cullen-blue23 - Tumblr blog

cullen-blue23 · 4 months

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Happy New Year!! 🥳 it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and I missed it. Did get eye strain doing it though, so that’s a wonderful start to the year 😂 Hope everyone has a great (peaceful and uneventful, in a good way) year.

#January 5th 2024 #2024 #happy new year #typography #handdrawntype #originalart #word art

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cullen-blue23 · 6 months

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UAL Level 3/4 Foundation Dip in Art & Design Unit 1

This is a small collection of work from Unit 1, which took place over the first half of the term up to the end of October. This was very different from my previous course, which was pretty structured. I decided I wanted to do a course that was more experimental, using different media, and get used to being more messy and try and get out of my comfort zone.

From the start we were working in groups, collaborating and using different mediums. We went on couple of field trips and encouraged to go beyond the studio. I made some good friends, which helped my social anxiety a lot. I enjoyed all of the workshops, though some were more challenging than others. The installation stuff, 3D work and puppet making was tricky, but enjoyable. I really liked how my puppet turned out. My first attempt was a disaster and had to learn how to sew in a week, it was rapid learning curve. Making the Julian Robers dress was interesting, and I really liked working with my friends on this.

Overall, Unit 1 for me was pretty much almost everything I had hoped for. I've explored, I've experimented, I’ve gotten messy and pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Unit 2 is the Pathway stage, and I have chosen Narrative and Printmaking. Will try and post about that more frequently.

#November 5th 2023 #UAL #Foundation Art & Design #College course #UAL level 3 #art #printmaking #3d #tradtional art

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cullen-blue23 · 9 months

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Insidious Villain UAL Level 3 FMP

Above is the finished comic that should was the end result of my FMP. Below are the finished pages including text. Sadly, I was not able to include the printed comic for the hand in as I couldn't get it printed in time. I was very proud of the work, and it also realised an ambition, which was to have a comic in print from an original idea and story by me. As for my FMP and my course? Well, to be honest, I have not much to say. The beginning of my Ext. Dip started well. My first two projects got good marks and I had high expectations. However, at the beginning of the last term and at the start of the FMP one of our tutors (the best one to be honest) went on sick leave. After that the course just lost focus. Key information came in too late and there was a lack of direction. In the end, moral was pretty low. I think we were all just glad it was all over. But, onwards and upwards, in September I start the Foundation Dip. Art & Design. Fingers crossed it goes well.

#August 17th 2023 #traditionalart #my art #orginal art #original story #original comic #original character #insidious villain #UAL Level 3 #manga inspired #greyscale

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cullen-blue23 · 1 year

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Interview with Bowen McCurdy aka @bonesblubs

As part of my Unit 6: Final Major Project, I contacted @bonesblubs and asked if she would be prepared to do a short interview to be included in my project. Bones came back to me immediately and said she would be happy to. She wrote a great interview, and it was a big help, so huge thanks and gratitude.

Background: Bowen McCurdy aka Bonesblubs is an illustrator born and raised in New York. Bones as she likes to be known trained at the School of Visual Arts in NY, majoring in Cartooning in 2018. Bones is a self published illustrator of small comics and zines, but has also a recently published graphic novel for Boom Comics called Spectre Inspectors which has a paranormal theme and includes an LGBTQ story arc. Bones has also published stories for IDW and Marvel.

I first came across Bones on Tumblr through the popular fandom based on the novel 'Heavens Official Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. At this time she was ithe planning stages of creating a small comic zine based on the novel. Bones published the zine herself and sold it on her Etsy stories and promoted it on Tumblr. I bought the zine last year.

Can you talk a bit about your influences and inspirations?

