Study task - Day in the life

DAY IN THE LIFE

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION - newspaper, magazine

>image in response to a piece of writing 

• JEAN JULLIEN
• SIMON PEMBERTON
• NOMA BAR - graphic

>THREE ILLUSTRATIONS IN RESPONSE TO TEXT<

> 200mm x 200mm

>105mm x 200mm

>290mm x 105mm

WORK AS A SET/SERIES

MUST BE DISTINCT IN CONTENT

COMMUNICATE PERSONAL OPINIONS - INTERPRETATION

TONE OF VOICE

MUST DESIGN IMAGE WITHIN THE FRAME

1. Read article and make notes
2. Quick sketch ideas

Quick sketch ideas - A2 sheet
-key words/images from text

ROUGHS - internet porn - unstuck

ROUGHS - people getting whipped by the internet - unstuck

ROUGHS - internet taking over

I found this task very challenging, as I struggle with translating text into images that narrate. Although I did try by highlighting certain words that stood out of the text for me and illustrating them, such as the word 'unstuck'. I also enjoyed working in roughs, as you can convey an idea so quickly and I like how you can tell if something is going to work straight away even though the drawing is so sketchy and basic.

From my feedback I know that I wasn't creating confusion with my images and worked well with line. Although I'm quite annoyed at myself for not creating enough different ideas to present to the group so I could of got the best result from it. So I've learnt for next time I have a group crit I'm going to produce a lot more varied approaches to what I could do to generate more ideas.

FINAL OUTCOME

I definitely struggled with this brief, as I find it hard to try and express a narrative through imagery, this being that I am more of a visual language person rather than visual skills. Although I tried to put that to the back of mind and give this brief a good go. However overall I am not very pleased with my outcome. The recurring negative point that I got from my feed back is that it isn't very clear to what article I had chosen, which I very much agree with. I should of chosen images that work better as a set and which conveys a far more simple message about the internet. I also completely forgot about only being allowed to use two colours and so I think that this piece doesn't completely fits the brief.

Although, I do like the use of binary code in the composition, as it added another element of pattern to the plain card as well as linking to the internet theme of the article. I also like the use of simple shapes, as the composition isn't too busy being crammed with too many elements.

If I had to do this brief again, I would of made a lot more roughs so I generated a more varied range of ideas that I could of worked with, as I think this was a major flaw in my success. Because I didn't produce as many ideas, I didn't have many to choose from when it came to showing my ideas to a group crit. This has taught me how important roughs are, so I am hoping that I can still get something out of this mistake by using and generating more roughs in my next briefs to create a more successful outcome.

Feedback

Line - Tone, Mark & Pattern

LINE - TONE, MARK AND PATTERN

>Describe the behaviour of light

>Different textures and mark making

• Hatching
• Cross hatching
• Scribbling
• Shading
• Made marks
• Patterns

>TOM GAULD - tone and light

>DAVID CALLOW - tonal, graphic devices 

3X4

>4 piece reference material - 3 drawings of each

Line week 2

Green ink - nib and brush  fig. 1

pencil fig.2

Pen fig.3

white pen on black acrylic

                                                   

pencil and red ink

pen and acrylic with dry brush

Initially, I struggled a little with this task. From coming from a practice of photo realistic drawing, I find it quite hard to break things up into simple line and shape work. I automatically go into carefully rendering mode which always creates this same outcome. So for my first drawing (fig.1) this is evident, with shading and tone. I definitely had chosen the wrong material, as ink provides the choice of dense lines or fluid brush strokes. Instead of should of chosen a material that gives you no choice but create lines that don't smudge or bleed. So I then learnt from this and used pen (fig.3) which I actually think is my favourite of that series of three, as it communicates the same as the previous two but with a lot less tone and time spent over it. It's made me realise that you don't need to spend ages over a drawing to make it say something, you can do just the same or maybe even better just using simple line and mark making.

Line

Line

Gesture, control, speed, tool, pressure, media

• JAMES JARVIS - loose, minimal, aesthetic
• LUCINDA RODGERS - pen, ink, brush
• MATT BOISMIER - gesture, character

TASK - 3X4 Human figures drawn in a dynamic pose

> Each with a different tool - or change the way you use it

> Focus on quality of line

pencil and fine liner drawing

coloured pencil drawing

pencil (left) ink (right)

white pen on black acrylic

pencil and fine liner (left) copic pen (right)

ink nib 

ink nib

This is my favourite line drawing from this task. I like how the scratchy lines create a tone of voice and reflects the mood from the position shown, making the figure in the picture look angry and emotional. This made me realise how important choice of material is and how it effects the mood of an image, so in later work I want my choice of materials to be considered to help reflect what I want to illustration to communicate.

coloured pencil 

I enjoyed doing this task, as I always do tonal drawings so it was good to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. I like how quickly you can produce a series of drawing with line, as you just pick out the main features that are needed to express the subject.

I also liked working with a gestured figure, because it was far more challenging, making you really focus on proportion of body which improved my drawing.

