A New Years Bears’ Bearing

I remember the relief I felt one day at university when our tutor told us that even the best artists cannot work without reference. It’s tempting sometimes, particularly if you’ve drawn something before, to look at it with a foppish wave of your hand and exclaim, “I can illustrate that, I know how it works.”

This can be a bit of a trap your mind sets for you: because you’ve seen a bird fly over your head thousands of times, you might think, “I know how to draw that, I don’t need any reference images to help.” But as soon as you try to replicate it, to draw or paint it yourself without something to refer to as a decent final artwork, you find the solid idea of that bird falls apart like a wet cake into different bits you remember, but may struggle to fit together as a whole. This can be incredibly frustrating to a person at any point in their artistic career, and can cause the throwing of pencils and other drawing materials across the room.

Those who read my blog regularly will remember in my last post my mentioning of a personal project I’ve been dedicating time to each week involving bears. I used to find drawing bears quite difficult- they are heavy, but since a lot of the weight that is visible is topped off with fur, it’s sometimes hard to tell where movement comes from, particularly from a static image. (I’ll confess, part of the reason I chose the characters for this project was down to the fact that I found bears a challenge.)

Of course, the best way to study movement is in real life, but unless I were to visit a zoo (where movement could easily be restricted due to lack of space) or go somewhere where bears exist naturally, it may be a little tricky. Certain places in Sweden have “hides” where photographers/artists can go to study bears without disturbing them- something I’d love to do, but it wouldn’t be that easy for me to just pop over there of an afternoon.

I’ve found that a fantastic resource for this project so far has been studying animated bear characters.

For an animator to create a moving sequence they have to know everything about how that person or creature will move and express itself. An animator will have had to pick apart their subject to understand how it works, which is perfect when it comes to our research, as it presents us with a comprehensive cross-section of all the parts that make up this or that.

Vimeo had some brilliant examples of this- Guillaume Arantes, a Gobelins 3D animation student, produced a fantastic cycle that showed a bear’s walk from four different angles. Below is a screenshot of his animation with the site address for those who might want to find it!

(All rights for the original sequence below belong to Guillaume Arantes.)

(All rights for the original sequence above belong to Guillaume Arantes.)

 

Pixar’s Brave also offered a large amount of inspiration in terms of creating two very different bear characters just by using different line weights and textures:

(All rights Pixar 2012)

My character development is still in progress, but here is an early drawn sequence of what the little lad might look like:

Sleep cycle – © 2016 Carina Roberts Illustration

Lots of round shapes with short and soft features and fluffy fur achieved with a soft 3B pencil definitely helps to establish his youngness.

Bear and Balloon – © 2016 Carina Roberts Illustration

Putting other objects in with the bear can help them come to life, as they appear to play before your eyes. Here Mama bear gently paws a balloon in the same way she might handle her cub.

I’ve approached their habitat in the same way, in terms of slowly picking it apart. A very good friend of mine lives in Norway and has been kind enough to keep me stocked with forest photos to study. Rocks, hideyholes, trees and paths have come under even more scrutiny than usual…

It’s a long process, but I love it!

The AutumnHobbit

© Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Winter Fairs, First Frosts and The Grey People

Hello, and a Merry December to you all!

I’d like to start this post with a little story and observation that is particularly relevant at this time of year, I feel. When I was on the train a couple of weeks ago, returning from a trip to Hull during the wild weather, I was gratefully munching down my ham sandwich and peering out of the window at the ever-darkening landscapes flashing past. At every station, a handful of people would get on, wedging themselves into seats and cuddling in tight into their layers of clothing to try and thaw from the chill wind. Evidently, they were cold, and tired, and just wanted to get home- I understand. But a couple of them seemed to be saturated in this grey cloud, staring through my smiles and nods of acknowledgement and away again.

I’ve experienced this before, a few times, with a few characters really standing out in my memory as totally “grey” – one man I encountered on the bus a few months ago being the example that my memory will always jump to. He was the sort of character you just wanted to go and hug, and tell him that everything was going to be okay- life seemed to have sucked all the colour and joy from his bones, leaving his eyes dull and his mouth downturned. At this time of year, I always think of one of my very favourite stories of all time, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, and its main character, Ebenezer Scrooge. I always couldn’t help but feel sorry for the greedy old miser described in the tale. I remember a feeling of curiosity rather than despair or hatred the first time I heard the story: he was cold and unfeeling, yes, but why? I would wager that through the given descriptions of his youth, loneliness would be one of the largest reasons for Scrooge intially finding solace in his money and business, which would later cut him off from his peers, and also his heart.

