FYP - State of the Union Address (or WTFudge Has Peta Been Up To)

September 26, 2010 - October 13, 2010

I made my proposal presentation on Tuesday (Sept. 27, 2010), and it was a HIT! Final Year Project systems are GO! *cabbage patches - the only victory dance she knows* That was the one really bright spark of good news for the week, and Tropical Storm Nicole's back end completely shegged the island from Tuesday night right into Friday morning. The most damages we sustained were a muddy veranda and a few minor leaks, but plenty of others had it worse. :( The rebuilding process is just beginning.

In terms of my project, I'm still mostly in research mode so output has been limited. On the other hand, the knowledge I've been gaining so far has been invaluable. True, I may not be as far ahead as I had hoped but what I've been learning so far has helped me avoid some glaring mistakes that would have sent me sailing straight back to the drawing board. Three words - Not. Gonna. Happen.

As it stands, I'm in the process of writing rough chapter plans for my story before I start typing a manuscript. It's a great way to lay out the direction in which you want your characters and their story to go without a big intimidating blank screen with a blinking cursor in front of your face. :D Besides, having a rough to show at critique is a lot better than having a sob story. Speaking of characters, character sketches are in progress (yay!). So far I have initial sketches for the main character, one of her best friends and one of her other friends. Yes, other friends. More details to follow. ;)

In the mean time, I've been trying my hands at handmade folders for my future manuscript and other notes. Bookbinding supplies are next to impossible to locate here, so I've been doing a lot of improvising and recycling. So far, I have three cover bases made (yay!) and I plan to photo-document the process with those as well. Look out for those too. :)

FYP - My Life is like a Rollercoaster

September 19 - September 25
Hit a pothole, in that I lost my sculptor for my character maquettes. Le boo. After spending Sunday night in a frantic state, and Monday in a livid state, I had a talk with one of my best friends and the Go-To guy in my inner circle. Rather that sculpt clay maquettes, he suggested I go a different route with materials I could handle - like paper. I felt a lot better after speaking with him, and 100% back to normal after I did some research on the net that very night. I found a blog entry featuring the work of a number of super talented paper artists: Masters of Paper Art and Paper Sculptures

FYP - Research, Research and More Research

A key part of this project is research - this post will cover my progress in researching children's book illustrating and writing, and in shopping around for excellent local printers/graphics firms.

FYP - It's Back to Lab Again!

One thing that life throws at you, maybe to test you or to shake you up...perhaps even to be a right bastard, are set-backs. They vary in size, but set-backs are usually occurrences that make you stop, reassess and then progress with a more learned view point about getting from Point A to Point B.

I had such a bitch-slap wake-up call set back just this morning, in my first consultation for my senior project. ^^;

As it turned out, my target group for my project and the project itself weren't compatible. And since this is something I desire to publish at some point, missing the target market completely is as wrong as wrong can get. In short, I have quite a great deal of research ahead of me in order to get this thing done right.

Wish me luck, people! (Post illustrations to follow. School's scanner's too danged far.)

Ward Theatre Poster Project

Wow, I haven't been here for a while! Anyway, let's move on.

For one of my illustration assignments, we were asked to design a poster for a Ward Theatre production. Ward Theatre is, or WAS, Jamaica's version of Broadway. The annual pantomimes were normally held there but, unfortunately, the grand old theatre has fallen into disrepair. The pantomimes are currently held at another theatre that's closer to the theatre-going public, but I decided to use the current pantomime production for the year and redesign its poster for this project. The pantomime is called "Runner Boy".

My first attempt at the project was rushed, safe and bland. I won't even show it here. I was lucky enough to get a chance to redo it and I did a series of sketches for that purpose.



I call this my 'brain fart' sketch. It's the first sketch in the process and it was basically done to get the main ideas down - 'Runner Boy' in his country clothes and bare feet among more traditional track and field atheletes. Long before I finished, I considered this sketch to be rather uninteresting but I continued nonetheless. It's all a part of the process after all.



This second sketch was an attempt at more dynamism. I tried some foreshortening, although it's quite unsucessful here, and I maintained the idea of concealing his face as I had with the prior sketch and with the prior attempt at the project. The hills in the background reference his origins (i.e. a country boy from the town of Yam Hill). Liked it better than the first, but it still felt a little weak - as if he was out for his morning run and not a country boy called to participate in a city sporting event as the play's summary indicated.



A little better with the foreshortening, but not anything to write home about. I included two traditional runners in the background, with the barefoot Runner Boy beating them by a mile. The placement of the figures cost me the hills in the background, and also left me with an empty space to the lower left. Another trip to the sketch paper was in order.




I finally have a sketch that I'm almost satisfied with! I say 'almost satisfied' because I'd like the opinions from the viewing public before I start on the final. I changed the placement of the figures, which allowed me to reintroduce the hills (which will be faint in the background so as not to subtract from the other two runners), and gave Runner Boy himself a more dynamic angle and a more pronounced position in the foreground. I'm considering moving the title a bit lower and more to the left so as to give more balance, and the play information will occupy the space below that.

Any suggestions before I start the main piece?

A Guy and a Girl

One of my first sketches since getting the 'break' from school. I sketched these images of a random girl and guy while waiting around for an exam to finish, and realised how great it was to finally work on non-school related things after a nasty first year. I'm not sure what or if I have anything planned for these two in the future. We'll see, right?