I try to be the kind of person who is inspired by almost everything- I absorb as much visual information as I can at a time, whether from other visual artists, musicians, media, or the way the light hits the trashcan outside my apartment. In comics, you have to know frivolous things like how to draw a chair or lamp, so every bit is important. I consider myself, like many from my generation, highly influenced by international media, such as European and Asian comics. I especially was drawn to horror and romance, two genres that were domestically often overlooked in graphic novels when I was growing up. Specifically, the French cartoonist Kerascoet is one of my biggest inspirations, but I have to give Becky Cloonan the credit for being the push that got me interested in making comics in general. At that time, it was rare to see women working in this field in the US, so she was the one to 'break the glass ceiling' for me! What media do you like to work in best?

I tend to like instant gratification- speed and efficiency are highly valued in themcomics industry, and though I’d one day like to experiment around with traditional mediums again, I love the ease of working digitally. Comics are very hard to do, and they take a long time to make, so having the tools that programs such as Clip Studio Paint have to offer are priceless resources. Everything you need to tell a complete story can fit in a tote bag. It's the most cost-efficient medium when working on comics that I’ve found as well, which makes sustaining it a lot easier!

What made you want to create your own comics?

Although comics are hard to produce, they can be entirely self-reliant. This removes any impediments- I’m completely free to tell whatever story I like within the confines of my skill level. It’s a blessing and a curse; I’m now responsible for anything that comes after; if I’m unable to finish a project and see my vision through, that’s entirely on me. But having the ability to choose to take on that responsibility and use my voice is very important to me. I love collaborating, and I seek it out often, but I want to do so on my terms. This freedom is rarely found in other storytelling mediums, and it's something that ultimately makes each indie comic feel like one specific voice told it, for better or for worse. There’s a lot to be said about that! I also just think it’s neat that I can hold it in my hands when I’m done.

Could you describe your process or stages in how you create your comics, how you get there?

First, I script my story, often doodling in the margins if specific imagery is important to a scene. Then, I use that script to sketch out my thumbnails, which has the name suggests, are tiny sketches of the pages, each the size of a thumbnail. This stage is only to capture the flow of each panel into the next, and the character’s expressions. Much of the storytelling happens in this stage - everything else makes it look nice! Next is where many comic artists deviate - most will continue on to the layout stage, which is when you enlarge and articulate the thumbnails to be more legible, and then move on to pencils, a much more refined version. Because I use digital tools, I can combine these two steps and instead have one pass of layout/pencils. These are messy sketches that keep me loose when I go to ink, helping me to be more expressive and less precious with the final result. I also add my word balloons in this stage, since I want to make sure that I have enough room for them before I start on the final art. Inks are just cleaning up the pencils with a clean black line. Once I’vegotten rid of the sketch layers, I color, and I’m done!

You have based one of your independent comics around a popular Danmei novel, did you do any other research other than reading the content of the novel?

Definitely! I do a lot of research before each project I start like gathering reference photos, double-checking that information in my script is accurate,that the language used is respectful, etc. I don’t always catch everything, but doing my best to do so is essential to me, especially for stories that take place in locations I'm personally unfamiliar with.

What is your production process for creating your zines and comics?

I have experimented around with many online printer services, and ultimately have been using one that’s reliable, quick, easy to manage, and high quality! Although I loved producing my comics back in college by hand (printing, assembling, cutting, folding), I don’t have access to the resources my school provided anymore, and the quantities that I’m producing are much higher now than they had been back then. When printing online, I can simply send the printer a PDF of the comic I want, and tell them what type of paper for the cover and interior pages they’ll use, the quantity, and finishing (matte, glossy, UV, etc). Once I’ve approved their proof, I order in bulk and wait for them to arrive! I don’t have much room for storage, so many of the excess comics live under my bed.

Bowen McCurdy Links www.bonesbunns.com https://bonesblubs.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bonesbunns/ https://www.etsy.com/shop/bonesbunns https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/bonesbunns/

#May 20th 2023 #Bonesblubs #Bowen McCurdy #Comic Zine #Indie Comic #Comic illustration #All Paths Lead Back Here #Indie illustrator #artist interview #fan art

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cullen-blue23 · 1 year

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UNIT 5: Publicity: Workbook Moodboards + Research + Merch + Finshed Work

A selection of work from my Unit 5 Workbook, includes some of the research, moodboards, some merchandise designs and the final illustrations. I’ve left out all the draft illustrations etc.

