Illumination: Ideas Bash

Having dissected the article, done a bit of sketching and brainstormed some ideas I found that all my ideas were way too over complicated and I wasn't quite sure how each related to the article. Doing a mind map and splitting the article into themes was the perfect way to refine my ideas. It not only helped me to categorise my original ideas but it also aided the creation of new, much more exciting and simple ones. This was because I was responding to specific themes rather than the general gist of the article. My imagination is exploding, I can't wait to start sketching. 

How To Typology Poster: Feedback Session

It was interesting that in the feedback session literally everyone said that they liked my composition and the use of a repeated box. A couple people spoke about line quality and my use of hatching but the general focus was on composition and use of media. The focus away from the quality of my sketches was something which I found really interesting. It really reflects the line between drawing and image making. Just because you can draw, doesn’t necessarily mean you can image make. This is something which I have come to discover since being on the course, I always just assumed they came together.

Illumination: Thumbnail Exercise

I really enjoyed this exercise. It was the perfect way to blast out ideas quickly and easily, while allowing me to play with and construct a simple composition. We only did the exercise for about 20 minutes and in that time I managed to blast out 30 or so ideas. This is something I want to do again, maybe when brainstorming for my editorial article.

It was interesting how when looking at other people’s sheets everything became so much clearer once you knew their word. This is something which is also true for editorial, you can definitely take comfort in having the text accompanying the image, allowing for interpretation. In this task I therefore would like to try to interpret my text rather than denoting it. With this exercise, my later, wackier ideas were definitely the most interesting. 

How To Typology Poster: final outcome

I really enjoyed developing a couple of my drawings. It was nice to already have the ideas down so that I could just play around and draw. One of the drawings that I did struggle to develop and get right was the elf. I thought that I was happy with it so i drew it up onto my final poster only to realise that I wasn't. I don't like the way in which his facial features correspond with the shape of his face. I think that I could maybe have bought in a greater sense of character by giving him a more rounded face. I also think that his body looks sightly out of proportion, something which could have been avoided had I drawn him out in pencil more clearly before inking him in.

Overall I'm pleased with my final outcome, I think that the different images slot together nicely. Doing lots of different mock ups of my final poster worked really well to achieve this. However, doing a really quick A2 mock up to use as a reference would have been a good idea as I struggled to enlarge my images and to work out how much space each drawing took up. I did end up using a grid system which worked too. I chose to limit my media to just fine liner and collage as not to over complicate my poster and to place the main focus on the present. Having completed my poster I thought that it looked a little bland and I was really tempted to go over areas with watercolour. However, I didn't let myself as I had already neatly shaded the darks in pen. I tried this combination out on a development sheet and it looked nowhere near as good as watercolour did alone.

I am also pleased with the title. I was going to go back with a scalpel and cut out the holes in some of the letters. However, having placed it on my poster I decided to leave it. I think that it makes for a more interesting type face and the solid letters correspond well with the solid grey blocks of the presents.

How To Typology Poster: week 2

Today we had an interesting feedback session on our work. I was surprised that the illustrations people chose as their favourites actually tended to be my least favourites. This week I therefore want to take these drawings and make them into something which I am happier with. Someone suggested that I simply take the idea of wrapping the present in fabric and produce the 24 images for my poster based on this. After discussing this with my peer tutor I have decided not to do this. I feel that I would end up creating a very mechanical poster, something which I personally find boring and would not put up on my wall. I also feel that I might be stretching one idea two far and instruction manuals already exist on how to wrap something in cloth i.e. in LUSH. I think by using a mishmash of all my most wacky ideas will not only show off my creative range better but I will have more fun doing it. 

Having experimented with composition and layout I have decided that my favourite is the third. I think that the title works best like this to split up the imagery and it is not too far down the page (as is the second). Having experimented with composition I started to think about how I was going to unite my imagery and I came up with an idea, which I think will work really well. I am going to try cutting out a grey square, which I am going to collage onto each of the drawings to represent the present. I hope that this will not only unite the piece but it will make each of the illustrations clearer. Now all I have left to do is to continue to develop my chosen images before I can get started on creating the poster. 

It was also really exciting to see everyone else's work during the crit. It was interesting how differently each person had responded to their title. One piece which I particularly liked was Ehrn’s reinvention of the bucket. Each time he presented the same bucket but containing a different uncontainable thing. The repetition of the bucket worked really well visually and it is what lead me to consider having a repeated form for my present. 

