Finishing Up

With the hand in being as near as 12pm tomorrow, I have finished everything in the Locating Practice project. Over the weekend, I finished up my paintings and constructed my book, which I will be collecting later today from a print shop in Headington, Oxford. I would've used Blurb, the printing company I used to make my last book, but then I would've had to wait 2 weeks for the book to be delivered from the Netherlands. Thus, I went with the more local option.

The final layout of my book was pretty much as I had imagined it in my mock up, although the ending was changed slightly. The beginning and middle stayed relatively the same. With the ending, I shortened the introduction of the character 'Daisy' and instead lengthened the ending, where the main character, Archie and Daisy become friends, as I felt that this was more important to the plot of the story.

This is the cover art I went with for my book. I understand that the word 'Archaeopteryx' is not a very child-friendly word to be in the title of a children's book, but in all honesty I couldn't think of anything better. I was thinking that the title may actually appeal as it introduces what is possibly a very fun and unknown dinosaur to children. And plus, I absolutely love how it looks on the cover, it looks so clean and appealing. 

I'm very excited to see how the final book turns out. I took on board the advice I received from Salvatore and Sharon and worked on a larger scale to create double page spreads unlike anything I have included in books before, when I have only worked to a single sketchbook. I bought a large A3 book and produced my larger landscapes and paintings in there. I also took their advice on how to introduce the character of Daisy by using common interests between her and Archie.

This is the first double spread in the book, which introduces the vast jungle where the main character lives. I built on the advice Salvatore gave me when he told me my previous illustrations of jungles had looked too modern.

This is one of the fun double spreads that I think children will really enjoy! Poor Archie trying to make friends with the larger and scarier dinosaurs! These particular spreads were very enjoyable to draw on a large scale, they would've looked very different if done in my smaller sketchbook, so I think it is for the better that I got myself a larger one.

As well as the double spreads, I did enjoy doing the smaller paintings for the book too, as working on a smaller scale allowed me to add more detail to the little landscapes that I was creating! I really like how the trees look in my small illustrations, I was able to use a smaller paint brush to give them a twisted and viney look.

All in all, I am very happy with my book and how it has turned out (the digital copy, at least!). If I were to repeat this project I could've easily got a lot more done that I have, as the only extra I created were the small figurines.

I was not as focussed in the main part of this project as I spent most of Easter looking after my dog at home. Max had dementia and required separate meals cooked 3 different times a day, as well as having to be constantly cared for. This meant that my focus was not on my project. Following this, Max sadly passed away a little over a week ago, and as a result I have found it overwhelmingly difficult to concentrate on my work as the project comes to a close. I am happy I was there to spend time with him and care for him over Easter as he was a very important part of my life and I loved him dearly. 

I hope it is understood why my potential may not have been reached in this project, yet I am pleased with what I managed to achieve in light of everything.

Polymer Clay Figurines

To make my mini figurines that will accompany my story book, I used Sculpey polymer clay, as this is a material I have used before so I know how to use it. I bought two packs, one for each figurine, in the colour white, as this colour is the best for use with acrylic paint as it does not require a base coat. This is an oven bake clay, needing to bake for 30 minutes to turn the models solid and strong.

I began my Daisy model with a aluminium foil base. I decided not to use a wire armature as the model was too small and did not require it.

I followed up the foil with the polymer clay. The base of foil makes the sculpture very lightweight, similar to how a children's toy would feel. 

I carved the details into the figurine using a metal sculpting tool.

For my figurine of Archie, I had to use wire to support the wings as otherwise there is the risk that they will fall during the time in the oven. The base still consists of aluminium foil, but I used one of my tools to pierce a hole for the wire. 

I then coated the wire in aluminium foil just to bulk it up a little and stop it from moving, just to make it easier to mold.

The figurine of Archie required a few more extra details such as feet and hands, as well as feathers and fur. Using the various clay tools I was able to create the different elements and add textures. 

When the modelling was complete, I put the models in the oven at 130 degrees for 30 minutes, and was checking them constantly to make sure nothing broke while it was baking.

Painting the figurines

To paint my figurines I used Acrylic paint. I had to paint in stages to give the different colours time to dry. The combination of polymer clay and acrylic is one I have tried and tested so I know it does give a good finish.

Once the paint had dried, my play set was complete! The Archie and Daisy Snowball fight figure set consists of the two figurines, a snow fort and snowballs. Hopefully I will have time to create a proper promotional advert to accompany my little figurines, if not then I am glad that I have one completed extra to go along with my story book.

Easter Update and Critique with Sharon and Salvatore

Over the Easter break, I worked on the plot of my Archaeopteryx story and planned what will happen. Using rough experiments with watercolour and copic markers, I did several drawings to play around with possible scene orders and storylines and have come out with a finalised plot.
The story will be based around Archie the Archaeopteryx, who is bullied by two Pterodactyls named Perry and Terry because he cannot fly despite having wings. Archie longs for a friend who accepts him, so he sets out to leave the forest.
Along his journey through mountains and snow, he encounters many dinosaurs but has no luck making friends. Exhausted, Archie settles down in a cave for the night only to discover that is is home to a small pink Diplodocus, named Daisy. The two become great friends.

Here are my initial character doodles for Daisy

A few of my watercolour and copic scene plans

As a little extra to accompany my book, I will be making figurines of both Archie and Daisy using polymer clay. I have used polymer clay before when doing my art A level in order to make large sculptures, and for this reason I am very comfortable using it. My figurines will be bulked out with an inner wire skeleton and aluminium foil, to ensure that they do not collapse when they are baked. I will document the process when I get around to making them.

Critique with Sharon and Salvatore

I met with Sharon and Salvatore yesterday to discuss my progress with my Extinction project. They both really enjoyed the story and had a few suggestions for how I can improve. Salvatore suggested working larger and making my scenes more convincing, as some of the jungle scenes I had depicted looked rather modern. They also suggested for me to play with the use of shadows in the scenes with the large dinosaurs to convey intimidation. They want me to prepare a mock up book of roughs to convey the flow of the story in preparation for next week's meeting.