During lockdown I have been keeping a type of diary, sketching some illustrations based on the crazy isolated days we have been experiencing. There are self portraits, pictures of my daughter and dog. The image of an ice cream is because my daughter has autism and trying new food is hard for her – she tried ice cream, which was a new taste, texture and temperature and she liked it – I have been drawing these little victories to try and keep me optimistic in such strange times. The photo above is from one of our daily walks after we hasn’t let the house for quite a while.

Another thing I did was I took part in one of Joby Carter’s ‘Learn about Lettering’ courses. It was a 5 day course of 1 hour sessions learning the fundamentals of hand drawing letters.

Joby Carter is an artist from Carter’s Steam Fair, he is a traditional signwriter and fairground artist who paints all his signs by hand. I’m not going to share too much about what I learnt as it was a paid course and it wouldn’t be fair on them to share it for free! But it was all about measuring and how to build the letter.

As lettering has been such a weakness of mine I found it really helpful, I couldn’t believe I actually managed to draw these letters! I really enjoyed it. I would actually like to learn more about lettering and learn more about traditional signwriting as a craft!

In this post I am going to look at some artists that my tutor recommended to me after part 3 – These are all artists who use silhouettes/profiles effectively which is something I tried to to do in part 3. After looking at these I think I would like to revisit assignment 3 as there is more expressive ways I could approach the brief and really achieve what I wanted to do.

Aude Van Ryn – Image Source

I like the use of different patterns and textures within this piece by Aude Van Ryn. I like how when you look closely it feels almost like collage with all the different layers and textures but when you look at the whole image it is all cohesive.

Shonagh Rae – Image Source

This piece by Shonagh Rae also has a side profile silhouette and textured layers. I really like the way that all of these pieces successfully incorporated block colour and silhouette and still seem expressive. I lost a lot of detail in my piece for Assignment 3 and it did end up looking flat. I wanted the background to feel energetic and it came out flat. I wanted to achieve a textured painterly effect – when I look at these pieces I can see how other people have successfully achieved this.

Simon Pemberton – Image Source

I particularly like this piece by Simon Pemberton. It is really expressive and in areas it is quite abstract – again though it works as a larger piece. It is instantly recognisable as a man and a landscape – another great example of silhouette. I also really love the use of colour in all of these piece – they are all bright and colourful but balanced with the contrast of the silhouette.

After looking at these pieces I really want to revisit part 3 and I intend to before I head to assessment. I would like to push myself further and let it be more abstract and more textured.  I do think that a lot of it is down to confidence and I need to be more open to pushing myself and be more open to experimentation.

This part of the course explores on the process of transforming your ideas into a
form that best communicates them.
Overall your response to part three has been very good. Initially there is a thorough
and honest response to the previous feedback as you work through this and
summarise key points to take forward for this section. This is evident in the work.
You’ve also responded to the research suggestions and discuss these readily in one
of your posts.
Your responses are always thorough and it’s great to see you return to work to help
improve and refine it. The final assignment work is good and responds to your
research and analysis of this. However, at times I feel it would’ve been good to have
seen more influence from the exercises here as well to allow you to push the work
a bit further in terms of mark-making and composition. You’re very attentive to
your own process and how you can develop this to improve the use of type and
image. It’ll be interesting to see the progress for the next section.

Thank you, I try and be as constructive as possible when looking back over my work. I definitely want to change somethings after looking back over part 3 alongside your feedback!

Overall Comments
Project: Composition and viewpoint
Your first exercise explored visual space by using a tree, child and a building to
create a series of images.
There are some varied responses to this task; you could even consider more
extremes of scale too, so taking the images even smaller or bigger. You critique this
work well and consider how the images vary and communicate.
Project: Hierarchy in the image
You were asked to carefully read an image and identify its message, narrative and
visual hierarchy.
You respond well to this and effectively interpret the image by answering each of
the questions. Aside from this you also consider how the task has been useful and
what you can then apply to your own ideas and process.

2Project: Visual properties
The image development exercise encouraged you to identify visual spaces by
cropping an image, and using the results as a basis for a poster.
What sort of key themes or words did you consider in relation to your cropped
images? It would be interesting to know what you thought they conveyed after
being cropped. I think your final image responds well to the task and some of your
earlier commentary. The final illustration is great and relates clearly to your original
image and your intuitive feelings about it. It’s great to see you act on some of your
suggestions from part two and to start experimenting further with media, here
collage. The mix of hand drawn, collage and digital finishing works very well to
create an authentic and professional image. I agree maybe additional
experimentation with type may find an alternative result but as it is, it’s fine. It
presents a calm feel to the piece.

Thank you – I am enjoying combining both traditional and digital, I would like to try and achieve a seamless balance between the two with time. 

