Trumps

Here are all of my groups top trump cards. 

Transferable skills poster !

My transferable skills poster!
The idea was inspired by the front cover of a Dr Seuss book named The cat in the hat.

SWOT analysis - student - comic book artist - children's book artist

Being a student is where i am currently, the two below are job which i could see myself doing, i have projected myself into the roll and filled out the sheet accordingly 

Mind map :)

mind map i made using my tablet!

Pro's and con's of two job roles

Children's book illustrator 

In the future i would love to illustrate children's books, being quite childish myself and having quite a loose style make my images appropriate for story telling. I love drawing little creatures and leaving some of their story blank to allow the viewer to decide what happens next. I like the idea of working with writers to make a story which would then be published world wide, i want to see my work on the shelves. The overall experience that i would gain from getting a job as a children's book illustrator would make me stronger as an artist and also give me the ability to tell stories and communicate ideas which could open up the doors for future jobs.

Pro's

• Potential chance to work with kids - Could lead to book signings at schools and even mini workshops which i would run.
• Loose style works well in the genre of kids books - My style has always contained a hint of humor and since i have started uni i have developed a few different styles, some more appropriate for this job than others.
• Collaboration opportunities - I could meet other book illustrators which could lead to a collaboration product in where we would all contribute an image, it's always good to throw ideas around with new faces.
• Good pay - a successful children's book could bring in a lot of money.
• Potential full time job - Could get signed on by a publisher for future projects.
• Will get to meet new people within the industry- This will give me the chance to build up my list of contacts which could help me further down the line with future job aspects. 

 Con's 

• Free lance work - When starting off i may get commissioned to illustrate a couple of pages in a book, this is a one time payment and probably wouldn't be enough to support me.
• Self motivated - I have to motivate myself to find the work, i have to push myself to make all of the images the best that they can be, it is up to me to get my work out there.
• Competition - There are thousands of children's books getting published every year, there are a lot of jobs going but there are also a lot of artists who are willing to take your place should you not meet a deadline. You have to stand out from the crowd, your style has to be unique and likable.
• Will need another job to start myself off - Like the first point, most of my first jobs will be free lance and they will not be enough to support me, i will need another job to secure a roof over my head, putting time into another job will take away time that i can work on my images which could potentially hinder the quality of my work.

Blue Banana 

This is my current job, i work at an alternative clothing and body piercing store called Blue Banana, i have been there for nearly two years and this was my first paid job. The store is literally a couple of minutes away from the college so i can easily finish work and head to a lecture or vice versa, it's also not that far from home so it is even more convenient. I live at home but i still need to buy my own food and various other items, the store offers me a weekly income which helps me support myself. I have also manged to get the right amount of hours so that i can keep on top of my work as that is a lot more important than a part time job, though it is nice to manage both.

Pro's

• Time management - Arriving on time is good etiquette and it also allows me to plan my day fully, i can plan when i need to put in some extra time for any lectures that i may have missed. It also allows me to prioritize things and make a list of what is the most important.  
• weekly income - Reward for me to work towards each week.
• Till skills - Learning how to use the tills interface can prepare me for any future jobs in retail should i need one.
• Work as a team - Great team building skills, working together to get the sale.
• Meet some interesting people - I meet new people every day, you get talking to some interesting people, i have had people bring up illustration and then had them interested in my work through conversation.
• some artistic opportunities - I got the opportunity to draw some images for some potential tee shirts which would have been sold in the shop if they were good enough. Was pretty cool and i got to work with illustrator a bit more. Below are some of the ideas i came out with.
  
                        

Con's 

• Takes up college time - Work is fine but sometimes they call me in when i am busy and it gets in the way of my work, so far i have not let it effect my grades but the second and third year will require me to focus more and i'm hoping that work doesn't get in the way too much, if it does then it will have to go.
• same old thing - Being there for nearly two years has taken it's toll on me, i do the same old thing day in and day out, all of the days sort of merge into one.
• Pay isn't great - even if this job was full time i don't think it would be able to support me if i lived by myself, i have to wait till i am 21 to get a pay rise and even then it isn't great.
• Not living to my full potential - Every hour i spend in work could be another hour that i use to draw or to prefect another skill which can help me in the illustration field. 

Jack Teagle Lecture!