Now, by no means will I, or can I, ever pass judgement on strangers I meet in the street- every soul has a thousand unspoken problems and worries that may glaze their eyes and leave them lost and unsure, and a little grey around the edges. We will all experience a period of this greyness, where life seems dull, repetitive and not heading in the direction we’d hoped. Money will be a worry for all of us at some point too, unless you’re incredibly lucky. But, I have realised, my greatest fear is that this will creep slowly, irreversibly into a heart and strip a person of all their character, all their passion and loves in life, until they lose all their colour permanently. People remember Scrooge for his tightfistedness, but I remember him for his indifference- his withered soul devoid of love for anything or anyone.

This Christmas, please help me in my main life’s aim- to prevent the onset of “total greyness” in everybody you encounter, including strangers. Please smile, be kind and generous in spirit- and you can help keep hearts warm, and the world more loved.

On that note, I’m overjoyed to announce that I’m currently still adding to a catalogue of greetings cards for “Thortful”, a new web-based “marketplace” which will officially launch in the New Year, which centres around a philosophy of making people happy- both creators and customers!

My cards will finally be available online!! They’re all animal-based, as with a great proportion of my work this year! The site is now live before its official launch, if you’d like a sneaky peek please follow this link to view my current collection!

In my last post, I mentioned a Christmas Fair I was participating in on the 5th of December. I’m pleased to say that it was a success- a step up from last year, and I received lots of lovely comments and compliments as well as making a fair few sales! Here’s some of the highlights in pictures:

As you can see from some of these images, bears have kept cropping up throughout my practice for a good while now. Any of you that look at my Facebook site as well as this blog will have seen a specific album dedicated to this study, which contains a few snippets of a personal project I’m working on (and one I am determined will be published!) My next post in January will contain a few little teasers of artwork that have been developing my ideas, as well as a short writeup of my influences so far.

I think all that remains is for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (and a God Jul to all of my Norwegian friends celebrating today!) – spend these special days with all your dearest ones, laughing and making merry. Presence will always trump presents, after all.

The AutumnHobbit

© Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Winter Preparations: The adventures of William the mouse!

Hello, hej, hallo and bonjour to all you wonderful readers!

It’s that time again- there’s a change coming in the air, a chill at night that’s heralding the end of summer… Time to stock up on fluffy jumpers and hot chocolate! (And a pair of new wellies. Or a canoe. With today’s rain I’m thinking of the latter.)

I’ve had a busy couple of months, no change there: and a busy week so far, designing and deciding on work for promotional packs to send out into the big wide world, to some carefully selected corporate greetings card and book publishing companies- fingers crossed that with a lot of patience (and only a hint of bloody mindedness!) I can land myself a beast of a contract!

As my desk looks like a wintry north wind has blown through it with all the furious drawing, reworking and painting, this month’s blog post will be about my process from beginning to end of one particular favourite design, a vignette artwork entitled “Fall.” As with a lot of my artwork that I end up using for greetings cards ranges, it sparked into life as a little poem, which I’ve included in “Story Corner” for you all to enjoy- concerning the particular problems of a chubby little harvest mouse named William.

Step one: Research and initial sketches.

Ye can’t create a good artwork without sturdy foundations.

I like to try and complete my research and initial sketches in tandem: that is to say, when I see something particularly interesting during the research process, it will spark a little light on in my brain which I’ll quickly scribble down. This is why you may have heard the stories about a lot of writers keeping a notebook by their bed: it’s the same for illustrators, you have to grab that fluttery little chaffinch of an idea before it flits back into the thickets of your subconscious. I suppose the most important thing to remember is to never switch off, and to always be armed with a sketchbook and a sharp pencil. You never know when something is going to inspire you- so keep your eyes peeled at all times!

Since a lot of my artwork is inspired by nature and animals, I find that taking a walk with my sketchbook is the best research I can do for new material. It can also help if you have creative friends who are similarly inspired: making a promise to meet someone for a drawing session on a specific day will help you to keep to your schedule, and be less likely to fall victim to the “Oh, but it’s raining!” / “Just 5 more minutes in bed…” demons. Just last week I went scurrying about Margam Park with an old illustrator friend to draw some of the animals and scenery, we were out for a good few hours and it was very fruitful!

I was actually reading an article about Harvest Mice when I started scribbling down my first initial sketches for “Fall”- a photo showed a particularly small mouse frozen in between two plant heads, camouflaged and attempting not to catch a predator’s prying eyes. I surrounded this sketch with small notes about what was working and what could be better- trying to understand how the little creature must be feeling. (This is when the first little spark popped into my head for his little poem mentioned at the beginning of this post.)

