Anxiety Awareness Week 2014

Brief:

Since Anxiety is something that effects almost every aspect of my life, I decided that since Anxiety awareness week was coming up soon, I would do something to recognise this, as well as try to possibly educate, through a visual means, what life is like when suffering from this. I knew this would be an iffy subject to go over, as I never like fully discussing what happens when I experience anxiety, but obviously drawing an illustration is heaps better than sitting down and trying to explain to someone what it’s like.

Evaluation:

 I knew straight away that I wanted this to be a pure black and white, pure and simple, without anything to distract the viewer from the main parts of this image. I also chose to complete this illustration in pencil, as I think keeping things simple and pure it the best way to get a message across. I started off with a really basic sketch, and wasn’t sure if I was going to actually out any features on the face of my character, simply because there isn’t a defining face for who anxiety and depression can happen to. But I did end up choosing to put a face, which I suppose looks a little bit like my own (but not intentionally) just to make it a little more personal. I wasn’t quite sure on how to depict anxiety as an actual subject for about three days, as trying to describe it to someone is difficult enough, but the defining word that stood out whenever I’ve tried to describe it is “gripping” and “something that can just cling to you for hours,” and this gave me the idea for a talon, as its scary, sharp and strong enough to project the power that anxiety can have over someone.

There are plenty strengths and weaknesses in this piece for me to pick out. A strength that is most obvious to me is my line work, and I really enjoy using line density to add character and an overall theme to my work. I have a pretty steady hand and am able to create the long flowing streaks in her hair and eyelashes, but am also able to make the bold and angled lines on the talons gripping her hair. Although one of my weaknesses is my trademark “female face” that I use in literally all of my work, and I WOULD like to sometime soon just concentrate on drawing males more, and depict different looking people rather than my “default face.”

I think the skills I have shown in this piece are skills I would really like to take on with me through to later work, and I think I could achieve this by going back to doing more traditional sketch work before putting my work on digitally, as now I tend to just do my work straight away in a digital format. I think this was inspired slightly through researching Dave Correia's work online, as I found that his way of showing so much detail an using a traditional workflow at that. 

Skillset and Job Roles/ Individual Learning Plan.

There are a number of jobs, in the animation industry, that I am interested in once I leave college: 

A Digital Painter:

http://www.skillset.org/animation/careers/article_4106_1.asp

Skills Needed: 

"Digital Painters need a good eye for both detail and colour. They must be methodical and conscientious about follow up, have good computer skills and be able to adapt quickly to new programmes. More senior artists need to understand the Animation process and should be able to use the relevant software, but new entrants can expect to be trained on the job. They must be able to take direction and to work as part of a team."

• As it states in the quote above, Digital Painters must have a keen eye for both colour and detail. - I feel as though this is something I am always working towards and improve on every time I create a piece of work, as the situation I am currently in is that every new piece of artwork I create is my favourite, and when I try and replicate that in my next piece, it ends up being improved upon even more. And that is something I think is vital as a Digital Painter. 
• It also states in the quote that Digital Painters need to have decent computer skills and be able to adapt quickly to new programmes. At first i felt as though this was something I most definitely needed to improve on, as I was always reluctant to try software I hadn't used before. However, now that I have been weaned into a number of different programmes such as After Effects, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and Cinema 4D, I feel as though I can quickly move between programmes and get a general feel for them quickly. 
• Finally, the quote also states that Digital Painters must be able to work as a part of a team. When I first started the year I know for a fact I was rather reluctant to engage with people I didn't know, as the childish thoughts of "What if they don't like me?" would spring about. But now I do feel much more confident as an individual and as part of a group and I feel as though I can take charge or show direction when necessary. 

Concept Artist (2D in Games Design.)

http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/profiles/article_4733_1.asp

Skills Needed: 

"Usually using traditional materials (eg pen and paper) rather than computer software, the Concept Artist sketches ideas for the game worlds, characters, objects, vehicles, furniture, clothing and other content. They also suggest level designs, colour schemes, and the mood and feel of the game. They are usually very good at perspective drawing and architecture. Although not involved in creating the actual game art, their concept will determine the look of many aspects of the game."

