#illustrationpartfive

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Illustration Part Five

Assignment: Seven Days

To start this assignment, I created a series of mind maps so I could figure out the media, methods and concept I was going to work with.

In this mind map, I considered different types of media I have explored throughout the course such as advertisement, book covers and magazine illustrations. I decided I was going to create a poster. I feel like I enjoyed creating a poster the most out of all of the assignments and exercises and it was a medium that I could explore freely and creatively. 

Next I created a mind map to help me decide what my poster was going to be about. I was very interested in creating a poster advertising an exhibition or gallery. This covers a wide range of subjects I could choose from, it could be anything from a new history exhibition to an exhibit dedicated to film costumes. I eventually decided I was going to create my poster for an exhibit about a famous person. I then linked this to one of my notes “7 days in the life of someone. A week long exhibition about the life of that chosen person”

I chose two people I thought would be the most interesting to use for this project. I chose Frida Kahlo and Hunter S Thompson. Both of these influential people had wild and interesting lives so I thought they would be fun to portray in my artwork. I created a mind map focusing on both of my chosen people and also researched their lives and sketched images of them and people/things associated with them 

After some deliberation, I realised that because Frida Kahlo is a renowned artist, it would be difficult to justify the poster design when her own artwork could just as easily be used to represent herself. I decided to use Hunter S Thompson as my main subject for the exhibition poster. I was excited to see how I would be able to portray him through style, colour and imagery. From here, I wrote my brief.

SEVEN DAYS - BRIEF

You will create a poster for a week long exhibition at a local museum that focuses on the life and work of Hunter S Thompson.The poster must be at an A3 size so it can be shrunk down to A4. You can choose any medium to create the final illustration but it must be in colour and it should express the personality of Hunter S Thompson. The illustration must show 7 different images that represent him, each aspect of the poster should come together so people instantly recognise that the exhibit is about Hunter S Thompson.

After researching some more about Hunter S Thompson, I created a mood board and produced some more sketchbook work so I could start to form ideas for my poster.

To capture the wild side of Hunter S Thompson’s life and the Gonzo movement. I used materials like charcoal, ink pen and pencil to create a rough look, I didn’t want the drawings to look too precise or neat as I felt it didn’t match the tone of the exhibition; However I also kept in mind that the images had to look recognisable. 

As well as sketching Hunter S Thompson himself I also sketched objects and actions that I felt represented daily life for Hunter S Thompson such as smoking cigarettes and using his typewriter.

Whiskey - Hunter S Thompson was a heavy drinker and even encouraged interviewers to drink a glass of whiskey before answering any questions.

Gun - Hunter was a firearms and explosive enthusiast, he collected them and was a co-creator of the fourth amendment foundation, which assisted people defending themselves against search and seizure.

Cigarettes - Hunter’s choice of cigarette brand was the Dunhills and he smoked every day up until his death. Smoking is a part of his image, in most of the photos of him I found, he is smoking and even his characters are always smoking in his writing.

Typewriter - Writing novels and articles is what Hunter S Thompson was famous for. Some of his most popular novels were Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Rum diary and Hells Angels. He is the founder of the Gonzo journalism movement, which is a personal style of journalism that includes the reporter being part of the story and it can also contain fictional and satirical elements.

Las Vegas -  Hunter S Thompson travelled around whilst he was writing, he is well known for his road trip around Las Vegas which he wrote about in one of his novels, the reader is never really sure what is real and what isn't.

Hat and sunglasses - Hunter was known for wearing bucket hats and aviator sunglasses. These accessories are frequently used in artwork and costumes portraying Hunter. His specific style has even influenced the fashion world:

https://www.vogue.com/article/hunter-s-thompson-style-fashion-sunglasses-coat

Motorcycle - Hunter immersed himself in the lifestyle of the dangerous motorcycle group “The Hell’s Angels” in the 1960′s, he rode with them and wrote about them in graphic detail. He developed a passion for riding his motorcycle and even wrote about it. 

Next, I digitally coloured some of my illustrations.I used blue to represent the sad and depressing aspects of Hunter S Thompson’s writing and red to represent the chaotic, destructive aspects.

After this I had to start planning on how I was going to layout my illustrations.  I produced some different templates to experiment with.