Project: Abstract illustration
Having listened to a piece of music you were asked to respond visually.
This is a great response. I thought it positive you naturally anted to work on a larger
scale to allow movement into the image but like you said, you’ve managed to
achieve this at a smaller scale. It’s good you refrained from listening to the piece
beforehand to allow for a more authentic response. It does work well and your final
image together with the typefaces conveys a very convincing aesthetic. You clearly
give a lot of thought to type and image and although this isn’t something you’ve
done before, hopefully you’ve learnt something that you can potentially apply to
future briefs or even utilise within your own more figurative responses.

Thank you! I really need to step out of my comfort zone and allow myself to be more experimental. I do feel like the coursework is pushing me in the right direction.

Project: Diagrammatic illustration
You were asked to visually give instructions for a choice of tasks.
You’ve been so meticulous about this work and persevered to try and resolve it. I
agree with your original analysis and that although the images and type are well
drawn they require a little more arrangement on the page. For this, consider scale
(as in the first exercise) to help place emphasis on certain aspects of the process.
This will also help the image to look more dynamic as the scale may shift and the
white space occupy less of the page. As most of your images are set at an angle
consider trying the type set horizontally as well. As everything is offset it becomes
a little overwhelming. Consider looking at some illustrators that create their own
type to help with this in future. Look at Alice Tait, Marion Deuchars and Nina
Chakrabarti for inspiration! The first illustration would’ve worked if you had
considered adding emphasis (e.g., scale or weight) to some of the words and
moving some of the images slightly (e.g. kettle pouring into cup brought down
and left, set at more of an angle to the left and the milk carton brought left slightly
and turned towards the right. Try to think of how the eye might travel, left to right
and down through the images and instructions.

Thank you, although there are still some issues with this piece I am glad I revisited it. I agree – I should have taken in to consideration how the piece would be viewed and how the eye would travel.

Project: Visuals
3 These exercises focused on presenting your ideas to potential clients by reducing
two illustrations down into simple client visuals, and reflecting on your choices of
viewpoints from photographs that captured a range of themes.
Viewpoint:
I think you’ve done really well with this task and have got the gist of it. I agree with
your reflection on the work though. Perhaps tone or mark making would also allow
you to convey more about the image. It’s great to see a thorough process from
initial compositions to reworking the images again after using a viewfinder. The
versions created in procreate are good. As you say, the first is successful as the
spanner is obvious and allows the audience to create associations. The second
image is a bit more obscure.

Client Visuals:
These are good and I can see the breakdown of the image clearly as you have
pared it back more and more. I agree the second from last version is the most
appropriate, as it is, with minimal detailing. It’s interesting to read your
commentary on this task and indeed many of the tasks throughout this section.

I’m glad that the commentary is interesting – I do wonder sometimes if I am a bit ‘too much’ with the blog posts but I do find it helpful to go back over the notes I make to myself.

Project: Creating mock-ups
You were asked to create a mock-up for a book cover.
I agree you could’ve explored the initial ideas further, rather than being swayed by
the original cover. Sometimes it is difficult to subconsciously forget these images
and they return in our own work but perhaps exploring more of the theme of the
book, the main character, traits, mood etc. All these would open up new ideas and
ways to progress the work beyond the obvious. The mood board could also focus
on the mood or atmosphere created by colours and textures as well as the figures.
E.g. red for danger, colour palette in the film (sometimes they can have a particular
palette).
I think the textured brushes in the background provide a good atmosphere of
sorts, I was wondering if you could use these to create the figure or dragon as
opposed to solid colours? Or cut away the images from the background to leave a
suggestion of an image. How would this work? It may be good for you to think
back to the abstract illustration exercise and what this entailed. Can you do
something similar here? Also using a viewfinder on the image you do have would
be interesting too. Abstract different areas e.g. her hair, ear and dragons jaw works
quite well. At the moment though, it doesn’t quite have the right feel. Look at
other covers as well to get some inspiration? The decorative font is perhaps too
decorative? Try others to see what happens. In many ways I feel like you could
simplify this visual to make it more effective. Consider just the tonal range of the
brushes texture and the outline. Invert it too to see what effect this has, even on
the brushes. Once you have all the elements you can also move them easily around
the page to perfect the composition further. I did wonder if the dragon image4should be smaller to balance out the figure, as at the moment they are both the
same sort of scale?

I agree with everything you say here – I am certainly considering revisiting this exercise before heading for assessment. I was initially wondering whether to restart the piece all together but I feel reassured after reading the positives here. I do agree that the scale should probably be altered – I will play with the composition as you suggest.

