Print making

I started off my first lesson with drawing stuff around the college like trees and flowers because we have to do something related to nature, here are some images I did:


I did this picture with compressed charcoal, it's messy but I don't mind how it look, it look ok to me, I could've done better to try and tone it and make it look better.

I did this with charcoal I like this one better it looks like a plant, it's faded because I didn't put hairspray on it to keep it there.








This is also don in charcoal and compressed, I started to do my own thing after a while I find it hard to draw plants and stuff or if everything is the same colour. I don't mind it though.
I find that using charcoal can be fun at times, but not when your skin reacts negatively to it.





I did little pencil drawings of flowers because I found it easier to pick something and draw it rather than the whole thing. They look ok to me, I could've done better.








I like this one better, I found a leaf and did a pencil drawing of it and then I decided to use watercolour and as you can see the leaf is there also. I like this one better than the others it looks better in my opinion and much more detailed.

I then had to draw seven landscapes as homework, that in my opinion I became lazy and didn't do a very good job at, like I said before I find it hard to draw plants and stuff especially when you live in a place where it's just full of green:

 I decided to draw a tree because it was a little easier, I used charcoal to draw this, I just wanted to experiment with different materials. I know this isn't a landscape. I don't mind how this turned out, it looks better than the rest.

 This is a field that is next to my house as you can see this isn't a very good drawing, there was so many leaves in the field so I improvised a little. I used Charcoal.

This is something I literally made up in my head because I felt like it. I decided to use colouring pencil to do this, I wanted to see how it would turn out if I let my imagination take over. I think it looks ok, it might of looked better as a print or in black and white with out the green bit at the top.

 This is a rose that is dying that is in my garden, I used pencil, it would've looked better if I had added a background. I don't mind how it turned out though.

 I drew this in pencil first then I used watercolours, I found it easier to do the greenery better with watercolour than colourless because you can sort of see what you're looking at. I like how this turned out.

 This was also a field this is a terrible mess I don't like it, I found that using Biro isn't very easy when doing landscapes especially when your place is full of leaves and greenery.

Same here as the one above This was awful I kind of gave up on it as you can see. This was also in Biro. next time try and get landscapes that isn't full of greenery.






In my second lesson I started to print make I did Dry Point printing and Aquatint. I liked Dry point better, I got better result in the Dry Point than Aquatint as you can see:

I used aluminium and used a nail to draw into the aluminium. I liked what I drew I pressed harder in some places than others so I could get that different shades when I print it, it was successful in the dry point.






Steps to what you have to do to make dry point prints.

• Prepare plates
• Degrease the plate by using soap
• prepare the paper in water
• heat up plate
• Ink up the plate
• Put in presser.

This is the outcome of my first print there is no particular reason why I used red, this was my first time doing the dry point. I think it looks ok.
I think this might of turned out too red.
I should wipe more ink off the plate. I want to see how this would look in black.





I like this one better because the colour looks better and the shading is better and the blanket added a nice effect. I really like how this one turned out to look.








Aquatint step by step

• Cellotape the back of your plate
• Put oil pastel in places you want to keep the same
• Put it in acid for a few minutes
• Clean everything off
• Prepare the paper in water
• Heat up the plate
• Ink up the plate
• Put in Presser

This is how my plate turned out to look after I put it in the acid.









I don't like this one it's too dark. This process was different Aquatint. I like dry point better.









I am not too keen on this one either it's still too dark. I shouldn't of left my plate too long in the acid, I might have to work into my plate again to get the textures back.

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki was born on the 5th January 1941 and is a Japanese manga artist. He began his animation career in 1961 at Toei animation before he started his own venture.

Miyazaki is the founder of Studio Ghibli. This studio specilises in animation films which are directed and animated by him. By starting this venture it took him away from his family often working until 2 am and starting again 8 am, his son felt he needed to get to know him and did this by studying his work, he now works closely with his father. Hayao Miyazaki has a very distinctive art style and his films can often be recognised by their characters and stories. He has devoted himself to creating the most innocent and beautiful children films imaginable instead of showing the greed and ugliness of modern life. Often the themes if his films were related to humanities, nature and technology whilst remaining pacifist in principle. The women or girls are often given the lead rolls, showing strong characters against the villains who are portrayed in a traditional way, good examples of this are Castle of Cagliostro and Castle in the sky which shows us how he would portray a typical villain, where they win in the beginning but they lose everythingat the end of the film or become good for example where they are bad at the beginning of the film but find themselves helping somebody and therefore become good, whereas films such as Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke show us two young women who defy all odds showing strong character and fighting skills that would normally probably be portrayed by a strong man.

