Heathers that can be used for anything, but what I decided to use it for was a shirt. I used illustrator to create the piece and in class I brought it into photoshop to put on a stock image of a black short. For an added touch I created a very quick logo to add to the tag of the shirt consisting of the words Heather, Heather, Heather, Veronica. I am proud of how this came out and makes me want to create more illustrations like it.

I also continued to create more research, this time comparing what actual merchandise is out there for certain IPs and what I wish there was personally. All this research and more to come is to be printed and stuck into my sketchbook for further annotation and experimentation.

Actual merchandise for the show Miraculous Ladybug include low quality action figures, a dress up kit, plushies, and one toy that has the character in a ring of fire that she has never been in the show.

My dream merchandise would include replicas of items in the show such as the miraculous jewelry box, high quality figurines for display of the characters, adult sized illustrated shirts, and adult sized costumes for dress up that people can use for Halloween and/or costume parties.

Week 4

This week is where I finished my very long Project Proposal, much longer than any proposal I had ever done in the past when I was in college. Once it was done I began to compile research for my project, which consisted of different types of merchandise and also analysing the main characters of the Movie/Musical Heathers which is what I want most if not all of my work to be on as it is my favourite movie and favourite musical.

Also at home in my own time I created my first rough prototype of a keychain; a chainsaw with the quote "Well F*CK Me Gently With A Chainsaw!" which was uttered by the character Heather Chandler from the movie and the musical Heathers. Ryan liked how quickly I had created my first prototype and urged me to create more.

[insert keychain image]

Week 3

This week I came back with my new idea for my personal project, which was much better accepted. My broader idea was general merchandise for movies/tv/music that I feel doesn't have enough official merchandise or good enough merchandise. What I mean by that is that some popular IPs have near to no official merchandise to buy and most stuff you buy for that specific IP is fan created merchandise (like RedBubble stuff), an example of this is the Movie and/or Musical Heathers. On the other hand, the merchandise is targeted specifically to a certain demographic that completely ignores a large portion of the IPs fanbase, such as the show Miraculous Ladybug which is targeted to children therefore sells a lot of low quality toys but has a large older fanbase that would love to buy higher class merchandise for the show.

Another thing that began this week was starting to write the project proposal. We were given a base to work from on Blackboard that gave us lots of specific aspects of our project we had to think and write about in detail. It is a very long document , five and a half pages, therefore it was not finished this week.

Week 2

This week our in class test was to review the art test we had just finished. There was a basic review mind map given to us on Blackboard from the Tuesday Lecture that I chose to use. The following screenshot is the review that I completed.

Also during this class, in groups with Ryan we spit-balled and discussed possible ideas for our personal project. My initial idea was to create movie posters, as I am interested in illustration, media, and merchandise. However, I was informed that my project was not broad enough, so I was sent away as homework to brainstorm an idea that can INVOLVE movie posters nut overall was a broader project to pursue.

Week 1

During Week 1 we were introduced to the module and what it is about, no classwork yet at this point. However there was a homework assignment; to complete one of a few given art tests to show your interest and ability, and to also send in a CV. I already had a CV that I've used for getting jobs so I just sent that in but on reflection they might have wanted a more art based CV. The art test I chose was the Character Art test which consisted of creating a character sheet and a design variation sheet based off a sketch from artist Sergey Kolesov. The following images is what I came up with.

[insert scans here]