Publication Evaluation

During the production of my publication, I found that I was able to easily develop ideas to the final outcome. The illustrations were able to be clearly planned, drawn and detailed within the time given, and were open to change. I believe this is because what I wanted to do wasn't restricted by others, as it would be in a group. This extended to me being pleased with the printed final outcome.

I was also pleased with the apparent quality of the illustrations I produced for this part of the module, because they were based on a topic that I was interested in drawing for, and my illustrative skills had improved since my last attempt at producing a publication in the previous year. This was a strength in helping me create my best work for the magazine.


Something I could improve on with a future print publication is the quality of the binding. While my used method was appropriate for a hand-made zine, I feel that the magazine deserved a more professional quality. This could involve simply finishing it in time to be published by an out-of-house printer.

Another potential issue with the magazine I produced is its size. I previously discussed the potential that my publication had to be a bigger and more realistic magazine, which would mean more pages at a high quality. On the other hand, this quantity of pages is perfect as a zine 'teaser' for what sort of things could be present in a full edition of "Character Magazine," as well as being the optimal amount for a one-person publication.


To summarise, I found development easier when working to my own ideas, and was able to visually present them in a skilled and artistic way, for the publication. However, I felt that the publication deserved to be printed at a professional level, and have more pages of content throughout the issue.

Final publication

The finished publication presented below ended up being a printed 8-page zine at smaller-than-A5 size. I found that this size was appropriate for the sizes of font inside the magazine, and that by adding two more pages than my original plan, I could give the content some breathing room. The outcome was 10 hand-made published editions of "Character Magazine," each one a little smaller than A5 to give the publication a unique quality, with the pages stapled together for ease of access.

(LEFT) Back cover, (RIGHT) Front cover

The covers of my magazine are the best-looking and most professional of the publication (as they should be), although they are the part that possibly had the least amount of changes. From the flat plan, I knew that I wanted something like the final front cover shown here, but I believe I have achieved an even better outcome than I expected. The original back cover was intended to be blank until I decided to use a different version of the front cover illustration to fill the white space. This ultimately provides the right balance of negative space that these covers need.

(LEFT) Page 2, (RIGHT) Page 7

One of the pages I added was a simple, yet effective details page that you would normally see near the front of a print publication. By using a professional format, I managed to provide useful information as well as incorporate my name into the zine in an unobstructed way. The last content page is the interview with Marcus Lehto - I have gone into detail on the changes I made to the original and why on a seperate blog post, but it is important to say that the text is still readable in the zine's final size.

(LEFT) Page 6, (RIGHT) Page 3

The sixth page presents an article detailing the history of the Master Chief in videogame culture, and the origins and development of the character's design. This page uses a host of images from the games and is reminiscent of the format an article would use in a modern gaming magazine. By marrying the text and images in this way, I have shown the importance of the character, as well as broken up what would be a lot of writing for the average reader. The third page is the last of the new additions and is a 'contents' page of sorts, that gives a teaser of what to expect from each section of the magazine. The page uses images from the corresponding sections to also give a flavour of what to expect in each.

(LEFT) Page 4, (RIGHT) Page 5

The final pages shown here are a double-page spread of the first section of content. At the centre of the zine, this article becomes the core of the entire publication, and is allowed to spread out across more than one page. This is beneficial to showing more stages in the development of one of my own characters. The presentation and spacing of information on these two pages gives a simplistic and modern feel to the publication that is carried throughout.

The contemporary aesthetic that I have gone for with this magazine helps it to appeal to a large audience of creatives and non-creatives. While "Character Magazine" was originally intended as a publication by artists, for artists, the development of the publication has helped me to realise the potential it has on educating and inspiring people who are new to the concept of character design. Through this, I believe the zine was a successful attempt at producing a professional print product.

Character development

Character design and development are the themes of my publication, so I have illustrated my own character from my Final Major Project in its design stages. By illustrating the stages, I have shown how I managed to reach a final design for one of my characters, as well as how each layer of detail is compiled together. I ended up presenting these design stages in the centre of two pages of my publication, so a reader could follow the character's development from left to right. A written explanation of the character has also been provided underneath the final stage for clarity.

For the cover of my publication, I knew that I wanted to create an illustration of the featured character in a very unique way. In following my plan, I constructed the following drawing of the Master Chief in segments - from the most detailed and finished to the simplest sketchy lines. The finished illustration is made up of five segments that are cut diagonally. I feel like this proved to be an interesting and experimental way to draw a character, and I enjoyed the challenge of finding a new perspective to draw one of my favourite characters from. The outcome turned out better than expected and looks great as the cover art for my magazine.