Since he has become leading icon within Japanese art and culture he has a museum built in Greater Tokyo, the description in the Sunday Telegraph magazine describes it as:

"The building that houses the Ghibli Museum would be unusual anywhere, but in greater Tokyo, where architectural exuberance usually takes and angular, modernist form - black glass cubes, busy geometries of neon - it is particularly so. Outside, the museum resembles an oversized adobe house, with slightly melted edges; it's exterior walls are painted shades of pink, green and yellow. Inside, the museum looks like a child's fantasy of Old Europe submitted to a rigorous Arts and Crafts sensibility. The floors are dark wood; stained - glass windows cast candy coloured light on whitewashed walls; a spiral stairway climbs - inside what looks like a giant Victorian birdcage - to a rooftop garden of wild grasses, over which a robot soldier stands guard"

I really love Hayao Miyazaki's work because it's so pure and innocent. After reading a bit about him I find him a very grumpy man, because he wishes that Japan would be buried under water and wished that animators would go bankrupt also I found that he is a hardworking man and dedicated to his work because he'd come home at 2am and go back to work at 8am. His work takes you out of the real world and into a fantasy and makes you feel happy and some films inspire you and you become a stronger person. My favourite film is Kiki's Delivery Service because of the sense of freedom in it. Despite his ugly thoughts his work is amazing and beautiful.

Illustrators

AIR

Written by Key

Illustrated by Yikimaru Katsura

Published by Kodansha

Clannad
Written by Key
Illustrated by Juri Misaki
Published by Jive

Kanon
Written by Key
Illustrated by Petit Morishima
Published by Mediaworks






Although they all look very similar they are all illustrated and published by other people, however they are all written by Key, which connects them, Key has written all of these:
1999 - Kanon
2000 - AIR
2004 - Clannad
2005 - Tomoyo After, It's a wonderful life
2007 - little busters
2008 - Little busters! Ecstasy
2010 - Kud Wafter
2011 - Rewrite
2012 - Angel Beats!

xxxHolic
Written by Clamp
Illustrated by Clamp
Published by Kodansha

Cardcaptour Sakura
Written by Clamp
Illustrated by Clamp
Published by Kodansha

Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles
Written by Clamp
Illustrated by Clamp
Published by Kodansha

Chobits
Written by Clamp
Illustrated by Clamp
Published by Kodansha.










All of these have everything in common their all made by the same people, All of these stories are linked together.
Chobits is another anime that has this in common, even though written and published and illustrated by the same people tha animation looks a bit different.

Fairy Tail
Written by Hiro Mashima
Published by Kodansha

Rave Master
Written by Hiro Mashima
Published by Kodansha

Monster Soul
Written by Hiro Mashima
Published by Kodansha

Monster hunter Orage
Written by Hiro Mashima
Published by Kodansha







All of these are written, illustrated and published by the same people, they all look the same also.
There was an OVA of Fairy Tail where Rave Master people were in it, The animations are the same, I like the animation very much.

Ah! My Goddess
Written by Kosuke Fujishima
Published by Kodansha

Piano! The Melody of a young girls's heart
Written by Kosuke Fujishima
Published by Kodansha

Tales of Symphonia
Character design Kosuke Fujishima
Play station 2 and 3
Mechanical designs by Kosuke Fujishima

Tales of Abyss

Tales of Vesperia

Tales of Xillia

Tales of Xillia 2
















These are all made by Kosuke Fujishima, when I see his work I can recognize his work easily. I enjoy his work. Ah! My Goddess is the best though.
Fujishima wanted to be a draftsman, but he had to take the editorial role after failing to get a draftsman apprenticeship. He became an assistant manga artist to Tatsuya Egawa it the production of the making "be free!" manga. He started to make his own manga series in 1986 "You're under arrest".
Fujishima has a love of motorcycles and auto mobiles and it shows in his second manga Ah! My Goddess, There is a character in the manga who loves his bike and he is in a club, where he builds and drives bizzare looking vehicles. Ah! My Goddess was extremely popular and he is now known as an individual manga artist. I love the manga very much and the anime, the artwork is really pretty.
He also does character design for several Tales RPG game series and the game Sakura Wars.
I can see the similarities in the characters in the games and Ah! My Goddess, especially in the older games like Tales of Symphonia, Ah! My Goddess was made in 1988, it looks like the game around 2005.

Arthur Ransome

He was born in 1884 and became an author and journalist. His best known Wales are a series called "Swallow sand"
Many of his books involve sailing fishing and camping. His father died when he was 13 years, similar to Roald Dahl his dad died young. His schooling was not enjoyable because he had poor eyesight, lack of athletic skill and limited academic achievement. Unlike Roald Dahl who also had a bad experience in school but excelled at athletics and sports. He abandoned college to go to London to become a writer.
Some early work included,
The nature book for children. Bohemia in London 1907 was his first important book where he introduced the history of London's bohemian literacy and artistic communities. A curiosity in 1903 about a visiting Japanese poet Yone Noguchi led to an ongoing friendship with Japanese painter Yoshio Markino.
Ransome began writing books of biography and literacy criticism on various authors this unfortunately led to a court hearing for libel.
In 1913 Ransome went to Russia to study Russian folklore and this led to him publishing Old Peter's Folktales from Russia. In 1914 he became a foreign correspondent covering the eastern front during World War 1 and then stayed to cover Russian Revelation in 1917. He did provide some information to the British Secret intelligence source at this time.
This espionage is similar to Roald Dahl who provided information to MI6 when he was in America. Following the period Ransome and his 2nd Russian wife came back to England where he settled and decided to concentrate on writing children's books.
Neither Roald Dahl or Arthur Ransome were illustrators they hired one to do the images for them.
His images are more detailed and dull, there's no colour in it, it would look nicer with colour. Their very different compared to Roald Dahl, one is detailed and dull and the other is simple and colourful.