Jack Teagle is an illustrator from Newquay, he graduated from university back in 2009 and since then he has made quite a name for himself in the art world. Teagle has worked in a bunch of different ways but his refined style always shows through in every piece he produces. Jack studied fine art at university and it wasn't until his second year that he really found his style. In the third year they were given the task to illustrate different book covers, instead of a load of half finished books Jack decided to make his own comic which would then make up a full book. His loose style allowed him to illustrate an entire comic within the allocated time they had for the project. Jack struggled finding work when he graduated, he would get the occasional job but not enough to support him, he then had to resort to 'going on the dole'. Jack did not give up drawing and decided to keep making little comics, Jack worked with paint as well as fine liner both of which to great effect.

Jack mentioned that he had a lot of influences which help him to make his images, here are a few:

• Howard Finster  ( Click this one!)      (Or this one! )
• Ryan Heshka
• Craig Atkinson
• Gary Baseman
• Gary Panter
• Henry Darger

Jack is also influenced by a lot paraphernalia from his childhood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Godzilla and Batman were among his favorites. Wrestling figures were his favorite and a lot of his characters mimic the limited action poses that you see on wrestling figures today. Muscles were also highly exaggerated on those figurines and Jack adds those tiny details to his own characters which has helped to build up his style. 

Jack experimented a lot with screen printing at university and that process has also had it's influence on his style, his use of block colours and heavy lines give the screen printed effect, this made his work very appealing to publishers such as Nobrow and Anorak. Jack made the habit of keeping an updated blog, he would post nearly everything he drew in attempt to get a job which evidently paid off. Whilst Jack was on the dole he made an image and posted it online, to him it was just another one of his drawings, someone soon contacted him to ask if they could use his image on some coffee packaging. Jack would work fast with his images to get it all out there for the world to see, the more little jobs he got the better, it all adds up. 

Soon after this, Jack got noticed by Nobrow and got asked to feature in one of their annuals, this is where Jack's career started to snowball. Soon Nobrow asked Jack to illustrate a full comic which thy would then publish, the comic was called Jeff Job Hunter and it was a story Jack wrote when he was trying to find work after university. Since then Jack has produced more work for Nobrow, here are some of the books Jack has illustrated: 

Jeff Job Hunter

Egyptian comics

FIGHT #1

FIGHT2!

What next? 

Jack started to work digitally to both save time and make his images neater seeing as they were now normally being used in publications and posters. The FIGHT comics really got his work rolling and opened up more opportunities for Jack, it wasn't long before people started recognizing the characters from his comics and began to ask for pieces in the same style for various products. Jack soon nailed a job illustrating an entire taco truck. He covered it with his wrestling characters, it looked like this:

No Guts No Glory 

No Guts No Glory are an association who help aspiring artists get their work noticed. Jack got the chance to work with these guys and make some low budget zines which they could sell at conventions for a small profit. Jack also got to screen print some of his designs onto shirts and jumpers, Jack also worked on a 24 hour comic called Dick Williams. (Click here to see the comic )



Anorak
Jack got noticed by publishers Anorak, this combined with his time with Nobrow gave him the experience he needed to successfully make it as an illustrator with sustainable income. Jack told us that working with Anorak made him further refine his style, he would paint a lot of characters for Anorak, it was then that Jack started to experiment more with his digital skills. After working with Anorak for a while Jack soon got employed by them, this job was the first time Jack ever got to focus on editorial illustration.


                                     

Jack didn't give up when there was little work, if anything that inspired him to make more work, he took the skills he learnt from uni and adapted them to refine his own style, he got jobs by posting his work online and hoping for the best, all it took was one job to get him noticed. Jack came out of university knowing that he liked to tell stories and he knew how to tell them, he used his childish influences to easily annotate his stories, he applies his knowledge of screen printing and painting to his image making to great effect.

We finally had a questions and answer session with Jack.
I asked him if he liked having a lot of little jobs going on or just one big one, i also asked if he limits himself to a certain number of jobs at once.

He said that he preferred the smaller jobs and he had a bad habit of accepting a load of jobs at once, he went on to say that three is about his limit. He also said that he would normally have one or two jobs that have a small short deadline and one job that has a longer deadline, this is a good way to keep money coming in throughout the month and therefore a good way to support himself.