 

I always try to keep separate sketchbooks for research and designs- as well as making things easier to find later on, (it’s easier, for example, to find a harvest mouse sketch in a book of animal drawings than it is to find it in a sketchbook labelled “Research Book 1”) it’s quite difficult to draw something out again when it’s on a previous page in one sketchbook. Drawing out an initial sketch into a new book surrounded by blank space gives me a lot more room to make notes and circle specific elements of a starting point, and psychologically I feel better knowing that I have the rest of a double page, blank, to begin working up the idea. Try it- you’ll notice a big difference!

Initial sketches and development

Now, this is the fun part- the development stage is a lovely time during the design process where you’re never too precious over making your work look clean or finished: the freedom of which usually results in more natural and interesting linework and squiggles!

Once I’d drawn out my initial sketch and made some notes, I started working the design up in pencil sketches (and photocopying my initial sketch to work over the top in a different colour, to make the mouse fatter!)

This is how your design will evolve- by drawing it out several times, you will try adding or taking away or changing elements that your brain will throw out- for example, I added some extra grass fronds, and then took them away as they served to be more of a distraction for the eye; I tried bending the wheat stalks underneath the fatter mouse’s weight; and changing the placement of his feet to suggest weight and desperation- a real sense that he was clutching on with all of his might, in a split second to begin falling off.

 

This stage usually takes the longest for me to feel happy with- the final form of the design can sometimes take a fair while to materialise with trying out all the possibilities, but I can feel when it’s ready.

Introducing colour

When I’m happy with the black and white form of my design, it’s time to start exploring colour! Similarly to developing the sketch in black and white, the colouring process can take a little while to get right, but it’s definitely worth the wait!

You will probably have had thoughts about colour palettes for your design during the process already: but if not, have a think about all the things you want to convey with your image. Is the subject happy, peaceful or commiserating? Is it depicting a warm or a cold location?

As I work mainly from nature, I will usually work with seasonal colour palettes. (You wouldn’t believe the difference the weather and temperature make on my choice of colours!) For “Fall”, I was working from the glorious weather we were having last week: warm sunshine, with a hint of briskness in the cold nights beginning to creep in; a lot of warm oranges, golds and browns. If I was to use these colours undiluted in the final design, though, it would be very difficult for the eye to process: too much of any one colour can be a bit swamping!

I slowly introduced little touches of blues and greens in the wheat to help make the oranges look warmer and even more pleasing to the eye, and suggest a lot of things that we associate with autumn: the last of the warm weather, lots of good food from a harvest which makes us feel happily fat and sleepy, and a glow of happiness spreading from our toes to our noses.

Right up to the final design, I am still making little notes about how to improve, or reminders of particular processes to remember during the creation of the final artwork. I’ll always draw out my composition sketchy in the final artwork first- to retain some of the freedom of the development stage to trick myself into not feeling daunted by the task of completing the final image. I’ll begin to mark in fur, dark areas and details with a hard pencil that won’t smudge underneath the washes of watercolour and ink (my favourite is a now very stubby Mars Lumograph ‘H’ pencil) and begin to work up the colour, from light to dark: here beginning with a rich orange-yellow, and moving onto the browns, greens and blues in the shadows.

The last thing I’ll ever do in an artwork (ceremonial, perhaps- like breathing life into a new creation!) will be to paint the darkest layer onto the eyes. From there I can scan the artwork once dry, have prints and cards manufactured, and fix the original into a frame too, if I want to sell it.

From one starting point can stem many possible artworks, remember:

This design idea came from William the chubster’s initial sketches too- his partner Teasel, who may have encouraged him to stockpile his food instead of eating it all in one go, squished happily into her newly woven nest. I’m currently working on the colour scheme to shift this nest scene from warm autumn to frosty cold winter for an upcoming craft fair. (Keep an eye out for the finished design under “Greetings Cards” in the bar above, and on my Facebook page!)

As it’ll be in October, I want my stand to show a progression into the colder months, using warmer colours and leaves at one end, and leafless twigs with lots of blue hues and Christmassy items at the other. My preparations and designs for this will be included in next month’s update!

Until then: never stop thinking, drawing and painting, my friends: it’s what keeps you alive!

– The AutumnHobbit

© Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Summer, Inspiration, and the balance of things.

