I'm aiming to improve my written analytical skills here, along with sharing my work. I have a soft spot for illustration and animation and love to discover unfamilliar art. I hope finding and looking at new things informs my practice.
I tore into an old Illustrator file and took it apart to experiment more in Risograph printing before winter break. I chose to revisit the circus horse that I vectored much earlier in the year. Separating the layers and simplifying the image was a little bit of a pain, since I made the original image with no intent to print it as a Risograph. But the outcome is something that I’m very happy with!
Riso circus horse!!
I had planned for the illustration to use four inks, and I would have liked them to have been black, teal, red, and yellow. The yellow ink would have been used for detail on the blanket and to add texture to the background. However, I wasn’t happy with the results, so I cut that colour out all together. I think the three colours used here work together well.
The majority of the horses are printed on different coloured sugar paper. Some are printed on white card. I would like to look into printing the illustration on card of different colours in the future. I might even be able to include the fourth colour if I can tweak the original image enough, but I don’t consider it a necessity for the image to work anymore.
Horses on different coloured papers
Thinking about it, I would like to try printing grey horses, with dappled fur either using black or teal for the detail. Really, there’s nothing stopping me from printing fluro pink horses other than my own sensibilities.
I tidied up the tiger assets I already had for a mini print
After cleaning up the tiger illustration I had practiced Riso prating with, I made the graphic into an A5 mini print and then printed the same image onto card to make B5 greeting cards. It’s just experimentation, but I’ve learned a lot thus far. I’d like to make some illustrations from scratch with the intent of printing them this way – it’ll streamline the whole process.
A little update to the personal stationery project I’d started quite some time ago. I’ve had access to print some trial sticker sheets and gave Risograph printing another go after a long absence. It was exiting! Next time I share some printed works I’ll go further in-depth with each method used. I didn’t record every step of either of the printing processes, but I’ve made a note to do so for the next round.
Risograph Printing
It had been… a veeeery long time since I had made anything with a Risograph printer. I’ve posted some Riso work here before. But I need to get back to grips with the machine. I printed some simple note cards using only 3 inks; red, blue, and black. So including the card or paper colour, the card’s design uses 4 colours – never mind that black isn’t really a colour.
Risograph print note cards
Even though I made these rather impulsively, with assets already on-hand, I found separating the layers of the tiger graphic simple enough. Though the graphic was not designed with the intent of Riso printing, the elements of the illustration were grouped sensibly which streamlined the whole process.
Here’s also where I want to say that the mid-century design sensibilities of some of the illustrations I’ve made recently really lend themselves to this printing aesthetic.
Risograph tigers
I think the tiger turned out very cute and suites these bold colours. I ensured to knockout the tiger’s body entirely on the blue layer, or else I’d end up with purple as the two inks overlap. I used half-tones on the blue layer and black layer as too much solid colour can result in track marks (ink streaks resembling an automobile’s tyre tracks).
Sticker Printing
There are a few different sticker paper qualities that I can use; glossy, matt, and transparent. I intend to try out all three different types of paper, and get a better idea of what qualities suit the different visual styles of sticker designs.
B5 sticker sheet featuring two large dragons
Below are some dragon sticker sheets; before and after being separated and trimmed with the guillotine. They’re printed on white, glossy paper.
There were a couple of tiny cutting errors on this sheet. But it’s a trial run, so I’m able to sort out any mishaps (big or small) after seeing these printed physically.
Though I didn’t take photographs of the process of arranging the assets for print, next time I’ll take screenshots to show the steps taken to print these. I’ll be printing on different types of sticker paper, so when I share them, I’ll mention the quality and characteristics in-depth as I compare them.
Well, that’s it until next time! I’m learning a lot as I go, but it feels good to have some physical copies of digital pieces to hold at last! There will always be some sort of discrepancy in colour when printing digital pieces as printers can’t always reproduce colours accurately. (Some colours just aren’t ‘printer-safe’.) I look forward to more printing and experimentation with Riso!