I felt like both blue on white and red on white wasn’t very interesting, it gave the poster a corporate look and the straight edges and font seemed too simple and boring for my intended design. I needed to find a way to bring more character and expression to my poster. I decided to load the charcoal drawings into one of the templates to experiment with. I adjusted the levels of the image so that the charcoal showed up a lot harsher and bolder. This was already starting to stand out more than my previous poster layouts. 

I looked back to my visual reference and mind maps for inspiration. I found I was inspired by the cover illustration by Ralph Steadman for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I decided to use the same colour scheme as he had. All of the colours together closely resemble fire which could represent danger or violence. It is also visually more stimulating than my previous colour palettes and people may associate the colour scheme with the book cover, which would help to express the themes and topic of the exhibition.

I used the paint tool to give my charcoal illustrations a yellow background, and for the poster background, I filled in the colour so that it was dark orange, this helped make the main illustrations stand out. I also added messy, scribbled borders to my 7 images to give it a more chaotic and rugged appearance. I then used the paint tool and with the charcoal brush quickly wrote some details of the exhibition just to get an idea of how the font should look. I also decided after finishing the colours and font that it might be interesting to add some small details. In “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” The book starts with the main character ‘Raoul Duke’ hallucinating bats. A lot of people remember and quote this scene so I thought adding in some bats could provide some insight. I also painted some red trees in the background, this which I thought added a stark and strange charm to the piece.

I wanted to hand draw the charcoal borders and writing myself for a more authentic and raw style. I printed the black and white draft onto A3 and reworked the illustration to the desired effect.

After reworking the image using charcoal, I scanned it into Photoshop to add colour. I decided that the pattern I originally intended to create was a bit too busy, so I added some faded red paint strokes in Photoshop for texture and pattern as well as the bats.

Charcoal/ Photoshop (297mm x 420mm)

Overall, I feel that I carried out a successful brief. I think my final piece exaggerates the wild life of Hunter S Thompson and still manages to work as a strong exhibition poster focused on 7 days. It was great to be able to work with charcoal again and create interesting work.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Working for children 

 Exercise: Working for children

To begin this exercise, I started collecting imagery from books, films, advertisements, games and then chose the best images to represent the following age groups:

Pre-Reader

The illustrations are simplistic and clear. You can not really see any conceptual imagery except from maybe the clock dancing on the cover for “A day full of songs”. Although the illustrations are simple, they all have style and personality. Appreciation of art can help young children learn and explain so this is important in the design.

Pre-school (3–5)

The illustrations here are still fairly similar to the ones in the re-reading group. They might introduce more characters and different types of animals to the covers, a lot of the images depict relationships and families, this might help the child identify with the pictures.

Early reader (5-7)

The illustrations here start to become a bit more detailed, there is a greater variety of styles. Illustrators can have more of an artistic flare because by this age, children know how to identify different objects and animals. Fictitious creatures are also being introduced such as the Gruffalo.  

Established reader (7–9)

More conceptual illustration and fictional characters have been introduced for this age group. There is less of a need for excessive bright colours.  The illustrations in this group seem to have more personality and the story’s genre or theme is expressed through the colours and style of the images.

And Older age groups.

Illustration styles were more graphic-based or realistic in this group. Visual concepts were also more common.

Next I took two age groups and then brainstormed around the choice of words I was given. I also chose the animal I was going to portray in my illustration. I decided on a fox because I think it is an animal both age groups would recognise and I also thought of other fictional foxes people enjoy such as Fantastic Mr Fox or Tod from the fox and the hound.

I then chose two words: Discovery & Wild as I felt that I was already starting to come up with ideas for those two subjects. I ended up choosing the word “discovery” after coming up with a series of ideas that I thought would be fun to illustrate, I was more inspired by this word.

I started sketching different faces until I found a style I liked for my fox character.

I also sketched some ideas for my final illustration.

I felt torn between a couple of different styles so I used two of my “discovery” ideas: The discovery of a historical place and a scientific discovery. I created two finished illustrations for both of them.

Pencils and watercolours(29.7 x 21cm)

Scientific discovery - I felt like this design would be a fun way to portray the word “discovery” to the target audience. It’s educational and also and exciting. I just worried that the younger side of my audience might not understand what the illustration is showing

Watercolour pencils (29.7 x 21cm)

Historical/Treasure discovery - For this illustration, I showed the fox character holding a treasure map and looking up at the final destination in the distance. I have also tried to link the characters gaze to the “discovery” and highlighted it on the map to help my audience understand the narrative elements.

