Sunday 30 January 2011

Black Swan

A friend of mine kindly gave me some photoshop tips about blending and using varying transparencies of brushes, and introduced me to the idea of drawing in black and white and then adding colour on top. This really inspired me and was very helpful and I have tried to use these techniques in this painting of Natalie Portman.
Again, I drew it from scratch using a photo reference and I like how it looks much more evenly blended and realistic than the previous.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

DIY necklace

Pale grey H&M cardigan
Turquoise blue Topshop vest
Black cut off Levi's shorts
Brick red thrifted belt
Gold 'love' Accessorize necklace
Light pink flower handmade necklace

Light pink flower handmade necklace

Made this necklace with a long narrow rectangle of folded fabric and a bead, using a few folds and stitches. Came out a lot better than I was expecting!

Thursday 20 January 2011

Digital painting no.2

I drew this from a photo reference of Alexa Chung - model, presenter and general fashion icon. This was an experiment with the hard brush on PSE8 to see how I could get blocky strong areas of light and dark but make it look realistic still and not too cartoon-y. Think it came out okay...


The hair hasn't worked at all with this technique, it looks pretty much like straw. Definitely going to experiment more with blending, transparency and softer brushes.

Monday 17 January 2011

First time for everything

I was very super-extra-happy to receive a graphics tablet over Christmas :) Looking forward to getting used to it as I'm sure it will make computer drawing a lot easier. This is me doodling about for the first time:


Not quite sure what expression I was trying to create here, it seems to have turned into a mixture of fed-up and displeasure. Hmm...

Storyboard

Using the characters I created below I have made a storyboard. Its set entirely in the location of a small rural forest where Freddie lives, with a farm on the edge where Clemence and friends are housed. The characters are personified versions of animals that cannot speak particularly but converse with each other through noises and gesticulations.

Plot
The story starts with Freddie frolicking in the autumnal leaves and playing about but gradually he grows bored of this. An apple dropping from a tree provides another means of entertainment but he soon realises it would be more fun with another player. He sees Clemence and a friend in their pen and decides to see if they will play. After some encouraging they agree and play happily for a while. As Freddie grows hungry he begins to contemplate his options and Clemence could be one of them!










Possible plot extensions
Freddie's actions in the story are almost a surprise to him and perhaps this could lead to a feeling of shame. The impression is given that Freddie and Clemence know each other previously and get along well. The other chickens might gang up on Freddie after this 'horiffic' act he has done.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Splash of colour

First outfit post. Exciting.

Re-discovered my blog over at Chictopia in the hope that this will encourage me to keep updating so please check that out :) My main reason for posting photos is to force me to experiment more and so I remember when an outfit does/doesn't work. Plus its always nice when someone says something nice about an item of clothing you adore :)

Burnt orange peter pan collar Topshop dress
Gold Dorothy Perkins ball and chain necklace

You lovely people can follow me on

Chictopia

http://www.chictopia.com/racheeey

Lookbook

http://lookbook.nu/dessertplease

Monday 10 January 2011

Character development

So I had a go at some character development after we did a few classes on storyboarding and creating characters in uni...Quite like the angular fox and how it still manages to look somewhat friendly yet mischievious despite all the triangle shapes!?




I don't feel the chicken works as well as its not as quirky/original as the fox perhaps but I think it fits well the shape-wise. I tried out some front-views for the fox but decided these wouldn't fit with the style I wanted so the fox will essentially have the same head profile side-on and front-on... if that makes sense. I'll put it into the storyboard so its more obvious.

The Characters

Freddie is a young male fox approximately 3 years old. Freddie does not actively hunt other animals for fun, instead enjoying swimming in nearby rivers. He has no real home but lives comfortably.

Clemence is an older male chicken/rooster approximately 4 years old.
Clemence tries to resist doing things that are dangerous or not perfectly right but he is easily persuaded. He lives in a very pleasant coop with many other chickens and is quite popular.

Friday 7 January 2011

3Ds Max

Basic bedroom scene created and animated using 3ds Max. Video quality is hideous as the original file was too big to upload so I had  to convert a copy to wmv :(

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Stop motion

I was pretty bored so tried some DIY stop motion using my bog-standard webcam and the free HeliumFrog. Here is the (v. basic) end result:

Monday 3 January 2011

First Post

Hello Everyone!

I am Rachel, an Animation student and clothes-lover currently living in Sheffield. This blog is a new years project that I hope to update regularly with drawings, digital paintings, animations, outfit photos, doodles and other interesting things.

Hopefully you will find something to inspire and intrigue you :)

Rachel.