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

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.

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 with Melissa

Had my One to One workshop with my first student, Melissa. This session was about outlining her character in pen and then being set homework to colour scheme her character.

Melissa has created a character with the same name as herself. She is basically an ice girl with special ice and water powers.

Positives

She seemed to really enjoy it. She paid attention and followed my instruction. We finished in a good time. I could focus and so could she so everything was nice and simple instead of confusingly rushing back and forth between others.

Negatives

There weren't really any. Everything was nice and simple and rather fun.

Here's what Melissa had to say:

"I liked doing the pen and the rubbing out. My character looks a lot better now. Summer did very good at showing me how to rub out the pencil lines. It was a very useful lesson"

Arts Leadership Workshop 1

OK so I ran my first workshop ever today as part of my Arts Award. I survived!

Table of Equipment and Resources

Me before they arrived

Starting out, introduction to the workshop

Interested student!

Me explaining and showing them my work

Helping and teaching

 

Student Drawing

Mid workshop, more teaching and biscuits!

Positives

Everyone seemed to enjoy it. They all said they really enjoyed the drawing part of the workshop. The kids seemed keen to learn and did as I instructed them to. They all completed the tasks nicely so we could move on to the next task. With just 3 kids to teach it wasn't too noisy and they sat there patiently which was very good. They all gave good and bad feedback to the workshop and they made some great characters following my instruction. They were very good throughout the workshop in general.

Writing Feedback for me

Negatives

The workshop didn't go exactly according to plan at all really. First we all sat down and I immediately didn't have a clue what to say and I just rather awkwardly said hello. I had to keep looking over at Ami for help and looking at the book for guidance. I didn't really get into the flow of speaking either, people kept talking over me or asking me things while I was trying to tell them something.

Another big problem was, there was only me and Ami so I had to go back and forth between 2 kids while she dealt with one which was hard enough.

This was my first workshop so a big learning curve for me. Flexibility and adaptability are going to be necessary to move forward with the workshops and to counter the negatives I have decided to carry out single tutoring sessions for the next phase.

Overall Review & Reflection of Silver Arts Award Challenge Unit 1

Actually, I don't like this writing part of the award. I find it extremely frustrating. Sometimes it can be fun but I feel like it cramps my creativity. Creating the comic was the fun part.

Challenge Review and Reflection

The challenge to create my own comic overall was amazing and I enjoyed it even during those times when I was tired or something felt repetitive. I feel like I have achieved something and my hard work will gain me something I really want in life.

There were many hard challenges and problems while making the comic but there were some super easy things that I could just do without thinking. Sometimes I needed help with drawing the body shapes because it is a naturally challenging thing to do and also times where I required help with scenery colour schemes and characters. Easier parts were thinking of names and creating the storyline; I love to use my imagination to create things so found this came easily as well as being lots of fun. However, there were way bigger difficulties like when I pressed the wrong button and it would enter something wrong or delete something out! Luckily Ami was there to help and I got there in the end and can now solve most things out on my own.  

All of it, of course, was great fun and I had many good times going round to Ami’s just sitting on her sofa listening to some music while making the comic. Attending Ami’s sessions was great because it wasn't always serious, in fact it hardly was! It was a fun casual thing where we could talk and have a little chat and have a laugh at funny things we said or did on accident. I realise that I work better in a creative, relaxed and informal setting.

Ami helped teach me about Photoshop by showing me all the different tools which I wrote down in my book with little doodles beside them so I could always look back so it could help me remember what they were and then from there I just kept practising.

Overall, I have learned many skills during my time working towards the silver arts award challenge. I can now apply these skills to many things as well as continue to create more Manga comics and drawings. My Photoshop skills are now improved and I can use it more efficiently and can create better drawings and images and could even make a sequal to my comic. I have already been showing my Mum how to use Photoshop for her business. 

I have learned more drawing techniques which I believe have made me a better drawer and has helped me create and understand more about illustration. I have even learnt about Manga, Anime and more of the Japanese culture because the comic was based on Manga which is something I already love and have been trying to improve on. With all these skills on board I can now go away and make my own artworks and stories and maybe get a job in later life like a manga illustrator. With my comic finished and also many other drawings I have created I can put it into a portfolio which could help me get a job in the future in an area which I enjoy.

To compliment my Arts Challenge, I went on several outings; Hyper Japan, a Japanese Festival; Under The Spotlight; most epically, I went to Comic-Con in London! You can read all the reviews of these events by clicking on the highlighted text. 

In addition to my trips out, I have even learnt some Japanese words but mostly song lyrics as I love to sing. First I listen to the first sentence of the song while reading the Japanese pronunciation lyrics and have a try at saying one word at a time. Then I try and sing it all myself with and then without the music and seeing if it matches and then I keep at it until I match the pronunciation and lyrics. There are probably better methods to learning lyrics of Japanese songs but I prefer to imitate as it also helps me with my acting if I have to be a certain character.

To conclude, I am very proud and happy that I have made my own comic and am so happy that it's finally all made after many sessions of hard work, I hope that with it I will receive a Silver Arts Award after all my effort

Comic Con London

For those of you who don't know, Comic con is a convention where you can dress up as characters in certain outrageous styles that you don’t generally wear and it's a place with skits and cosplay catwalks and all your nerdy needs.

I had been looking forward to going to Comic Con for quite some time and my friend and I had been planning our outfits for ages! I went along with my friend and her sister and her Mum.

I arrived at Comic-Con London and started queuing for a wrist band so I could be let in. Luckily it didn't take very long and I could look at the other cosplayers as I was waiting. After I had been let in I looked around and marvelled at all the different outfits and props people had. I browsed the stalls and came across a Jack Frost cosplayer and nervously asked for my very first photo with a cosplayer at Comic-Con!

I started looking at the stalls more closely and there were so many different varieties of things to buy, such as: plushies, jewellery, badges, comics, drawings, books, wigs, costumes, clothes, hats, masks and so much more! I purchased a ring and a pillowcase from Black Butler, an Anime I watch.

After looking around some more and taking pictures with more Cosplayers I had lunch. There was a big lunch hall with plenty of seats and places for people to sit and also a lot of nice food to buy. I bought some cherry coke and 6 little doughnuts to dunk in hot melted chocolate, DELICIOUS! After I had eaten and was full up I started walking back until I came across a massive conga line! I joined in and got high fives and people joining onto me and there was music and it was such fun!

After all that excitement I walked back to the stalls for more photos with cosplayers and had one last look at the little stands before taking the train home.

Overall, I thought it was a very good experience. The quality of some of the cosplayers were amazing but some not so good. Everyone was really friendly and I felt like it was well organised. It was crowded though so if you don't like crowds maybe not a great place to be.

The items on sale in the little shops were mostly very expensive but there were a few stalls that sold things for quite a good price.

I'd go again and I'd recommend it for those who enjoy anime and cosplay.