How To Typology Poster: week 1

At first when I was set the task of doing 100 drawings of 100 separate ways of wrapping a present, I thought that it sounded like a totally unachievable goal. I tried to write a list of 100 separate ideas but it wasn’t until I started drawing that new and interesting ideas started to evolve. What I found interesting was that the ideas which sounded the most bizarre on paper actually made for the best drawings. These included in your hair, in your brother and swallow it. I think that doing so many drawings was important because once i thought I had done everything that could be done I kept thinking of new ideas. It also really mage me think outside the box. This is the first time that I have drawn in this style before and it was quite fun and allowed for invention. What I found was that everyone on my table was simply drawing from their imagination. However, for a lot of my sketches I needed a reference for aid. I am hoping that being able to draw simply from my imagination might come with time as I start to draw more and more.

Having done my drawings I am generally happy with the result and I think that I have a lot of interesting ideas to work with when creating my A2 poster. However, I am worried that the work load next week is going to be quite high as I not only have to create the poster but I still have to develop my drawings for it. The fact that I don’t have the weekend might be an issue as I have found myself spending weekends completing work. I am definitely going to have to crack down at the beginning of the week. 

Observational Drawing

I found that with the drawing on location project I ended up doing lots of series drawing. Each time I drew something new, I found I had a tendency to draw it in lots of detail. Then when I got more comfortable with the image and the shapes within it, I would start drawing it quicker and deducting things. I would also start playing around with shapes and finding more interesting ways of recording things. Repeating a drawing also meant that if there was a part of a drawing that I liked I could focus on and exaggerate it in the next. I think that this is a far more productive way of working than simply drawing lots of different things. It not only helps to improve my drawing skills but it made me consider personal style and how an image is translated.

These are two of my other observational drawings, which I think highlight how important drawing from observation is as an illustrator. In the first image, I think that the way in which I captured the leaves on the trees is quite interesting. However, it is something that I would never think to do from my imagination. I would have instead chosen to capture them far more literally. For me, I think that constantly drawing from observation is therefore going to be the best way to find new ways of exploring things. The second image was my first drawing of the day, which I went on to redraw a couple times to find a more interesting way of capturing the trees. However, here I did manage to record and separate the different tonal areas of the trees into shapes. I therefore think that it would work really well compositionally if reproduced as a collage, perhaps using deep blues and mossy greens and browns. I could see it having quite an eerie atmospheric quality to it. 

With the image reference exercise (where we had to remember and draw an image) my sketches sadly didn’t really evolve at all other than the angle of the head and arms. I think that this was because from the start I put down every detail I could remember including the tonal qualities of the image. Others started with a simple line drawing which evolved into a tonal one, this maybe worked better. At the end of the session Matt talked about how he liked the way in which people had translated their image to come up with something more original and interesting. I however, didn’t do this at all with my image. I tried to make it as close to the original as possible with the idea that it was an exercise in memory, perhaps misunderstanding the brief. However, this resulted In my drawings appearing quite static and boring. I guess the brief did work in some regards because it showed me how important translation is. I attempted to quickly do a more interesting sketch of the same image but I really struggled to capture the angle of her face in addition to her arms. I think that I would have definitely done better had I chosen a close up of a face. I did find the task a struggle but I ultimately enjoyed the challenge.

I enjoyed the plant observational drawing exercise far more than the drawing from reference one. I find that drawing from life is far more interesting, a photograph can be quite limiting. Drawing a plant really gave me the freedom to play around with the different components that make up an image, such as shape, line and tone. This is a freedom that I wouldn’t have had if I was drawing say a person as everyone knows exactly how a person is supposed to look. I think that just doing a simple silhouette of the plant was quite an interesting way of working. It meant that I didn’t have to think about line and tone and it really made me aware of shape and the slightly abstract nature of the leaves. This took me down an interesting path as I went on to explore shape further. The bottom right drawing was my favourite. I’m glad that I got rid of the pot as it’s quite distracting. I particularly love the bold black squiggly line in the top left of the image suggesting the negative space around the leaf and really making you aware of its shape. It also somehow animates the drawing.

Having hated drawing with ink in the morning, it definitely grew on me throughout the day. I think that combining a brush and a dipping pen works particularly well. However, I find that personally it works better for me when I am doing a bolder, looser drawing, not when I’m drawing a person from a photograph.

This is a drawing I liked by another class member. I love how simplistic it is. The fact that they have really restrained their self and only used a light wash to suggest tone works in their favour. It gives the plant a slight three dimensionality without distracting from the line drawing. This restrained and simple approach is something that I want to try with my plant.

I also love this drawing. It has quite a cubist decorative feel to it. I think that the way in which they have chosen to translate both the table and the plant is really interesting. Instead of literally drawing the table they have created a swirly patterned surface to suggest a more interesting setting. I also love the way in which they have translated the leaves. They haven’t chosen to join them up or put any tone onto them, instead shading the negative space behind, all adding to the decorative feel of the piece.