• One of the key aspects of Concept Art is that artists would be using pen and paper rather than a computer. I feel as though this is something I can definitely work towards, mainly because as my digital skills have developed, my traditional drawing skills have also improved, especially when it comes to facial expressions and features of the face and anatomy. However, I do lack some confidence when drawing in a traditional format, mainly because of the lack of accessibility when it comes to mistakes (in other words, I'm lazy about cleaning stuff up.)
• Another point that the quote makes is that Artists would need to be able to draw objects, either everyday or something unique, and that is something I need to work on a lot I think, starting with scenes such as cityscapes and alleyways!
• It is also stated that Concept Artists must also suggest level designs colour schemes, and the mood and feel of the game. This is something I really want to work on not only with my personal work, but to have under my belt when applying for jobs too. And recently I have been taking a lot of care into my colour schemes, not only constraining them to a certain degree, but using colours that I wouldn't normally that also work together. 

My Individual Learning Plan.

Here, I am addressing some of my weaknesses and  how I plan on over-coming them using simple and effective methods:

• Time Management - As I may have made clear throughout this blog, I get distracted by absolutely ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. I consider this a very serious problem when it comes to my work and it's something I've been trying to knuckle down on since the start of the year, and within the past few months I've found a solution. What I've been doing is cutting myself from any from of television, DVDS, videos, and online distractions (Facebook/Tunmblr/Twitter.) And I have done this by finding a website that completely blocks me from accessing specific websites for a certain period of time, no matter how hard I try or what proxys I use. It's been literally fantastic! I've found that I quickly get over the urge to pop up Facebook and forget the internet even exists for a while, and even when the amount of time I'm blocked runs out, I'm still in the mind frame of doing work and just continue on! I also listen to the radio a lot, so as to keep my mind occupied with someone talking, but not enough for me to reply or try and look something up. 
• Confidence in my own work - It's no secret that I get anxious to the point of no return when I'm urged to talk about/present/contact people about my work, and it got to the point where I was convincing myself I wasn't going to be able to get a job once I leave college. So to conquer this fear I decided to take at least a little step forward and begin to talk online  about my work. The reason for this is that being on the internet is a whole world away from real life, and if I do something to embarrass myself or I don't get a reply or I receive some sort of message I don't want to is all helped by one word - "DELETE." I've started a "F- this" kind of attitude where I might as well try something and if it doesn't work I haven't technically lost anything, I just haven't gained either, and that's good enough for me. 
• Loss of interest in work - There have been a number of times where I have completely lost any motivation towards my work and it's left me feeling awful, run down, and wanting to discontinue my education. Although I know I'll never be able to bring myself to quit, it's left me feeling awful and down. So. in a way to battle this, I will be making myself try something completely new every time I create a piece of work from now on. I have started to do this with new pieces of work and because all of these pieces are things I want to get right, learn from, and display and show people, I have ended up being so much more interested in my projects and love the final outcomes of my work. And when it comes to personal pieces, I'm hoping this process will help me improve my workflow and over all style every time I'm painting and drawing! 

Opportunities I am going to pursue.

• The Northumberland National Park - Even though I was in the middle of a project, I went ahead and designed a small character for the competition which took place back in December. I feel as though that small live project was the starting point in my new work flow, as I'd been looking at a number of Artists in the Juxtapose magazine articles online before hand. I also found that looking through other artists work does not make me jealous at all, it literally spurs me on to create something as good as what I've seen and is a great motivation. 

• The Young Illustrator's Award 2014 - I plan on taking part in this competition as an Illustrator and will document all of my workflow, which hopefully depicts my new style well and gives and insight to my thoughts throughout the project. 

• Illustration Friday - This weekly competition will definitely enhance my timing issues, as the projects are only a week long, and finding inspiration, obtaining materials, drawing and painting in just a week will actually get me setting my priorities right and have me planning around a few different things, which can only help me at this point. 

• Anxiety Awareness Week - Although this isn't really a competition, anxiety is something that controls every single aspect of my life down to the very last minute of every day. And I think it will be rather therapeutic to do something art related for that week. I do have plenty time ahead of me as it isn't until May, but noting it now for the future will help me plan.