Assessment potential
Select one of the statements below / delete as appropriate
I understand your aim is to go for the Visual Communications / Creative Arts Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, and providing you commit yourself to the course, I suggest that you are likely to be successful in the assessment.

Feedback on assignment
Creative and analytical thinking, Visual and Technical Skills
Assignment three asked you to transform your ideas into a form that best
communicates them by designing a poster for an Early Music concert, a Jazz
evening or for a pop group.
There is great research to kick-start this assignment. You comment on this well and
express why you like it, how it is effective. It’s clear you’ve taken inspiration from
the styles you have found, in particular the use of bold colours and simplified
images.
You’ve created a lot of figurative responses, inspired by this research. Although
you’ve opted for the figure as the main illustration also think about mark making
too and responding in this way to perhaps help create the background? The
painterly effect is just about apparent. If you think back to the Abstract image
exercise this did manage to retain a lot of energy through your intuitive response.
Can you do something similar here?
All the elements for this are good but I feel that perhaps referring back to some of
the previous experiences in this section, in particular viewpoint, abstract
illustration would really help to evolve it further. It’s on the right track but I feel has
the potential to develop further! The composition works well but again, don’t feel
you can’t experiment with this as well by using a viewfinder and moving it around
the composition. As it is, with the figure cropped by the page, this works well. But
again, seeing some further experiments would be good and could open up more
possibilities for the image and type. Although the figure is minimal consider trying
this in the silhouette form too, and playing around with inverting the image. The
use of the offset letters for ‘JAZZ’, work well, making the design more dynamic and
playful. However, the letter “J” is set too far left next to the page edge so adjust the
kerning (space between individual letters) to bring this in closer to the ‘A’ so it
retains the same spacing as the rest of the word.
I think it’s very positive to read your final reflection and that this work was a
departure from the norm and this section has seen you embrace the experimental
and become more accustomed to making mistakes. This can be hard at first but it is
a very important part of the process, and without it the work won’t progress and you won’t gain the insight you need. Keep an open mind about this and don’t be
afraid to make the mistakes. Keep it up.

Overall, this is a good piece of work. You are methodical and engage with the
subject research readily using this to create your own ideas and to develop these in
the sketchbook before creating digitally. One thing that was apparent was that you
could refer back to some of the exercises in this section (as mentioned) to help
inform this final assignment work further. Somehow the final image feels much
more static than say the abstract image experiment. Could this have been a useful
process for this assignment? Even with good effects digital software doesn’t
manage to achieve the same level of energy and spontaneity as the traditional
processes, possibly because it’s a less physical process. What do you think?

Thank you for the feed back here – I will 100% be revisiting this piece. The kerning on the lettering annoys me every time I look back over it – If I do use digital text again I will be sure to use software that is better suited to it (such as photoshop). I would really like the piece to be more expressive and less flat – I don’t think that the final image communicates the energy I was hoping to portray in a piece inspired by jazz. I completely agree with what you say about it being less of a physical process – I also think by working traditionally I could work at a larger scale that would allow for more freedom.

Sketchbooks
Research and idea development, Context
Great sketchbooks, you use these well throughout the process and have clearly
been willing to experiment further with different, more hands on techniques like
collage. Use it to experiment more with images for the final assignment too.
Learning Logs or Blogs / Critical essays
Research and idea development, Context
You respond well to research and use this to form some valid responses to the
brief. You can discuss the work well using your own ideas and thoughts. Good to
see you also respond to research suggestions form the last assignment. You are
able to reflect on the work throughout the process and often this allows you to
return to work or re-evaluate it based on the brief and your own intentions. It’s
good to see this level of motivation and persistence if you aren’t happy with a
piece. You summarise the exercises and assignment well and I agree with all of
your suggestions for ways to progress the work. You have also acted on your own
reflection from part two by managing to utilise more techniques in your work and
being open to making mistakes.
Suggested viewing/reading
Aude Van Ryn
Shonagh Rae
Simon Pemberton
Pointers for the next assignment

The next assignment explores the process of transforming your ideas into a form
that best communicates them. This is an opportunity to …
• Try to use the exercises to inform the work for the final assignment. Apply
what you have learnt to explore further creative options in response to the
brief.
• If you’re interested in type, spend some time looking at examples of
illustration work together with the typography. How do the two work
together? Also consider looking at hand written type.
• Your reflection throughout is good and you use this to progress the work
further. Keep this up!
• Have the confidence to continue the experiments with different media (e.g.
such as in the Abstract image exercise).
Tutor name: Laura Scott
Date 11/06/2020
Next assignment due 13/08/2020

Thank you so much for the feedback – I have found it really useful and it has also helped me clarify some of the areas I went wrong. As I look back over part 3 I am happier with it than I initially thought I was but I will take your suggestions and rework a few things with fresh eyes. 