Someone else also asked him how he got an agent.
He said that he got an agent mainly through his work with Nobrow and the fact that he won the student award help by the D&AD.

Local and broad networks - Family

LOCAL

Everyone is different when it comes to family, some people aren't really into the thought of being near their family throughout their life where as some can become dependant on the support of their family. I live close to the college and therefore did not need to move out, i have always been a family person and im lucky to have them so near to me. Having family close to me means that i have a constant means of financial support as well as a roof over my head, i am self dependent and cook for myself, i also have a job to pay for various things so i am not totally reliant on my family but i like the feeling of having them there should everything go wrong. My family alos give me emotional support should i be going through a hard time, the stress is sometimes too much and i just need someone to talk to. 

Pro's

• Roof over my head ( security )
  
• Emotional support ( somewhere i am accepted, people i can talk to and get along with)
  
• Financial support ( help me space my money out for the important things)
  
• A place to work ( a room of my own )
  
  

Con's 

• Not a lot of privacy ( living in one house with 3 other people can get a little crowded, sometimes you just want your own space)
  
• Lack of self independence ( the fact that you can reply on your parents might make you lazy and ungrateful)
  
• Arguing and fall outs ( there is only so much a family can take of each other before problems start showing up)
  
• pinned down to one place ( Don't get the experience of moving away and living with a load of new people )
  

BROAD

A lot of students move away from home to go to university, this can be for a number of reasons such as they want their own independence, living complications or their course might just require them to relocate. Moving away from home is a big step and effects everyone in different ways, if you move away because you want to then you will handle the situation better than someone who may have been persuaded to move away. Moving out has it's ups and downs, it defines you as a person and helps to build character. I personally don't like the thought of moving away from my family right now as i have always been really close to them and the separation would greatly effect me and it would take a long time to adapt to such a big change. 

Pro's 

• Independence - learn how to look after yourself, sort out your own finance
  
• Privacy - get a room to yourself and you won't get disturbed
  
• Builds character - helps you make important decisions and learn who you are
  
• Meet new people - you will live with new people, good way to make friends, they become your second family.
  
• Experience - Learn important life skills. 

Con's

• Lack of emotional support ( parents support you through hard times)
  
• Home sick ( you are going to miss your family even if it is a tiny bit)
  
• Financial problems ( have to plan out money and figure out costs of food)
  
• Might not get on with the people you live with
  
• Lack of home made meals
  
• More responsabilities ( if something goes wrong, you need to sort it out )

Local and broad networks - Shopping

Shopping 

Local:

As an art student i require a fair amount of materials and resources so i will need a good selection of local shops to meet my ever expanding list of items. There are a few local stores which are a couple of minutes away from the college, this is convenient and makes it easy for me to quickly grab the stuff i need. The list below shows a number of different shops which are local to me, i use each one for different purposes: 

WHSmith - Office supplies, books, DVD's etc - I buy my large sketch books here.  

Ryman  - Office supplies and stationary - I normally get my books and folders here, fair price and i get student discount.   

The Art Side  - Canvases, paints, craft materials etc - i get most of my pens and markers from this store, they are quite pricey but are the only shop in Plymouth that stock them. 

Paperchase  - Groovy books, planners, high grade papers, stationary etc

Waterstones - Store where i can get my artist reference books! 

The college also has a shop in the library which sells some basic equipment should we not want to make to journey into town. 

Pro's 

• Can get advice on the item im buying
• Shops normally have offers for students which allow me to get things for a good price, i can also get student discount.
• Local so if i have any problems i can go in and complain
• Get to see what i am buying and maybe test it out
• Don't have to pay a fee to get it shipped to me
• Instant purchase
• Good selection of shops to choose from

Con's 

• Sometimes overpriced
• The shops don't always have the equipment that i require (e.g. different thicknesses of paper, precession fineliners and pro makers)
• Have to psychically go there to get the item 

Broad:

Nearly everyone uses the internet in the 21st century, shopping online was somewhat taboo 10 years ago but now it is a big thing, you can get everything online - and normally for a cheaper price. 

There are hundreds of online stores which can deliver directly to me, online shopping is efficient and convenient as we don't even have to move to get the item. When local shops fail me i know that i can find what i need online, i use a variety of different sites to buy equipment, this cuts out the multiple journey's i would have to take from shop to shop. I find myself buying a range of things that i would not normally find in a local store, for example i have just bought a brush tip pen which i cannot seem to find in any local store.

