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

My Own Career Aspirations

Personally, I’d like to be an Anime and Manga illustrator. Creating and designing characters is something I already love doing and I do a lot of this in my spare time. Getting to the point where I will be able to do this as a job takes a lot of work so hopefully at the end of this all I can do the thing I love for a living. To start I have practiced drawing my own characters and am slowly growing better at it.

I have started trying to draw characters from animes and such. I started to learn how to colour in and edit my drawings digitally with Ami so now I do that too. I even made a dress with Ami which turned out amazingly and I am very proud of it.

I have been doing this silver arts award and I have already got my bronze arts award. I have also been building up a portfolio of my drawings and artwork so I one day can show it to maybe an arts college or some kind of arty job that I would like to do.

Hopefully getting this silver arts award on top of my bronze will go some way to helping my career path. 

Here are some of my drawings.

Career Pathways

As part of the challenge I have to think about possible career pathways. I've chosen Illustration as the overall job as that is the part I am most interested in. 

Being an Illustrator is a job and set of skills that could be applied to a large variety of industries. Here are a few of examples of the different industries and routes I think one could take with it.


You could be a fashion illustrator, drawing and creating outfits for models.
    

• You can Illustrate your own ideas and see if any fashion brands likes them.   
• You can Illustrate other people's ideas for them
• You could Illustrate jewelry
• You can Illustrate patterns out for materials
• You can Illustrate clothe magazine covers

 

You could be a comic/manga/book illustrator, using your imagination to draw pictures.

• You can Illustrate characters
• You can Illustrate  the scenes and background
• You can Illustrate  the props
• You can Illustrate the covers
• You can even Illustrate your own characters/backgrounds/props and covers and sell them to people

You can be an advertisement illustrator, creating colourful, eye catching ads.

• You can Illustrate the background
• You can Illustrate the object of which is being advertised
• You can Illustrate the font for the text
• You can Illustrate the animation
• You can Illustrate posters

You can be a business illustrator,  

• You can Illustrate the logo’s
• You can Illustrate the business website designs
• You can Illustrate the a short cartoon on the business and what they do
• You can Illustrate new business ideas

Bringing it all together

Back at Ami's today to start pulling the comic together to send to the printer. 

It's taken a really long time to get to this point with some big gaps in between sessions but after a lot of effort I'm very very close to finishing the comic. On reflection, I think if I were to do this again I would ensure that there were no big gaps in between sessions.

The very big things are done, so just lots of tweaking and bits to add such as some words today. We made some last minute changes and moved things around a bit. We went through page by page in a systematic order to ensure that I had everything covered.

I've felt very tired with this now and I just really wanted to get it finished. I felt really relieved when we had got everything covered and happy. It's now ready to go to a Printer. 

I also have some homework relating to the Silver Arts Award Challenge. Unfortunately, the comic isn't the only part of the challenge. I now have to think about possible routes forward should I want to pursue a career in illustration.

Hyper Japan Review

Yesterday I went to Hyper Japan as another part of my Silver Arts Award. Here's my review.

Hyper Japan is a Japanese Festival with games and loads of shops. Most people who came at least wore cat ears or as in Japan they call them Neko ears but some came fully dressed in anime/manga characters, Japanese school outfits, Nekos, traditional kawaii outfits, lolita dolls and many more amazing things. They mostly sold things there such as kawaii plushies and cosplay items but there were other attractions such as a dancing ring where some people danced to anime music and Japanese pop music, a place you could get yourself drawn as a manga character, and even some Japanese foods that were quite tasty.         

We tried some flavoured crushed ice mountain kind of thing but it was over priced and was pretty bad. It didn't taste of anything much - a bad slushy but in a bowl.

I think overall there was too much shopping and not enough activities going on which made it a bit disappointing. In the video game section that was full of activities there was a stand that was just too loud which made it uncomfortable to be in that zone.

Wouldn't rush back.

Me playing some kind of Anime Game in the Video Game area

Planning out the Scenes

Another session with Ami today this time to plan out the scenes of the comic.

We needed a plan for this one.

