Testing your work (Getting to your audience)

Creatives are nothing without actually getting their work out there and getting to their audiences. There are several ways of doing this. A few ways are by publishing work, gallery exhibitions, posting on websites, social networks, forums and online communities. Those platforms are all ways of getting feedback. By receiving feedback we can understand what the audience like, thus making us better at designing for the audience. It also allows us to get our voices heard, our names out there, making people recognise us as artists. Simon Peplow uses his own website and a blog to show his own work as well as others in order to advertise himself to the world. Another artist who does would be Mike Perry. Mike also uses installations, magazine designs, product design, poster design and character design to diseminate his work. By using websites and blogs it allows a wider audience to view your work and comment as they like. For some, it's easier to communicate over the internet than it is to talk face to face to someone, especially when criticising another's work.

Personally I use www.flickr.com to post my work and share it with a vast array of people. Two personal examples of work which has been commented on on flickr would be a cupcake I drew while learning Adobe Illustrator and an ink and pastel self portrait for my own corporate design. It's also a good place to gain inspiration from other creatives around the world.

Delivery (Clients and Illustrators)

There are many many different platforms a creative person can use to deliver their work. These platforms include editorial, magazines, fashion, branding, newspapers, book covers, brochures, leaflets, posters, billboards, travel posters, advertising, corporate, graphic communication, textiles design, wallpaper, toys, animation, fashion design, installations, window displays, shop displays and interior design. A really quite simple but interesting example of using different platforms is using sound incorporated with pictures. Chris Watson records wildlife and natural phenomena then edits the recordings into a narrative. He describes this process as "putting a microphone where you can't put your ears". This work is then used in games such as Harry Potter, feature films which include The Constand Gardener from 2005 and in installations, TV and radio.

Another good example of using platforms is Julie Verhoeven. Julie has created illustrations for record sleeves, christmas cards, magazine covers, fashion and clothing design, advertising, corporate, shop exteriors and interiors, tea cups, bedlinen, packaging and jewellery. She's also experimented with moving image and murals. This is a very wide variety of platforms for just one artist. I'm personally really inspired by the work of Julie Verhoeven.

Digital Storytelling

Many tv series, films and books use multiple platforms to extend themselves to different audiences. A good example of this would be such programmes as Coronation Street and Eastenders. Both have websites dedicated to them and several online games that encourage children as well as adults to become interested in the show. Even if the audience doesn't watch the show, they are still engaging with the concept or story.

This is an example of the Eastenders website. It gives you a clear insight into what's happening in the programme, which comes in handy if you've missed an episode and want to catch up or if you just read the storylines online without watching. You can further go onto watch the latest episode on BBC iplayer. There's a preview of the future storylines, overall information about the characters, a blog, news and games. By including games the makers of Eastenders are attracting the younger audience to be interested in the programme. This is also shown in the making of a spin-off programme called E20, aimed at a younger audience but still based in the Eastenders set.

Week 5 - Character Design

When designing a character there are many aspects to consider. These include the style, genre, appearance, their interaction with other characters, what the character does and their dialogue.

This is Saoirse Ronan, she plays Susie Salmon in the film The Lovely Bones. Susie is a 14 year old girl who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer, from heaven. The character is naive, inquisitive, happy, carefree and just a like a child should be. This is portrayed well in the clothes that she wears and the things that she says. Susie is the protangonist in the story with a lot of her dialogue being a voice over, explaining or offering the scene from her eyes. She starts off in the story as this young child whom is happy and inquisitive yet careful. She later misjudges the intentions of an almost stranger who ends up killing her along with lots of other children. As the film progresses the dialogue of Susie Salmon becomes more grown up, as if she is growing and maturing in herself in order to make the right decision. This shows how children are not just unknowing, how they can understand even the most complicated situations. In my opinion Saoirse Ronan plays this character really well. Her naivity, her childish voice offer some sort of comfort to the audience, in which we can grab on to and hope that everything turns out right. The overall storyline works superbly with the voice over of a child. It's refreshing not to be told by an adult.