Reading an Image

Picture Content:Red dragon, asleep in an ice cave, with piles of ‘treasure’, tucked in by his tail. Two children looking at the dragon, a girl pointing to it, a boy scared, wanting to leave. Armour are scattered in the cave around the dragon.

 A dragon that likes to hoard treasures is asleep in an ice cave with his body protecting all he has gained. Soldiers have tried to fight the dragon to regain the treasure but have failed, leaving nothing but their armor. A boy and girl have discovered the dragon. The little girl is curious and is excitedly pointing it out to the little boy. He is scared and is pointing to leave. The dragon is so hot, the heat from his body is melting the ice in the cave.

The colour palette of this picture is both hot and cold. The cave is cold but is melting and so there are hot colours depicting the heat coming from the dragon. The dragon itself is also a hot colour - red. The floor of the cave and the outside is also cool. The details are defined more towards the bottom of the picture more, in the treasure the dragon is protecting, the soldiers armor and the children. The main elements of the picture are the most detailed.

In this picture clearly the dragon is the dominant character and so is closest and largest of the elements, it is also a hot colour suggesting dominance.

The hierarchy in the image goes as follows;

The dragon and his treasure, the effect of the dragon on the cave (heat), the children, the armor. The elements go in a sweeping motion across the page. So your eyes are led to the major part and go round to each of the elements in order of importance.

Illustrating Visual Space

Images chosen for each theme.

My Compositions:

1.

2.

3.

4.

1. The meaning of the image can change dramatically depending on the size and placement of the elements. For the first and third images I was playing with the idea of the child being a giant and balancing on the building. In the first it looks like the child is being dangerous and climbing along or balancing on the building. The third image suggests more like the child is crushing the building and then in second image it's like the camera is zoomed to focus on the child playing with the building in the background and in the last image the child is playing in the grounds of the building.

2. If the other images are at different angles it gives the image more sense of depth. I didn't go for crazy angles on these but just by positioning it more to one side and higher up gave a sense of depth and more ground space, like in the last image. I really like how this turned out.

3. If they are all horizontal and vertical it makes the image quite stiff and no sense of depth. It doesn't work for a landscape at least. Maybe with different elements it might work.

The image shown in the course notes is really interesting. In this case Geoff Grandfield has created an image that is really interesting. When you look at it at first your not sure what you are seeing and then to me it looks like a huge mountain with someone climbing down it. It must be really tall because you can see a cloud quite low down and at the bottom of the image it looks like an abstract view of the hills below the mountain.

The sensation that I get is a sense of awe of the scale of that mountain, it's a bit scary as the person looks so tiny in comparison to the mountain.

4. I really enjoyed this exercise and each composition I created there is something I like about but my favourite is number four because I feel it works the best. It has the most depth and has a sense of playfulness more than the others.

A Subjective Drawing

I chose a tube of paint as my object.

Line drawing and list of words

I chose the word 'Squishy'.

Moodboard for the word 'Squishy':

Drawing:

Final illustration

Exploring Drawing and Painting

Reference photo

Grey paper using Crayola crayons and a white coloured pencil

Tan paper using black biro and coloured pencils

Dark brown pastel paper using biro and crayons

Tracing paper crayons only

Printer paper and biro

cartridge paper with blue fineliner

An Objective Drawing

zulily.co.uk

Using Black and White

Original Drawing

Inverted on computer

Cut out progress

Final Illustration finished in Photoshop.

Review:

I really love how inverting the initial drawing has made the detail of the house stand out. Your eyes immediately go to all the detail on the face of the house and the windows. I wasn't sure whether to keep the detail in the roof and the windows but decided to keep it since it shows the era of the building more.
I feel like the finished image really effectively shows the detail of the house, much more than the initial line drawing.



Graphic Artists:
The first artist that comes to mind is Banksy. His art is very striking, bold and has a strong message.

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1157199.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Olympic%20graffiti%20by%20Banksy

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/74/7a/d6/747ad6b8d16e51912c68950db35373a7--posters-uk-railway-posters.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9b/97/1c/9b971cacf8ed6a090a0989c12192f9eb--posters-uk-railway-posters.jpg

The term 'graphic' image makes me also think of the above style of posters you often see whilst on holiday. Although not black and white they are based on shapes of bold colours and give a very striking image. Often created for seasides, beaches, lighthouses and railways. I think this illustration style is very effective. 