Here are a list of online stores that i use:


Amazon  - Sells pretty much everything and for nearly half the price of some local stores, i have recently bought a hard drive and a cutting matt from Amazon.

Play - sells more tech than anything else but is good for USBs, spare disks and graphics tablets.

Cult pens  - Sells a lot of different brush pens and fineliners

Hobby craft  - all kinds of craft materials e.g. glue, feathers and glitter.


Pro's 

• Normally cheaper than local stores
  
• Great selection of items to choose from
  
• can find nearly anything online
  
• Don't have to go to the store to pick it up 

Con's

• What you save on the item you normally make up for it with postage and packaging
  
• Buying the item isn't instant, you have to wait for it to be delivered
  
• you can't test or see what you are buying
  
• Can be hard to return an item bought online
  

Analysis of THREE illustration resources

YCN
(CLICK ME)

The young creatives network, or YCN for short is an agency who seek out aspiring artists and offer them opportunities which help them to structure their professional portfolio and help them gain the experience they need to make it out there in the field.

YCN offer the following opportunities. 

• Yearly awards to showcase members work and keep in contact 
• Publications to help share ideas and new talent
• collaborative shop which sells products made by members
• Online directory of companies which are sometimes hard to come by
• Regularly updated job opportunities list for members.

Why would i use it? 

This sites many opportubnites offer me a chance to showcase my work to a wider audience and through different media, every event i attend would give me some important experience as well as get my name out there. As i am currently at uni i am not looking for a lot of illustration work but the site does give me access to a big list of job opportunities for when i finish my degree which is helpful. It would be good practice for me to become a member before i graduate so that i can send my work off and begin to promote myself. Although there are different levels of membership you still have to pay to become a member which is the only downside really.

YCN has that student like feel to it and i feel like this organisation is directed at children, teenagers and post graduates as more mature artists will not need as many opportunities to get started.  

Layout 

The website is well organised and the front page is literally covered in art work, the site is straight to the point and is very informative. The only downside to the site is that you have limited access if you are not a member therefore restricting what you can search for, though all of the important information is open to the public.

Overview

This website is really useful but is it the best for showcasing my work? I have to be a member to take part in most of the events and that costs money. There are sites such as DeviantART which do not look as good as this one but i can sign up for free and i can also get some quick feedback. For me YCN is a gateway into the bigger world of art and acts as an anchor point for young artists but if you just want some of your work to be critiqued quick then this probably isn't the best sight for it. YCN would only look at your work if you brought it to them which is in London, a bit of a journey for some quick feedback.  

DeviantART
(CLICK ME!)

DeviantART is website built to showcase artists work, comments are also enabled on your images so you can get some feedback on your images, this site is also good for finding artist inspiration.

DeviantART has the following features:

• Mass stock images for reference (credit must normally be given to the source) 
• Free membership 
• Works like a forum and allows feedback on your work
• The chance to get your image on the front page ( randomizes images) 
• Can sell work on the site
• Good artist resource 

Why would i use it?

I have used this site before when trying to find some action poses for my art and they had a wide selection of poses that i could use for free, if the work wasn't for educational purposes then i would have to credit the photographer, some also charge a small fee for you to use the image. There is a seemingly endless list of artists on DeviantART, most of it does not take my fancy but every now and then i come across some awesome artists therefore making this site good for artist reference and inspiration. I can sing up to DeviantART for free and i can treat my account as a forum as well as a place to showcase my work, the site has a cool feature which links my work to other artists who produce the same kind of images which potentially makes my work easier to find. Finally i can use the site to get some feedback on my images. 

Layout 

I am not a great fan of the layout, the colour schemes aren't great and the over all layout of the buttons isn't very well organized. The site probably gets hundreds of uploads every day, this combined with the way that the site randomizes the images makes it easy for your work to get lost. The function that allows members to comment on images using GIF animations can sometime clog up the feed and make it hard to find any critical comments which may have been made.

Overview 

This site is incredibly handy for some quick feedback, it is also a great network for sharing my work around the world. The fact that i can be a member for free and also sell my work on that site is a bonus, the poor layout and chance of loosing my work in the sea of posts is a downside but the site is still something to look at for self promotion purposes. DeviantART does not offer me job opportunities where as YCN does, DeviantART is purely a site for me to have quick access to my own work where as YCN is used to help me get a job in the art world. 

