love story

It feels like it's a time to round up all the things I've  been doing since winter. Here is something else.
It's been a while since I mentioned this love story, but the final version appeared just recently.  I cut it A LOT and there are many things which I would have filmed differently. But there are so many lessons to learn from the process itself and I quite like it now. It is what it is  //thanks Japp, I can hear you constantly saying that

workinprogress

Some prints I've been working on recently.There are many ideas that I want to explore within screen printing but essentially  it's going to be A1 posters about London.

That's actually the original drawing for one of the layers of colour (little bigger than A1, and little darker that it should be, but I've sorted that out):

Love the process, love the idea and already love the outcome. That's really hard but  so exciting to work with a huge format. The next step is going to be a mural for sure!

still alive

I've been terribly busy with all that writings for the uni assessment. Should stop saying this now, but it was a real challenge and I'm really proud of myself I did it.
Anyway, that's gone yesterday and I don't care now, there are too many interesting things that  I want to do in the nearest future. By the way, it's a good motivation to finish anything - remember all that exciting projects which you are looking forward to start, but can't because of the current. I believe it was the only one thing which helped me this time.

One them is the short film I've been making recently. Again, it's so much fun to work in our team. You know us, we've done #100wordpilgrimage and going to continue the journey soon (stay stuned, it's gonna be even better). I really appreciate the enthusiasm and amount of help I've got for my own project. And it's not the end yet.

There is a first rough and I quite like how it looks. However it is way too long it needs better cut and colour correction.

writing

Oh my! As much as I love to draw as much I hate to write. 

There is a hand-in for the assessment at my college on the following Monday and we are supposed to write A LOT! The funniest thing is that I can keep talking the whole day, no matter what is the subject. But when it comes to the putting words on paper, I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible. I know, I know, it's not clever at all, especially if we are supposed to write a journal almost every day. I've been doing that but in my own way - mind maps, visual notes and random sketches. So I can recover almost every hour  spent working on a project.  It's more or less the same method which is working with travelbooks - with photos or written diary I can remember just that particular moment. But with this sketchbook here comes the whole emotional and mental state from that moment. Here are smells and sounds, ideas and thoughts, the whole atmosphere around... 

But I totally understand that being professional means to be able to communicate your message clearly. And it's an industry standard to be able to use written word. That's why I do my best to improve this skill as well. But it doesn't mean that this understanding helps me to fight with my procrastination when I'm starting to write. Here it happened again. Can I just draw a wall-sized visual representation of my report?

back to uni

Yesterday we've got a new brief. Now it's about working in 3D environment and how we can represent objects in the real world. As a digital geek I can't say it's too interesting for me, but as a street art fan it might lead to something exciting. Let's see :)
Meanwhile here are my first steps into the 'material world':

the first 'serious' animation

One of the briefs of professional platform series at my course was to create a short animation. It should be  the loop for the LoopdeLoop website and the theme of the month was BANG. Sounds like a piece of cake, right? Especially having Matt Hawkins as the tutor and Rob Grieves as the visiting practitioner. But I had a particular idea in mind and only one week to make it. The idea was my old comics about curious old ladies. I did all the animation in time for the final crit in uni, got a feedback and had several days to add the sound. I've recorded some London street noise for it. As a result now I can't stand still when I hear the ambulance :)

So I've uploaded my loop right at the deadline night. It has passed judgement  and  been screened in Melbourne and also as part of BANG Short Film Festival. Now I'm in Australia writing it and feel a bit strange that my work came here before me.

What is more at the end of the month it was the committee favorite, had been featured on the website and went to the hall of fame. Whoa!

Falling old ladies (Вываливающиеся старушки) from tatianaalisova on Vimeo.

The Little Bang Theory

Another one! Now some experiment on colour and how simple the thing might be.
Today we had a group tutorial with Matt. Everybody came with theirs ideas of animation for the "Bang!" theme. Apparently this guy just popped up in my sketchbook. Nothing to do with my own idea but it would be unfair to leave him without life. So here he is.

about writing

As I mentioned earlier, we've started our new academic year. This term is mostly about writing and understanding, not that much about drawing itself. That might sound strange (at least for me it was) but there is a logic behind that. That's true, as illustrators we should communicate ideas visually but at the same time should be able to explain our ideas in verbal way. That means to to be professional.

Here is our  course leader Derek Yates and Geoff Thomas-Shaw form Chelsea talk about the key skills industry. And ability to write and talk about your work are among the most important.