Whilst I think that both of my illustrations are fun, my second illustration is the most clear representation of my chosen word: Discovery. I have tried to use visual effects such as the direction of the character’s gaze and colour association to help make the image more understandable. I feel that I have been selective in my choice of colours and imagery and I am definitely improving my illustration skills.

 Are the target age brackets for children really as clear-cut as we’ve made them here? 

Personally I don’t think the age brackets are as clear-cut as they have been set out in the exercise, however I think when visual metaphors and more complex designs are introduced, this may not make sense to younger children. As well as this, designs that are more simplistic may not appeal to older children as the images have to be stimulating and exciting in order for them to be interested in the text, especially considering the use of television, laptops and phones. Moving image and games are often chosen over books in the digital age.

How did the function of image and text differ within the different age groupings?

For really young age groups, I think illustrations need to be clear and simple more than anything. Children are still learning how to identify images and relate them to text. Moving on up, children in pre-school tend to have a shorter attention span so the images need to be more exciting and have a bit more narrative and personality to keep them interested. Pre-teens have usually discovered the sort of reading material they enjoy around this age, so the illustrations need to convey the mood and genre of the book they are reading. Pre-teens are more likely to have developed an appreciation for art too, so the style of illustration can also influence readers. For older readers, the front cover illustrations are a way to express the text. Witty concepts and stylish illustrations will be more eye-catching particularly when it comes to advertising. 

 What is your response to the idea ‘all children’s illustration has bright colours’? 

I do agree that a lot of illustrations targeting a very young audience use bright colours and there is evidence for this in my visual research; However older children don’t necessarily require the use of bright colours to be interested in the design. Even in my visual research for the age group 5-9 there are examples of illustration that use a more toned down colour palette. It is a blanket statement and although it is correct to an extent, it denies the fact that there are some interesting children’s illustration that doesn’t need an extensive and bright colour palette to be appealing.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Text and image  

Exercise: Packaging 

 For this exercise we had to produce a series of illustrations for packaging to be used in a new range of organic biscuits for children. There are three varieties in the range including Raisin, Chocolate Chip and Ginger biscuits. In this scenario, the client specifically wants three illustrations featuring extinct animals interacting in a fun way with a biscuit. The drawings should be in full colour, and the client would like the colours to reflect the ‘flavour’ of the biscuit. 

I started this exercise by going to the local supermarket and taking pictures of biscuit packets, focusing mainly on children’s biscuits. I felt I still did not have a diverse range of images, so I also  looked at the online grocery shops to find more of a variety. I then collected the material I found together.

Healthy and organic products seemed to have minimal colour schemes and they used patterns and silhouettes on their packaging designs whereas sugary snacks and treats used more colours and included a lot of visual information on their packaging.

I made some notes on the features my illustration required to meet with the brief:

Understanding

style

Colour

Eye-catching

Natural

I wanted to make sure that the design was as appealing to children as it would be adults. I had noticed from my visual research that less healthy biscuits (e.g. high sugar content, not organic, large list of ingredients)  tended to have more colourful, cartoon-like illustrations, probably to grab the attention of children more than adults, whilst organic or healthier options had more simple imagery, mostly using natural colours like green and brown. I needed to find a middle ground for my goal, so I started writing and sketching some ideas with my notes in mind.

I used an existing biscuit packet as a template to draw up some thumbnails for design ideas. (Length - 17.2cm Height - 6.8cm)

 I narrowed it down with 4 designs to choose from.

I decided to choose the third design. It was fairly simple, but it was also fun and friendly. I made the landscape look like the biscuit and created a friendly dinosaur character. I didn’t want to add too much detail, or create a really detailed or expressive dinosaur as I feel this would be leaning more towards the imagery associated with unhealthy snacks or junk food. 

Next I created a set of three packets in the style and design I had chosen but I also had to make sure I could differentiate each flavour. I chose different prehistoric animals for each packet. It was hard to differentiate the biscuit flavour just visually, as chocolate chips and raisins could look very similar, so I decided I would use the colour scheme later on to address this. I also made a square where the font would be in each drawing to make sure that the illustration wouldn’t obscure the text. I used reference to draw my dinosaurs as I have not had much experience in drawing them, once I had drawn an outline of the Dinosaur bodies, I used my own style to create the textures and faces so that I was not just copying straight from another image.

For the colour scheme, I thought a blue sky would suggest freshness and nature, then I would use the colours brown for chocolate chip, purple for raisin and orange for ginger nut. I tried to keep the colour scheme fairly basic. I didn’t want to use too many colours as the image could become chaotic or misleading/confusing. 

