Action Plan w/c 29th January

Self Initiated Brief: Animals (Badger)

Another animal! This time a badger. It's fun to make with no pressure of a brief or deadline, but I do feel a bit like I might be wasting my time. I think this is beneficial to me as I'm practising character and creature design, I'm being productive and I'm filling my portfolio with new things, however, it might seem random or pointless to have images in my portfolio that are not made for a specific brief or purpose.

Although I don't have a specific client-led brief, I do have an intended audience: as ever, children. And a tone of voice: charming, adventurous, fantastical. Perhaps I should do some more briefs that push past these common groundings in my work, but this is the kind of work I want to do in the future so I do want to show that I can do it and that I've done it well in my portfolio.

I love how this backdrop looks when I use my 50mm lens to photograph a character in the foreground. The backdrop blurs and looks believable as a landscape.

Self Initiated Brief: Animals

No brief here, I just wanted to make! I'm challenging myself to make some things I'm not that familiar with/haven't attempted in 3D before. Today, I'm making some forest animals. Here is an owl!

He is so lovely to move - his big wings make him look like he's dancing all the time. He's very different to my usual dolls, something different to put in my portfolio. Would like to make more birds! Jay bird next, perhaps?

Reusing the Baba Yaga scene but have removed all the spooky trees and the house. This is just the character on top of grass and in front of a forest backdrop. Some flowers on the ground would make this a bit friendlier/forest-like.

Taking photos editions of at least three different poses for instagram uploads. Developing character and showing movement/angles.

Would like to get some photos of several animals together - animal gathering/a story in this image.

Party animal! Would like to apply these to birthday cards. Maybe a plain coloured backdrop? A series of different animals in party hats. Funny, silly, cute!

Vasilisa the Fair

Spent a long time putting the house together and I'm very pleased with how it came out. It's very 70's and gypsy caravan style looking. It's not as scary as it could be but the very dark, gloomy backdrop helps to communicate that atmosphere.
I love the juxtaposition of the dark sky against the bold, vibrant colours in the foreground. It does look like a weird Russian fairy tale.

The part I'm most happy with in this scene is the grass. It does look like grass in close up, I just wish it was all one even colour with less patches where I ran out of blue/yellow. Maybe repaint.

I think this scene is the most successful in telling a story. It looks more obvious here than the previous image that Baba Yaga is looking at Vasilisa (difficult when their eyes are just dots).

Does Vasilisa's doll look like a baby? It should look like a magic doll!

Baba Yaga doesn't look too scary here. She should be bigger, darker and with more creepy trinkets/skulls and bones surrounding her house.

Very scary Baba Yaga. I worry that she looks quite similar to other witches I've made, but I think the snaggle tooth and big skull makes her different and memorable. I added the light in the eyes of the skull post-photo on photoshop but they do look like they're glowing. Might work even better on a darker photo with the eyes lightening a glow around Baba Yaga (focus).

Does the doll need a magical glow? Maybe making a smaller doll will make it more obvious that it is a doll and not a baby.

I love how the trees in this scene look when they're out of focus/deeper in scene because they make it look like a very deep and scary forest, as though Vasilisa is quite far in into this world.

Vasilisa Scene Construction

Fur makes brilliant grass! Paint the fur green and it will stand up rigid. Would have worked better if I'd used less shades of green - does look patchy.

Vasilisa Research (1)

I'd already read this story before as someone on a dolls group I'm a member of had recommended it for my dissertation research, but I didn't get much further than reading it which is a shame because it's a wonderful story. It's got everything: magic, a forest, a witch, a magical doll, creepy skulls and a weird house with chicken legs... This is perfect for the ADQ brief 'Haunted Fairytales'! Here I've done a lot more in-depth research into the culture, context and representations of the story.

Vasilisa the Beautiful Research (2)

When looking for more information about the story, I kept on stumbling across different variations of the story. To make matters majorly confusing, a completely different story 'Tsarvana Frog' (the Frog Princess) was produced under the name 'Vasilisa the Beautiful' and variations of THAT folk tale come up when searching for Vasilisa.

I watched a little bit of this animation anyway because I was quite enchanted by the folk colours used. It's very 70's, hence the kitsch, comic illustration, but the colours are earthy shades of yellow, reds and greens - dingy colours you'd see painted on the side of a canal boat that have a folky charm.

I took a screen grab of the video and opened it on Photoshop to select the main colours and create a colour palette from it. They're beautiful but perhaps not scary enough for a 'haunted' fairy tale? Paired with black, though, this adds more contrast and makes them look older, more dated, which I like.

Another Art Doll Quarterly Challenge

A Burton-Inspired Holiday
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a classic movie that many of us hold dear in our hearts. What characters inhibit your version of Christmastown? What does your Jack Skellington or Sally look like all decked out for the holidays? What kind of doll can you create that’s inspired by Tim Burton? This talented director, producer, artist, writer, and animator known for his dark, gothic, quirky style is certain to get your creative muse busy! We’re excited to see what fantastic art dolls you can come up. Results will be published in our Winter 2018/2019 Issue. 
Deadline: June 15, 2018