(Work in process): Easter holidays

In the break of holidays, I'm enjoying the oportunity of go to my country, Spain, and visit my family in Valencia. I was thinking to stay all holidays in Southampton, but finally my father convinced me. And I'm very happy, because was a very good choice.
After a lot of changes, work and stress, a break in my parents house is perfect to recharge battery and energies for the final of the academic year. I'm going to enjoy this time to relax, see my friends, talk with them and receive their comments about my final project, see my spanish teacher and reciver his comments too, and forget all the stress.
The first thing I did was go to give a very big hug to my mom. I was feeling like Jerric, after win all my fears about my project and the final changes. Now, is time to work and recollect new ideas to finish it soon.

(Work in process): Cover and first page

(Own work: detail of the title of the Daydream land cover)
I just finished the two first final illustrations with the new style, and I'm very happy with the result. I think that is like the teachers told me and I made a good graphic work. I was doing it for send it to Louise, one of my teachers, to put them in the catalogue. The catalogue will have a description of each work of each student of Final Major Project, and a shor biography of each student.

(Own work: cover of the project "Daydream land")
In the first example, the cover, I was working to create my own typography, something that is very hard to me. But I'm happy with the result, because is like I wanted. Is a representation of a brain and a maze at the same time. This is because is the main idea of the story and the final title: DAYDREAM LAND. Daydream land, is a maze of dreams where Jerric is walking, and is the center of the story, so is perfect to describe the project.

(Own work: page two of Daydream land)
The second page is the first illustration I finished, because was the page that I had decided first how to do it. Is a close-up of Jerric, where you can see his brain, that is a maze. In this way, I explain that Daydream land is a fiction world in the Jerric's mind, a creation of his imagination. So, I'm happy because doing this kind of illustration, I'm explaining the same that in two or one comic-book pages, but only in one image, so is more interesting and less repetitive.

(Work in process): Project changes

(Own work: evolution process)
After one of the work in progress tutorials, with two of my teachers, Louise Weir and Johnny Hanna, I decided to change my project. The advised me about my work, which needed differents compositions, graphic shots and be more interesting with the drawing and the painting.

(Own work: comic-book page)
So, I change the basic comic-book style, like the reference of “Little Nemo in Slumberland” or “Calvin&Hobbes”, to a kind of illustration more dinamic and different.

(Own work: watercolour sketches)
I was doing some sketches, until I found a style that I think that is better and makes my work more interesting. Doing drawings like my teachers told me, more similar to my sketches, I worked with watercolours, to make one page illustration, leaving the comic-book style, but keeping my own style.

(Own work: final illustration, page 2)
The first final page is like I was looking for. In paper A3, is bigger, so have more details, a more difficult work and taking more the attention of the viewer.

(Own work: up part of the painting)
For try new experiences, I painted two of my creatures in the wall of the illustration studio, to see how my work can look in other places, outside of the paper. I like the work, but I prefer the paper to do the final project.

(Own work: down part of the painting)

(Final designs): Backgrounds

(Own work: final design card: Jerric's home)
We can appreciate two kinds of worlds, so two kinds of different backgrounds: the real and the fiction one.

(Own work: final design card: Jerric's room)
The real one is the world where Jerric lives and suffers: home, school and the street.

(Own work: final design card: Jerric's school)
The fiction world is where Jerric understand himself, meet his own dreams, fears and doubts, and fights againts or with his own feelings. Is like a underground maze, like a catacombs, with rocks and small lamps everywhere.

(Own work: final design card: Jerric's class)
And later, whe can find two importants places inside of the maze: the Loneliness throne, hidden in the center of the maze; and the Paradise, the exit of the maze, that represents the axis of his world, the dream that is the center of his acts and feelings: be a writter.

(Own work: final design card: Underground maze)
Finally, I did seven differents places, that I think that are enough to have a basic knowledge about the Jerric's worlds and how are going to be the differents final backgrounds of the illustrations.

(Own work: final design card: Loneliness throne)

(Own work: final design card: Paradise, axis of the maze)

(Final designs): Fiction characters

(Own work: final design card: Loneliness)
For the fiction creature, a created a different style, more different and creative. Loneliness for example is a very different creature than the real ones. Is the main idea that I have, and I think that is ideal for the character.

(Own work: final design card: Fear)
Fear is other kind of creature. Like a orc, is a horrible, strong and stupid monster, the perfect servant of Loneliness.

(Own work: final design card: Love)
Love, the queen of the Jerric's love, is the only fiction character that need to be similar than a real one: the girl. Because is the fiction representation of her, and the viewer needs to understand that Girl and Love, are the same creature, the same feeling of Jerric.

(Own work: final design card: Sloth)
Sloth had before the name of Laziness, but I changed it because Derek, one of my teachers, told me that is more funny and maybe more ideal for a lovely creature who is always sleeping (the same name that one of the characters of Ice Age, a animated movie).

