FMP Proposal

UAL: L3 Diploma in Art and Design

Specialism: Graphic Design and Fine Art – short comic/graphic novel/concept art

Introduction

I decided to pursue Art and Design at college because I’ve always been drawn to creating art. It’s what I do to relax, what I’ve been consistently passionate about for as long as I can remember and it’s the freest form of expression I know.

It was a revelation coming to Coleg Meirion Dwyfor and finding so many people of like mind, all invested in art and as excited by visual storytelling as I was. I found my feet right away - it was amazing to have tutors I could relate to, guiding me through mediums of art I hadn’t had an opportunity to explore before.

Up until this point I had been self-taught, for the most part, as I was home educated from year 10 to year 11. One major advantage here was the number of hours I could dedicate to practising my drawing, graphic art and photoshop skills.

Lynda.com and Photoshop tutorials were brilliant resources for learning remotely - but it was great to return to on-site learning in college afterwards Hands-on work with dark room development, ceramics, and printing work were really enjoyable (and all pretty new to me).

My experience

My experience in Coleg Meirion Dwyfor over the past year-and-a-half has been very valuable. I’ve explored areas totally new to me and gained knowledge, skill and passion for each of them.

I’ve also improved my drawing skills by being pushed out of my comfort zone, learning that being willing to make mistakes is an integral part of the creative process, including:

pushing through creative blocks
being prolific with prep work
use of thumbnails
using lots of experimental mediums
constantly trying new things

An imperfection or mistake is never a waste of time, but a step towards the finished product.

My college experience has also been incredibly valuable on a personal level. I found the environment a really comfortable place to be while learning and gaining skills and confidence.

My Intentions

My intentions for my final project are to produce concept art and, hopefully, a short pilot for a graphic novel centred around the theme 'Lines’.

The concepts will explore behind the scenes, worldbuilding, entire locations, entities, exposition, etc. I can combine my love of fiction, fine art and writing into visual storytelling this way - and though creating entire parts of the story may be ambitious, I’m confident I’ll have various concepts (across different mediums) to explore.

Cover art is also an option, and something I greatly anticipate.

‘Lines’ in this case will quite literally serve as the lines between realities with other hidden/latent references to lines elsewhere, such as in the hallways, standing stones etc.

Core methods

Form a strong curriculum from research to completion.
Ensure I have time to complete all necessary tasks and adjust my ambitions to fit that timetable.
Research graphic art styles, comics, pieces of art fiction that I have loved in the past and use them to refine my own style.
Refine my storyline as I go along.
Research fantasy art, fantasy worlds, experiment with genres and all kinds to find what is most effective for my storyline.
Create mood boards. Research clothes and weaponry and so on.
Create character concept designs, monsters, backgrounds, locations.
Page layout for the graphic novel pilot; storyboards and planning.
Multiple cover art concepts
Mix mediums such as painting or inking a layer or background – uploading to photoshop and layering with graphic tablet illustration work, combining what I might specialize in.
Create a completed short excerpt or pilot for the graphic novel.
Evaluate the final outcome. Produce as many pieces of works around this concept as possible, even if it’s just a background illustration.
Have my interpretations guide the story.

Updated Proposal

Within a week of the research phase, I realised my initial proposal may have been too ambitious - considering the level of detail I was going to be putting into the characters and the world in general.

After beginning my research on different artists, and experimenting with a few styles, I knew that a highly detailed, realistic but stylized approach was the direction I'd like to follow.

I initially cut my proposal down from creating a pilot, concept art for locations, and characters, to only concept art for the main characters and the cover art.

As I delved a little further into the character creation process, I realised the characters in themselves would take up the bulk of the time I had for the project. I approximate 10 hours each, from initial sketches to completed digital, lined and painted work.

This may be a slight overestimation - but I'd rather be realistic and put plenty of contingency in there. than be overly optimistic and run out of time before completion.

Goals and resource planning

I aim to have a minimum of six fully completed characters, two versions of Cynthia, Sam and Bastian - and ideally, a further 6 - so that each character in the novel has one alternative costume/style.

So that's 12 x 10 hours = 120 Hours.

If I allocated 20 hours per week to illustration - to allow time for research, annotation and so on - this fills up six weeks.

Given that I'm just over a week into the project at this point - and want to leave room for uploading the work onto the web in the final two weeks, and to leave some contingency for things going wrong - I've decided to use the character concept in a lineup presentation to create the cover art concept towards the end of the project also. Saving some time of creating original work for the cover.

Finally, I will need to learn how to use Wix - the website I'll be uploading to - so I can present everything in a cohesive, clear, elegant and accessible way.

My updated intentions are to:

Create between six and twelve completed Character Concepts - two or ideally three of Cynthia, Sam and Basian - for a Graphic Novel.
Create a story overview, and outline in writing - with some visual references in my sketchbook also - the world that these characters inhabit.
Show my process of Character Development, from research to pencil sketching, inking, graphic art and digital painting.
Present my final work in digital format, on a website dedicated to this project.

Method

Form a strong curriculum from research to completion. Ensure I have time to complete all necessary tasks and adjust my ambitions to fit that timetable. I'll keep the timetable updated regularly on a weekly planner, in order to keep the project on track, and my work organised.
Research graphic art styles, comics, pieces of art fiction that I have loved in the past and use them to refine my own style. Refine my storyline as I go along.
Research fantasy art, fantasy worlds, experiment with genres and all kinds to find what is most effective for my storyline. Research clothes and weaponry of that era and so on.
Create the basic premise of the story.
Create visual references to the world in my sketchbook - worldbuilding.
Use a pencil and inking in my sketchbook to demonstrate ability with each medium and to experiment with styles in the early phases.
Main Focus of Project: Create between six and twelve fully completed Character Concept Designs in a Digital Art medium
Evaluate the final outcome.