Turning Words into Pictures

Exotic

Response:

I found the second time I did this exercise I was thinking more about the colours and delving deeper into the word. I looked up the word in a dictionary and brainstormed with others for more ideas.

Choosing Content

'The Daffodil Affair' extract.

Questions:
If this were to be made into a film, what would the main character be like?
Middle aged, mindlessly going to work each day. The work had left him numb as his anger had been buried deeper and deeper into his soul and now he felt nothing.

What clothes would the character be wearing?
A plain suit, black with a dark coloured tie and white crisp shirt, black shiny shoes.

What furniture is in the main area in which the action takes place?
Only a desk. It is a very empty, uninspired, lifeless room.


Collect visual reference for the items in your list




Textural and Colouristic visual brainstorming and idea generation

Choose a word which you feel captures the mood you would like to convey: Dark

Moodboard

Sketches:

Thumbnail ideas

Rough sketch which I scanned and edited in Photoshop.

Final Illustration:

I wanted a stark, bold illustration using some texture from my mood board. I picked out the colour from the mottled background to create a lighter solid colour to illustrate the burst of light from the windows. I wanted the illustration to have a somber, dark feel to it, a bit of mystery to the detective character. I tilted his head to suggest he was thinking whilst he smoked.

I'm really pleased with how the illustration came out, I feel it says what I wanted it to and I enjoyed working digitally, which is very different from what I'm used to.

Spider Diagrams

Seaside:

Childhood:

Angry:

Festival:

Response:

I found seaside the easiest since it's one of my favourite places to go. I also used image reference to help me expand. I found 'Angry' to be the hardest since it's something that makes me very uncomfortable and I like to avoid it as much as possible. It was uncomfortable to see all the words on there. Festival was also tricky since there are different kinds of festivals and it's not something I go to much, so struggled a bit with that as well.

Visual Metaphors

Examples

Magazine articles and adverts

An advert and artworks by Happy D Artist and Banksy

More ads

Metaphor chosen: 'Dreams of Romance'







List of Visual Objects:

Spider Diagram:

 

Show someone else:

I showed my doodles to my Husband. He got the dream part right away but felt like my doodles represented love. He suggested I add a candle lit dinner to suggest romance, so I added that.

Using Reference

Research:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/nikijacksonart/1950s-research/





Review:

The 1950's was very colourful. Bright cheerful colours were used, especially blues, reds and pinks. These colours were popular decor for the Amercian diners as well as the home. Music was a big part of the 50's with families listening to their favoruites on vinyl records at home and on juke boxes when out socialising with friends. Bold designs were also used and the typical kitchen of a 1950's home was quite colourful and light.  Black and white check floors were popular too.
Posters had bold, graphic text and images to advertise the latest foods, movies etc Classic cars were also colorful, pink, red, blue or green.
Hair and make up were a big thing, with winged eyeliner and backcombed hair to carry the latest style.
The 1950's were definitely all about colour and style, in every way.



I think a lot of the 50's colour and style still has a presence today. Bright coloured cars (Fiat 500) are now coming back into society, old graphic design is being reproduced on tins and decor for the home to re-live the ideal of that era. Brands like Orla Keily and Cath Kidston are making home decor items and clothing that reflect a 50's feel and that nostalgic feeling. Pop art was big in the 50's and I think it will always have it's place since it is bold and colourful and doesn't seem to age.

Ideas:

Illustration:

Here is my final illustration. I used waterbased markers and a fineliner to complete this illustration. I choose to go with a music theme, bold patterns and poofy dress. The chair is retro and the table with the record player. Overall it has the look I was going for but I would have liked to improve the quality of this illustration. Had I allowed more time I would have experimented with the figure more and just improved the overall look.

Inspiration:

                                                         

                               

I took a lot of inspiration from the above illustrations. I wanted something simple and quirky that would appeal to a teenager and that would reflect the colours of the era and the bold patterns. When researching 1950's illustrations I found a lot of black and white illustrations in 'The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators' and so that is another reason I chose this style.

Mark Making

Art supplies used: Crayons, charcoal, graphite, pental brush pen, paint, chalk pastel, oil pastel, ink, biro, coloured pencil, graphite block.

Making a Moodboard