Mural is no more

Well, the folio gallery mural is now no more, the walls have been all painted over, back to their original colours. The mural served its purpose, and attracted the attention of the press, visitors, and more importantly, allowed myself and my group to gain experience in creating an actual live, running galley from scratch.

We worked well under high pressure, as well as workload, and we met the deadline for completion no problem. It was a really memorable, and enjoyable experience, and now every time that I peer to the folio gallery space, I will think of the time when I worked inside a collaborative group, to create something wonderful for the eyes.

Here is another reminder of what the exhibition space looked like, at several intervals during creation. (Below)

Before work was laid down.

The addition of the fisherman, which I think is great.

The first day of painting.

The second day of painting.

Completion.

I am glad to have been a part of this exciting unit. :)



Thomas.

Exhibition Aftermath

Well, the folio gallery exhibition is over, visitors have come and went. It all began at around 7:00pm, a few people turned up to look at our artwork, and I did overhear many compliments coming from them.

About 20 minutes after, the area was packed, there were at least 35 people in the folio, and it was so pleasing to see a great turnout.

About 40 minutes after, the crowd started to dissipate, and the exhibition was beginning to be over.

A very good showing, it wasn't my first exhibition, but it was definitely one of my best, something that I am grateful to have been a part of.

Thomas.

Jo Davies

Jo Davies is a freelance people and character illustrator and writer, who creates many illustrations commercially for children's books. (I can tie this in as part of my professional studies research because of this).

http://www.jodaviesillustration.com/page5.htm < Reference to image.

This link highlights her work in the children's market sector > http://www.jodaviesillustration.com/page4.htm

She works as an author and illustrator for such children's book companies as Barefoot Books, and Scholastic Books. She also produces educational work for such companies as Macmillans, Fabri and Chalkface.




Thomas.

Unit Recap

For the people and characters project, all other work aside (painting etc), my main section with the character element, was that I created several draft pencil characters, which turned into final charcoal characters, to fit inside ink printed bottles, that hung on the end of the fisherman's pier. I chose to use charcoal for the final characters, because it felt that by using this medium, it sort of reflected Hartlepool's past, in terms of its industry, which was all powered by the fuel of coal, a dusty, and black substance.

Charcoal is a substance that looks a lot like coal, however comes out on materials so much better. So it worked just perfectly. As a side bonus, it gave the piece the impression of industrial pollution. ( example, a smog dust atmosphere)

My idea was to create alternate people, user a unified theme. One of the characters was of a working teenager, living back in the industrial period timeframe, and the other was of a much more relaxed teenager in today's period in history. A stereotypical teenager, with a skateboard, and long hair.

An additional character, was of a 50's female, wearing 50's style fashion and clothing, to represent the middle period in Hartlepool's history.


Thomas.

Exhibition day

Today is the day of the big folio gallery exhibition. All is set for the press, and for the viewers to come in and to take a look at our hard work.

Very excited for today, can't wait until 6:00pm tonight, as that is when the exhibition begins. I will post an update to the blog, after the exhibition, detailing what happened.

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Brief Update: The event is about to begin, in a mere 20 minutes, about to go down to the folio, and begin showcasing mine and my groups very hard work.

Thomas

Gallery Project Complete

Yesterday, the people and character mural in the folio art gallery space, that myself and my group have worked on for two weeks, was finally completed.

As a recap to what the mural consists of, the piece contains various elements of hartlepool's culture, and maritime history, as well as environment. It has a number of different people and characters inside the ink-printed bottles, which are situated on the wall. The fisherman on the pier, who is 'fishing the bottles out', is Sophie's character, and I really love what she has done. Her style is rough, but fits the aggressive brush strokes of the sea.

The gallery exhibition is on november the 18th, and I will be attending, with two guests. I can't wait to see what they, and the press think of our accomplished hard work. I am very excited.

(Example of one of the characters in a bottle)

(Modern, and old fashioned teenage comparison sketches)

(The piece as of last thursday, unfinished)

(The finished piece)

(The bottles close up)

Thomas.

Lucia Emanuela Curzi

Lucia Emanuela Curzi is a talented people and character illustrator, who graduated from an art school in Milan, Italy. She creates work using a wide assortment of colours and techniques. Her work also has a very unique textured style toward it, in my opinion, as she uses water and various types of inks to her advantage.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/LuciaEmanuelaCurzi/view < image reference at this link.

Her favourite types of art equipment to use on her pieces, as said so on her site include, watercolours, and Windsor and newton inks. I think these two types of equipment work very well together, as I like using these myself.

Some of her clients include InStyle, Estée Lauder, Selfridges and Glow magazine.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/LuciaEmanuelaCurzi/view < Main site.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/PortfolioScrapbook.aspx?artist_id=3510 < Link to her great scrapbook, with images, and more info about her.

Thomas.

Sharon Tancredi

Sharon Tancredi is an illustrator, who produces work on people and character themes. She works in a pure cartoon style, and uses a broad range of vivid colours, in her work. I love her style, naturally to me, there is something about cartoon stylised artwork, that makes it really interesting to me. An element I tried to add into my character work, in my folio project. I aimed to be semi-realistic in my character design, but with a hint of realism.

http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/artists/illustrator/sharon-tancredi < image reference at this link.

http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/artists/illustrator/sharon-tancredi

Rodrigo Araya

Rodrigo Araya is a people and character illustrator who is a client of such big companies as O2, Panasonic and Siemens. He creates his images in a slightly cartoon-like style, something that I admire, as it is one of my favourite styles. From this I took inspiration, and I worked it into my mural character figures, to go into the ink bottles on the painting, that hang from the pier, on the far left of the piece.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/RodrigoAraya/view < image reference at this link.

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/RodrigoAraya/view