Final Year Project - Poster and Furniture Update.

Heya, people! So, it's now crunch time with barely a few precious weeks left until D-Day/Exam Day. Man, time sure does fly.

In this week's update, I'm going to show you the work-in-progress poster illustrations as well as the progress I've made with working on the furniture.

Final Year Project - Children's Furniture

In previous posts (FYP - Children's Furniture: Chair Designs, and FYP - Furniture Design Sketches, and Final Illustrations) , I've mentioned that I wanted to design a children's furniture set as part of the merchandise tying into my book project. After a search for a skilled joiner to bring it from paper to reality, I have these photos to show you!

These are the raw, just-delivered furniture pieces. Shortly after these were photographed, I bought the necessary supplies to turn them into my character pieces - including wood putty for some imperfections in the wood. Right now, I'm letting the putty cure before I sand, clean, and prime these pieces for painting. Anyway, on to the photos!

FYP - Button Size Poll Part Deux

Hey, again! Since I'm going to be very occupied on Monday, I'll be unable to make the usual Monday work-in-progress update. :(

However, I'm still going to need your feedback on an important merchandise topic: pin-back button sizes! Please look at the options in the image:

Pin-back Button Size Options: 1.25", or 2.25"? (Illustration not official)

All done? Sweet! Now, please vote for your size of choice in the Button Size Poll.

Thank you, and have a great weekend!

FYP - Furniture Design Sketches and Final Illustrations

Greetings, peeps! As promised in last week's post (FYP - Character Bookmarks (Rough Edition), and the Final Year Quest), I'd be showing sketches and final illustrations for my furniture designs this week. Since the chairs are the more technical part of the table/chair set (the table being circular, after all), I decided to focus on them this week. If you want a recap on what I had done before, and where I first drew my inspiration, please check the FYP - Children's Furniture: Chair Designs post.

So, without further adieu, I present character chair designs!

FYP - Character Bookmarks (Rough Edition), and the Final Year Quest

Heya! Hope you all had a great and productive/restful weekend! I hope so, because it's time to get down to business - at least for me. =) Over the last week/weekend, I've been tweaking my character buttons (FYP - Buttons Test-Run and Feedback Poll); I'm happy to say that the animal characters at least are ready to be printed, but I've decided to rework Charlene's button illustration. After some time had past, I realized that her expression and overall pose didn't say anything about her personality, nor did it entice the viewer - which is one massive oversight on my part (FYP - Button W.I.Ps!).

Anyway, enough about the buttons! Time to move on to the bookmarks!

FYP - Buttons Test-Run, and Feedback Poll

Hi, people! I know I haven't been here in too long, but I've been busy with a number of behind-the-scenes work. Part of that has to deal with illustration and making my buttons for my merchandise. The last time I mentioned those buttons, I did so in my FYP - Button W.I.Ps! post. Since then, they've been coloured and I've also done a printing test run at Labels and Supplies Ltd, a local company.

Eraser present to show scale.

The buttons are approximately 1.25" in dimension, which was decided upon based on the results of my Pin-Back Button Poll on my Langi Lala Studios Facebook Page. The poll is still open, so please feel free to participate in it. The more feedback I receive, the better. I also have other news to share, but I will leave those for this Friday's post! Yes, pees, I am striving foir a once-weekly post from now on - and what better way to kick off the weekend? See you later!  

EDIT: Just to clarify, Labels and Supplies didn't have 1.5" button options available, but I will contact them for the nearest available size ASAP.

FYP - Button W.I.Ps!

Still brainstorming for the furniture, but I've just finished sketches for half a dozen character pin-back buttons.

The Whole Gang!

From left to right, we have Ramesh Goatee (Goat), Pree (Parrot), Countess Whiskeria (Cat), Growlford Barkley (Dog), Lizzy Rexxy (Lizard with the shades), and our main girl Charlene 'GirlChile' Robinson. :) I might tweak Pree some more, but I'm satisfied with the designs overall.

What do you guys think?