Helloooo my fine readers! It’s been a while since I wrote a main post for the blog- I’ve been updating other sections here in the meantime, particularly “Story Corner”, which is totally new and very exciting! If you haven’t had a peek yet, please go ahead- I attempt to update at least every month with a poem or story of my own creation, illustrated of course! They’re all child friendly, and the whole idea behind it is that I want people to share stories with each other more- storytelling is supposed to be an activity that brings people together, after all! (There’s more info on the section itself, take a click in the bar above!)

How is summer going for you? Summer days seem to last forever, so I hope you’re taking some time to enjoy the sunshine!

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day who had her graduation this week- her hard work was rewarded with her BA in Surface Pattern Design! A huge congratulations to anyone and everyone who won the battle against their degrees this summer, I hope you all had an equally brilliant time surrounded by friends and family- and managed not to throw your hats directly back down into your faces!

She was a little worried, though, as I’m sure a lot of you might be, about that lingering something that’s at the back of your mind throughout your final few weeks at university…

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?!

As it’s exactly a year now since my own graduation, I wanted to write this post for everyone who’s taking that leap of faith from uni into the big, bad world of the creative industries- and hopefully offer you some support with figuring out what you want to do next, with my own experiences since leaving… Mainly focusing on that chicken and egg question, ahem:

DO I LOOK FOR A STABLE JOB? OR DO I FOLLOW MY DREAMS? 

(Nb, of course, the choice is often not this black and white. But if you want to go freelance, you might understand what I mean here.)

When I graduated all sparkly-eyed last year, I was worried. Everyone was. For a lot of us, education was the main thing we had known since we were five years old, more if we had attended pre-school. As many of us decided not to continue with the Masters course, it would be the first memorable year in our lives that we wouldn’t have an institution to return to come September; the first year when we would have to create our own routine from scratch.

I can guarantee that no matter how cool and collected your friends may have seemed on the surface, we were all terrified of this. Absolutely knee-knockingly terrified.

Over the next couple of months, a lot of my friends got jobs to fund their artwork. Some had decided after three years of university that illustration was not the direction they wanted to take with their life- they would obviously keep their art as a hobby, but not as a business- and have found great happiness in a completely different direction. Some began part-time work, so they would have enough time to run a small art business as well.

But this began to scare me even more. A lot of the part-time hours went up gradually- the people whose contracts they were often didn’t mind, as they were earning more, and could save lots more for nice things… But after speaking to a few of them, I heard similar answers that amounted to the same thing: “I don’t really draw any more. I don’t have time.”

Art and Illustration was all I wanted to do. Ever since I could draw and knew the words for it. And the idea that another job could take over to the point where I couldn’t draw or paint anymore really shook me up. I looked for creative jobs that might include what I wanted to do (children’s illustration) but most of the jobs I found were a lot more admin or computer-based, and were looking for candidates with a lot more experience than me. I wanted to be right in the thick of it, illustrating picture-books and fiction, so I knew I was probably going to have to freelance it. So I followed my heart on that one, and for almost a whole year, I’ve dedicated all my time to illustrating- improving my skills, and selling work, paintings mainly. (Of course, I’m quite lucky in the fact that I don’t have as many expenses as some of my peers, so the pressure was off a little there.)

It’s been really good, in the main! Anyone who reads this blog often will know that I display my work in a lovely community interest gallery and shop a couple of towns over: they’ve given me some great opportunities that extend beyond my exhibitors fee as well, such as helping to paint a Shaun the Sheep that was donated to a local school as part of the trail that’s just opened in Bristol (thanks Aardman!) using a design from the 8-year-old winner of their design competition. I’ve had great fun doing a Christmas Market and being part of this year’s North Somerset Arts Week show in Portishead- from which I received two commissions from a truly lovely lady- the final paintings were delivered this week and she was very chuffed!

But something that people might not mention about freelancing is that it can sometimes get a little lonely. When you have projects on that you love, and are truly inspired by, you will never feel it. You’re transported, often into the worlds you’re creating- and unless the inspiration runs out, or you’re really hungry, you love working alone because you can hear yourself think so clearly. A huge proportion of my year has been like this.

But it’s when the doubts start that it can become a problem. The day that you feel pressure because you’re not selling as much as you hoped this month, even though next month it’s fine. The day that even after 10 attempts, your drawing just doesn’t look right. The day that you wake up dreading going downstairs to work because your drawing went wrong 10 times yesterday, and why are you even doing this anymore? In most jobs, you will have other people around you as a support network, but unless you have a critique group that you’re a part of, as a freelance illustrator you might be tempted to go it totally alone (sometimes out of pride!)

