I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

Recently I went to Seven Stories in Newcastle, to visit the Jim Kay 'Harry Potter' exhibit before it was taken down. If you're not familiar with Jim Kay's artwork, then I strongly recommend you get Googlin' because he is AMAZEBALLS. He is the artist that has created the artwork for the newly released 'Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone' illustrated edition, and is now working on the others.

Anyway, it turned out to be a bit of a day out for me and the family. We went to a vintage fair at the Biscuit factory which was very interesting. I've never been to a vintage fair before so it was cool to see all the newly recycled/old brands of clothes that I remember from when I was younger. I had my eye on some Levi shorts, but unfortunately my curvy shape doesn't allow me to fit into any pants properly (super tight thighs/baggy crotch).

We then headed on over to Seven Stories, my sister Charlotte and I went in while our parents went for tea in the Cluny next door. The attic room was decorated with huge cardboard prints of Jim Kay's 'Diagon Alley' from the book, with an assortment of house robes and hats. These MIGHT be for the little kids, but that didn't stop us from taking full advantage and documenting our maturity with many selfies.

"You're a wizard Chloe!"

Seeing the Diagon Alley illustrations blown up was very interesting. You could see so much detail Jim Kay had added into the drawing that would be hard to notice in the smaller version. The designs were so wacky, it gave the buildings so much character that really brings that childhood magic to life.

The floor below was the actual set up of Jim Kay's original illustrations, which we visited next. The walls were covered in his early sketches in various media, but mostly pencil.

A rough 'Ron' sketch

Early 'Albus' sketch

'Fluffy'

These character sketches are so amazing to look at. To see his interpretation of all these characters that I once imagined through reading the books and watching the films, really reminded me of being so lost in the stories when I was younger. Even his sketches are so incredibly detailed, I would imagine a huge amount of time were put into these drawings captured the character perfectly.

There was a short film playing of Jim Kay talking through his process. He gave a small tour of his studio and showed his piles and piles of rough sketches. I love hearing illustrators talk about their work, I find it very inspiring, especially when you're feeling unconfident.

Again, if you haven't heard of Jim Kay, then i HIGHLY recommend you look up his work, or if your'e a big Harry Potter fan then go buy the sexy illustrated version because it really is beautiful! Also if you're a fan of children's book artwork, or illustration in general, you should check out the exhibits at Seven Stories.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

A Look Back

Hey all! Apologies for my absence for the last month, I've been wrapped up in those awkward adult problems like "getting a job". Safe to say, it's not been a fun month! But let's crack on with a little blast from the past...

My final semester at University was by far my favourite. Mostly because we had one project that we had complete control over and was an opportunity to have creative freedom.

I've always had an obsession with things like fairy-tales and fables etc. So I decided to illustrate a children's book of fairy tales, but take it back to the darker original story that were once more of a warning to naughty children. Although my lecturers loved this idea, when it came to drawing actual gore they weren't so keen... Which was my whole point but yeah, whatever... So to avoid the goriness but keep it dark, I wanted to keep the backgrounds very black, outlines are white and reserve one colour for each story.

So the stories I settled on including were Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid and Sleepy Hollow.

This is my first page from my Little Mermaid Story. This is probably the image I'm most proud of, because I'm usually awful at drawing human figures without making them look like some kind of troll. Maybe it's because she isn't completely human but I think she looks pretty decent! This is also where I figured out how much I love using this collage affect with my colours. I'm not a pro with colouring so I tried out just creating blotchy backgrounds on separate paper, scanning them in, messing about with Photoshop and the affects I got as a result were great!

I wasn't too fond of this page from the Little Red Riding Hood story, but it seemed to be everyone else's favourite. I wanted more time to add even more detail into the trees and the background but alas, the deadline loomed. The wolf in this image is very much my strongest point and I was very proud of him looking so damn fierce.

Finally my image from the Sleepy Hollow story. This was my favourite image from that chapter. Again, I would have loved to have spent another day in redrawing Katrina (bare in mind she was drawn and redone at least 6 times, damn woman just wouldn't look right), but there will always parts of your work that you'll just never like. I used the college affect on the filigree and flowers, which is again my favourite part of this whole image. I really must remember to use this affect in my future work!

Just incase you are thinking 'WHERE ARE THE WORDS?! WHAT KIND OF BOOK IS THIS IF IT HAS NO WORDS?', the images I am showing are from my book but these are the Photoshop images. The text was added on in InDesign where apparently I couldn't save that as separate images. But if you peer down below you can see my little collection of photos from my finished printed book.

I LOVE the way it turned out. Obviously being on such a rushed deadline, there are parts I would love to redo and this could be a great project for the future! But for my first attempt at a book printing, I think that went really well. Well done me!

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

A New Start

Well... I guess I better introduce myself...

Hey guys! I'm Chloe!
I started this blog because I recently graduated with a degree in Illustration & Design and now, like all other graduates, I'm a bit stuck with what to do now... Now I'm meant to be a full, grown adult and I have no idea how to do that. So since I have a lot of free time on my hands, I thought why not attempt blogging?

In the future I plan to do something in art and design. Even if it's being a receptionist at a gallery, that'll do me. As long as I'm around that kind of inspiring atmosphere. So because of this I feel that is the kind of direction this blog will be taking. So if you enjoy art and the ramblings of an odd person, I should hopefully be able to keep your attention!

For starters, here's a few minor details about me for a tiny introduction-

1. I'm a big nerd! I have obsessed over things since birth and usually those things are superhero, Harry Potter, cartoon related among other things. I'm not the type of person who will know ALL about these subjects and get a bit snotty about it like some do, but I love to hear new things about them that I hadn't realised or heard of before.

2. I'm a massive animal lover and believe they should be treated with the same respect and kindness you'd want for yourself. Because let's face it, you know people who abuse animals are the lowest of the low and will probably become a serial killer one day.

3. Speaking of serial killers, that is also something I am massively fascinated with. I have a source of useless knowledge built up in my brain about horrific murders and killers over the world. I love to know what makes them tick.

4. One day I'd love to illustrate for children's books. I'm terrible at reading, my concentration level is not what I'd wanted to be at all. It compares more to Doug from 'Up' and his squirrel distractions. But children's books can grab my attention completely! Probably because I'm an illustrator the pretty pictures appeal to me, but children's stories are so full of imagination and creativity that I can't get away from them.

5. Before I started university, I developed anxiety and majorly lost my confidence in drawing. I started to panic every time I sat down to draw anything and even though I have come so far to overcoming it, it still isn't completely gone. I think this blog will be able to help me a long with that a little more.

I think that is all the minor facts my brain can muster for now. Hopefully I can get this blog sorted and pretty very soon and have loads more things to share with you all!


Thanks for reading,

Chloe x