Yuniku School of Majikku

For those of you haven't seen a full copy of the completed comic, here it is! Any comments and reviews would be welcome. Hopefully you can see the full comic below but if not try this link.

Slideshare Yuniku Girls

Yuniku Girls School of Majikku from Angela Manton

Research other Design Professionals

Part of the Silver Arts Award Challenge is to research career pathways. As well as asking questions of my Arts Tutor Ami I asked my Aunt who also happens to be an Artist working in the design field. Here's what she said in response to my questions:

1) What is your job title?

Design director

2) When did you first start your Career?

September 1998


3) Did you go to College prior to starting your career?

Yes, I did a first diploma in art and design, a National Diploma in Design and a BA Honors in Design


4) What inspired you to be a designer/run your own business?

I was always a creative person and designing & art seemed to come naturally to me. Anything art & design inspired me from portrait photography to architecture.


5) Do you enjoy your work?

Yes
 
6) Were you encouraged to pursue what you love/loved?

Very much so., I started A Levels at school doing Geography, Biology, Art and Sport. I did a year but I knew in my heart it wasn't where I wanted to be, and I didn't really know where I was going with it. I went home one day and told my mum I wanted to go to Art School, rather than sending me back to school she took me to Hastings Art School the next day with my portfolio and got me enrolled on the First Diploma course starting a week later, the rest is history and without that support I would have never of got to where I am now.


7) What's your favourite part of your job?

Being creative & problem solving


8) Do you work long hours?

8 hours a day, with the odd late night


9) How has your career developed?

After working hard I left Uni with a 2:1 and a good portfolio, I had many numerous interviews and I was offered a job. I started as a Junior designer and after a few years of learning new computer skills, programs, typography skills and how the real world worked in design,  I worked on a pitch for the juice drink Five Alive and the client picked my design and that really kick started my career, over the years I then became a middle weight designer, a senior designer and now I am a design director looking after the junior designers that I once was!


10) Is there anything else career wise you would like to achieve?

No, I could go on to own my own company or indeed part own the company I work at now but it's a stressful and highly competitive industry.


11) Do you have any advice or wise words for me?

Work hard, always be as creative as you can, imagination is everything, think outside the box, take inspiration from what's around you, listen and absorb knowledge from people with experience and always be prepared to take criticism it will push you further.

The Final Workshop of the Challenge!

Today the final workshop took place. 

Ami arrived and we set up the table and equipment ready for the arrival of the first student which was Melissa.

Here's how it went with Melissa

First I ran her through all the tools that she would need to use on Photoshop. Then I showed her from my notebook my own *how to remember photoshop drawings*. I requested that she copied them down too so it would help her. Then she started to colour her character using photoshop with me overseeing. She did need help occasionally from me which I gave but other than that she was really good. Melissa grasped the use of the tools quickly.

Next up was Callum

Callum arrived about half an hour later than Melissa, as planned. This worked really well and the timing was just about right. I repeated the steps above with Callum. Callum didn't need that much tuition with using the  basic photoshop tools as he had previous experience. However, there were still things he didn't know how to do so I was able to demonstrate and guide him. Callum did really well.

Amber

The last student should have been Amber, my sister, but instead of carrying out this final step on the same day with Amber, I decided to make other use of my time with having Ami (my mentor) here to plan the final stages of the challenge.  Amber will do this last part under my leadership on another day.

Yuniku Girls

These are the Yuniku girls!

 Kaia-Mai on the far left

  Elizabeth in the centre left

  Blossum in the centre right and 

  Koneko on the far right

 Kaia-Mai:

Kaia-Mai is a fiery tempered girl who got kicked out of her old school thanks to her temper but now has been accepted into The School Of Majikku. She trys to keep her temper and turn over a new leaf but in the end things don't turn out to well for her...

She has never really had friends before as she can be very intimidating with her bad moods and no one likes to approach her.

Kaia-Mai is very lazy and tends to be late to a number of things. Luckily for her she can move almost as fast as a forest fire. Sadly this wasn't fast enough for her first day at Majikku

 Elizabeth:

Elizabeth is a rather mysterious and mischievous girl who often spends her time alone in the shade of a big black oak tree in the school field. She loves to gossip and learn about the big secrets of the school. Most of the time she'll send her spooky spy friends to listen in on others conversations!

She doesn't tend to speak a lot to the other girls at the school. She just listens a lot. She finds just by listening to someone you can find out so much about them.