My coloured drawings weren’t giving me the effect I was hoping to achieve to I took to Photoshop to edit the colours and also remove the lines to create a softness that I felt would look more aesthetically pleasing and less cartoon-like which is something I was trying to avoid. Once I had done this, I started experimenting with fonts. I tried a few different fonts but eventually ended up using “showcard gothic “  It was more eye-catching than a lot of the fonts I saw, it stood out to me but didn’t feel too overpowering or complicated. I also made sure the fonts matched the colour I had used to represent each flavour.

Colouring pens/Photoshop (Length - 172mm x 68mm)

Colouring pens/Photoshop (Length - 172mm x 68mm)

Colouring pens/Photoshop (Length - 172mm x 68mm)

I think my illustrations do a good job of advertising the product in a fun and creative way, that is not too over the top. If I could improve anything, I would have maybe experimented with some texture layers to see if this would enhance the design, I could have also tried creating the skies colour using a pastel version of the flavour colour. However I think the three illustrations work really well as a family of illustrations.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Editorial illustration 

Exercise: Travel guides

To start this exercise, I did some research into the main tourist attractions of the cities: Istanbul, Helsinki and Milan. I noted down some of the popular attractions to refer back to later. It was also beneficial for me to get an insight to what these cities had to offer and to see if I could link them in any way through my illustrations.

 I then conducted some visual research and collected images of modern, illustrated travel guides. I found some for cities assigned in the exercise but also collected a few others for design reference and inspiration.

As the elements are supposed to be brought together in a diagrammatic way, I thought collecting illustrated maps would be interesting and useful as it is decorative but also informative at the same time.

Next I wrote myself a challenging but manageable brief. As I usually work with detailed, intricate illustration, I felt it would be challenging to write a brief that encourages me to go out of my comfort zone and focus on shape and colour rather than line and tone.

THE BRIEF

Your brief is to produce three separate illustrations for a series of book jackets, at the size of an existing travel guide. (dimensions) . The three travel guides will be for Istanbul, Helsinki and Milan. You will design a diagrammatic cover for each location and they should be bright, bold, simplistic and modern. Each travel guide should be in the same style and seem like part of a collection, but we should also be able to differentiate them through either colour, imagery and/or font. The illustration has to be in colour and there should be no black outlines for anything. 

I created a mind map to start building on ideas for the cover, using my three locations and visual research as a guide.  I sketched a few different designs and some tourist attractions until I decided on the style and content I thought would work best to achieve the brief.

I finally decided that I really liked the idea of using a visual map because I felt that this is something people would look at and instantly associate with travel. Also I thought it would be an interesting way to try and experiment with colour and shape in response to the brief.

I started by going onto google maps and mapping out the tourist attractions in all three areas so I could visualise how I was going to interpret the map in my cover illustrations.

Helsinki

Istanbul

Milan

I then drew an outline of each area to create the background for my covers

I scanned these images to Photoshop where i smartened up the line work. I also used grey paint to separate out different parts of the landscape such as sea and gardens. I had not decided on the colour scheme yet so I left these illustrations as they were and moved on to creating the landmarks.

I felt like the best way to create simplistic, modern images was to start by creating detailed illustrations and then reducing them down to shape and colour. I started by drawing some of the tourist attractions I had noted down earlier. I used my own detailed style and then decided I could use the images as templates and simplify them later.

After drawing all of the different attractions, I traced and reproduced the images in block colour shapes, using copic markers. I chose three bright colours to represent each place. I chose these colours because I felt they all represented pleasant aspects of travel and holidays I wanted to convey in my illustrations.

Orange - joy, creativity, fun, enjoyment

Blue - Peace, stability, faith, wisdom

Pink - Romantic, charming, playful

I assigned the colours to each location randomly as I felt that they all had aspects of these moods and colours.

I avoided adding intricate details and line work, but by using space between the shapes, the places and buildings were still recognisable. I feel that this illustration style has given the images the bold and modern look that I wanted to achieve.

Once I had completed all of the illustrations, I scanned them into Photoshop, from here I smartened up imperfections such as colour fade or light imbalance. I then placed them on the map according to their geographic location the best I could whilst making sure the final image was still aesthetically pleasing. I then added a new layer and coloured the backgrounds, I tried to use complimentary colours or similar colour tones without straying too far from the original colours I chose . After this I used a digital font that I felt was best suited the trio of booklets, I chose this font as it was simple, modern and also quite trendy. This was just for the client visuals before I added my own font for the mock-up.