Edit: While looking at furniture, I see that many manufacturers are still stuck on the 'pink/pastels and princesses for girls' mantra. The unisex ones (according to my Google-search anyway) tend to look bland, while the boy-specific designs are just full of bright colours, great characters, and just plain fun. :(

FYP - Children's Furniture: Chair Designs

Well, lookee here - an update! In order to show the versatility of illustration in my entire project, one of my ideas is to build children's furniture (yes, I'm ambitious). I spent yesterday sketching and devising possible looks and poses for four of my characters (Countess, Ramesh, Lizzy, and Growlford) as chair-backs. The character designs themselves are not final, but the basic poses will likely remain the same in the final drawings.

The gang as children's furniture designs.

The idea came to me when I was looking on Tumblr, and came across this children's table set:

A friend of mine later told me that those characters were Moomins, trolls (they look like hippos, don't they?) from a Swedish book series that was evidently popular enough to even spawn an amusement pack. You know where I want to go someday. ;)

FYP Character Sketches - Ramesh Goatee & Growlford Barkley.

Hey, peeps!

In between commissions, I've been slowly but surely re-tweaking (sometimes outright redesigning) Charlene's roster of animal friends. Rather than wait until I had more finished pieces to display - whenever that would be -, I decided to break the long drought on LangiSketches and upload this little rough-paper bit:

The little goat is Ramesh 'Ram' Goatee, an enthusiastic little kid and aspiring chef - and with eyes as big as his stomach. The dog in the sketch is Growlford, 'G' for short. That is far from his final design, so I'd expect some minor to major revisions to be in place before the finals are uploaded.

I'm back! Missed me? You had better! ;)

Long time no post, I know. Things were rough this semester, to say the very least, but I just finished some major paper work. Now that those are behind me, I'm ready to jump back into the project saddle with a focused mind - and I'm loving it! Part of my 'fresh mind and spirit' approach to my project will involved a redesign of my blog's layout, but that is quite a ways away. In the mean time, I have these:

Remember some posts ago when I alluded that research is important? In order to reinforce that statement (not that it really needs it, but hey!), I'm adding 'research is ongoing'. Trust me, that phase never stops. For my project, I wish to include a handmade book/portfolio as part of my display. I figured I could either go the slow and quality-dubious way of trying it myself, or learn from an expert in the book making field.

Since you have the crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run, here's my first little step in book making:

Don't laugh now! I know it's not much to look at, but I have to learn the basics first -  an X book (1), from scrap paper (which I have plenty of after all that theory work!). Not to worry; it will all make sense in due course. ;) My first little book rests on top of an old project logo design (2), and a scrap paper from a previous draft of my thesis (Hi, V!) (3). I happened to be browsing Brittney Lee's blog when I snapped this photo (4), and that yellow piece of paper contains an ancient to-do list - most of the items on it have either been finished, forgotten or outright discarded (5).

That it so far, but stay tuned! I'll try my best not to be gone for so long again - unless I'm on an all-inclusive vacation. ;)

FYP Character Sketches - Lizzy Rexxy

I still have Part III of my poster maquette experiment to post, but I wanted to show this first.

Lizford 'Lizzy Rexxy' Rexxington

The hyper-energetic dancer and party green lizard - Lizzy Rexxy!

What do you guys think? No constructive criticisms will be refused or deleted. :)

FYP - Poster Maquettes Pt.2

No, I haven't forgotten about this at all! In fact, I've just put together a little outline of my process thus far. To be honest, I had been hoping to have had this finished before my exam on Thursday (Dec. 16, 2010), but I had gotten far enough for people to get what I'm trying to accomplish.

Anyway, on to the process!

*Re-edit* Found an image hosting site that will allow the file to show at full size! Link has been updated!.:D

FYP - GirlChile's name is...

The polls are now closed! Sorry for those who missed it, but such is life. According to the results, the winner is 'Charlene' with 22.7% of the 44 votes cast. 'Sasha' and 'Kadianne' tied for 2nd place with 20.5% each, followed by 'Janine' (18.2%), 'Christina' (11.4%) and 'Yvonne' (6.8%)

So GirlChile's name is now Charlene Robinson. :D Many thanks to all who voted and helped me out with this task!

FYP - Give 'GirlChile' A Name!