Elizabeth is very organised and neat. You'll never find her in a mess! She always makes sure she looks dead straight and perfect with no creases and folds in her outfit.

 Blossum:

Blossum is a generally a very happy enthusiastic girl but sometimes she can get very emotional. She has quiet a few fears and worries and when they all bubble up too much it just makes her want to cry a rainstorm! She really has trouble controlling her emotions.

She loves to socialise but finds it hard to find the right sort of people. At most schools there are bullies and many people all trying to fit in. Blossum is not one of those people who really fits in to the school society.

Blossum cares a lot about the planet and trys her hardest to protect it. For her, nature is a part of her, a part of who she is.

  Koneko:

Koneko is a bubbly girl who adores cats. She loves anything cute. She often eats a bit to many sweet things and goes very hyper VERY FAST! Though she is a bit crazy she does have a calm side and loves to sleep and snuggle up in soft things.

She always wants to make friends with people. She doesn't have a best friend or anything though, she just likes to be around anyone really and is never bothered if people find her annoying or weird!

Koneko is always very happy and childish. She is very accepting of other peoples differences. She is a Purr-fect friend to hang out with and loves going on little adventures.

Final Workshop Plan

Now the individual sessions are complete I have to plan for the final workshop for my students to finish their characters. This is going to be yet another workshop where all the students are here together but having learned from workshop 1 I have a plan to make it more efficient. This time around although the plan is similar to Workshop 1, I am going to ask my students to arrive at different times so that I can still focus on one of them before the next one is ready. Ami will be in attendance to be my assistant again!

Workshop Plan

Equipment

• Computer (with Photoshop)
• Colour schemes
• Printer (for scanning and printing)
• The outlined drawings

Itinerary

• Demonstrate how to use Photoshop

• Scan in the drawings

• Help 1 child at a time to complete and colour their character

• Save the finished work then send them to each child

Planning ahead

There are of course many things that could go wrong in the workshop. Here are some potential problems and how I might deal with them should they arise.

Equipment

There is always potential for computer equipment to breakdown. Hardware, Software, Internet issues. Also, one of the children could get frustrated with their drawing, they might get upset that it didn’t go to plan or they may just get a bit bored and become disruptive.      

      

If such happens here are some ways to solve it:

• Get my brother to fix the computer

• Use an alternative computer (I have the use of my dad's mac which has Photoshop)

• Help the kids colour and fix what they don’t like

• Try keeping them engaged in the workshop and keep it nice and fun

• Keep them doing something interesting

Forgetting

I may forget what to say or what to do next, I may stutter and lose what I am saying or I could just get distracted by something and get off subject

      

If I do I can always:

• Look at my workshop plan

• apologize and try again

• ask Ami what I should do next

• I can move on to something else then come back to it later

One to One Session Amber

At just 8 years old, Amber is the youngest of my students. She also happens to be my sister! Perhaps this is an extra challenge for me when teaching one of my siblings.

Amber, like me is a very keen artist. Drawing characters is not new for her at all. She spends much of her time drawing various girls and Monster High Characters. This time around she created an Ice Queen who wears Polar Bear Slippers and likes ice-cream and hot chocolate. 

We undertook this workshop from the sofa! 

Positives

Followed my instructions well. Seemed very focused on her tasks. Although Amber is the youngest of my students, her character is definitely the most elaborately drawn and was probably the hardest to outline. However, she did very well to complete it.

Negatives

Didn't seem to enjoy it. Needed some help completing some of the tasks. Was rather slow and took a few attempts to fully complete the tasks.

Here's what Amber had to say:

"I liked to outline my drawing because I liked using the pen. I didn't like rubbing out the pencil because it takes ages!"

One to One Session with Callum

Another one to one session today. This time with Callum and it was his turn to learn from me how to outline his drawing in pen. As with Melissa, I sent him home with homework to colour scheme his character. 

Callum's character is Hiro Katsu meaning generous Victory. His alter ego is Leek Boy! He has green hair and is an assassin. 

Here's what I thought about the outcome of this particular session:

Positives

Callum seemed to enjoy it. He did his best on the task he was given and followed my instructions to the best of his abilities. Again I could focus on one person so it was easier. He wasn't as distracted and was able to pay more attention to what I was saying and I was able to pay more attention to my student.

Negatives

He didn't always listen and was still sometimes distracted and maybe that was because the session went on too long for him.