I'm pretty excited by your work so far, Lucy; there is an expressiveness and attack about your drawings which is very satisfying, and it seems somehow that your book, though selected randomly, sits nicely with your style, which is rounded and sensual and decorative. Your first thumbnail - the establishing shot of the city - really feels like concept art for an animation (as opposed, say, to just a nice digital painting), and I'm very pleased to see you making using of the colour scheme designer in that hands-on, instinctive and exploratory way. I think you're capturing the core sensuality and exotica of the book's appeal in those sun-kissed, drowsy thumbnails. What I really like about your earlier thumbnails was the ornate surfaces and carvings, so I encourage you to exploit this surface pattern element by, perhaps, choosing a 'low sun' lighting arrangement, so that you can have lots of rim lighting and highlights catching on all those decorative elements to really make your architecture 'pop!'.
I like the low POV on the angel room thumbnail - but - and don't hate me for this - but your depiction of the angel in your current thumbnails does seem counter-intuitive to me; she looks a bit, well, inelegant, somehow - a bit squat and a bit too fleshy, slightly squashed. Obviously the POV and perspective is doing this - the foreshortening - but I wonder if you need to rethink your design of this bit of idealised statuary; perhaps consider a pose with greater inherent elegance and poise? Right now, there's a bit of 'harpy' about your angel, a very slight sense of the monstrous. Visually, I wonder if her wings might be upsized and exaggerated further to create a more celestial, ethereal vision? I think this angel needs to be more balletic, and the point of contact between her and the ball on which she's displayed considered more artfully:
There is something about the ornament and decadence and celebration of the female form that puts me in mind of art nouveau - and it might inspire another layer of visual concept were you to look at this art style - particularly it's highly expressive depictions of the female form, and all those sensual flowing lines - for example, the images of Alphonse Mucha
http://knoji.com/images/user/Picture1%2851%29.jpg
In regard to your final image - the Magical Fire, this is where I'd encourage you to elaborate a little on the information available; yes, you've got the focal point of the environment - the fire - but in terms of designing its surroundings, I want you think like a Kor architect and find motifs and details and embellishments that can connect this space with the other two environments; avoid the genericism of caves and fire in design terms, and resolve an inner-logic that allows you to structure this space according to the rules you've already established.
Just a general point - while your OGR is content rich, the layout and overarching design feels a little haphazard. Why not identify a motif from one of your thumbnails and use it to create a Cinematic Spaces specific ident that you use to watermark all relevant work - establish a page-layout and rules in regard to sizes and proportions of images and stick to it. I just want to see a bit more sensitivity from you in regard to the branding of your own work. It's all good, but it could be published much more excitingly - and with greater attention to its visual identity. Something to think about.
OGR 12/10/2012
ReplyDeleteMorning Lucy,
I'm pretty excited by your work so far, Lucy; there is an expressiveness and attack about your drawings which is very satisfying, and it seems somehow that your book, though selected randomly, sits nicely with your style, which is rounded and sensual and decorative. Your first thumbnail - the establishing shot of the city - really feels like concept art for an animation (as opposed, say, to just a nice digital painting), and I'm very pleased to see you making using of the colour scheme designer in that hands-on, instinctive and exploratory way. I think you're capturing the core sensuality and exotica of the book's appeal in those sun-kissed, drowsy thumbnails. What I really like about your earlier thumbnails was the ornate surfaces and carvings, so I encourage you to exploit this surface pattern element by, perhaps, choosing a 'low sun' lighting arrangement, so that you can have lots of rim lighting and highlights catching on all those decorative elements to really make your architecture 'pop!'.
I like the low POV on the angel room thumbnail - but - and don't hate me for this - but your depiction of the angel in your current thumbnails does seem counter-intuitive to me; she looks a bit, well, inelegant, somehow - a bit squat and a bit too fleshy, slightly squashed. Obviously the POV and perspective is doing this - the foreshortening - but I wonder if you need to rethink your design of this bit of idealised statuary; perhaps consider a pose with greater inherent elegance and poise? Right now, there's a bit of 'harpy' about your angel, a very slight sense of the monstrous. Visually, I wonder if her wings might be upsized and exaggerated further to create a more celestial, ethereal vision? I think this angel needs to be more balletic, and the point of contact between her and the ball on which she's displayed considered more artfully:
http://megpics.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/ballet.jpg
http://www.artsalive.ca/upload/dan/veronicatennant_romeo_full.jpg
There is something about the ornament and decadence and celebration of the female form that puts me in mind of art nouveau - and it might inspire another layer of visual concept were you to look at this art style - particularly it's highly expressive depictions of the female form, and all those sensual flowing lines - for example, the images of Alphonse Mucha
http://knoji.com/images/user/Picture1%2851%29.jpg
In regard to your final image - the Magical Fire, this is where I'd encourage you to elaborate a little on the information available; yes, you've got the focal point of the environment - the fire - but in terms of designing its surroundings, I want you think like a Kor architect and find motifs and details and embellishments that can connect this space with the other two environments; avoid the genericism of caves and fire in design terms, and resolve an inner-logic that allows you to structure this space according to the rules you've already established.
Just a general point - while your OGR is content rich, the layout and overarching design feels a little haphazard. Why not identify a motif from one of your thumbnails and use it to create a Cinematic Spaces specific ident that you use to watermark all relevant work - establish a page-layout and rules in regard to sizes and proportions of images and stick to it. I just want to see a bit more sensitivity from you in regard to the branding of your own work. It's all good, but it could be published much more excitingly - and with greater attention to its visual identity. Something to think about.
ReplyDelete