When looking at the fonts for travel guides in my visual research, I found that most of the fonts were fairly simple, easy to read and bold, I decided to go with a similar style but I also wanted to have fun with the font and go for a less serious approach, something more relaxed or fun. I tried drawing my own font styles and then I tested the best ones one of the maps to see which one worked best. I also asked for the opinion of others to see which design they think worked best.

I decided to go with the most popular font style. People who viewed it said they thought it fit in with the simple aspects of the illustration and I agreed. It didn’t distract too much from the main illustration, but it was still clear and bold, the colour scheme linked the location to all of the attractions too.

After this, I used the same style font and finalised all three jacket covers.

I feel like I responded well to the brief. I think maybe I would have been able to simplify my drawings even more but I am still happy with the outcome and feel that I have created three suitable travel guide covers. My Helsinki cover is the most successful, the colours compliment each other well and the layout is interesting. I think the Milan cover is the weaker of the three because of the area I had to work with. There was not really an interesting background shape like the other two cities since Milan has no ocean surrounding it to accentuate the shape of the city. Also the pink on purple may be a little too overpowering. Overall as a collection of covers, I think have succeeded in connecting them through style and font despite being out of my comfort zone for this exercise.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Words and pictures

Exercise: Your own work

I started this exercise by reviewing some of my older work I had done throughout the course so far. This included sketches, working drawings and final artwork. I wrote short notes alongside and on images that had elements I enjoyed aesthetically and conceptually, then I gathered them together. I tried to distance myself from original functions and also thought of different ways the illustrations might be used both personally and commission-wise.

 Next I chose a selection of these images in order to form a visual gallery. To do this, I tried to choose illustrations that had a similar theme. When I put all the work together, I noticed two prominent themes, one was bleak, black and white images, usually depicting something violent or depressing whilst the second recurring theme revolved around bright warm colours and femininity so I split these into two groups before deciding on which theme to stick with.

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

I felt as though gallery 2 had more variety in illustration style and concepts. I chose  Fashion and accessories as my authorial practice. I felt that my second image in the gallery could look really aesthetically pleasing as a decorative shirt print.

 I started looking at other sites selling graphic shirts such as Asos, Dollskill, Zumiez and Etsy. I collected some images from these sites for reference.

These types of graphic shirts appeal mostly to males and sometimes females from around 15-30 years of age. Many of these graphic shirts are associated with the skate scene which is well known for it’s artistic background considering style and skateboard decks. My character has an angsty look and rugged appearance which I thought would fit in well with this grunge skater style. After looking at some of the websites for reference, I noticed that most of the shirts ranged from around £15 to £25. I needed to consider this if I was going to produce my artefact. Hypothetically, I also had to consider whether the shirt would be a special edition item or if I would sell many of them. I checked out some local printing businesses and compared prices. I came across three standout businesses:

Iris and Dora: 

http://irisanddora.gg/

Iris and Dora did not state prices on their website and offered an email address, however when i read the about, I found out they work with screen printing, but it seemed to revolve more around actual workshops than producing something for a client.

Print My Tees

http://www.printmytees.gg/

“Their description said:  No set up fees, no minimal order & we will reduce the price for bulk orders. To experience why our clients love our first class customer service by returning with repeat orders simply send us your ideas, artwork or logo.”

This seemed more promising in creating an item to sell. I sent them an email in order to find out about prices and printing methods. They came back to me and let me know that a stand alone shirt would cost me £18 and if I wanted to order in bulk, they could offer me a rate of 10 shirts at £12 each, 20 shirts at £10 each and 30 shirts at £8 each.

Ego Motifs

http://www.egomotifs.gg/printing_clothing_guernsey

Their description was very detailed and included a range of different shirt brands and stated that they catered to both one-off jobs and bulk orders. They did not have any prices on their website either, so I sent them the same email I sent to print my tees in order to find out how both businesses compared. They came back to me and let me know that a stand alone shirt would cost me £13, however if I wanted to order in bulk, I would only get a discount after ordering 500 shirts.

From contacting both businesses, I found out that if I wanted to buy in bulk, it would be cheaper for me to go with print my tees, however as I was only producing one shirt for this exercise, it was cheaper for me to go with Ego Motifs so it made sense for me to proceed with this supplier.