For this project I had to create multiple illustrations that could be used for publicity for a Muscal my college was hypothetically going to put on. I chose ‘Beetlejuice the Musical’, as it had more opportunities for me to create more interesting graphics. The other option was to create an ad for a charity of my own invention (which would have been interesting to create, but boring to illustrate). I decided to create three different illustrations in three different mediums; one I hadn’t tried before, one I wanted to expand on after the last project, and one I wanted to improve on. Personally I think the digital ones turned out the best out of all three.

The first two finished illustrations (the snake curled around the B and the black and white one) were done tradtionally: the left piece is mixed media (Posca, pencil, marker and metallic Washi Tape). The snake featured in the one on the right was filled in with marker outlined in fineliner, cut out, and stuck onto textured black paper.

The digital illustration was created in Procreate; the background of the version on the left was also done in procreate, while the background of the one on the right was created in Affinity Photo.

#February 8th 2024 #UAL #betelgeuse #beetlejuice #beetlejuice musical #illustration #graphic design #workbook #sketchbook

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cullen-blue23 · 1 year

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UNIT 4: Workbook Finished Layout Design for Tithe Graphic Novel Project

FINISHED IT! And I managed to get it handed in early as well! I had decided to use crosshatching as it fit the Fae theme quite well. Additionally, when I have read older story books, including ones about the Fair Folk, if there is any illustration included it’s often black and white crosshatching, as I’ve used.

The reason I managed to snag some extra time and get it in early is because as I was midway through finishing the final draft, I realised it was too good not to use, so it became the final product (I also feared jinxing it if I tried to recreate it). I added the dialogue on procreate, which became a minor hassle, so I don’t reccommend it, and probably wont do that again. I had originally had planned to do more pages, in the end just completed the one, it was a case over being over ambitious. Still happy with how it turned out.

#November 19th 2022 #UAL #UAL Level 3 #college project #Holly Black #A Modern Fairy Tale #workbook #graphic novel #comic layout #cross hatching #illustration

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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UNIT 4: Workbook Kaye: Head/Body Studies + Final Draft Studies

Afer completing the design for Roiben, the next logical step was to work on Kaye (the other principle character in Tithe). Unlike with Roiben, the image of Kaye in my head was a lot fuzzier, so had to do some more serious thinking about how I was going to portray her. I’m pleased with the result I came up with in the end, as the design not only suits her and looks fashionable, but was also not too complicated to draw. That will save plenty of time in the final production.

#October 19th 2022 #UAL #UAL Level 3 #Holly Black #A Modern Fairy Tale #Tithe #Kay Feirch #college project #graphic novel project #lay out #workbook #WIP #character design #illustration

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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UNIT 4: Workbook Roiben: Head/Body Studies + Final Draft Studies

Having decided to go with the Holly Black book, Tithe, I had an idea for which scene I wanted to do. So, I decided to focus on only doing the two main characters as they were the only ones in my chosen scene. I decided to do Roiben first as I had a clearer idea of how I wanted his character design to look like compared to Kaye’s. I decided to design his clothes with a blend of fantasy/historical and modern styles. As with all the projects for this course, ‘content is King’, so annotate...annotate...annotate.

#October 17th 2022 #UAL #UAL Level 3 #Holly Black #college course #A Modern Fairy Tale #character design #workbook #Rath Roiben Rye #illustration

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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UNIT 4: Researching a Specialist Industry Practice Workbook: Mood Boards and Artist Analysis

Mood boards, artist analysis and research on using different mediums for graphic novel layouts. Part of my research for my current project (see title). My plan is to create short comic pages based on a scene from Tithe, by Holly Black. It is the first part of a trilogy called ‘A Modern Fairytale’. The mood boards feature images related to the Fae, Seelie and urban and forest themes featured in the books. The artist analysis was part of the required research (focusing on illustrators who influence my work). The images layout at the bottom feature the work of graphic novel and comic book artists using a range of different media and who I am using as inspiration.

