Meeting Sophia Coney

So I've been so tied up with work recently I haven't had chance to update you on some pretty cool stuff thats happened recently.
A few weeks ago I had an informal meeting with Sophia Coney, Director of Publishing and Operations at Lockwood Studios. Now its been a while since I met someone important so I was crapping myself a bit. Okay a lot.
http://www.sophiaconey.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiaconey
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-top-100-uk-women-in-video-games/0112138
But there was no need! I had a great time and she was so warm and friendly, I felt totally relaxed. As much as I had a great night and I got to meet someone pretty cool; an important thing happened for me.
Listening to what Sophia had to say I realised what I really wanted to do. Career wise obviously, I could see myself doing some of the jobs she was describing to me and to me it felt like I wasn't lost anymore. I felt like I'd found something to focus on and build towards. I mean I had always had an idea but I felt like perhaps that role I wanted was just a figment of my imagination? Or perhaps I thought I didn't stand a chance? I sometimes feel that my skills are not as valuable. But talking to Sophia (and Mike later) I realised that my skills are kind of rare and I do have a chance if I market myself properly. Which is just in time really as we are getting towards the end of the second year and I'll have to start planning for my FMP soon. It's strange really I feel like I've only just began to settle in and yet I'll be planning the end of my degree soon :(
I feel like since our talk I have had a huge burst of energy and I now have a goal. I feel like my eyes have been opened to all these things I didn't know about before. I think on our course you are only exposed to a certain set of job roles in the industry, which I am probably not suited to. But Sophia has given me some things to look into and research which I am. I have already trialed some of these techniques in my team meetings in the group project. Which went well :)
I wish I could have had this meeting one week prior to the group project then I wouldn't have let things slide that have :/ I would have structured things differently too. But hey theres still time to fix stuff :)
I feel like I can finally push my way through all the negativity on my course, put my blinkers on and work towards what I want.
Thank you so much Sophia :)

Easter Break :)

So its easterrr! and I finally have time to catch up on my work and do some research into my future prospects and such. But it also gives me time to take a breather, which is good. I know the importance of a good work/play balance, trust me.
So today I had a break and watched some good old Disney films. <3 I like most children grew up watching these, so its nice to get all nostalgic.
The one I wanted to talk about here though was Tarzan. More specifically I wanted to talk about a character that I totally loved. I suppose I didn't really think about the characters much when I was younger, because I was focusing on the story. But watching it again I realised what an awesome character Jane Porter was.

Now you may totally laugh at me for this but I think she is pretty good. I wish there were more female characters like her in games. From most of the games I have played in the past five years or so the women in it are a bit irritating from my point of view (a few aside such as Elena Fisher (uncharted) and Maddison Rose (heavy rain) The Boss (metal gear)).
My main example being Lightning from the Final Fantasy series. Shes such and emotional tight arse, so militant and stuck up, is this meant to be whats meant by strong women? I hope not. I hate it women think in order to be viewed as strong you have to act like a bloke.
I liked Jane so much because although she might be viewed as a bit ditsy and physically weak but I think she's a great female character, shes intellectual, passionate, charming, ambitious, emotionally aware, determined, warm and feminine. I think all these qualities make her a character NOT a cardboard cut out of please insert strong female here.


Being strong isn't about being physically strong or emotionally cold. Its about being strong minded, determined and getting what needs to be done, done. All the time staying true to who you are through the tough decisions and tragedies.
Whoa that was deep..

Jay is on his way :)

In a rather productive mood today and finally got my book character final underway. I chose Jay Gatsby from "The Great Gatsby". I just finished reading the book when the project was assigned so it seemed like perfect timing. I love Gatsby in the book although I started off in two minds about him. He's so romantic and sweet and misunderstood. I think I liked the character so much I was putting off painting him as didn't want to get him wrong. I really wanted him to come off right to the viewer. I wanted to try and capture the kindness in his face.  This is my work in progress. :) Hopefully it does.

Hmmm :/

So looking at my last piece that I posted I have realised I rely heavily on lines. Which isn't always a good thing :/ I remember reading in one of Andrew loomis' books that you need to think of your work as more than lines and to represent form properly you need to think of the "shape" of something rather than the outline it makes. This might sound like bullshit but I tried working a little less with outlines in my work; and here's the result.

Not sure if it really worked but maybe I didn't give it enough time :/

Something a bit different

So i did a little photoshop experimentation today using line drawing, block colour and posterize. Not my usual thing but I though I’d try something different as it is for an illustration competition. Nothing special I just win some nice clothes :) I’ll let you know how it goes :)

some more work from before xmas :)

Here some stuff I did of Bradgate park late last year. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time round, as you can probably tell from the pictures :P much better than my first year stuff.




There isn't a massive volume of work for this project as I did a bit of experimental stuff using different media and well... lets just say it didn't turn out very well, so I scrapped it :/

Formative feedback

So earlier this month I had my formative feedback session; which I have to be honest I was absolutely bricking it. I was having a pretty rubbish time then and there was A LOT of negativity and snidey remarks going around. And I kind of wanted to just curl up in my bed and watch QI all day.

BUT it went well. Better than ever before anyway. All of my grades have either gone up or stayed the same; which is good. Not to mention all of the comments made about improvements to my work seemed possible. Like I could actually do them. In my first year it felt like all the things I had to improve on were impossible, but this year I feel like I can do them and get better so... that's just what I'll do.
To be honest this all came as a shock to me as I felt like I was doing terribly. And it REALLY cheered me up when I was in a really negative time.So when you have an up, enjoy it because you never know how long it will last. So yeah I felt like this ..

And of course the moment I came out of that session feeling good about myself there always one prick that's like LOOK AT MY GRADES THERE SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOURS. And to be honest I couldn't give a damn because its not relevant to me how you are doing; not to mention you are only saying this to me to bring me down. What matters to me is that I'm constantly improving and as long as it keeps going that way I'll be happy. :D

Oh and haters/egotistical/insecure people...

Seriously.

:D