To start this project I threw myself into research to give me some inspiration and ideas. From the research post before this you can see that I decided to design a poster for a Jazz Evening. To be honest it was the choice that seemed most interesting to me and I thought it would be a good choice for me as I want to be able to create illustrations that feel a little more dynamic – as I mentioned in part 2. Jazz and dynamic imagery seem to go hand in hand.

I did my research, created my mood board and made a mind map. I looked at all the imagery I had gathered and went from there – I also asked my husband what comes to mind when I say ‘Jazz’ or ‘Jazz Evening’. I also looked at some videos of jazz musicians as I wanted to really get a feel for what I was creating.

I enjoyed the research aspect of this assignment – particularly looking up jazz posters and their designs. I feel like the research really helped as now I knew more – a poster for a Jazz evening is a big deal – often a work of art in its own right. In fact some of the original posters I looked at had sold at auction for a lot of money! A poster for a jazz night is more than just a print out or a leaflet.

I started making some sketches based off my mind map and using some references photographs I found on google. To be honest, I made a lot of drawings for this! I didn’t know exactly what I wanted my poster to look like so I just kept drawing different things until I found something I liked. I eventually came back to one of my earlier drawings of a man playing a trumpet. I eventually cake up with the idea of him playing the trumpet and the words could look like they were coming out of the end – as though the information was the music. I thought this was the best idea because I thought it was very clear and a musician best represented jazz.

I actually really liked the idea of a lounge singer – I also drew up a thumbnail for this and made a rough sketch in procreate, because I really wanted to pursue the idea! However it just didn’t quite fit what I was wanting to do – I would like to revisit this sketch and finish the drawing in my personal time!

After drawing up my thumbnails I made some notes talking about how I wanted the final piece to look – I definitely wanted to spend more time on the planning of this assignment because not planning thoroughly enough had been my downfall on a couple of exercises during part 3!

I noticed when doing my research that a lot of the jazz posters had this silhouette style of musicians. You could see that they were men and that they were playing instruments but they were quite abstract and didn’t have defined faces – I wanted to do this in my poster too. Although it was going to be a modern illustration made digitally I wanted it to also have the feel of the older posters. I thought that also fit well with jazz, a lot of the culture is about looking back and keeping jazz alive, it felt fitting to do it with the imagery as well.

For the background I wanted a painterly abstract feel – I wanted the image to feel dynamic and energetic and I felt that this kind of movement in the background would help portray this. I made a colour palette before I started as well – I looked at old jazz posters and illustrations and noticed they all had a limited palette and that everything within the illustration kept to that. I made a palette based on the colours in some of the posters I had seen and worked with that throughout the piece. The colours had quite a vintage feel – I am really glad I took the time to choose the colours specifically before I started on the final illustration because I think it really made all the difference whilst working. Planning my colour choices will definitely be something I do going forward, it made the drawing process more efficient and i think it made for a more polished final piece.

I wanted the background to feel abstract and energetic so I experimented with a few different textured brushes. I settled on the ‘jagged brush’ as it felt very painterly – I liked this as it felt energetic and dynamic like the old posters I looked at.

I made my sketch in procreate – although I knew the figure would be quite minimal in the end I still sketched out the details of his face so that it would look more in proportion at the end – I would have struggled if I tried to draw a blank head with a nose – I tried it in my sketchbook and the scale was way off!

After getting the drawing to a point I was happy with I started drawing and filling in the segments of the figure – mainly block colour but I did use a little bit of shading around his hat and the trumpet using a halftone brush. I did this because it added a little more definition in areas where the colours changed. I created the background as planned using the jagged brush – I was quite free with the strokes and used multiple colours from the palette to create it. I like the way it turned out and it does add a dynamic feel to the image but now I’m looking back I think it could have been even more dynamic!

For the text I used a strong block font (impact). I wanted it to be bold and fit in with the strong block colour aspect of the illustration. I still wanted the text to stand out however and I think it worked well. I actually typed each letter individually twice, so I could place some at an angle and change the opacity to make it look more three dimensional. I think it worked really well. One criticism I do have about the text however is the spacing! Even though the letters are not linear and are up and down the spacing between them is off to the point of it being noticeable. The ‘J’ is actually further away than the rest of them.

I want to know more about lettering – fonts, spacing etc. I have booked myself onto a course with Joby Carter (signwriter/artist at Carters Steam Fair). I will write an entry in my learning log once I complete the course with what I have learnt. I wanted to learn how to do it by hand rather than digitally, because I would really like to be able to draw my own letters!