There are a couple of personal projects that I’ve been slowly chipping away at. It’s difficult to move any faster than I am when most critique is from a small number friends who want to give any, and I’ve been away from academic pressure. I’ve feel like I’ve had a difficult time structuring myself. I don’t have access to all of the tools needed to reach the end of projects, so nothing I’ve done really has a ‘completed’ feeling. I’m going to log some project progress here so that I can better see how much farther I have to go.
Assets from last year that I’ll put to use on stationery
I’ve wanted to make stationery for some time now, I’d like to finalise some of the letter paper designs that I had worked on. I do need more specific critique on those works though. I thought making sticker sheets would be a fun (smaller, and more straight-forward) project.
You may think stickers superfluous, but they can brighten up diaries, notebooks, and workspaces in general. I’d argue that their surface value of being “nice to look at” is good enough.
I have a few assets from digital illustration experimentation in that I’d very much like to put to use, such as these pair of tigers. The current plan for a tiger sticker sheet is simply both of the tigers, with a small selection of leaves. The colours are bold and cheerful.
There are two dragon graphics I made with the intent of printing them as large stickers, rather than part of a sheet of stickers. Personally, I’d like to have some big stickers to place on sketchbooks and such, and I know others would, too.
I don’t want to squander space when printing, so I’d like to add some smaller stickers to avoid such waste. I’d like to add relevant objects such as coins, pearls, or jewel encrusted daggers or staffs – anything that you’d find in a dragon’s hord. But It also depends how competent I am at designing them!
I know the compact design of the first dragon graphic is much less fussy than the second. I anticipate the red dragon may be a little more difficult to peel and stick place. I don’t have any plans to adjust the design however. I’d like to see how practical it is once printed.
To help remedy some creative blocks I mentioned, I do want to support students though the alumni scheme I was offered, and I feel it will help build up confidence weakened though lack of any real meaningful academic discussion and exercises. I’m more than happy to share skills and methods of creativity with students. I hope that I can visit the school campus safely, and even have the access to tools I don’t have. Maybe even make use of the facilities from departments outside of graphic design (such as the textile department). I’ll be printing stickers the first change I get. I look forward to recording the results of trial sticker printing on my blog!
Since writing up my thoughts onLong Way North, I had wanted to write about and share another animated movie with strong design choices that really appeal to my tastes.
The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon is a 1963 animated feature from the Japanese studio Tōei Dōga (which was later renamed Toei Animation). The film is known in Japan as Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji (わんぱく王子の大蛇退治) literally meaning “the naughty prince’s Orochi slaying”.
Perhaps this feature is best known outside of Japan as an influence cited by Genndy Tartakovsky for the art direction of the 2001 TV series Samurai Jack, and Yōichi Kotabefor the visual design choices seen in the 2002 video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Unlike Long Way North, it’s a little difficult for me to find details on those who worked on this film, or any history in regards to its development. The character animator of this film is Yōichi Kotabe, whom I have mentioned already for his contributions to The Wind Waker.
My copy of The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon is a Japanese DVD (sans subtitles in any form). This copy isn’t cleaned up at all; any artefacts and damage from the original source seem to be intact. It’s possible to enjoy the film grain in all its glory! (In all seriousness, the practice of digitally scrubbing film grain from old animated features isn’t something I think much of; the grain is part of the medium, and it comes off to me as a ridiculous betrayal to present the work as something it is not.)
The film’s most important characters and events are derived from Japanese mythology. If you’re familiar with any gods from Shintō religion, you’ll notice their portrayal here is with much artistic licence. In the 1963 film, the protagonist, prince Susanō, is represented as a young boy, rather than an adult, most likely for the child audience to better understand or empathise with his actions and motives.
A brief summary of the film:
Prince Susanō is the youngest child of the creation deities Izanagi and Izanami. When his Izanami dies, the prince resolves to travel to heaven to bring her back.
Prince Susanō constructs a boat, and leaves home with his rabbit friend, Akahana, in search of his older siblings, thinking they can aid him in reaching their mother. Susano’s brother Tsukiyomi, and sister, Amaterasu, are of no aid, however. They have accepted their mother’s ascent to the afterworld.