I ordered the shirt in a standard Medium Men’s size to suit my target audience. I converted my JPEG to an EPS file and waited to hear back about collection.

I was happy with the outcome of the shirt and I asked a few friends who are in the skateboarding community what they thought and they said they would consider purchasing it anywhere from around £18 to £25 meaning I could make a profit anywhere between £5- £12 for each shirt depending on what price I sold them at.

[tylerocaillustration-blog]

Illustration Part Five - Project: Working for children 

 Exercise: Educational strip

In this exercise, I had to come up with an illustrated strip called “What’s happening to my body? It’s all going mad!” This would be to use in schools to explain aspects of puberty. I wanted to work on the subject of “body changes” because I felt that it would be fun to experiment again with visual metaphors, which is something I enjoyed working on earlier.  

I created a mind map to come up with some ideas for imagery I could use in this exercise.

After some experimentation, I decided to use fruits, plants and vegetables as a metaphor to explain physical aspects of puberty. It’s humorous but I also feel that it's a good way to explain that although some of the changes may be a bit embarrassing or shocking, it is natural and a normal part of life. 

I wanted school children to be interested in the illustrations and I didn’t want them to seem too childish or too realistic either. A lot of  young teens are interested in Japanese anime, comic books and cartoons so I thought I’d try and adopt a style similar to this. I sketched some different faces until I found a style I felt was best suited for the illustrations.

I decided to have one subject for each page of the strip. This way, the pictures would automatically link up with the text and there would be no confusion between topics and images.

Puberty can leave young people feeling very lost, my main character for the front cover was someone whose body was all tangled up to convey the feelings of confusion and change, I hoped this would help the reader feel less alone in knowing most people feel like this during the changes to their body and mind whilst going through puberty.

Body changes - I used people holding fruits to represent body parts that may change in shape or size. I thought these images may lighten the mood of the topic as people would probably find them humorous.

Hair growth - To represent the growth of hair, I used flowers. Again, these images are also comical but still provide an insight to the changes in body hair.  

Hormone changes - I used a simple illustration of someone shouting over a megaphone at another person crying. This covers both the angry and sensitive aspects of hormone changes.

Getting help - I dedicated the final panel to seeking help about changes if children are worried or confused. I chose a scene where a young girl is speaking to an adult about her problems,  I made sure that the adult was smiling in a reassuring way. I think this is a good way to complete the strip as it is comforting after a lot of information some teenagers may find distressing.

Next I took the drawings to Photoshop to add colour, I wanted to make the illustrations colourful because I thought if I used less colours, it could come across as quite bleak and clinical. I also felt that warmer colours were more comforting so I took this into consideration when colouring each illustration.

After this, I arranged the images so that they matched the final strip layout I originally designed. I then coloured the backgrounds using bright pastel colours. I also arranged the layout of the strip so that they could be printed at A4 and folded in half to be distributed as leaflets.

Once I had arranged the layout, I started experimenting with different fonts until I found one I liked. I decided on Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold, It’s bold and interesting to look at but also clear to read. For the front cover, I typed each letter individually, so that I could move them and rotate them in order to enhance the element of confusion. I also added a drop shadow so that the outline was similar to the character’s outline, I felt that this helped bring the text and illustration together as one. On the inside of the strip, I used the same font, but kept it simple, using just a black font and making sure the information was clear. I used information from various health websites to accompany the illustrations I had produced.

I then printed it off to make sure it succeeded as a leaflet.

Overall, I was happy with the design and think the outcome was interesting, comforting and also informative. I enjoyed working with visual metaphors again and it was fun to design the different characters.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Text and image  

Exercise: Text and image

For this exercise, I was given a set of words:

Big

Small

Fat

Thin

Fast

Slow

Calm

Mad

Boring

Fun

I started by writing each pair of words in my own writing and then underneath them I wrote the words in a way that expressed the meaning of them.

Next I started experimenting with the words using different fonts from my computer software,I made a small selection of font types for each word and made sure to list the name of the font underneath.

Big/Small 

I think the best fonts for this word were ‘showcard gothica’, ‘bauhaus95′ and ‘Gill Sans Ultra Bold’, The bolder and thicker fonts seem to express the word a lot better.

For this word, I tried to search for the opposite fonts from my previous word and looked for thin, squished fonts, I made sure to type the word lower-case because using caps lock would create a large or loud effect. ‘Eras Light ITC’ and the condensed fonts seemed the most appropriate to me.