I am happy with the overall finished piece. I think that if I were to do this kind of thing again it would be helpful for me to have an understanding of vectors and how they work so that I could create a minimal posterior image a little better – I think that working in that way would help the final image seem more refined and professional. This piece was quite experimental for me and I have never tried anything like it before – in both style and subject matter. I came back to the piece a few days later and made a de-saturated version – just to see what it would look like! I quite like it, it looks a lot more old fashioned! I do still prefer the original – I just wanted to experiment and see if the image worked in black and white due to the minimal aspect of it – I think it did.

I definitely feel a sense of gratification when I finished these exercises because in all honesty sometime I do feel overwhelmed by the brief. Working in my sketchbook and with mind maps and mood boards has definitely helped me learn how to kick start the ideas process and how to develop the ideas into a finished piece – keeping up with that through out part 3 has been very helpful. I think at the start of the course I was afraid to make mistakes and wanted everything to feel perfect all the time – now, half way through, I am definitely more comfortable with making mistakes because I do feel like I learn a lot through them and where to change my process next time to prevent this. I am enjoying going back over my work and seeing the process from brief to final piece because you can see the development and refinement happening as I go along. I am definitely more comfortable with being more open and more spontaneous with my sketchbook work and that definitely helps later down the line!

In this post I am going to look at some work by illustrators my tutor has recommended I look at. I had already worked through most of part 3 before receiving my tutor feedback so I will take what I learn forward in to the next part of the course with me.

I think my tutor wanted me to look at the use of line within these illustrations as I have previously mentioned in my own self critique that my use of line/line weight isn’t as effective as it could be in my work. I often use block black line and it stays one weight throughout the drawing.

Orly Orbach

This Little Piggy – Orly Orbach – Image Source

When I look at this piece by Orly Orbach I can see the importance of the line weight – she has used many varying weights and pressures to achieve a more organic image. I can see where she has used thicker lines on the toes/pigs to indicate shadow and it also adds definition when one pig is behind the other. I particularly like the contrast between the areas of the drawing where she had more ink on the brush and where it has become drier whilst drawing.

Barbara Firth

Big Bear Put Litle Bear to Bed – Barbara Firth – Image Source

I felt instant nostalgia when I looked up Barbara Firth’s illustrations, I can quite clearly remember reading her books as a child! Her use of line is very effective through out the drawing. She uses directional line to suggest the different textures – you can clearly see and understand the creases in the blankets and the pillows. The texture of the fur on the bears is done in the same way and she used cross hatching to indicate shadow on the fur. I find the use of line to indicate the darkness in the room most interesting however – it is not something I would have ever even thought of doing but it does give that feeling of the darkness/shadows in the room.

Helen Oxenbury

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – Helen Oxenbury – Image Source 

Here in Helen Oxenbury’s work you can see the original lines in the finished piece – she hasn’t redefined a lot of it after the piece was finished but you can see some areas of detail where it has – I think this is very effective especially where you compre the background and the foreground. The background has less detail than the figures in the foreground which creates a sense of distance.

Jonny HannahThe Folio Society – Jonny Hannah – Image Source

It is interesting to look at the work of Jonny Hannah in comparison to the rest I have looked at as he uses line in a completely different way. Although there are some areas in the background that have outlines, most of the use of line is to give detail, texture and to suggest shadow. I have a lot to learn from his work, it feels quite playful compared to how I draw – after looking at these examples and going through part three of illustration one I definitely want to be more playful within my own practice and allow myself more freedom. I used to really enjoy drawing with inks and allowing  both myself and the materials to be spontaneous.

As I look forward into part three I know that I want to be more experimental and more confident in my own work. I want to be more spontaneous and experimental in my practice. I definitely have the ideas and want to experiment further but I’m often to anxious to ‘ruin’ something. This will be one of things I look to work on more in the next part of Illustration One – I also plan on experimenting with more media, I have done a lot of digital work in this part and would like to work more with my hands – I have placed an order for some drawing materials and hope they arrive soon, I wish I had planned better before the lockdown!

For this exercise I chose the book ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ – In all honesty I haven’t started this book yet, but it has been in my ‘to read’ pile for a long time! I was hoping to find a little more time to read now we are all in isolation but I somehow feel like I actually have less time than ever now!

I watched the movie of the book, read the blurb and excerpts from the book describing the character on the cover of the book. I also found out that there is a dedicated wikipedia page to the character I was looking at.

I started by making some sketches in my book based off the cover of the book I had, and wrote a list of all of the things about her that came to mind/had been mentioned in the things I had read. These sketches were rough and loose, just to get the feel of  the character really. I wasn’t yet sure where I wanted to go with the drawing – I didn’t want to just redraw the cover I was looking at but I did want to take inspiration from it.

