Interactive map of Japan for Children

Ok, it is all pretty much there now. I'm early finishing this final piece which is something that does not happen often. So now this is done I can polish up all my other works that have to be submitted for Friday the 5th.

Anyway, here we are .. some of my images of Mizuki on her noodle dragon in search of the Makura Gaeshi, to find her pillow that he stole.

It is all now in a webpage form, but I will upload the images of those seperatley when it has had its last

polishing

Torii Gates - Kyoto

Mount Fuji

Makura Gaeshi sneaks into the house

Flying of into the Japan moonlit sky

Makura Gaesha steals pillow

Mzuki- lantern festival Yokohama

More to come soon!

The Japanese Map... "The Map Project"

This is my image that will be turned into an interactive map on a children's web page. I will place in location spots so as you can click to see that area on a separate page. I will be creating the web page area around it as this is only the small interactive element. It will not be full screen...

I used fairy lights and layered photos of them to create a population density and then the clouds are made from watercolour and neocolours ..  

More to come soon, watch this space!

Makura Gaeshi - The Map Project

This week I have been experimenting with my designs for a Makura Gaeshi , a Japanese spirit that steals your pillow in the night and moves it to the bottom of the bed. Only Children can see them, they are known to be mischevious and sometimes have a rainbow glow to their eyes.

The map project which I am doing at the moment focus's on maps, and I had chosen to do Japan and focus on its culture and folklore's and it's story telling. I looked at studio Ghibli for influence into storytelling and came up with a crazy idea that would appeal to children. This would give the map a narrative to aid the visuals . The idea is that a small girl is sleeping in her bed, finds that the spirit has stolen her pillow and has taken it to a location in japan.

The small girl wishes for magical intervention, she wishes she can fly but it doesnt happen immediatley, then she goes to the kitchen, makes a bowl of noodles and the noodles turn into a noodle dragon which takes her all over Japan to find her pillow, so as she can return to sleep.

The map will be interactive as it will be a web page on a childrens website. It will be educational as every location you visit will give information on that area or landmark.

Here are my designs for the makura gaeshi... 

"Makura Gaeshi - The Map Project-Japan"

Futher work for this project will be up soon!

Label Magazine Issue 12

The recent news of the possible ban of religious headwear such as the Burka has made it it into the news section in Label Magazine this week. I took on the illustration for the article, knowing that this was a sensative topic to handle, yet couldnt be avoided without raising some questions in the lllustration.

I wanted to focus on the eyes and show the beauty but at the same time not hide the worry in which these people are facing if this is part of their religious life in those countries. Illustrating an actual Burka was too literal, therefore thought a sensative way way was to use a pair of hands to make a frame for the eyes. This illustration didn't have to be complicated as the main focus were the eyes. Here is my end result. Done in paint tool SAI and Photoshop CS5.

San Francisco, A Study Trip.

Towards the end of March of which seems a long while ago now, our illustration group went on a trip overseas to Sunny San Fran, in California. We only had 4 days there in which we had two projects to do and gather as much information as possible to continue the projects over the easter holdiay.

My project which I focused the most upon was "Destination Conversation" where we had to collect  references of social exchanges, such as conversations you hear on the street.
Over all I was very overwhelmed by the sheer Joy that people spread into others lives, the way everyone appeared to be so laid back , joyful and so friendly.

Here are a few illustrations that I created that reflected how I felt about San Francisco and the chatacters I met there :),

"The Joy of San Francisco"
all the characters here that I developed composed together in a final image. The colouring and feel for the houses concluded how I was going to handle the final look of the characters.

"Drumming For Street Kids"
This idea was from a conversation I over heard in a cafe whilst doodling away. A woman was chatting about a chartiy that organises drumming events for street kids, to help raise money with the children for the children.

"The Sax Priest""
On the Sunday of one of my visits I went to a jazz church near Japan town, this was an experiance I will never forget! The atmosphere was so lively and vibrant and is nothing ive ever experianced in a church before. They sure know how to worship!

"The Joy of Soy"
I found engravings in the pavement all over San Francisco and  was amused particularly at one that read "The joy of soy". Just nearby from this engraving was a dog sitting on a bench, looking quite sad that he had been left outside the shop alone without his master. Images formed in my head of this dog lapping up the words on the pavement as if he would be much happier if the soy was real.

"Tim"
This is an illustration of a homeless guy called Tim, he struck up a conversation with my group of friends and myself, initally chatted about music and where we were from. He was so taken back at how we all wanted to draw him and that he had no issues with this and he relished the oppertunity to get to know us. He bagan to talk about how it is that kindness for him is the greatest gift, and the greatest power in this world. The power to make someone smile is the strongest thing a human can do, and that being kind is meant to be in human nature. If we forget to be kind then who are we? Are we human at all? He told us never to forget what it is like to be human. For a homeless guy he was so pleased to be where he was in life, he was happy, he had friends and enjoyed being part of the city in San Francisco. He was happy that was all that mattered to him.

 

First Blog Post - about me and "The Begining of the end... of injustice"

So hey there!
My name is Anna, I am currently studying Illustration and Animation at Loughborough university in the UK . I thought it was about time that I set up a blog as it's a savy thing to do to let people know what im up to with my work.

You can also find me on Flickr and Deviantart ( of which ill put up the information in my profile shortly).
One thing you will find with me as an illustrator is that I tend to have a few different styles. I am experianced in digital (CG) and traditional media's including crafting textiles, painting, drawing, and traditional animating methods.

So what have I been up to recently then?

Okay well, these past few weeks have been a bit manic with the work load. It's coming up to the end of this semester and assesment is looming.
I have worked on an animaton with other illustrators in my year about the injustice of sweatshops in thrid world countries. The animation was about  letting retailers know that people care for the situation and that in order to change their ways it was up to us the consumer to make a stand and say "we want fairtrade". The animation was getting across that you needed to make your favourite label count.

This is poster (left) is not the final image, as we touched it up more on the computers in studio to make it clearer. But you can see from this the idea for our animation. The camera would pan across following the stitchline, with sound effects of a sewing machine.
"Chances are..the person..who made...your clothes... was not...paid enough..to cover the costs...of simply living...is this ...fair?"

We then animated the fair label, to fly like a firefly excitedly going across the scene, creating a phrase as it passes to read " let the retailer know you care"
 The label then flew off to be joined by other labels that glowed and formed the shape of a light bulb. This initiated that in order to change, it was up to the mass of the consumer.

We are yet to tweak or edit the final thing, as from our critique we had, some of the lettering needs to be clearer still :)

Testing

testing =] haven't used blog spot before ;p