Susanō and Akahana leave Tsukiyomi’s moon kingdom and press onwards to find Amaterasu
Making friends during their travels, the gentle giant named Titanbō joins Susanō and Akahana. The trio eventually arrive at a village suffering under the grips of a monster. The village’s young maiden Kushinada is next in line to be devoured as sacrifice to the eight-headed, eight-tailed beast, Orochi.
Susanō meets the gentle and reserved kushinada and is captivated by her
The prince is infatuated with young Kushinada, andso decides to rid the village of the hydra-esque Orochi. Susanō is willing to fight to the death with the monster!!
After a terrible battle, Susanō bests Orochi, and is greeted by his mother up in the heavens, who praises him for his good deeds before leaving him. The prince finally accepts that he will not be seeing his mother again.
One thing that stands out about this movie compared to features released by Toei, is the much more angular character designs, and the abstract environments that are stripped back with many elements represented as symbolic shapes.
The economy seen in the character designs to me, feel very modernist, and very confident. A keen viewer will notice that most characters have coloured outlines, rather than black outlines, which gives a softer look to many of the designs.
While the film was created for and marketed to children, it is still a showcase of some experimental sequences and unique design visual choices for cel animation that I can only better appreciate and understand as an adult.
Sharing a lot of screen shots only does the movie so much justice… Really, you have to see The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon in motion to appreciate the skills and craft behind the animation!
The video embedded below is a sequence that presents great abstract character design and colour usage. As I have taken the video from sakugabooru, it is also an example of sakuga. While sakuga (作画) literally means ‘drawing pictures’, animation fans will use it to define fluidity in a sequence that uses little to no trickery or animation shortcuts.
The original Japanese film isn’t streaming anywhere, as far as I am aware. (Tell me if you know otherwise!) The only way to own a copy of the original film is to buy it from Japan. If you’re willing to watch this feature in any from, the English dub that was produced by Frontier Enterprises back in 1964 is available to watch on the Internet Archive.
I’d like to share more animated features, or even animated shorts on my blog in the future! Overseas works, and older films are particularly interesting to me for their (most often unfamiliar) design principles. I believe it’s good to be ‘challenged’ every so often by work that presents itself in a way you’re not expecting!
Being stuck inside most of the day, with no plans to go anywhere anytime soon, I’m daydreaming about travel. I wrote about hotel luggage labels from the ‘golden age of travel’ last year. Now, I want to share some posters by British freelance illustrator Maurice Laban (1912-1970). The following poster advertisements were were made in the late 1950s, and were used to promote the British Overseas Airways Corporation (or BOAC) and Qantas.
The images I’m sharing here are from the art auction site invaluable. Go have a look over there to see these posters at a higher resolution (as well as other vintage posters from this era) if you’re into this type of commercial art.
U.S.A. | Canada
This is my favourite of the posters. I love the racoon’s eyes being stylised as stars! Quite dazzling! The racoon is a little more anthropomorphic than the other animals in this set – standing on its back legs, and wearing a bow tie.
Far East VIA EUROPE AND INDIA AfricaAustralia NEW ZEALAND Britain / Europe
Another poster that I really like. I just find the dogs’ faces very humorous.
These digitised images here aren’t likely as vivid as the physical posters; the original works having been produced through serigraphy (screen printing).
Creatives behind commercial illustration in the 20th century weren’t generally recognised for their contributions as graphic designers are today, and it makes finding information on freelance illustrators such as Maurice Laban difficult. But the fact that these pieces were preserved at all shows their lasting appeal… thank you for the inspiration, Maurice Laban!
To keep up digital artworking practice, I dug up an old sketch of a fox to work from. I still really liked the shapes that the fox was made up of, so I didn’t have to tweak anything before working on it. It is a pretty static pose, but I have more kinetic compositions in the works.
This digital artworking exercise was carried out in Adobe Illustrator. I followed the same steps I usually do: begin with a sketch, trace it in Illustrator, and then deck it out with colour and textures.