I also gathered some photographs for a mood board in my sketchbook from google image searches but I made the discovery that my printer has now broken. I really wasn’t off to a good start on this exercise! I usually like to combine all things in my sketchbook so they are easier to look over (including my digital sketches). We will have to settle for a digital mood board of sorts! Here are the some images I gathered –

image source

image source

image source

I particularly liked the bottom image of her, I liked the side profile – and I made a sketch based on it in my sketchbook. I liked the element from the cover of the copy of the book I had where the dragon was featured on the cover as though it was its own character.

I decided to take this idea and use it within mine. I think the dragon also added to the mood of the character, she is dangerous and unapologetic – the dragon fit this theme (as well as being in the title of the book of course). I ended up using this sketch as the inspiration for the final piece, looking back I do think I could have explored even further – maybe sketched some more of the images before moving on to the thumbnails.

I took the sketch and put it into procreate and started working on the line art. I kept the outlines bold and black on her face as I wanted her to really stand out – it was also reminiscent of a tattoo itself. I wanted to refine the sketch of the dragon so I looked at some photographs of real dragon tattoos and tattoo designs before coming up with my own. I wanted it to have the feel of a sort of ‘tribal’ style tattoo as I wanted it to be clear to the viewer that it was the dragon tattoo.

I shaded in the line art of both the face and the dragon to look as though they were done in a traditional media – I like the inky watercolour effect but working digitally gave me the freedom to move the drawing around, resize it or alter it if it didn’t work well in context with my thumbnail. I’m glad I did as I did end up having to move things around a little bit when I put things on to the actual book cover layout.

For the background of the piece I layered some textured brushes in black and red to create a ‘grungy’ look. Now when I look back over it I’m not sure that this was the most effective thing for this piece as I do feel like the actual illustration is lost within the background. When I was making it I felt as though the colours were the right choice as they blended in – but now I am looking over it again I can see that this is actually the problem as the illustration quite literally blends in with the background. I chose to use a tattoo inspired font, but I also paired it with a cleaner more readable font. I didn’t want it to be too busy or too difficult to read.

After writing this up I went back to the file and removed the background layer – I think the drawing looks better already. I couldn’t just leave it after noticing, just thinking about it was annoying me! I think with the white background it looks cleaner and more professional. I also created an alternative that has some shadow in the background.

Although I am happier with these pieces do they portray the energy I wanted them to? I’m not sure that they do. The colours and the fonts help – but I do feel like the image should be ‘darker’, in both visuals and theme. That being said I am happy with the illustration itself – the face and the dragon, I like the contrast between the lines and the shading. I think the graphic design element of this exercise was my downfall – I do have a lot to learn when it comes to design! This exercise has definitely helped me think more about things I should consider before starting the final piece and to not be afraid to experiment with more options before beginning the final piece. If I had come up with a few more alternate backgrounds I wouldn’t have had this realisation at the end.

 

Harry Potter – Thomas Taylor – Image Source

The illustration I looked at for this exercise was the original cover illustration for Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s stone. The illustration was by illustrator/author Thomas Taylor.

I started with a more detailed drawing based on the illustration, mostly line but with a small amount of shading and I tried to describe the entire image. This drawing is obviously the one that is most clear but with each one I tried to strip the drawing back even further. I really tried to see how far I could take it and have the image still readable.

I drew the image onto A4 paper and looking back over it now I have definitely got the proportions a little off – especially if you look at the train in the background. Using a light box I redrew the illustrations multiple times with less and less detail each time.

The sketches are rough as I tried to use the sketches to describe the shapes and placement of the final illustration rather than perfect each image.

The last drawing is so simple that I think it may be unreadable to a client – its really just outlines of the image. I think the drawing before this one is more successful. You can definitely make it out a lot better – you can make out the boy, the trains and the signs. I think it is definitely more understandable.

This was a really interesting exercise as it made me look at a finished illustration in a different way – I just hope I have interpreted the brief in the correct way.  Not only did this exercise help me think about the structure of an illustration but it also helped me understand how to visually explain an idea to someone else. I have found a lot of the exercises through out this module give a look into how it would be to work with a client and I have found it very interesting – I am definitely keen to learn more about illustration as a profession.

 

For this exercise I chose the word ‘workshop’ to focus on. I emptied a tool bag and placed the items out on the table – I didn’t want it to look too organised. I overlapped items and place things at different angles.

I took multiple photographs and made sketches based on the composition. I made a viewfinder using paper and placed it on both the composition and also on the sketches I had already created. I then made some more sketches based on the areas I had focused on.

After making these sketches I moved into Procreate and made line art based off the viewfinder sketches. I did two of these, the first one I chose was the one with the wrench. I like this image because it is clear what the wrench is even if the other tools seem more abstract. The lines on the inside of the wrench indicate more dimension which makes it effective and you can clearly read what the aspect of the drawing is. The other objects are more abstract in comparison – the handles of the pliers and the spirit level aren’t as easily readable.