After many, many weeks of brainstorming, I am stumped where giving 'GirlChile' a proper name is concerned. Of course, 'GirlChile' has grown on many of my classmates so I'll keep it as a nickname, but she still needs a proper 'birth certificate' name! ^^; Since I'm useless on that front, I realize that I need your help. A lot. :D

Just to give some background information on the character, here's a brief data sheet:

Age:  7+

Location:  Jamaica


Physical Characteristics: Tall and very skinny for her age.


Personality:  Highly imaginative, observant, jovial, sensitive, a thinker, a little stubborn

Likes:  Reading, drawing, writing, playing games


Dislikes:  Being bored, mean people, being alone, not being able to draw


Family:  Everton (Father), Janet (Mother), Pa Bap (grandpa), Ma Millie (Grandmother)

I've made a shortlist of names and set up a poll on the right side of the blog, so I can get your opinions. If you don't like any of the names listed, or you''d like to make a suggestion, please feel free to do so in the comments. Thanks in advance, guys! I appreciate it!

Polling ends on December 13, 2010 @ 12:15 a.m., so hurry and get those votes in!

FYP Character Sketches - Countess Whiskeria

Countess Whiskeria is one of the first animal characters to make their appearance in the book. She's a sassy diva with a heart of gold and an eye for fashion. Yes, fashion as in clothes. Don't let the animal nekkidness fool you; Countess and the gang will be wearing clothes. :)

Countess Whiskeria - Initial Sketch

This was the very first sketch that I did of Countess, and it's quite rough. ^^; Countess would require some cosmetic changes before she was ready for her close up.

Countess Whiskeria - 2nd and 3rd Sketches

The second and third sketches for Countess came closer to being 'Countess' than the first, but they still lacked something that would make me go, "Aha! Now she's finished!". I had been looking at some photos of cat breeds and was trying to incorporate physical characteristics of the Abyssinian and the Colourpoint Shorthair (the long, sleek body, with a bit of the ears and facials features). However, I still wasn't quite feeling it. She looked great here, yes, but was more 'fashion magazine' than 'children's book'.

Countess Whiskeria - 3rd Sketch feat. possible hat, scarf and dress design options

The final is dead close to being Countess' final design. After looking at images of cats as well as my own live-and-breathing house/yard puss, I noticed that their hind legs are thicker than their forelegs. Which makes a lot of sense, since much of their hunting relies heavily on sprinting after and pouncing on things as well as the occasional climbing exercise. She has no bust, since I'm not going that anthro/furry route for this project, but I did play up her feminine traits with her hips. Since cats also walk on their toes, so does Countess - which is why her feet aren't flat on the ground as one would expect with, say, a human. She's still smooth-coated, as I find this type of fur easier to work with in a project of this scale.

FYP Character Sketches - 'GirlChile' and Pauline

Just to set the record straight - my main character will not be called 'GirlChile' forever! Nope. No way. The problem is that I have quite a list of potential names for her and none of them seem...right. I knew I couldn't possibly plot out the story by calling her 'She' throughout the whole thing, so the 'GirlChile' nickname was born.


But fret not. She will have a proper name one way or the other, even if I have to host a poll right here. *hint hint*

In the meantime, I'll show you the initial sketches that I made for 'GirlChile' Robinson and one of her best friends, Pauline Richards done up in Col-Erase Pencils*!:
*Makes me feel all...animatorish and shiggity. :D

'GirlChile' Robinson

These aren't the very first sketches I've done of 'GC', but these are the ones I'll show because the initial sketches were some crappy stuff. I consider those my detox excretions, and who in their right minds want to see those? In the book, she's a very tall and skinny little country girl who's bright, highly imaginative and loves life. I did a full body sketch and several facial ones to try and get her character to match the way I've envisioned her. The one with the darker outlines closely represents 'GC' the most, but the design process is far from over. It's getting there, but she's not quite 'GC' yet.

Pauline Richards

Next is the smart Pauline Richards. This is the very first sketch I've done for her...isn't it odd how some supporting characters are just easier to put on paper? Weird. In any case, this isn't her final design either and I realized in retrospect that she looked similar to 'GC' in the face. I'm still trying to balance my characters being distinct yet being cohesive in overall style and design. I've made some notes on Pauline as to how I could distinguish her features more the next time I attempt to sketch her.


So, what do you guys think?