Steampunk Superhero!

So instead of working on my actual Uni work, yet again, I spent my weekend participating in a CHOW I couldn't resist...

STEAMPUNK SUPERHERO!!





Daisy's superpower is that she never misses. A policeman told me that if someone pulled a gun on you, and you ran away, if they shot at you 100 times they'd only hit you four times, and it probably wouldn't even be a critical hit. So I gave my Steampunk Superhero the power of the perfect shot!

Creating a Steampunk Superhero was quite relevent to my work actually, as Steampunk predominantly features Victorian fashion, and as soon as I have finished my Epsom Characters I'm going to dilly-dally with period costume/characters again. :)

All the best,

xLouisax

Fable III and Steampunk Superhero

When I got my limited edition Fable III it arrived the day before release, and yes, it arrived in the most epic box (including a pack of cards and a medallion). <----- GEEK ALERT!



And it is amazing! Here are some screenshots of the beginning, when you're a Princess (if you choose to be a girl <3) and you spend some time running around your castle. The interior in the castle is amazing.











In case you didn't already know, I'm obsessed with costume, and Fable III features some really cool designs. Everything in the game looks so beautiful; the towns, streets, walks, castles, it's all so visually lush. This is why I want to be in the games industry, the art team must just be so amazing. In fact, the creators of Fable III, Lionhead Studios, are just down the road in Guildford, so I need to get in touch and try to score an internship there. (SERIOUSLY, HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE??)

And even better, this week's CHOW is 'Design a Steampunk Superhero', which is basically Fable III! So I'm on it like a car bonnet. Did some quick Steampunk research sketches, into some typical Steampunk features, followed by some design thumbs!





All the best,

xLouisax

Bookbinding Workshop

Taking part in Mette-Sofie Ambeck's bookbinding workshop at Uni was one of the best ideas I ever had! She taught us how to make a hard-back book from scratch. Here is the book I made during the workshop, using random paper for the pages.







And here's one I made earlier... Some friends and I went to the bookbinding shop in London to buy some vital bookbinding supplies, and since then, using my ever growing pile of dissertation books as a home-made press, I was able to produce a small black hardback book.









I made much more mistakes this time (especially with the spine!) so I learnt a lot more but I managed to emboss the front cover.

I wanted to learn this skill, not just because it's completely awesome, but because the project I am working on at present has to be made into a book, and I may also make books for my FMP. It's also just a really nice skill to have; I could make little mock-ups of something I need to publish, or simply make quirky limited edition books featuring my Illustrations.

It's an amazing skill to have, I strongly recommend doing a bookbinding workshop, if for nothing else, just for the fun of making books.

All the best,

xLouisax

Epsom characters

Something I am doing at the moment for Uni is creating characters based on real people in Epsom, Surrey. I started out by sketching real people, the moment before they cross the road on the high street. I began to notice the different types of people in Epsom, the way they talk, act, the things they wear.




I enjoyed drawing their clothes the most. I like the way that clothes hang off the body or ruck up in one corner.



A character I finalised was 'Old Biddy', who is a distillment of all of the old ladies I saw around Epsom. She turned out to be quite popular, so my tutor has encouraged me to do more.

There are a few legendary people around Epsom that I am planning to draw:

1) Old Biddy - Complete
2) Elderly Identical Twins - Complete
3) Blind man and his Dog - ? :(
4) Crazy Epsom man - Complete
5) Bike Man - In Progress

Trust me, it's gonna be good! :D

All the best,

xLouisax

Costume studies

I recently visited the Museum of London and the V&A to scout out beautiful dresses! It was nice to be able to draw a costume from life, and not just a book, as it was easier for me to see how the dress fitted together and gave me a much more realistic feel of the form and shape. I also took lots of notes about the period, about things that effected the way people dressed, and the kinds of luxuries women from London could afford. It was tres interesting.

With my research I am planning to make an 18th Century dress-up game! Eeeeeee! :D

All the best,

xLouisax

CHOW - Zombify yourself!

I've been busy making images using a new method, that is, vectorising my sketches, and then painting over them in Photoshop. Above is my entry for Conceptart.org's Character of the Week challenge, 'Zombify yourself.' It was great fun, and I got two votes, wohooo!

I now have an excuse to do CHOW every week, as it is a part of my 'External Positioning' project for school, which basically means that we position ourselves appropriately in the industry, and one way of doing that is by throwing yourself out there and taking part in competitions.

I love chow, I can't wait to start working on it for next week's brief.

All the best,

xLouisax