 

 

I did another line drawing after this one – I chose to do this one because I wanted to see how the different shapes would look as flat lines. It’s definitely mad for a more abstract drawing and appears less technical than the previous.

If I was to do this exercise again I would definitely experiment with more viewpoints and try to better depict the angles I was looking from. Now as I write this up and I am looking back over these drawings/photographs I think that I should have done some sketches based on different angles. It would be interesting to play with perspective a lot more. Even in the sketches I made that were at an angle they look very flat and as though they aren’t at an angle at all.

 

In this post I wanted to share something that I have been interested in recently.
In January Vogue Italia released their monthly magazine but with a difference – all photo shoots had been cancelled and replaces with illustrations.

It was done to promote sustainability – no photo shoot productions meant less people involved, less flights were taken, less batteries used, less food waste, less plastic etc. It is the first time Vogue Italia has been primarily illustrated and the first time it has had an illustrated cover – international copies of Vogue started using colour photographs on the cover back in 1932. Before this Vogue did have illustrated covers – I love the old Vogue covers, there is something that seems so elegant and stylish about them – something a modern photograph of a celebrity could never replicate for me personally.

Vogue – September 1926 – Image Source  by Eduardo Benito

Vogue – April 1934 – Image Source   by (Eric) Carl Erickson

Vogue – December 1929 – Image Source by Guillermo Bolin

I love the elegance of all of these illustrations and I love thinking about how cutting edge they were at the time, I try to image what the women who bought these magazines were like back then. I think that the Guillermo Bolin illustration of the hand still stands up well today – I think you could show it someone and them think it was a modern illustration. It is so clean and minimal which is what is in fashion now rather than the art deco era it hails from.

It was definitely a challenge trying to get hold of but I did finally get my hands on a copy of the magazine. There were multiple covers released for the magazine – one designed by each of the illustrators featured – the one I managed to get hold of has the cover designed by Paolo Ventura.

Ventura is an italian artist, photographer and set designer. I looked his work both within and out of the magazine and found that a lot of his work looks to be inspired by the past. Although his work is contemporary a lot of it does feel like it is from another time. It has been quite hard for me to track down further information on a lot of the pieces from within the magazine it appears that this cover piece is a mixed media collage. I particularly like the muted colours in her face and the background, I think this was a really clever choice as it means your eye is instantly drawn towards the dress she is wearing. The illustrations through out the magazine feature real life models wearing real designer brands but in the illustrators signature styles – I really love some of the illustrations in this issue.

My favourite ones are definitely the ones by Japanese illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

Yoshitaka Amano – Vogue Italia Jan 2020 – Image Source 

I was already aware of the work of Yoshitaka Amano prior to this as I know him for his illustrations for the video game series Final Fantasy. His illustrations always feel so ethereal but seeing that signature style paired with high fashion models and brands makes for a really elegant image. I love the light use of line and his choice of palette.

I want to talk about some of the other illustrators who worked on the magazine, I really wish I had the time to talk about them all but if I mentioned all of the illustrators in every publication I look at I would never stop writing!

Vanessa Beecroft – Vogue Italia – Image Source

Vanessa Beecroft is a performance artist who contributed illustrations to the issue. Her figures are very expressive and a little unnerving. I think the pieces are painted onto photographs which creates a collage feel. I do like the use of large black lines and I think although simple her work is very effective when it comes to describing the actual garment.

Gigi Cavenago – Italia – Image Source

I really love the use of colour in the illustrations by Gigi Cavenago. The use of colour paired with the varying textures throughout the different elements of the drawing make it feel like you see something different every time you look. I really like the high contrast of the image, the areas of black against the bright colours . I think they are beautiful drawings and the thing I really like about these drawings is that this is not the usual way you would see clothing depicted in a fashion magazine. The dress isn’t the only thing in the picture – the over all image gives a real mood and story to the garment.

Delphine Desane – Vogue Italia – Image Source

Delphine Desane is an artist with a fashion background – I think you can see this in her work, they are very contemporary and feel very chic. I looked at some of her other paintings and she is inspired by her own experiences of motherhood and her experiences as a black woman. I love her use of colour in the piece above – the lighter area around the models head really draws your eye in towards her. The way she uses white lines to indicate light and detail is very effective, particularly on the clothing, it is quite a subtle feature but you can instantly read the folds and texture of the fabric.

Milo Manara – Vogue Italia – Image Source

This is the first time I came across the work of Milo Manara, I looked at some of his prior work and I liked what I found – his work reminds me of a modern version of the classic ‘pin-up’. Manara’s illustrations typically feature beautiful women with a signature style – small nose, big lips. His work is definitely all about the sex appeal, but that does not detract from his delicate lines and use of traditional media.