As someone who feels pressure quite often, this was becoming a problem. I was sticking to my written schedule like glue: if I for some reason hadn’t racked up my 40 hours of work on projects during the week (usually due to other clubs or voluntary things) it would spill into my weekend. I was probably trying to do too much in a day, and then feeling let down that I hadn’t managed it all. I felt pressured because I always like to look ahead- to save for a rainy day, and all my profits were going back into the business.

Around mid-April, when I was handing out leaflets for the North Somerset Arts Week in the local area, it was something that was plaguing my thoughts. Not constantly, of course- there were still lots of days which would fly past and I’d feel happy and accomplished at the end of them- but it was a recurring dilemma when I was feeling bad. Do I get another job to ease my finances and allow me to save a lot more, but risk not having time to draw? Or do I continue being completely freelance, and sometimes being subject to intense worry that this might not work out? I saw a colourful leaflet in one cafe I delivered to that was advertising for “bank staff” at a nearby nursery. I picked it up, initially thinking, “that sounds fun, and could be great inspiration too. I won’t get it, but I can have a look, at least.”

I got in touch. The lady was really lovely, even though their recruitment day had passed she said they were still looking for new bank staff, and that if I’d like an interview, she could set me up with one. I thought of this in the same way I do commissions or projects that don’t work out in the end: “it would be great to try, and great experience, even if it doesn’t work out.” The interview went well. The second part came around, where I had to design an activity to do with some of the children whilst being observed. I had spoken to the interview panel about my other job being an illustrator, which went down brilliantly- so I wrote them a short story about a magic tree, and illustrated it- and encouraged the children to draw their own magic trees at the end (see Story Corner for the full story and image!)

I was offered the job. The manager was lovely: she said she was aware I had another job and that I could say no to them at any time, she asked if I had any preference on days, and she was very happy for me to come in two-three days a week, depending on who needs cover, and keep the other two for my illustrating. I’ve done my first two weeks, and all three of the managers have told me what a fantastic job I’m doing. They had a BBQ yesterday for the staff, and raised a toast to everyone for their help so far this year, and they even invited me. When I asked if they were sure as I had only just started, they said that I was one of the family already.

And this, my friends, is the moment I had been waiting for. It was one of the greatest times since leaving university that I’ve felt respected as an illustrator: they gave me flexibility and pressure-free kindness to flourish. I probably was feeling pressured because I was putting pressure on MYSELF- to draw this, to draw that, to do my accounts because they need doing, to finish that submission BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO FINISH IT BY LAST WEEK AND IT’S TAKING FOREVER, it’s never going to be perfect, so just check it once more and send it how it is!

And you know what- contrary to my worries, this job has actually helped my illustration work like you wouldn’t believe. The children (those hilarious, amazing, lovely children!) are giving me me bucketfuls of new inspiration- they always want me to read them stories, (they have some of the most fantastically written/illustrated books out there in their bookcase, so it also acts as more market research as to what they like!) and I could start a book with the fantastic things they ask or tell me. I’ve junk modelled boats and motorbikes, eaten four pretend icecreams on the trot, sang songs about monkeys and frogs, and had lots of cuddles.

And by observing my kind, lovely and efficient bosses, I’m learning how to be a better boss to myself. I am becoming even more decisive about what I need from my illustration hours each week: I’m almost finished organising my sample folder for Andersen Press full of new work!

In fact- this post has been rather text heavy: so here’s a little sneak peek from my Animal A-Z which will feature a couple of characters in this sample folder! Here is Bertie MacMannon, the Highland Cow- or rather, H is for Highland Cow! (Take a look at my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/CarinaRobertsIllustration for the other animals!)

So, finally, my advice to all you new graduates who are worriers like me:

Think hard, and follow whatever it is you want to do (and don’t worry, it might well change!) Don’t just take a job because it’s a job. Take a job that will nurture the rest of your life- if you want to illustrate too, like me, make sure it pulls you in the same direction as your artwork, so you don’t feel torn all the time. RESPECT YOURSELF. Don’t accept a job from anyone who is going to milk you for all you’re worth; take illustration work and part/fulltime work that is going to push you, accept you for who you are, and help you succeed. If they don’t respect you, they shouldn’t have you. The same goes for fulltime freelancers- be the boss to yourself that you would want in another person!

And above all- don’t feel like you have to choose between your heart and your head. Sometimes you can follow both, and come to the same endpoint!

Keep going with what brings you joy, I’m rooting for you all!

– The AutumnHobbit

© Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carina Roberts and AutumnHobbit with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.