Inspirations

Here are some photos I took in Falmouth in antiques shops that inspired my concept art.

The pizza box is from when I travelled around Europe over Summer- I love the characters depicted on it and think they suit the 'Russian Fairground' concept really well.

Banker

I researched several kinds of bankers-

Modern day; with which I sketched one of the corrupt bankers reported by the sun in the latest scandal of high income and benefits for politicians and bankers.

The second is a early style of banker from early 1900s.

This also reminded me of the bankers from Mary Poppins (set in 1910).

Background Concept Art

Here is a photo I love of a coconut stand at a fairground which I used to produce the concept art below it.

Fairground Rides- Concept Art.

Here are some photos I took in

Edinburgh when I went there over winter of several city centre attractions.

This is a photo I took when I was in York of a merry-go-round.

Here is some concept art I produced partly inspired from these images.

Fairground Background Design; Attractions - Punch and Judy Stand

I was contemplating Fairground attractions and which ones are visually most attractive. I looked at some Punch and Judy concept art on google images (below).

I thought it was very bold and striking and visually pleasing, so tried my hand at painting my own with water colour felt pens.

Russian Costume- Shoes

I've been researching Russian shoes for my character's costumes and produced some concept art based around my findings.

Margarita & Concept Art

In the book I described is a character called Margarita. I have not taken her exact physical description from the book but instead just her name and based her aesthetics on a friend of mine who is of Latvian nationality although very similarly of stereotypical female Russian appearance.

I took her photo and sketched a character design of her accentuating certain features such as the defined, long eyebrows and high cheekbones.

I wanted to take on board her exotic feel and cast her in my bible as a Russian gypsy working at the fairground.

Directly above and below are collage concept pieces depicting her character.

I was trying to extend my range of media to create interesting concept art. The piece below I used just make up.

The piece below I painted in red wine.

Post Production - Book influence mood board.

As a Christmas present I was given the book 'The Master and Margarita' which is a Russian Novel translation published in the 30s (around the time my Bible is set) Mikhail Bulgakov. It's described as being 'woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, as well as one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a suffocatingly bureaucratic social order.'

I have been very influenced creatively from reading this book with it's rich source of character description and have used it in my bible to enrich my character designs.

Here are some book covers I feel conveys a good sense of the book.

This influence has directly lead me to base my fairground setting in 1930s Russia.

Background Design

This is a picture I tried painting in Bloomsbury group style. I used acrylic to paint the landscape at Gylly beach. On comparison David Grant's work, I think I used too many defining lines and should take colours of objects right up to the next part of the picture.

I want to take this into photoshop and try digitally colouring it.

Space Logo

For Tim's space outfit I was thinking of keeping his 'Barista' logo but changing it to a more space-enterprise asthetic- see Nasa logo.

Alex's Tim Space Man Features

For Alex's animation bible he has asked me to design him a space suit for Tim to wear.
I've taken these images to analyse and combine to

So far I'm thinking of taking different elements of each outfit to use for Tim's. The collar of the alien space suit I think will look good on Tim's suit, may be down sized. Also I want to incorporate the black and white lines in Alice's suit with Tim's as he's a stylish kinda guy.

(Alex has just said to make a completely different space suit to Alice's and the Aliens but still use a helmet. He said to make it may be blue or orange.)

Duncan Grant.

Out of the Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant is one who's s

tyle I most admire and will draw from in the animation bible project. I think his work is very versatile and energetic and with some, mainly the later in his career after his modernism, I can visualize his style in animation.

I found a really inspiring quote in 'The Art of Bloomsbury: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant.' By Richard Shone; 'Grant acknowledged only the most minimal relation of his painting, denying it was an 'illustration of the subject. but a rhythm which came out of the subject.'

Grant and Vanessa Bell's landscapes I find really appeal potentially to me for this project as they are bold, but without dark or defining lines around anything to distract from any animation happening in the foreground.

Vanessa Bell, "View of the Pond at Charleston". Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant leased Charleston in 1917, so this was painted sometime after that.

The Bloomsbury Group Research

References from 'The Art of Bloomsbury:

Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant'

By Richard Shone

With essays by James Beechey and Richard Morphet.

(Close ups of those)