Following on from this, I wanted to put the finished illustration through Adobe Illustrator as I wanted to make the lines bolder and was interested in how it would turn out. Below is the result of that experiment, and I am surprised with how clean and professional it ended up looking. While the pencil sections didn't translate well, I used it to my advantage to present a different narrative to the same drawing. This version shows a fractured and broken character, who is slowly dissolving into the wind, which can be representative of many different storytelling elements.

This version of the illustration appealed to me so much that I used it on the back cover of my publication, and I feel that it helps to bring the other elements together (ironically, as the character is coming undone). By exploring this digital aspect and experimenting with image trace, I discovered a technique that I enjoy and have been encouraged to use in my future practice. 

Newspaper interview

For part of my publication, I wanted to have an interview with the creator of the featured character of the newspaper - the Master Chief from the Halo video-game series (1). This was included in my flat plan of the proposed newspaper, and the section has evolved since the decision to include the interview.

Firstly, I reached out to Marcus Lehto, the former Creative Art Director at Bungie Studios (2) for an interview about character design and his experiences in character creation over the years. As he was such an important person involved in the creation of the Halo series, I did not expect him to accept the interview, but because it was about a topic close to his heart, I am positive that this is why he agreed to it.

The interview took place over the course of a day and included answers for questions I had prepared in advance, which included asking about the creation of the Master Chief, his artistic influences, and tips for successful character design. The following is the proposed page for the interview.

This shows the interview being no more than a paragraph tall, in the right corner of the first double page spread. It was also surrounded by a lot of illustrations and other text, when it was meant to be the main feature of the publication. At this initial stage, I was trying to include too many ideas into such a small newspaper that I didn't give the interview the room it needed to breathe.

This is the finished interview page, as seen in Adobe InDesign, that shows a range of improvements over the original plan. Along with the added colour and modern circular style, I have extended the interview over the entire page, which has a cleaner aesthetic, while helping to space out each question and highlight the interviewee himself in the bottom corner. I prefer this style as it is more professional and finalised when compared to the initial proposal.


The development of the interview page for my newspaper publication shows how much elements and layout can change during the planning stages. The length of the interview was also affected by the complexity of the answers that I was given by the interviewee, meaning that I had to present them in full in the same section. I am pleased that the text and image have incorporated seamlessly into my coloured template, and has an instant professional look.

Papio Press visit

Papio Press - consisting of former students Zanna and Harry - came in to talk about their business with the second year. They started the business at the end of their second year on the course, through the online shop, Etsy. Later on, they reached out and set up similar stores on Not on the High Street and their personal site. At the end of the third year, the product range for Papio Press was expanded, allowing the business to win a "Growth Hub" competition within the university. Through their presence on Etsy, they were found by, and collaborated with, the Natural History Museum, where they produced illustrations based on a competition for 'National Photographer of the Year'.

Ensuring a larger customer base, the former students continue to promote themselves through various forms of social media. Papio Press are currently collaborating with a large company called One King's Lane, a partnership which involves the company printing and producing their work and giving commission to the small business. However, the business has had various issues in the past, involving initial struggles with tax returns, an inadequate supplier resulting in ill-fitting stock, and postage concerns leading to bad feedback on their site. With this in mind though, Papio Press is more successful than ever, producing and selling enough stock for the business to be the central focus of both of its founders.

Newspaper Proposal

The development of a proposal for my newspaper began with my ideas for last year's Professional Practice module. I wanted to research into character design and development, and am continuing that theme into this newspaper project. My publication will be called "Character Magazine" and will be comprised of six pages (including two covers). The magazine will feature interviews with people in the art and video-game community, as well as explanations on the evolution of characters across all forms of media.

The covers will be white with a single large illustration and title text on the front cover. My idea for the illustration is having is diagonally segmented by level of detail, so that the bottom of the illustration is the most detailed, and the top is merely sketched. I believe that this will create a successful visual style to demonstrate not only how a character evolves aesthetically, but also show some of the creative techniques that are used to create characters.

The first double-page spread includes several stages of development for a featured video-game character, an introduction to character design and development in the media, an interview with a creative who is has had experience designing characters, and my illustrated response to this theme.

The second double-page spread includes several stages of development for my own character with an explanation, a conclusion, and a continuation of character design in the media - focusing more closely on TV/film, comics/graphic novels, and literature.

This proposal covers everything I need it to, while being presented in a unique and reader-friendly layout. By researching and presenting the information, and publishing the magazine, I will have learned valuable skills for my future creative career. I feel that these skills will also be useful in working through my third-year modules and will assist me in completing them to the highest standard.

Newspaper Research

Before designing my own publication for this project, I set about looking at newspapers from the previous academic year, so that I could find out what I did or did not want to include in mine. I read through four different newspapers/magazines to get a large array of positive and negative examples of the publication's structure, layout, and overall quality.

Tutors Illustration Magazine - Tim Martin

This was the first publication I researched, which included information and interviews about the tutors on this Illustration course, with examples of their work throughout.