I traced my sketch into basic shapes
You can see the basic shapes the figure is made of. You may not think about it consciously, but basic geometric shapes all carry some ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ associations. The triangle was used a lot in construction here. You may associate triangles with progression, instability, aggression, and unpredictability. The fox is softened by the use of semi ellipses though.
I used a good four or five vector brushes to get the analogue-like textured feel that I wanted. There are probably better brushes out there (to download) for this sort of work, but I’m making do with what I have just now.
A MESS
Above, you can see how messy the canvas got while applying textures. I used the Pathfinder tools (Unite, Intersect, Minus Front…) extensively while adding textures. I’m sure there’s a more conventional way to go about it, but it’s how I taught myself to apply such details.
The end piece!!
I’m very happy with the colours of the fox, and how well the initial sketch’s silhouette translated into this vectored artwork. I feel content to make further digital works in this graphic style. I… might even want to make a set of caniformia illustrations! AR-WOOOO!!
Some time ago, I was given a laser wood cut kit of a bee. It’s from a small design studio in the UK (Gilbert13). I took a few phone photographs as I put it together. I thought the kit was too cute to neglect sharing the design!
BUZZ!!
The piece of laser-cut wood is 21 centimetres by 13.5 centimetres. The kit comes with colour instructions printed on thin, brown card.
The instructions are very easy to follow; they’re accompanied by picture aids, after all. One is supposed to use a sharpie, or perhaps some other black felt-tip pen to colour the body of the insect, but I didn’t have one and used some brown ink to stain the wood. The colour is less subtle in person.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!!
Putting together the bee I thought about how simple and easy the steps were – how ‘accessible’ the kit is, really – and that’s good design! It makes me want to try out crafting something through the use of a laser cutter, too.
Today I decided to write about something that doesn’t concern books, exhibitions, or cool product design. I decided I’ll share some images and thoughts from a foreign animated film I recently watched.
Long Way North (or Tout en haut du monde meaning ‘At the very top of the world’) is an animated co-production between French and Danish studios made in 2015. The director is Rémi Chayé. Chayé kept the film’s budget modest; instead of flexing animator skills through unnecessary details and constant movement, the film is decisive with its visual information and contains more moving holds (quiet scenes of slight movement). These choices and sensibilities make it refreshing for me to watch.
I appreciate an animated feature that tells an offbeat narrative, or takes on a visual identity that’s unique to itself, as a respite from the over-played and safe stories and looks of America’s animated blockbusters. Seeking out and choosing to support smaller films like this means we can see more variation.
Here is a trailer with English subtitles:
I would recommend watching the film in its original language audio (to enjoy the French voice actors) with English subtitles, if you can. The region 2 DVD I found comes with both French and English audio and English subtitles.
I summarise the story as thus, but be warned as it contains spoilers:
In the late 19th century, the Tsar of Russia has funded the construction of a great icebreaker, the Davaï, and its voyage to the North Pole. The crew is lead by the explorer Oloukine, grandfather to a young aristocratic girl named Sasha. The Davaï leaves with much fanfare, but years pass, and the Davaï and the exploration team fail to return. A reward for the ship is offered by the Tsar, but all search parties failed to find the ship.
15-year-old Sasha still believes that the Davaï, her grandfather, and his crew will return. On the night of her debutante ball, Sasha sneaks into the newly built library wing of her family home, dedicated to Oloukine and filled with his belongings. She is searching for a pair of earrings her grandfather brought back for her years ago, and finds her grandfather’s exploration route through the Artic. During the ball she discloses her findings to her family and guests – that the Davaï’s search parties took the wrong routes – but the findings are brushed off as fantasy, and Sacha’s claims do nothing but strain her family’s relationship with prince Tomsky whom sees Oloukine’s efforts as a waste of resources.
Sasha runs away from home at night, determined, and carrying what little comfort she can. She travels to the coast in search of an ice-breaking ship, and finds one named the Norge. Sasha bargains with the crew mate Larson, believing he is the captain of the ship. She offers her earrings in return for passage to the Artic. The Norge’s captain Lund grants Sasha aboard his ship to seek out the Davaï, if only because she had already been promised passage by second mate Larson.
