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. ;)

New Year, New Zeal...and a New Look!

Greetings!

I know, I know....I haven't updated this blog in what feels like eons, but there's a good reason for that. I've been without my computer for over a month*, and I've been relying on the kindness of neighbours to get periodic internet access. Unfortunately, said neighbours have computers without any graphics software whatsoever, so that meant no new artwork from me. :(

Well, all that should soon change! Speaking of changing, a layout and design overhaul for the blog is also due, and in the works. Sounds great, huh? Another thing is that I'm going to be posting all of my sketches on here from this point on, and not just the ones I'm doing for my Final Year project (yes, that's still going on but that's an explanation for another day).

Sit tight, stay tuned, and thank you for putting up with me for so long! :D



*Don't worry, it merely died on me. The new one should be ready by this weekend.

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. :)