First I divided pages in my scrap book into half giving me two pages of comic book per scrapbook page. Confused much? So am I!

Then I decided on the scenes and comic page layout shapes to make it look as interesting as possible. I started rough sketching out the scenes and objects and backgrounds etc in each of the page layouts I created.

Ami helped me with some of the rough sketches and the dividing of the pages and helped me come up with ideas. It's good to have a mentor to help out.

Other help came from Wiki How to Write a Comic Book

Script Writing

Today's session was all about trying to come up with a script.

I tried to make the scripting for the characters so it would match their personalities. I also tried to make it a bit funny without it being too complicated.

On reflection, the fact that I go to Drama school and already know quite a bit about scripts it made it easier to come up with the scripting for the comic. This was just another way to apply what I already know about scrips. Having a basic storyline also helped.

Under The Spotlight

It's been a few weeks since I worked on my Silver Arts Award mainly because my twin brother and I turned 13 and we had a Center Parcs holiday plus rehearsals for my upcoming performance at Sadlers Wells have been keeping me pre-occupied.

Anyway, Ami and I resumed our sessions but for something different but also as part of the challenge, we went to an Arts Exhibition called Under The Spotlight.

It was local to where we live and basically a collection of work from 40 artists who live in Portsmouth.

I enjoyed seeing all the different art works. Some of them really inspired me. There was one of a Pizza that really stood out.

Anyway, after the exhibition we returned to Ami's house and I wrote up some notes of the event in my scrapbook.

My scrapbook is basically my evidence of all the parts of my Silver Arts Award. It's not like this blog. The spelling has no spell check! I'm not great at spelling but that's because I'm probably dyslexic. I haven't been diagnosed but a screening at 7 years old suggested that I was. It's not only my spelling that is affected but I am easily distracted particularly if it's noisy. So working with Ami is easier than being in a classroom and Ami is able to help me with spelling and to get me back on track when my mind wanders.

The scrapbook is full of pictures taken at the exhibition. I also recorded an audio of me reviewing the art works and giving my opinion.

Under The Spotlight Pages in my scrapbook

Character Development Part 2

Today, I roughly sketched out the outfits and hairstyles for the four main characters of my comic. Then I brainstormed some name ideas.

I have decided on four names but you'll have to wait for the final comic for all to be revealed.

Here are some pictures of my first sketches. The sketches are not amazing as they are rough sketches but the basic ideas are down. It wasn't really a big achievement but at least I've made a start.

Basic Sketch 1

Basic Sketch 2

Character Development

Today for my Silver Arts Award the task was to work on character development. I wanted four different characters and needed to build out their individiual personalities so I researched Japanese Street Clothing using Google. Looking at various images from the Fruits Book search term I collated ideas beneath four main styles; Punk, Cutie, Hippy and Goth. These are my ideas to help me come up with the drawings:

Punk

One of my characters is going to be Punk like. Tartan Skirt, Striped Tights and Doctor Martin Boots. She needs spiky hair too. She'll be fairly intimidating but kind and generous. She's going to be an extrovert and a bit stubborn too.

Cutie

This character will be cute as the Cutie style suggests. Cute animal ears in a white frilly dress perhaps. Pale colours. Cute pumps with white socks. She'll be sweet and fun but a bit of a scaredy cat.

Hippy

Then there's Hippy. I'm thinking Long Hair with braids, flares and a flower power top. This character will need to be peaceful, harmonious with a do-gooder nature. She will also love nature and be eco-friendly.

Goth

Last but not least, the Goth inspired character. I think black dress, petticoat, high frilly socks and platform boots. She's going to more introvert. Shy, moody, clever and sarcastic.

Can't wait to start drawing now!

Anime Research & Inspiration

Generally, I have been inspired by a series of Manga books called Ultra Maniac but I've also watched many Anime's including Black Butler, My Neighbour Totoro, Orin High School The Host Club and quite a few more from Studio Ghibli. This has helped me come up with a basic Story Line and ideas for my main characters.

Some of my
Manga Books

Anime Drawing Practise

Here I am practising my drawing.