Fat/Thin

For this font, I had to search for something wide and thick, rather than tall and thick like my “Big” font. The bold and wide fonts worked best:’ Gill Sans Ultra Bold’, ‘Rockwell Extra Bold’ and ‘Wide Latin’.

For this font, I had to find something that was narrow, I also felt like taller fonts also emphasised the word.'Agency FB’ and ‘Bradley Hand ITC’ were the best choices for this word.

Fast/Slow

This font was quite difficult to find a type for because all of the fonts are stationary and I had to find something that suggested movement. Slanted fonts seemed to suggest the most movement and also fonts that appeared quickly or loosely written, I think the best fonts for this are ‘Corbel’, ‘MV Boli’ and ‘Brush Script MC7′, I felt that the bolder fonts might suggest heaviness so I tried to avoid this.

For the word slow, I also had to find something that suggested movement, but it needed to be stretched out or sloping, the best fonts for this was ‘Gill Sans Extra Bold’ which I stretched out and also ‘Copperplate Gothic Bold’ which I stretched out giving it a drawn out and long look. These fonts were also bold which I hoped would suggest a heaviness.

Fun/Boring

For this word I had to find something that was bold and exciting, I searched for fonts with curls or interesting styles. I think the best fonts were ‘Harlow Solid Italic’ and ‘Jokerman’, they were the most playful in my opinion.

I had to find a simple font for this word, I thought something stretched and drawn out might emphasise the meaning of the word, I decided that the best fonts for this were ‘Gil Sans Nova’ and ‘Copperplate Gothic Light.’

Calm/Mad 

For the calm font I had to find something simple, relaxed and effortless, I feel like the best fonts were ‘Bradley Hand ITC’ which looked like light brush marks. I also felt ‘segroe print’ worked well whilst some of the other fonts appeared too serious.

I searched for something that was unbalanced and rough for this word, I feel like the best font for this was ‘rouge Italic’ and ‘Chiller’ as they evoked the most spontaneity in the shape and arrangement of the letter.

Once I had chosen a final typography to use for each word, I traced them all in a colour and size that represented that word and then created a mood board around each one considering colours, textures, objects, shapes and words.

BIG

Big - Block colours or patterns, forces of nature, buildings, height and width, three-dimensional.

SMALL

Small - Microscopic, collections of small objects and materials, intricate details and patterns.

FAT

Fat - Voluminous items, puffy, wobbly, bouncy, round objects.

THIN

Thin - Skinny and narrow objects, twigs, threads, scratches, wires, tubes.

FAST

Fast - Movement, quick brushstrokes, the colour red, blurred movement, smoke, fast food, fire, vehicles.

SLOW

Slow - slopes, melting, dripping, drying, snail or turtle shell patterns, long winding roads.

CALM

Calm - stillness, balance, the colour blue, softness, natural, water, clouds

MAD

Mad - splatters, random lines, psychedelic pattern, fragments, illusions, scribbles

BORING

Boring -  The colour grey, repetitive patterns, straight lines, bricks, metal

FUN

Fun - Bright colours, rainbows, interesting patterns, confetti, lights, bubbles, squiggles

Slow and Fast were definitely the most difficult to find imagery for because finding stationary text and imagery that suggest movement was tricky, but after a little visual research, I started to get more ideas and eventually came up with successful mood boards. It was interesting to try and connect words and textures tomorrow and I think the exercise has helped me learn about images in relation to text.

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Illustration Part Five - Project: Editorial Illustration

Exercise: Editorial Illustration

I started this exercise by purchasing a couple of newspapers and cutting out articles that contained an illustration. I then analysed the images in relation to the text, most of them were satirical and metaphorical, they often exaggerated or emphasised the text. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that the newspapers I picked up were mostly politics-based, although we would still see this kind of illustration to accompany other articles and topics too. I did find some other articles about different  topics but they used photography rather than illustration.

Next I chose the heading for my mock article. I chose: “He loves me, he loves me not”. I felt like I could interpret the text in many different ways and it would be interesting to develop images and ideas for.

After this, I started gathering some sentences and paragraphs from articles about love and relationships. The topic of love is a diverse subject and may apply to a number or different sub-topics so I thought it would be good to gather text from various articles that I felt discussed similar topics and issues.