Blogger 

Blogger is a free blog which is linked up to your Google account, it lets you keep an undated journal of images and text, blogger also allows you to make your profile public so that people can search for you using the search bar. If a blog is labeled correctly it can be quite easy to traffic views to your page which can increase the chance of someone coming across it, the more views it has the more popular it will be in the search engine. 

Blogger has the following features: 

• Simple interface 
• Allows external links to be added to posts 
• Allows pictures and video's to be added 
• Labeling 
• Unique layout customization 

Why would i use it? 

It is mandatory that we keep an updated personal development blog throughout the three years of our degree, it is used to show how our work has developed from start to finish. I use the blog as a dairy to document the changes i have made to my images, i also use it as a directory of research, any artist i research normally goes up on the blog and i can re use it for future modules. Having my blog address handy also allows me to have my work with me wherever i go should i need to show someone how i make my images and the process that goes behind it. Blogger is a great way to showcase my work and it also increases my chances of being found by potential client. 

Layout

Blogger is fairly easy to understand and it's also pretty easy to navigate. The layout of the blog changes depending on your preference but the profile page will always look the same, pretty simple not a lot to it, the part where you make the posts and edit everything is unseen by everyone else. I got to grips with blogger fairly quickly and although i wasn't keen on the idea when i first got it i now use it quite a lot because it is a good way to organize my work. 

Overview 

Blogger is a great site which is free to use and it profiles my work in a professional way, the site is easy to navigate and is definitely worth having. The sole purpose of this website is that it is to be used as an online blog, coments are also enabled on the posts so like DeviantART you can gain some feedback on your images. DeviantART is more of a forum and you will be more likely to get a response to your image - whether or not it is a good response is a different matter. 

Summary 

All three of these sites can help me promote my work, YCN offers me potential job opportunities and the chance to work with other illustrators. YCN can keep a portfolio of my work but you have to be a member to get that privalige and that will cost money so if you are looking to just promote your work then i would go for DeviantART. Blogger helps me organize my work and like DeviantART it is free to use making it more accessible than YCN, though it has to be said that Blogger is limited in terms of what you can do with it, you can't sell your work on Blogger but you can on DeviantART and YCN. All three of these sites promote you in a different way. Blogger shows how you work and the path you take to construct images, Blogger also increases your chances of being found using a search engine. YCN give you the chance to expand on your skills and work with other artists, they also keep your portfolio should a potential job come along. Finally DeviantART showcases your work and can give you a small profit by selling some of your work, this site is also good for getting some feedback on your images. 

Artist Analysis - Skottie Young

Skottie Young 

Skottie Young is a comic book artist from Chicago, Illinois, He has worked for company's such as Warner Bros, Image, Upper Deck and is currently employed by Marvel comics. Skottie is known for his crazy illustrations but he is most famous for his illustrations in Marvel comics. He has also illustrated a revamped version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which won him an Eisner award and also won the New York times best selling award. Skottie utilizes the traditional comic book style and distorts it to generate his own way of working. Brush pens are used to create hard black lines which are normally used to structure the solid outline of the character, Skottie on the other hand uses this pen in a very loose way to create jagged wavey lines which give his images the unfinished look. Skottie works both digitally and on paper, his style shows through on both media but the outcome is completely different. Skottie got his job at Marvel by showcasing his work at a comic book convention, CB Cebulski liked his art and gave him his card, they worked on some comics together for a while until Marvel asked Cebulski if he knew anyone who could draw for an issue of ICEMAN, Skottie got suggested for the job and has worked with Marvel ever since.
             

Skottie does a daily drawing on his blog, they are normally quick sketches which can be about literally anything, he focuses a lot on comic books and computer games when looking for inspiration for his drawings. This image was done using a brush pen, nothing is fully coloured in but the overall scale of the image and the ammount of wispy lines and random swirls make the image appear to be really detailed. Comic book characters normally have an incredible amount of shading and are anatomically correct, we reconise those images because we can relate to the human anatomy. Skotties characters are normally not in proportion at all but his images have a lot of elements, the more there is to look at the more appealing the image is.

Skottie's style also shows through when he uses a nib pen.