The relationship between the crew and Sasha is tentative at first, and gradually warms up to an amicable alliance as they cross the water to the Artic. But as soon as the Norge is met with the harsh environment, things take a turn for the worst. The Norge is sunk by an avalanche, and Lund is injured due to Larson’s inadequate performance. While the tools and supplies saved from the wreck can sustain the crew for a short while, the men begin to turn on each other, and blame Sasha for their predicament.
With even the young deckhand Katch turned against Sasha, she leaves camp and is followed by one of the ship’s huskies. Led by the dog, Sasha finds her grandfather’s frozen body and his logbook, in hand. It reveals the last actions of the Davaï’s crew, and the coordinates to the ship. Sasha returns to camp after being found by Katch. Lund’s crew free the landlocked Davaï using their remaining dynamite, and use the vessel to return to ST. Petersburg.
The widescreen (2.35:1) film makes great use of the dimensions for both its vast urban and country environments, and busy interior set designs.
Whether a scene takes place in the early morning, day, dusk, or late at night, the choice of colours closely imitate the feeling of real naturalistic lighting. As the film progresses, the warmer tones lessen in frequency to match the atmosphere and settings.
Even though the people in the film are heavily stylised – as are the spaces they inhabit – they still feel and act human. This is down to the writing, the dialogue, and the animation. While Sacha’s motivation to find the Davaï is the driving force of the feature, captain Lund’s brother and second mate Larson clearly has something to prove. When characters are met with difficult choices, the darker side of human nature shows itself. I don’t have any clips of character interactions to share, the character acting is well-done.
While on-board the ship, the ‘camera’ moves about to emulate the motion of the ocean waves. A lot of the compositions are tightly executed.
The sound design of the film is great, too. (The DVD I have came with surround sound.) The feature is mature enough to let silence and noise take their turns to speak in place of the characters. Like any form of design, if the sound department does a good job, it’s often uncredited, but if the sound design is bad, we’re more likely to be upset and complain.
Hah. I wan’t going to include as many images as I did in this write up, but I took many screen grabs as I watched the movie again, still as impressed as my first viewing of the arrangement of the figures and backgrounds – and the very confident use of negative space.
I haven’t done much in the way of digital painting lately, and looking at this film it makes me think “Ah! I need to step up my game!” and practice with more adventurous palettes next time I make studies. Rémi Chayé cited Russian realist painter Ilya Repin as a source of inspiration behind the art direction. It is also worth noting that while it’s conventional to illustrate or animate figures and objects with outlines, the film does away with them, not only giving the film a unique appearance, but it is also closer to realist paintings and a real perception of our world.
I hope that if you have not yet seen the film, dear reader, that you may feel inclined to seek it out now. It’s worth a watch for the visuals alone! I admit that I enjoyed writing up thoughts on this film, and would like to share other lesser-known (and less accessible) animated features on my blog.
A good friend gifted me a new logo design book titled Logos from Japan. The book is published by Counter Print. It’s a continuation of the survey of design made to curate the graphic design book From Japan, but focusing only on the country’s logo design. I want to share some of the book on my blog.
It’s a paperback book of 160 pages, in full-colour, and has a short foreword on the selection of designs within.
The book is has grouped the logos by theme such as ‘Architecture’, ‘Natural’, and ‘Latin’. Each logo is labeled by name, with the information of the agency that created it, and the year it was made. There’s plenty of room allocated to each logo – many have a page or two of their own – and there’s photography of some of the designs at work on signage or print.
Animal environment and welfare foundation logo
Clothing store logo featured on signage and paper bags
There’s an interesting passage in the book’s foreword that highlights globalisation’s relationship with design and craftsmanship – homogenisation – and that Japanese design has thus far evaded strict international ‘rules’ popularised by Swiss design:
In 1996 the German graphic designer Olaf Lue wrote that German design no longer had any national attributes. Observing that some might favour this development, Lue also acknowledge that some might regret it. It was true that, throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, the spread of information and the effect if globalisation showed its impact on the world of design, as in many other areas. An ‘International’ or ‘Swiss’ style was prevalent in the West, characterised by cleanliness, readability and objectivity. However Japanese design remained largely recognisable, mixing extremely traditional elements of Japanese Art history and the highly modern influence of Western design.