(Own work: final design card: doubts)
The doubts have two versions: the first one, smaller and more weak, and the other one, when they evolve in a stronger creature. Each one have a symbole with a relation with the think that they represent: the doubt “Mederi” is a worm with a cross, a symbol of the medecin; the doubt “Politïa” has a star, a symbol of the police in some countries.

(Own work: final design card: Monsters)
6 monsters, against 6 doubts. Differents styles, because each one represents a fear, and each fear is very different than other. One is like a demon, other like a skeleton, other is a kind of wolfman,...

(Final designs): Real characters

(Own work: final design card: Jerric)
Here, the final designs of the real characters of “Daydreamland”. I explained all of them: Jerric, the bully, the teacher, his mom, his bestfriend and his first love. One of them, the bestfriend, was discarded and deleted of the final story, because I thought that I don't need it for explain the story and is more a obstacle than a help.

(Own work: final design card: Bully)
Jerric is one of the most importants, and maybe can change of size, depends of the kind of shot or illustration. Later, Bully need to be always bigger than Jerric, and a little bit more than the girl. The teacher is the tallest, and the mother the second.

(Own work: final design card: Girl)
The relationship between the fiction creatures is than always, fiction creatures are bigger. The girl and the bully have a fiction representation: Faerie's queen and Fear, respectively.

(Own work: final design card: Mother)
All the real characters have some similar skills, to make a own style for the book. For example, mother and son, Jerric, have a similar noise and face. Generally, everybody has something very similar to the other illustration characters.

(Own work: final design card: Teacher)

(Character study): Monsters and fiction creatures

(Nazgul of “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy. Peter Jackson. 2001-2003.)
REFERENCE:
{Lord of the Rings. A film trilogy inspired in the book. Written by J.R.R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson. 2001 to 2003. The three parts are “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King”. About the middle earth and the mision of a differents creatures (hobbits, elfs, humans and dwarvens) to destroy a powerful ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, to save the earth.}
For the design of the differents fiction creatures, I did a very big research, from old stories until new references about bestuary and fiction races. One book that is always a good reference about the middle-earth and the magic creatures, is “The Lord of the Rings”.
In this case, the most important reference was the design of Sauron, the dark lord, and the nazguls, in the movie. From the first moment, I was thinking in one design similar to these for Loneliness, the dictator king of the fiction land of my storye (Daydreamland), with a dark robe, with the face hidden.

(The Lord of the Locusts of “Bone”. Comic-book. Jeff Smith. 1991-2004)
{“Bone”}
But a perfect reference for Loneliness was “The Lord of the Locusts”, from the comic-book “Bone” that I explained previosly.

(Rat creatures of “Bone”. Comic-book. Jeff Smith. 1991-2004)
But “Bone” isn't a good reference only for the design of Loneliness. Is a good reference for the research of Fear, the servant of Loneliness, and the commander of the Monster's army. The Rat creatures, servants of The Lord of the Locusts, are stupid and strong creatures, like I would like that will be Fear, a creature who is stronger only when the kid is scared of the unknown world whe he lives. The structure and the design of this creatures, was perfect for be inspired and work about the Fear design, trying to make a kind of orc, like the middle-earth creature, and with “The Lord of the Rings” like a big reference again.

(Kampanilla of the comic-book 'Peter Pank'. 'Max' Francesc Capdevila. 1985)
{“Peter Pank” is a comic-book created by 'Max'. Is a humor and funny parody of the book Peter Pan, but like Peter Pan was a punk boy. So, tinkerbell is a punk girl too, and all the story is more pervert and strange. For example, the bad guy is not a pirate, is a rocker. And the sirens are nymphos.}
Another time, the illustrator 'Max' was a important reference for my work. Now, was his comic-book “Peter Pank” and the character of “Kampanilla”, a sexy faery, a punk representation of Tinkerbell of Peter Pan. This very erotic faery is a different design of the typical faeries, and this is the reason because I think that I need to do a similar faery, a representation of the feelings that the young Jerric has about his first love.

(“Faery” by Brian Froud.)
But like principal reference about the faeries (but not about the style, because I was looking for a different kind of illustration), of course I was searching the work of Brian Froud, a illustrator very famous by his faeries illustrations. I was reading the book “Bad faeries/Good faeries” of B. Froud to have better ideas about the faeries, the kind of faeries and his skills.

(Snorlax of “Pokemon”. Animated TV serie. Satoshi Tajiri.)
For last, another important character was Snowlax, a creature of “Pokemon”, the tv serie created by Satoshi Tajiri, about people who search and collect stranges creatures called pokemons. Snorlax is a creature very lazy, who's always sleeping, like “Sloth”, one of the creatures of Jerric's world. So, will be very important draw a similar creature, big, fat, because he'll block the way of Daydreamland.

OWN WORK:
After a good research, make the differents fiction creatures was easier, because I had the ideas very clear, and i was very decided about what I would like to do. So, I was doing only a few sketches this time, until a find the final ones very soon.





(Own sketches. Loneliness and Fear designs)