#October 2nd 2022 #UAL #UAL Level 3 #illustration #college course #Tithe #graphic novel #layout #moodboards #inspiration #project research #Holly Black #A Modern Fairy Tale

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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VW Beatle at Beach Dubbin 2022

Went to Beach Dubbin in Portsmouth with my Dad over the summer, and decided to do an illustration from a photo I took of one of the cars I saw there in my mixed media sketchbook (personal project). This is in a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook (fairly heavy cartridge paper, ideal for mixed media) using markers, pencil and fineliners.

#September 27th 2022 #VW Beetle #VW Beatle #sketchbook #Sketchbook art #beach dubbin #illustration #drawing #fineliners #markers #coloured pencil art #traditional art #original art

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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Azure Silvereye

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Azure Silvereye! The psycho Twink Main Protagonist of the comic I’m working on, Insidious Villain! You’ll probably be seeing more of this scumbag in future, as I’ll be posting more of his story as time goes on, (and to clear up any confusion, that is a man).

#August 14th 2022 #original character #OC #original artwork #original story #sketchbook #sketchbook art #traditional art #manga art #manga drawing #copic markers #fineliners #Azure Silvereye

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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Demon Slayer In OOC Fashion

Parts 1, 2 and 3. This started out as a joke prompt between me and a friend over the summer, but since they turned out quite well I’ve decided to post them. I think my drawing skills have improved a little bit from Prt 1 onwards, and I added more as I progressed. Was this an excuse to bully the Upper moons? Absolutely. Did I put both Akaza and Douma in the same fashion out of spite? 100% I have a grudge. When it got to Prt 3, I was making these guys way too big, I could barely fit them on the page. Although I’m not gonna lie, I think Sanemi is my favourite here.

#August 14th 2022 #demon slayer #demon slayer fanart #demon slayer ooc #sketchbook #sketchbook art #traditional art #illustration #pencil drawing #fan art #ink illustration #ink drawing #manga drawing

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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Mermay Wei Ying

Managed to get this in for the tail end of Mermay (pun intended). Got hit by a sudden wave of inspiration, so here is Wei Wuxian as a merman. I’m happy with how this turned out, although I wish I’d had this finished sooner!

#May 31st 2022 #mermay #mermay2022 #merman wei ying #merman #wei wuxian #mdzs fanart #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #sketchbook #sketchbook art #fan art

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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Sea Stones

Illustation of stones (quartz and dolomite with quartz veining) from a photograph I took of some stones I have collected from holidays in Cornwall. Drawn out as part of my FMP for the UAL Level 3 Dip in Illustration & Graphic Design project: Elements.

#May 29th 2022 #illustration #drawing #chalk pastel #pastel illustration #sea stones #traditional art #original art #UAL FMP

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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Waves

Painting of waves from a photographic reference. Painted as part of my FMP for the UAL Level 3 Dip in Illustration & Graphic Design project: Elements.

Acrylic paint on canvas paper.

#May 4th 2022 #painting #waves #acrylic #acrylic painting #UAL #FMP #elements #ocean #traditional art #original art

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cullen-blue23 · 2 years

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LUO BINGHE

Haven’t posted anything this year. Been way too busy with my college course. So this is a catch up. This is something I did last year, a Luo Binghe redraw.

#April 2nd 2022 #luo binghe #luo binghe fan art #scumbag system #svsss #luobinghe redraw #scumbag villain self saving system #scumbag system fanart #pencil drawing #sketchbook #sketchbook art

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cullen-blue23 · 3 years

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I just wanted to do some scenery led pieces and I was inspired by the scenery in ‘Inuyasha’ and I just decided, “welp, why not”.

#November 3rd 2021 #sketchbook #landscapeart #traditional art #pencil drawing #anime inspired #sketchbook art #original art

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