Skottie normally uses wacky vibrant shades to colour his work and his colouring technique is just as loose as his line-work. Within comic books the black lines normally keep in the colour and make the image look neat, in Skottie's case his loose lines allow the colour to escape making the image more free.

This is one of Skottie's ink drawings coloured in digitally, he uses a Cintiq graphics tablet to  get this awesome effect, this image works better for books and comics, this is because of it's awesome visuals and brilliant colour. This kind of imagery would work well as a graphic on stickers or maybe a skateboard. 

       

This is one of Skottie's comics, i believe this one was for the Spiderman series, his linework is a lot neater here and the choice of colours make the image settle in well with the background, his cartoon like style still shows through in this comic page but he has modified it to suit the comic. 

This is one of the images that Skottie drew for the OZ series, these books were published by Marvel and technically count as graphic novels but officially they are children's books. Skottie's style is very flexible and unique, his ability to structure a busy image as well as be able to story board his own ideas make him a strong candidate for a job as either a comic book artist or a children's book illustrator. His fantasy style imagery also works well in both fields because a lot of Marvels comics contain impossible hero's and situations, children's books normally feature a fictional character and setting, this is done so that a character can be molded to the strangest of stories. The wizard of Oz is an odd story to begin with, Skottie was in his element making illustrating these books. 

Two disciplines of illustration analysis

Comic book artist vs Children's book illustrator

Children's books

Whilst researching different ways to get into the children's book industry i managed to make out a small list of things which will increase your chances of landing the job. The childrens book industry is hard to get into bacause of the vast competition, without an agent you will need to rely on your own organizational skills to promote your own work. You will need: 

• A strong portfolio (both online and psychical)
• Innovative way of promoting own work (get people talking)
• The ability to write for a childish audience although not nesscecary will greatly increase your chances of getting selected for a job in this industry. 
• Unique style 
• Build up your contacts, the more people know about you the easier it is for you to get noticed. 

Head here for some children's book tips!

Working in the children's book industry calls for a lot of visuals to be used throughout the book to help fully deliver the experience of the story. Children's books aren't as precise as most people think, as the age barriers change so does the initial content of the book, this industry accommodates to a wide range of styles. Comic books normally have a precise style, despite the unusual and unrealistic story line the images are anatomically correct and are coloured realistically where as children's books can normally bend the characters anatomy to appropriately fit in with the story. The styles that are traditionally used for comic books and kids books are just used as guidelines and you don't necessarily have to follow it for your work to get noticed. There is a point where comic books and children's books cross over, qualities from one type of book can be seen in the other.

Children's book artist's to check out.                                       Children's book publishers    

Dr Seuss  (ages 3 - 10)                                                                     Puffin

Chris Riddell ( ages 10+                                                                   Harper Collins
                                                                                                                                                                                                              
                 

This is a book by Dr Seuss, this one in particular was written for kids around the age of 3, note how simple the artwork is, also the colour palette is very restricted meaning there isn't too much to look at. Young kids don't want to be looking at the image for long, it needs to be simple to understand. This kind of illustration is very precise in it's field and will in turn only attract a certain audience.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wRENKwEYL.jpg

This is another children's book illustrated by Chris Riddell, this book is for children who love a good story and have a good imagination to go along with it, the age range for this book would be about 8 and upwards. The illustration on this book cover is a lot more detailed than the other one and i think that is because there is a lot of descriptive text in this book so it makes sense for the images to match the detailed descriptions.  Chris Riddell is a big player in this field and he survives because his style is so unique! 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-WqhSnlX7PrIO68OOvPEdX-hFrMoRr0TEXcLwTEw0ybakeKd_wghsCnHqv8ta-fYpD2aj6DJ13Wbawo-X40ItXyMfLkmJ6zbCaaTuM8-Ll31JmNUADXFSSazQbWF-dkKauNarMB9o-ZuI/s1600/EdgeChronicles-BeyondTheDeepwoods.jpg

Comic books

Art by Richard Isanove - The Wolverine graphic novel

Comic books were originally aimed at a young audience, they were that real cliche item that were normally associated with geeks from films and television shows. Just like a children's book a comic has the ability to tell a story through pictures and some narrative, comic books are normally a bit more in depth and the content is quite descriptive. Comic book scenes break down a characters movement into individual action panels which make everything highly dramatic, this works well considering most mainstream comics are about superhero's. A comic is still a book and goes through relatively the same process that a normal book would. Comics rely heavily on detailed visuals to properly narrate the story and deliver the correct message.
I researched the comic book industry and compiled a list of skills which are key to landing a job as a comic book artist.