One thing I liked about this magazine was the formatting of the text, which is in traditional double columns - occasionally broken up by a quote from the main text.  I like this aspect because it is visually-appealing and the layout looks professional.

An aspect that I disliked was that some pages of the publication would be dedicated to a single large illustration. I feel as if this wastes a lot of space that could be put to better use. While it is nice to see full-page artwork, it takes me out of the text too largely.

One other thing that could also be seen as taking up too much space is the large text used for tutor introductions. I dislike this aspect because the target audience for this sort of publication does not warrant large text, and could at times feel unintentionally patronising to read.

Bad Circulation - Tom Maclean, Meg Tallis, Sophie Russell

This was the second publication I researched, which was a newspaper that took a look at a specific group of students in a more light-hearted manner. 

 

One aspect of this newspaper I disliked was the title spacing. Though the size of the title itself was already an issue, the words are so large that the spacing is thrown off, and the artist names and section titles almost merge into one. 

An aspect that I liked was the interactive games in the back few pages. I like this because it adds variety to what I could put in my newspaper, and adds a fun activity after a long read.

Ignite - Newsquest printing

The next newspaper I looked at was "Ignite," which included a much broader range of illustration news, art and interviews.

Something I liked from this publication was the preview contents page at the front of the newspaper. I  liked this because it was unique from the other newspapers I had researched, and is a good idea of showing what each section will be about or stylistically look like.

I disliked the layout of a particular page because of its small font and the large white space that is left. This does not have visual appeal because the text could be too small to read for some people, and there is nothing covering the remaining page space. 

So U Think You Can Art? - Jack Ashworth

This was the final publication, and had a unique graphical and formatting style, but also included information about a specific set of students.

One aspect that I disliked was the pages being loose, which means the newspaper could get jumbled up or lost. I dislike this because it is not professional and just makes the publication feel unfinished.

Something I did like about this newspaper was the grid-based formatting style used for the pages. This means several panels are used to separate the content of a page - giving it an almost comic book feel. I like this because it keeps the text and images organised, while giving the reader the freedom to read the sections in whichever order they want.

I feel that conducting this research was important for me to look at the different approaches to page layout, spacing, and what content could be included. This will assist me in deciding on these aspects of my own newspaper. However, I think that the content of these publications is not relevant to what I will be writing in mine, so they do not reflect the exact layout or formatting for what would be appropriate in terms of my creative focus.

Self-Introduction

Professional qualities I possess:-

• Good organisational skills.
• Work to the highest possible standard.
• Good time-keeping skills.
• Able to plan and execute tasks efficiently.

Personal qualities I possess:-

• Good personal hygiene.
• Focused when needed.
• Reflective.
• Unique perception of the world.

Someone else would describe me as quiet, tidy, hard-working and intelligent.

Within my work as an illustrator, my specialist skills consist of traditional drawing, painting, and digital art. 

I am passionate about storytelling, and the way a larger narrative is told, through both visual and literary medium. I enjoy becoming a part of a story's universe, and always having that universe be a part of me. I am also passionate about instrumental music, how a core melody can bring something to life and evoke an emotion within the participant that stays with them - similar to that of physical art.

Someone should hire/comission me because I have the knowledge and skills at my disposal to find a way of achieving the highest personal standard, and the motivation to get the task done.

Some unique things I can offer are my social commentary on many aspects of our culture - as an outsider looking in - as well as my willingness to explore deeper philosophical and existential questions about life.

The purpose of my imagery is to capture the detail of life, while showing my own interpretations of the world.

In one sentence, I would define my practice as detailed, heavily monochromatic and lightly experimental.

I want to illustrate characters and environments that inspire me not only from real life, but also fiction. My target audience is not defined, as people of all ages can take something away from my work.

I want to portray an adaptable style. The pros of this style are that you always have a structure to work from and a set level to work towards, in regards to referencing a similar style. However, this style has cons, in the form of artistic limitations - it may be more difficult to portray more personal thoughts/visions through an adaptable style.

      A signature style has advantages also, in that you are given freedom of interpretation, choice of colour/medium, and a visual style that is completely unique. Although, it is not without its drawbacks, such as difficulties in the development of a brand new style - all things that are new ultimately reference things that came before.

I am looking to be an illustrator part-time. Alongside a freelance illustration practice, I will be a writer for an online gaming website.

On the topic of becoming a freelance Illustrator, I will need to consider how to look after myself, how much time I will be devoting to my artwork and my writing, how to budget money, how to reach out and contact potential clients.

Work experience that I think will help me with my future plans consists of games design. This is because it will benefit both aspects of my professional future. While it will teach me what the games design industry is like, and give me a greater appreciation for games, concept art, teamwork,etc., it will also help me as a games journalist to look deeper into the true nature of game developers in today's society.