But I still felt a bit restricted by just doing line work, as I think that illustration that's just made up of line can look a bit empty and filling it with texture and shape can bring more opportunity to add character and personality. But, I don't know if that's just me being naive about line work illustrations.

Sketchbooks

Sketchbooks

>MOST VALUABLE TOOL<

• Place to develop ideas
• Transformative moments
• Pressing an idea to the page

>Sketchbook pages of drawing in response to chosen visual subject - BE CREATIVE AND PLAY - DO WHAT INTERESTS YOU

From the list of words, I decided to choose Native American. This is because they use a lot of pattern work in their culture, on bags, clothes, shoes, art work. I personally really enjoy looking at pattern and mark making, so thought that this theme would be best for me as I wouldn't get bored of it quickly which is quite important in terms of getting the work done.

Pencil drawing - line

Pencil drawing - tonal/line work

Biro drawing - line and texture

In the bowl/vase drawings I tried to be more experimental. doing a mixture of quick line sketches and tonal work. By doing this I can see what kind of style is best to work in for this project and for myself in general. 

However I don't think I was experimental enough, playing it quite safe by using a monochrome scheme and limited media of pencil and pen. The whole point of the sketchbook is to be experimental and see if new or what materials work. I need jot down any thoughts and be experiential with ideas and I don't think this really reflects that. In my later tasks I definitely need to use my sketchbook more and never get rid of any work even if I think it's 'rubbish' - LEARN FROM MISTAKES DON'T HIDE FROM THEM

Photoshopped Images

FIVE PHOTOSHOPPED IMAGES

During these past few weeks of learning how to use photoshop, I have come to the conclusion that it is not my strongest area, as I am definitely more of an old school pen to paper person. I do have some understanding of photoshop, so I can create very basic coloured images, but I don't think that they're that compositionally interesting. Although I did enjoy learning how to use something completely new, as the outcomes are so different to that of using pen or inks. 

I experimented mainly with textures using two images, my jumper and a ceiling from an art gallery I went to a few weeks before.

 

    

 

Study Task - Initially

A-Z OF SELF

Initial ideas

I came up with my first themes by thinking about what interests me most, this then makes it easier to come up with ideas, as I am already quite knowledgable about the subject and enjoy looking at it. Although I found it quite hard to come up with something that wasn't totally obvious or so sideways that no one would understand the concept. I tried to go for a middle ground, choosing something that others would relate to i.e. student life and 90s, so it would reflect me as well as my age group.  

ROUGHS - A-Z Students

ROUGHS - A-Z 90s

       

ROUGHS - A-Z Things that make me happy

Peer Review

The main thing that I got out of my peer review is that I should do my 90s theme, as the group said that they would happily have it as a poster on their wall as it creates a nostalgic feel. They also said that 90s is very fashionable at the moment so is very fitting to this modern day in age.

I also got that I should experiment using different materials more to see how it effects the outcome of the composition.

          

     

Material experimentation 

I experimented looking at different media that I could produce my poster in, as I only used fine liner in my roughs. The material that I found worked best was the copic pens which I had never used before. I like how it adds another tone to the drawing in quite a bold way which a fine liner pen can't create as successfully. I also really like using pencil, but I quickly found out that this way would be way too time consuming and I'd never be able to finish the poster.

ROUGHS - 90s

ROUGHS - 90s

FINAL OUTCOME

                  

         

                   

For my final outcome I chose a 90s theme, as this was picked out as the strongest theme in my feed back group and I am also a massive fan of the era myself. This theme also worked well for me as I didn't really struggle when coming up with an illustration for each letter apart from the obvious toughie that is 'Z'. 

If I'm honest, I am not very happy with the outcome of my poster. This is because I don't think it shows my drawing skills to their full extent as the images are very basic. As well as this, the drawings themselves aren't all in the same kind of style, some being more realistic than others which, as an overall composition, doesn't really work that well. If I were to do this again I'd think a lot more about the layout of my poster, as mine was very basic and doesn't jump out as a piece of artwork. I'd also stick to the same style, either go detailed or simple - not combine the two. 

Although, I am happy that it is very clear what my theme is when you first look at the poster, it isn't so backwards thinking that it makes it totally impossible to understand the concept. I also think that I created the nostalgic feel, as others would point out one of the images and go, "awww I remember that" which was my aim to do. 

Photoshop workshop 2

LEARNING HOW TO USE COLOUR

EXPLORING TEXTURES

      

      

During this session, I have experimented using tools which are brand new to me, learning how to incorporate colour and texture to my work. I found the colour part a bit of a struggle, as there are quite a few methods to use which I found hard to keep up with. But I did manage to create a standard coloured version of my image, so I am pleased with that result.

With the textured element I enjoyed this a lot more. This is because I found a texture on my phone which suited the subject of my work and itself is an interesting pattern. I think these pieces are more successful than my first, as the texture adds another layer and element to the piece which makes it stand out more as an overall composition.