In this post I just wanted to share a little bit of my own personal interest in illustration and the kind of things I am looking at alongside my OCA coursework. It is of course important to keep moving forward with my work but I think that the more illustration/art/design I expose myself to – the more I learn. I also think it is important to remind myself why I am doing this – because it is genuinely something I want to know more about and want to be better at!
I hope more magazines follow suit and use more illustrated pieces within their publications and that this issue of Vogue Italia has proven that there is a market for it. I would love to find more things like this!

 

 

Artist Research

Before starting on this exercise I wanted to do some research and look at the work of illustrators who give instructions in their work.  A lot of the examples I found were around cooking – this made sense as it is something that we all use step by step guides for every day.

Blueberry Muffins – Benedicte Caillat – Image Source

I really like the above illustration by Benedicte Caillat. I think it is very interesting as it is not the typically step by step as in that she has placed the mixing bowl in the middle surrounded by all of the ingredients and instructions. It is still clear however – you can clearly understand that you add all of those to bowl before moving down the the baking tray. I really like her use of line and colour – it shows that even though it is an instructional diagram, it can still be pleasing to the eye.

Felicita Sala – Image Source

Next I chose this illustration by Felicita Sala. I really love the look of this, again the illustrations are stylised but the instructions are even clearer in this example. The clean white background with clear text helps with this. There is also a directional arrow to help show the next part of the same step.

How to Eat Ramen – Nicolau – Image Source

This one is quite different to the two above, the illustration style is quite minimal when it comes to the figure but it helps the viewer clearly understand what is going on in each step. I like the contrast between the block colour of the figure and the outline of his nose – this way you can see when he is ‘smelling’ the ramen. The contrast between the figure and the black ramen bowl means that the food is always the main focus of the image. I think its really fun but still easy to follow!

---

 

For this exercise I chose to focus on creating the instructions for ‘making a cup of tea’. After doing some research and finding the examples above I made a list of the steps I would include in the finished drawing – what are the steps to making a cup of tea?

1. Put a teabag in a cup
2. Boil the kettle and add hot water to the cup
3. Wait for 2 minutes and remove bag
4. Add milk and sugar
5. Enjoy!

I know that there will be some purists that would add steps to this but for the sake of the exercise I thought it was clear for someone who had never made a cup of tea before.
I started making some sketches within my book for each of the steps – I used reference images of polka dot teacups and a kettle and based my sketches off those. I decided I wanted to use pen and watercolour for the final illustrations.

After I was happy with my sketches I started working on the layout of the illustration. This is something I should definitely have taken more time and consideration on as in the finished illustration there is a lot of blank space – I also wish that I had taken more time considering the text. I knew I wanted to hand write it as I had decided to work traditionally for this exercise but I didn’t spend enough time considering size and layout. I think the final illustration was left feeling quite empty, as my initial illustrations are quite small and because I put them onto an A3 sheet they do feel quite lost.

It is quite frustrating to me because I was happy with the illustrations – but it was the actual design aspect I had struggled on again. I do feel like my skill as an illustrator is building from the course but it has definitely shown me just how much I still have to learn – especially in the realm of design (and that I should plan better).

Update;
After writing this post the finished piece was playing on my mind, because I know where it failed and I know I could fix it so I returned to work on it again. Please note that the finished piece is perhaps not as refined as it could be, but I did my best with the time I had!
I didn’t want to leave those big awkward white spaces and unfortunately I don’t have a lot of drawing resources available to me at the moment! I decided the best plan of action was to actually scan the illustrations in and resize/rearrange them digitally. After scanning in the illustrations I did a small clean up of the scan and then started rearranging them in procreate.

Now if I had a little more time to spend on this (I couldn’t justify spending anymore time on it than I already had or other exercises would suffer!) I would have actually done this in Photoshop and altered the contrast so the lines were still as bold as they are on the physical drawings. If I had worked in Photoshop the image would also be a higher resolution because unfortunately when you resize in procreate you do lose a lot of detail – this is of course understandable because the iPad can only do so much (where as a computer running Photoshop can achieve a lot more).

I rearrange the drawings into the layout I had originally planned but at a better scale – leaving a lot less space. I also added some digital text. I would like to learn how to be better at drawing letters because this is definitely a weak point for me!
I added some arrows to indicate the next steps.

The finished piece still has some flaws but compared to the piece I had initially made this is a definite improvement. I should have spent more time on the design at the start as it would have prevented a lot of the issues I had later on. I do feel like I am learning a lot from these mistakes however and I can take what I have learnt forward into future exercises with me.