Human figure-based logos
Toyama prefecture’s logo
And this book really is a wonderful showcase of design that feels almost unreal in contrast to what I see of most UK, American, or European product and service logo branding. I see a lot more playfulness in Japanese logo design. Of course the playfulness is kept to appropriate services and products such as bike shops, T.V. stations, video game studios, patisseries, and so on, though I am used to seeing the these services represented through more serious, elegant, or corporate images.
The logos featured within this book are all from within the past couple of decades. As the forward explains the mentality behind modern Japanese logo design is to create something that captures the interest of the public eye in the moment:
Arguably, this could be seen as a less ‘long lasting approach’, and some of the logos will be seen as ‘of their time’ when looked upon from years to come. However today, when most identities are viewed on screen, there isn’t a permanence of print that companies are more inclined to quickly throw out their previous logo design in favour of a new one. As such, the style of Japanese logo design is constantly changing and a long lifespan for a logo is no longer expected to such a great intent.
I haven’t been taught to think about logo design as quite so ephemeral, and it’s an interesting view to read about. The transient nature of contemporary Japanese logo design is understandable when put into perspective of modern services and consumerism.
This book is very fun to flick through for the unique blend of tastes Japanese design has acquired. The number of colours used on some logo designs, and the colour combinations across these logos is a very interesting insight to design that does not follow international rules.
I’m very happy to add this book to my small collection of graphic design books. I really look forward to the day that I am able to visit libraries again to check out any recent publications for graphic design reference, too. The internet is handy to have at my fingertips, but sometimes I find holding and pouring over a book a better experience. Carefully curated publications like this shows why print is still around!
At the tail end of last year I had the idea of making downloadable stationery. I wanted to refine some of my skills in Adobe programs and learn some new ones. I had the idea of making weekly planners and letter paper sets – the latter being something not everyone uses nowadays. Still being on a mid-century illustration high, the designs I worked on have that feel about them. I’m sharing a some of them here.
Organisation is key to getting tasks done, so I wanted to make practical stationery to aid those who want to get organised, and benefit from writing tasks down physically. The compositions of the weekly planners are simple enough. I chose to divide a page into seven blocks – for seven days of the week – focusing on a countryside illustration. I made two sheets.
Details from two separate weekly planner illustrations
I think the weekly planner illustrations turned out very friendly. If I remove the text, they look like background assets ready to be part of a fuller, livelier illustration. I enjoyed filling them out with just enough details for interest, but balancing the empty spaces for the use of writing.
I think the composition of letter paper is much more straightforward. I made a lot of pages that were detailed around the corners or edges of the page, while leaving the centre free of distractions.
I don’t think I’ll be using the above template as a writing paper as the stylisation isn’t as playful as the other ideas I had for compositions and subject matter. The target audience for such a niche item is more likely wanting to use designs that are much more stylised and fun. But it’s worth keeping in mind if I want to revisit the composition itself.
One set of letter paper I wanted to make was nautical – anything to do with ocean life or perhaps boats – so I made a few pages to go together as a set. I think having the nautical paper lined works well to reinforce the ocean waves feeling, but I can of course remove them. I do want to give the option to users to choose unlined paper to write upon.
In making a lot of similar assets for themed writing paper sets I have the choice to recycle some of the assets towards sticker sheets etc.
Ocean friend illustration assets
There are aspects of the digital stationary project that aren’t finished at all – I have some designs that need to be touched up, or pieces that I’m unhappy with. I have yet to decide on where to host or sell PDFs of the stationary. I really enjoyed making these even though I did find it trying at times. I’d say I learned a lot. While writing this up, I realised that I can even make colouring in and activity sheets if I think I can contribute something that isn’t already being provided by other services.
If for some reason I can’t move forward with the idea of downloadable stationary, I can add the designs I made to my portfolio for now. This year, I want to make a lot of things for personal growth and portfolio needs!
DESIGN WORKS 