• Good draftsmanship skills 
• Good study of anatomy (not mandatory but useful) 
• Sketchbook of real life situations and natural poses
• Good understanding of space and or the negative space 
• Strong influence from other comic book artists and films to help refine style. 
• Good practice and understanding of comic making 
• Able to build up own narrative
• Not needed but some universities offer a degree in comic book art, would help a lot if you had the time and money to get this qualification.

Comic book artists to look at                                                   Comic book publishers

Skottie Young                                                                          Marvel

Chris King                                                                               DC Comics

Jack Kirby                                                                            

Whilst researching comic book artists i found out that there are two main types of comic book companies and both of them work differently.

Mainstream comic book publishers
Marvel and DC are the most popular mainstream comic publishers and a load of work goes into making their comics extremely neat, they are the best of the best. The company hire artists to draw characters form the Marvel and or DC universe, the characters stay the same but the adventures change. The company then break down the production into a load of job roles such as penciling, digital colouring and story boarding. Artists normally start of as free lance and can then gain a full time job working for the company, they produce hundreds of comics every week so they will always need someone to fill one of the many job roles that they offer.

Finding someone to publish your comic.  This kind of publishing involves a lot more work from the artist, you and your team of writers produce the entire comic, you then try and find a publisher to invest in your comic and get it printed. This kind of job is a gamble as you would have to find funds to get your comic printed, penciling, inking and all of the other small jobs required to get the cimic looking crisp will have to all be done by the artist. This is essentially free lance work though this can be a stepping stone into big companies such as Marvel or DC.

Earlier in the post i mentioned that there is a point where comic books and children's books meet, comic books are normally incredibly detailed and usually kids books contain simple illustrations so they are easier to understand. Chris Riddell has an incredibly detailed style, he breaks away from the simple illustrations normally found in children's books. I also found an artist who works for Marvel but has also illustrated children's books so it is good to see how his style blends across the two genres. 

Skottie has this wacky style which i haven't seen really anywhere else, he has worked on various comics for Marvel but his style is very playful and child like. 

                                             

Skottie illustrated a series of children's books based on the original Wizard of Oz film, they are beautiful and his style really brings out the childish features of what appears to be Dorothy. Skottie Young is a good example of how to stretch your work across genres. Children's books and comic books are quite flexible, it's all about finding a publisher who likes your style!  

  

Top Trumps - artists

Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is a British illustrator, he is a big player in the editorial illustration field as is also known for his highly successful line of children's books. Riddell initially started off as a traditional cartoonist, working with dip pens and ink to create a stylistic caricature. No matter what Riddell works on his style remains the same, he does not really break away from his paper medium though his profession means he does not need to. Riddell has won multiple awards for his illustrations, he is the only illustrator the win 3 greenaway medals. His books include:

• The Edge Chronicles 
• Ottoline and the yellow cat
• Fergus Crane
• Hugo Pepper

 

Riddell has a very unique style and although there are realistic elements his images,  every image pushes the boundaries of what is to be normal.  Riddell takes a reference and distorts it, characters from his world normally feature impossible poses and items of clothing which would never work in the real world. 

The map from the edge chronicles.

Style
Riddell has illustrated plenty of books and he also works with the guardian and does a weekly cartoon. his style sort of limits him to paper based mediums as that is where they look the best. Riddell also draws a lot of political cartoons which are aimed to mock the person being drawn, it takes a lot to send out your opinion through your art and it's never going to go down well with everyone, the images have to be legible but not necessarily accurate which works perfectly for Riddle's style. I personally find his work very funny, the overall look of the characters is enough to get anyone laughing but there is also a hidden hint of irony in most of his political drawings.

We chose to give Chris a 9 out of 10 for style because of how recognizable his images are. they way that he draws characters is very unique and i havent seen anyone else draw in this way to such good effect, he has a really refined way of working and his linework is incredible.

