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

Happy Valentines!

It's Valentines Day! A day where everyone seems to either over gush on social media about their other half, or wish death on others who do so as we are single... Really this is a day to share love with everyone, your mam, dad, friends, everyone you love! No need for any bitterness or sickening statuses, just share your love with all!

I've never been massively into Valentines Day myself. The day perks me up because it's a positive day all about love and that's always nice. But present-wise, I'm happy getting a card but no need to go all out. Though my boyfriend did do amazing and made me a little basket of gifts (best boyfriend ever). I decided to test out making my own card this year. I took a lot of inspiration from Rob Ryan in my design and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out.

As you can tell, this is not a generic Valentines card. I wanted to design a more personal, alternative card that suited us as a couple more than just a boring, samey-kinda card you find in all the shops.

I am really happy with how it turned out, being the first time I've tried something of this style. It's given me inspiration to create more of this style of drawing. Let's get to brainstorming some ideas! But anyway...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I hope you've all had a great day.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Mr Boris

I haven't had much experience in Adobe digital programmes. I'm not a complete noob, but I'm also definitely not super swish at using them. Also I haven't been able to practice with them since leaving university due, to being poor... BUT I have finally been able to afford Photoshop, so now I can muck around editing my work.
So let me introduce Boris-

Boris is a ginger, fat, fluffy, independent cat, who don't need no man! I originally finished Boris almost a year ago, using watercolour paper, inks, pencil and fineliners. But I've always felt he needed something more to him.

Now I have Photoshop, I decided to experiment with some background patterns. I need more practice but I quite like how it turned out! Hopefully I can work into more pieces of work and get them posted soon.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Trash Panda's

Raccoons seem to be hated animals in the places they live. However the UK don't have any raccoons and I think they're adorable. Weird, stripy, little mouse-bears, that love to dig in bins. How can you not love 'em?!

It's The Coon!

I love experimenting and drawing animals and this week I have been constantly googling raccoons. So I thought I'd bash out the coon!

Thank's for reading!

Chloe x

I Have Returned!

ERMAGERD!! It's been sooooo long since my first post! I am so ashamed it's taken so long.

It turns out the life of a graduate is rather busy, I'm sure others can relate. You're all scrambling to find a job/internship/anything that will give me any money at all, if you have a job you want as many hours as possible, travelling to see other halfs etc. It all gets a bit much and other things get pushed aside. But I refuse to be lazy and am going to try and sort some kind of schedule to keep up productivity.

Anyway... Tis almost Christmas! I have managed to squeeze out one quick sketch I coloured, now I have Photoshop back in my life. Time to experiment and get back on top of that! So enjoy my Christmas Wreathness.

I hope to have a lot more ideas and time to get this stuff done and up on here very soon! I pinky promise.

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