I then read these paragraphs and found my own way to simplify and shorten them so that I could start to analyse themes in the text. I also  highlighted words and sentences that I thought were the most important and essential parts of the text.

psychcentral article -

“These days, we begin dating and get to know new people through social media, texting, Facetime, Snapchat. ... Often, what we think is love is actually lust and there may be signs of a possible toxic relationship in the future. So how do we know if this is real love or simply lust?.” 

My summary of the text:

These days, we begin dating via social media, but this can blur the line between love and lust and cause complications.

ID Magazine Article - 

“Once you've had a taste of heartbreak you could be really sensible and decide you're not going to fall in love with anyone ever again. Well you know what? That's fine, you do that, but unfortunately being afflicted with the human condition that we are, not falling in love isn't that much of a long-term option.”

My summary of the text:  

After heartbreak, you can decide not to love again but this may not be a realistic option.

ID Magazine Article -

“Unloving the commodity of love frees you from trying to please the idea of an imaginary person, and that makes it easier to listen to yourself and your true desires and needs, and to accept love that is deeper and realer. Recognising great friendships, tricky but rewarding familial relationships, the joy to be had in work and different kinds of expression… recognising all of those things as love enables you to seek a romantic love that more closely resembles that feeling of connection, of being known, of truly knowing another — and not something out of a movie that looks right but feels wrong. “ 

My summary of the text: 

 Recognising and unloving the commodity of love frees you from an unrealistic concept of love and enables you to seek a real connection.

Huffington Post Article - 

“We live under a massive cultural delusion about the nature of real love. Propagated by mainstream media, from the time you’re born you’re inundated with the belief that love is a feeling and that when you find “the one” you’ll sense it in your gut and be overcome by an undeniable sense of knowing. When the feeling and corresponding knowing fade (for the knowing is intimately linked to the feeling) and the work of learning about real love begins, most people take the diminished feeling as a sign that they’re in the wrong relationship and walk away. And then they start over again, only to find that the now-familiar knowing and feeling fade again... and again... and again. If love isn’t a feeling, what is it?Love is action. Love is tolerance. Love is learning your partner’s love language and then expressing love in a way that he can receive. Love is giving. Love is receiving. Love is plodding through the slow eddies of a relationship without jumping ship into another’s churning rapids. Love is recognising that it’s not your partner’s job to make you feel alive, fulfilled, or complete; that’s your job. And it’s only when you learn to become the source of your own aliveness and are living your life connected to the spark of genius that is everyone’s birthright can you fully love another.”

My summary of the text: 

Social conventions and the media portrayal of love has made us delusional, the reality of love revolves around understanding and respecting each other and still being your own person.

The function of my image is to be thought-provoking and catch the attention of the reader quickly. The headline itself is easy to comprehend so the image should be decorative and enhance the article, making it more exciting,

Describing the illustration I want to create:

Clever concept

Simplistic

visually/aesthetically pleasing.

striking

relatable

Relates to text

makes you think

I wanted to make an image that was visually interesting but also a simple concept for people to grasp. I started by drawing up some ideas based on the headliner itself and also other imagery I associated with the word ‘love’ so I had a variety of ideas to work with.

I then drew up thumbnails of my best ideas before choosing a final illustration. I used one of my newspaper cutouts as a template.

I ended up choosing the following sketch for my final illustration. 

I chose this because I think it is easy to comprehend whilst also being striking and interesting. The woman searching for a heart with a blindfold on represents someone who is confused and lost about whether someone loves them back or is searching for love and not sure where to find it. It covers the concept of love and uncertainty and shows someone who is left in the dark when it comes to their personal relationships. I doubled up the size of the original newspaper clipping dimensions so i could make a clear, detailed image.

I used pink and black for the colour scheme. The black represents the darkness and confusion whilst the pink represents love. Pink is often used by artists and designers when creating “love” and “romance” themed imagery and so this would fit in well with themes of social constructs or media portrayals. I also used a reference image so the body movement of the woman looked correct, however I added my own freehand elements such as the hair, blindfold and clothing.

Finally I smartened up the colours and lines in Photoshop in order to create dream-like glow to the hearts and I also used the paint brush tool to produce a more refined, modern digital image. The softness of the image captures the sensitivity of the subject and i am pleased with how this image turned out.

Overall I am pleased with my image and feel that it achieves it’s intention of portraying uncertainty in love and romance. I think I am getting better at developing a more harmonious colour pallet and using reference has helped me improve the anatomy of my character in this illustration.