Hello, my name is Akuma Ukpo and I love art! I have always appreciated all of the appealing advertisements I have seen throughout my life. Part of why I like to go to movie theaters is because you see all of the beautiful movie posters! In magazine ads, you see so many elegant ads that instantly pique your interest. I decided I would love to be apart of the team that comes up with those ads. The idea of taking something and making it appeal to the masses is intriguing. My top 3 qualities are:
All of my work is made up from ideas that I created from many inspirations. I love to write, so making up a company and slogan is all part of the fun. I hope one day someone will believe in my work and give me the chance to achieve my dream.
Autumn Roses
Mock TV ad
Color change retouch
Color Correction
Retouch
Warm Rays
Retouch
Damia B&W
Hemet Touch
Mclaren
Changing the color and isolating the car
Fairyliss
->Model<- Title for a TV series
Master of the Dark Arts
Imaginary poster for a movie.
Space Cats
Space Cats, a mock TV show.
Modern Heiress
Logo
Lately, I have been working towards a sharper vision and rich colors that are a delight for the eyes. It seems like I am learning to focus more and not be all over the place throwing every idea I can think of at a photo. I am now taking a more purposeful approach..today's new pic is Warm Rays!
Introducing the first photo I changed to black & white! I knew that I was missing something that is common and often a nice touch to photos, and this was it!
I thought I would add more variety to my portfolio by including inanimate objects like the Mclaren! I actually enjoy working on just about anything and took this opportunity to work on something new..it's a different mindset, but the same goal!
Updated my portfolio with a color correction to replace the last one. I felt that I could do better and I am happy with the result!
Red Apple is the latest addition. Here I was being more mindful of color and wanted the apple to grab your attention. I'm getting a better feel for composition and appreciate the idea of making something complex look simple.
I usually like to update with a new addition, but this time, I decided to go back and take a look at past creations that needed to be revised. One must not forget the idea of yesterday can still be built upon.
Working some more on the subject and background and this time I decided not to slap a title on. I also updated the Autumn Roses picture to bring it out more and fix some issues surrounding it.
I learned today that there is great importance on learning to work quickly and effectively. I also realized that some of my favorite designs were ones that involved more of a thinking process, rather than just working on something and hoping something good will come out of it. This Roses design was preconceived and it turned out much like I had imagined. Lesson of the day: Work smart.
Today was mostly a hair retouch where I also used the clone stamp to keep the areas consistent. I went for a darker tone this time around!
Today I decided to use one of my own photos that I took at a museum in St. Louis when I was visiting my brother. I particularly liked the horse photo and wanted to see if I could take it out of the museum and place it in a forest. With some color correction and dodge and burn, I think I was able to make the photo a bit richer. Though, I realize that the original quality of the photo was not good to begin with. In the future, I think it would be best to work with higher resolution photos.
I am happy to say that this week has been super productive! I snuck in a retouch earlier this week and today I created both a design and retouch for the image I titled 'Carnival'. I created the bat logo and I think that my have happened because I was listening to Castlevania music, haha! I went to the NAACP Job fair in Los Angeles and spoke to Michael, one of the NBC representatives. He offered excellent insight as to what I should do to improve on my resume and get myself out there to the employers. I immediately went ahead and made a creative portfolio as opposed to the standard microsoft doc type resume. I can't wait to start sending it out! I'm always in the mood to design something and I keep seeing more and more ways to improve, it's a wonderful adventure.
Updated my portfolio with a retouching section today. I have been retouching images for designs I make and also on images for that exclusive reason alone. It is a specialized concentration that I do enjoy working on and demonstrate versatility. I wear many hats and am able to do them well whenever needed.
Updated with two designs today. The first being a submission I made for Capcom's Finish Me Design Contest, where you take character artwork from Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and create a background for it. I ended up using Elena as she is from Africa and I had taken photos from Nigeria, so I figured it would work out nicely. After July 22nd, Capcom will choose the top 5 subimissions *crosses fingers*! The next design is Ivygen, a TV show I made up from a stock photo I liked from LadyStarDustxx on Deviantart. I think the design has a Weeds vibe to it and maybe that was my subconscious inspiration! I'm trying to make more ads for TV and am really starting to study the existing designs by the great companies out there doing this professionally. I realize that there is a ton for me to learn about color theory and overall construction of purpose in a design, rather than just trying to make it look pretty all the time =)
It has been a long time since the last official update, but rest assured I was working on stuff! I have hit something like a crossroad with what I should focus on. Illustration or Design? I added two designs today: Space Cats and Duncen. Both are very different and I wanted to focus more on refining my process rather than trying to come up with a new complex idea that I am not sure I can even get out of my mind and onto the screen! I may be added an illustration section soon, but I am not quite ready yet.
Continuing to work on my illustrations and I must say that they are getting better! I am developing my own style through the inspirations of others. This one was a witch who resembles the Dark Queen in a way. The scepter is in the shape of a cat since cats are the witches' best friend. I had a lot of fun with this. Can you tell?
It's been a long while since the last post. I recently completed a new design for a mock movie I titled Ceres: Horroculture. It is a survival horror type of story about a lady with goddess powers that control fruit from which she uses in a deadly manner to get her way. Always remember to eat your fruits, it does a body good! I think it is time to change direction and move on to the motion side. I believe I have a better eye for such things and that may be my calling. Look forward to video in the near future!
I have taken a liking to drinking green tea and I like to think that it keeps me going. I brought up a few sunken treasures to work on to create the story of Nautical Star. Unlike the stories of Fairyliss and Celestia, we take a look on the perspective of someone who wishes to control the world. The female portrayed in the picture is Terra of the Scarlet Element, a sorceress who hails from below. She comes across the nautical star: The aqueous item of navigation. With it, she has discovered the power to ride on stars and change the tides of currents at will. Well, tea time is over so that's all for now!
I love musical instruments as much as I love design, so it's no surprise that has been my current inspiration. I've updated my portfolio with a piece with just that in mind: Tumbly! G'day!
This day marks the beginning of the Treasure Atlas journey. Some say the start is the most exciting part!
Feel free to drop a line to work with me or just to say "hi"
