So it Begins! Time Table

I have decided to do my Final Major Project based on a book by Clive Barker. Its a book called Book Of blood. The book is made up of 30 short Dark Horror stories. I will design and create front covers for as many as I can or that give me ideas.

Whilst reading Clive Barker's- Book of Blood,  I have been jotting down ideas and images that I envisage while reading these short stories.

Quick sketch for The Midnight Meat Train.

Before and after shot. 

This one is for short story The Midnight Meat Train from the Book of Blood.
I have started the image using water colours but may add pen and ink later.
It's far fro being the finished article but it's a work in progress.

Inspirations

While I was researching for this project I was pointed in the direction of Dave McCean and his film Mirror Mask.

I loved the atmosphere he has created and the quirky stylized characters.

www.davemckean.com

This film has given me a lot of inspiration for this project. This style of work has really influenced me and I think this artist will carry on influencing me for years to come.

I was also introduced to the photographer Joel Peter Witkins. His work may not be to everyone’s taste but I like the way he arranges his subjects and the old fashioned sepia style of them. I think these two artists have inspired and influenced me greatly with my ideas for the images I want to create in this final major project.

 www.tumblr.com/tagged/joel%20peter%20witkin

Presentation Document

This blog will be a tool to help everyone understand how I work. This is also a presentation document that will guide you through the process of my final major project outcome.

To start off, my project will be to illustrate short stories from British author Clive Barker's- Book Of Blood.

There are six books in total, each simply subtitled Volume 1 through to Volume 6.

They were published between 1984 and 1985. With the publication of the first volume, Barker became an overnight sensation and was hailed by Stephen King as "the future of horror".

The book won both the British and World Fantasy Awards.

The series is made up of thirty stories. The first being the Book of Blood and is the prologue that starts you off into the world that Clive Barker has created.

The book has since been made into a film by John Harrison released in 2008.

Also the short story The Forbidden, was made into popular film series The Candyman.

Another one of Clive Barkers books Hellbound Heart, was made into the well known film Hellraiser.

www.clivebarker.info/

In this project I will read the entire collection and illustrate the tales that most inspire me.

I would like to try some different illustration techniques that I’ve not really tried much of before such as printmaking and woodcuts. I will still work with ink and paint, as I know this has been successful in my last projects.

I would like to put all the finished images together as a book of some kind. Are they just a book of images or will they accompany the stories? I am not too sure yet.

I would like to design a front cover for the book (or books) and also posters advertising the book.

I have also created this blog and will add to this every time I have done something new or had a new idea. I will document the changes my ideas may have and what I have found difficult along the way. This blog will give a clear idea of how I have found the project and what kind of hurdles I have come across on the way and what my style of working is. This will of course show my successes to and will show what I have enjoyed and been inspired by throughout the time scale of the project. I’m quite excited about this project because I’m going to be doing so much I have not done before, and is normally out of my comfort zone but I really want to challenge myself.

This Is Me

So this is my Blog, but you already knew that!
What you may not know is who I am.

I am Donna Louise Martin and as I write this I am in my final year at Solent University studying Illustration.

So what do I get up to when I'm not at uni?
Well, I enjoy being a mummy to my gorgeous but demanding litttle boy.

If im not being mum or painting I have my head in a book. Once I pick one up it's really hard to put it back down again. I get totally lost in the pages and even find myself thinking about what I have been reading hours after I have put it down.

Book or Kindle? I use both!
I love technology but there's something special about the smell of an old book.

Reading is one of the many ways I find my inspiration. I find many things in my day to day life that inspire and excite me and get me thinking of ideas for illustrations and future projects and I interpret these in my own way. More about that a little later on.

I do have an obsession at the moment with cameo's and anything by designer Cath Kidston. I like things around me to be cute and homely, but this is the total opposite to how I like my art and work to be.