We awarded Chris with an 8 for humour because of his work with the guardian and how he mocks David Cameron and other political figures. The glum expressions on his characters make the look vulnerable and feeble, it's humoros to see powerful figures reduced to such a delicate mess.
An 8 was also given for influence as his style has changed how i work as an image maker, he has been in the field for a long time and for me he really brought the dip pen style back to life in children's books, i think his style of image making has influenced a lot of styles today.
Riddell scored a 2 for breadth because his style is repetitive in everything that he does, he doesn't expand his style much and he always seems to work with the same media. He works for the guardian and illustrates children's books but he doesn't do a lot else really  and that is why he got a low score.

Marco Mazzoni


Marco Mazzoni is an artist from Milan, most of his images are made by layering up colouring pencil to get a beautiful gradient of colour. A lot of his images feature wildlife and objects of nature mixed in with female characters, this combination of imagery supports Mazzoni's influence of Italian folk art. Mazzoni avoids drawing in the eyes of the characters as he believes that it would take the viewers attention away from his beautiful imagery, he also believes that adding in eyes make the image look too much like a portrait. 

Some of his images are also done using a ball point pen, he builds up layers using the pen as if it were a pencil which takes a good amount of skill to do properly. The amount of detail that he gets is incredible and some of his images even look like a digital painting. An online interview says that Marco is inspired by Francisco Goya and Jusepe de Ribera which totally makes sense, both of those artists are Spanish painters who make a lot of realistic imagery and you can see the influence in Marco's work.

                                                                                   


We scored Mazzoni an 8 out of 10 for style because of his ability to render a near on camera quality image with just colouring pencils. I personally like his style and i have never seen such realistic fantasy imagery before. His representation of Italian folk lore is really unique and there isn't a lot of it out there from what i know, that is why he scored high.

We gave him a 1 for humor because we didn't think that his work was made to make people laugh, his images are beautiful and feature things such as trees, leaves and wildlife, all of which aren't really funny.

I believe we scored Marco a 3 for influence because his style is quite unique and precise so it was hard to imagine how he would influence anyone else, his technique could help to build up techniques but his actual images have a style of their own.

And for breadth we scored him a low 2 because he works only on paper and he always using the same media to create his work, his imagery could work with things such as oil pastels and water colours but Marco has honorably stuck to his routes which is why he scored so low.

Work based learning - Life snake.

My life snake, i felt so big headed doing this but it was fun. 

Work based learning - Self statement

Self statement, featuring my not so animated version of myself which will be featured in my animation in a few weeks!

Mini presentation - work based learning. Adam and jack!

Our topic is storyboards
Why are they used? Storyboards are used to map out scenes which act as a guideline to creators so that they can visualize their ideas in a sequence. Storyboards are usually small in size and there are normally a large number of them, they mark key points in a scene and although they are still images the scenes can show movement. Storyboards can be used for comics, animation and films.

Style: These images are rough and are normally in black and white, they are used just as an example so only the main content is detailed whereas the rest looks unfinished as it is unimportant to the scene. In the bottom image the artist uses what seems to be action arrows to show a characters movement between scenes, some of the images in the scenes burst out of their boxes to give a real sense of depth, making it look like they are bursting out of the book and or film.






We found a really bad storyboard on google search, the image quality is good but the scenes aren't clearly marked so it is hard to determine the order in which the scenes happen, also the scenes are quite vague and they don't quite match up, or make sense for that matter.

Pixar is a collection of some of the best animators in the world, responsible for films such as Monsters Inc, Toy story, Cars and Wall-E. Storyboards are crucial to each of these films success, they insure that the animators know where a scene is going and what is going to happen next, they also help the creators draught out characters and make sure they work in an environment. They have a large studio based in California which is efficient for them because a lot of films are produced and drafted out in America, meaning they are close to the industry  Storyboarding for Pixar would give you a 'in house' job where you would work as part of a large team generating ideas until a final conclusion has been met.




DreamWorks is another very successful animating company who are also based in California, story boarding is also crucial to their design process. 







Summary- most of the successful animators are based in America because film producers and marketers  are right around the corner, being a storyboard artist normally means you will be part of a large team such as Pixar or DreamWorks where you all work together to reach the same goal. To be a storyboard artist you have to have a wide range of drawing skills as you will be working to whatever the company brief you on. Your images need to be loose but need to capture key features of the character being portrayed.