SEE Stories - Develop Big Ideas from SEE on Vimeo.

The Best London Markets

Here is the thing I've been doing for so long.

The idea was to create an illustration about London markets, which gives the overview, recommends useful and interesting places and would inspire students to explore the topic. 

Since May I’ve been asking students across UAL about theirs favourite markets and why they like them. At the same time I went to the most popular places and been drawing on location, observing atmosphere, taking photographs and notes. Collecting feedback, my own experience and some useful insights from Yelp.com and other forums, I came up with the idea to create a custom map, where drawn typefaces and found characters represent the atmosphere.

 The most challenging part was to organise all the information I’ve got.  There were:

- student’s quotes, tips and tricks

- observational drawings on location

- lists of markets ranked by different criteria

- actual map of markets

- photographs

- opening hours, location and prices

- my associations and characters for the places

and much more formal and informal information

Finally instead of drawing the stalls and crowds I've decided to make a 'custom map' which represents the atmosphere. At the same time the size of the typefaces represents the popularity of the exact place and some  facts has been added as well. 

Click to zoom:

Here is the link to Commonplace where you can find all the information and students' tips& tricks.

spring flashback

Congrats to us with the beginning of the new academic year. We start this Wednesday, but I spent a whole day in the library today - so for me we've already started.

Just found my evaluation from the previous term. Mostly it's about our context report - I've done about interactive storytelling. It's quite frank but sounds like it was ages ago. Let me keep it for the history :) 

---

The term started pretty relaxed for me. I've always knew that I am passionate for technology and digital innovations. Still I love the traditional way of making things. So, there was no hesitate what topic I'd like to explore [Interactive storytelling]. At first I'd planned to make a report about IPads and comparison between print based and digital mediums.  But the more I've  found the more I understood it was just a drop in the whole thing. Comparing with interactive paper or augment reality, an e-book seems pretty obvious thing. I appreciate the assignment so much because it helped me to narrow my interests and get in touch with so many professionals and enthusiasts. So, my future plans are involving different kinds of interactivity. I've found several solutions for to create interactive books and plan to make my own [not done yet]. 

There is another thing I should mention. I've always have a desire to mix techniques and technologies together in an unusual way. Certainly, it  doesn't  always work well (frankly speaking sometimes seems just a loose of time). But for me it is all about playing, more about the process itself.  However, it is clear for me that I should be more focused on the finalising these wide range of ideas and projects I have. That was the lesson I wish I've learned from the previous projects, especially the one about music [that was a team project and the result was bit disappointing due to bad time management]. 

At the same time I plan to spent some time to exploring techniques and improving skills that i want to use . For example during the next stage I want to animate my own drawings, to add them additional dimention, like sound and movement. And of course some interaction. Also I plan to learn more about traditional publishing, printing techniques, street art, may be something about social issues and guerilla marketing. And of course there will be loads of drawing!

So, for the current moment I have several projects that are just  waiting for me to start. All they are different and I can't clearly see the final outcome.  The only thing I'm sure - it will be fun [so true!]. 

procrastination

Nothing related to my current project at all. Actually it's all about writing which I always struggle a lot.  But I feel so much better when I draw, even writings become not that bad.

My book with the summer project is about 150 pages now and it's still not finished...

another process

Happy to say that I've almost finished my CV. It supposed to be printed, folded and be sent in usual euro-size envelope.
However I feel so awkward trying to make my own "brand". But the first step was the hardest and now it's just fun :)

The Owl and the Pussycat

Yesterday  we had the crit for our narrative project. My final outcome is not only the images itself but the whole world of funny nonsense. The idea is that you can travel through the main story or create your own, finding the hidden characters and new ways on the "globe".

The original story still is the main. For me it is not only about love but also about new friends, which could often seems strange at a first glance.  It is about new  horizons, adventures and discoveries. It is about life.

And here comes the book. Interactive book :)

Manhattan Mono final

Here is my final outcome. It's the digital combination of linocut prints and the lino itself.
I'm quite happy with the result but still have some thoughts how to improve it.
Let's see could i manage to finish another version :)

Drawing practice

Today we drew all the day using different rules trying to catch personality of every actor. The idea is to put the essence of them on the paper.





That's the challenge!
Also, there is a nice idea to use - try to write in blog every single day, even putting pages from the old sketchbooks. In addition with Derek's talk about use of learning journals it makes sense for the writings here.