My Digital Media Project - Change of Plans

So I may have overestimated myself. I overstretched my abilities, planned out my project in a way that it's proven to be too much. However, doing so has helped me in a way, at least helped me have a better understanding of what I want to do.

Firstly, I set up, in my original plan, the five briefs, and each one had it's own deadline, and several pieces that would make up the finished product. However, I set that up before I really had to start worrying about keeping the deadlines in my plan and the actual hand-in deadlines for college straight. The simple act of remembering what my deadlines were verses remembering the college hand-in dates turned out to be more stressful than it was worth. I have little to no worries about the work, that I could do everything I set out, but the deadlines scuppered me and sent me into a bit of a panic. My understanding of what I was doing kind of fell apart in the face of the college hand-in deadlines, and I have a problem where if I don't understand what I'm supposed to do, I won't do anything.

I also set them up to cover a wide range of purposes and markets, because at the time, I hadn't been sure what I wanted to do or what my target market would be. However, since then, I've gained a stronger understanding of what I want my career to look like, started to really think of myself as an illustrator, first and foremost.

In response to these problems, I took some advice I'd heard a few times, and reduced the number of briefs from five to three, specifically, Robo, Donkeyskin and the Paladin. I was upset over the fact that I hadn't completed any of my briefs to their original deadlines, but this way I should be able to finish them now, for the Realisation hand-in. Also, I'm just really fond of Robo, and still like drawing Donkeyskin. With this change of plans, the original deadline plans are kind of getting thrown out the window. Instead, I'm going to work on finishing off Robo and Donkeyskin while also doing the Paladin.

Which is currently involving some interesting Google Image searches for inspiration...

My Digital Media Project - Brief 2 - Some stuff I forgot to post about

I did some more sketches, and I feel confident that I have finalised Donkeyskin's design to my satisfaction.

These are sketches for Donkeyskin's dress before she ran away, along with sketches of how her appearance would change after she did so. I looked up stuff about regency fashion, including what regency era aprons looked like, though I decided not to add an apron to the rags. I liked the idea that, after she'd ran away, at first Donkeyskin's dress would be in tatters, but over the course of the story, it would be slowly mended. I felt it was a nice metaphor for her healing from the terror her father's madness would have caused her.

I actually drew the face sketches while waiting for a doctor's appointment. Again, I looked up some regency hairstyles, but in this case, I chose the bottom right, which was not pulled from research. I wanted Donkeyskin to look both practical and graceful, but I also wanted to give her a hairstyle that wouldn't be too hard to mess up, while still having her be recognisable.

Finally, Donkeyskin's ball gowns. In the fairytale, Donkeyskin goes to three balls held by the prince in three different dresses. One dress supposedly made of sunlight, one of starlight and the last of moonlight. Taking sun, moon and stars for the dress themes, I took some of the ideas from the initial sketches, and some research into regency era ball gowns. My personal favourite is the moon dress, which has a very appealing silhouette, and, once the phases were changed to a pattern along the hem, it's theme is very subtle, but noticeable when you know it's there. The first iteration of the starlight dress was based on a particular regency dress I found in my research, however I felt that the dress didn't work so well with my art style, and redesigned it. I liked the idea that there was an element of escalation through the balls, and therefore the dresses. The sunbeam dress is worn on the first night, and has a fairly simple design. The starlight dress is worn on the second night, and while more glamorous than the sunbeam dress, it's still somewhat less so than the beautiful moonlight dress, worn for the climactic reveal.