Part 3: working it out: composition and viewpoint

This exercise is about exploring visual space in illustration.

By experimenting with the composition of the elements - their position and scale, the relationship between them and the space they occupy within the frame - it is possible to manipulate the mood of the illustration.

images 1 and 2

In image 1 the building is large taking up most of the frame, the tree is just showing behind and only a small amount of sky visible - it gives an urban feel to the composition.  The child is small, at the front, as if running from the building or along the street.

This is a very ordered composition, the horizontals and verticals should give a sense of calm and strength - but it doesn't seem like that to me. I feel uneasy about it. The child looks vulnerable - I imagine he's running towards a busy street.

In image 2 the building is large and the tree is small, as if in the distance. The child is small and is running towards the building.  An angled line drawn from the building towards the bottom of the image indicates some kind of kerb. About half the image is open space. It looks like an urban park - the child doesn't appear to be in danger - it seems calm and ordered - except for the lack of a horizon line! The image floats uncomfortably in space rather than securely anchored in place.

images 3 and 4

In images 3 and 4 the building is small with the tree and the child much larger. The horizon is an angled line to suggest a hill - it has a rural feel. 

In image 3 there is no sense of composition - the elements have just been plonked into position.

In image 4 the tree is larger so that it now fills more than half the frame and the child is in the foreground. It looks balanced, calm and ordered.

images 5 and 6

Images 5 and 6 are experiments to see if setting the building and the tree at an angle produces an effect of disorder and vulnerability. In both images the building and the tree are large and are angled inwards above the child.

In image 5 the child is in the foreground, but very small, giving a suggestion that the observer is some distance away.  There is a line across the image to define the space.

To me the child does look vulnerable - as if they are being watched.

In image 6 the child is large and at the front of the composition, and therefore close to the observer - running away from some kind of threat? - or playing? The message isn't clear.

images 7 and 8

Images 7 and 8 are similar to each other - the building and tree virtually filling the frame, with the child large and at the front of the composition.

In image 7 the verticals and horizontals are straight - there appears to be no sense of danger - just a child playing.

In image 8 the angle of the building has been increased so that it becomes a diagonal across the frame creating a sense of disaster from which the child is trying to escape.

image 9

The sketch book image is just me having a play with the elements and introducing some colour, plus additional lines and elements.

Evaluation 

I don't feel that I did this exercise justice - I was too tentative, too safe - I wasn't imaginative or experimental enough.

But even so, it was a good exercise - I explored new compositional ideas and learned from them.

It was interesting to discover that the mood evoked by some of the compositions wasn't necessarily what I was expecting - it just shows how important it is to experiment.

I now need to explore these methods further and to use them as part of the design process.

Part 2: ideas: Assignment two: Point of sale display

Point of sale display

For this assignment the brief requires two illustrations of fruit or vegetables to be used within a campaign for a supermarket to package and promote a range of seasonal foods.


My first task was to look carefully at the brief to find out exactly what was being requested and to pinpoint the most important aspects.

Requirements:

• To produce two illustrations of fruit or veg, one for summer, the other for autumn, to be used as a supermarket point of sale display.
• The audience will be all customers - new, regular, old, young, male, female - and so the illustrations should appeal to all.
• Size of each illustration to be 12 inches x 12 inches/30cm x 30cm, or to scale.
• The images must reflect the produce selected and aspects of the season.
• The client places great importance on the high quality of their produce 

 
Generating ideas
To start building a picture of the seasons and generating ideas I created word and picture spider diagrams representing the two seasons.

I wanted the illustrations to represent British produce, and so I reflected this in the diagrams.

It's amazing how many ideas come to mind as you start to focus.



 
Although I used a combination of words and pictures in both types of spider diagram, I found that I referred to the picture-based diagrams and collages frequently during the design process as they provided a quick visual reference.

I then collected images, textures and colours to represent the seasons and assembled them into collages.




 
Development through research
 
Throughout these processes ideas started to evolve - about choices of fruit and additional seasonal elements and how to communicate high quality and freshness in an illustration.

In magazine photographs fruit and vegetables look vibrant and glossy, often with droplets of water that seem to reinforce their appearance of freshness.

With illustrations, I found the most appealing ones,  were created by hand.  Digitally created images lacked life or looked like clip-art.

I looked in detail at two illustrators in particular - Georgina Luck and Emma Dibben.

The work of both of these illustrators is lively, loose and fresh.  The colours are clean and vibrant.  The illustrations are beautifully detailed.  And the fruit and vegetables look fresh, glossy and appetising.

 
My interpretation 
It was now time to firm up ideas and to practise illustration techniques.

For the summer illustration I wanted to communicate the idea of eating outdoors, picnics, al fresco living.  I chose tomatoes as the main fruit, with hot rocket leaves and daisy chains to support the season.

I wanted the two illustrations to be compatible in style and content, and so for the autumn illustration I selected green William pears as the main fruit, with a crackly brown leaf and glossy conkers as additional elements of the season.

I really wanted to be able to create illustrations that were lively and vibrant like those of Georgina Luck and Emma Dibben.  I practised drawing and painting the tomatoes and pears using real fruits, trying different techniques to see what worked best.

Eventually I had a go at creating the assignment pieces.

At first the images looked a bit disconnected - just a collection of items on a page.  But adding handwritten text seemed to bring them together and introduced another dimension to the illustrations.


Reflection


Looking at the entire experience of this assignment I realise that evaluation and reflection is something that happens throughout the project.


Through analysis of the brief, ideas generation, research, experimentation, to final design, ideas are shifting, decisions are made and then amended - until that moment when you have to commit.


Looking at my final pieces of work, I'm disappointed that the tomatoes don't look glossy enough - I wanted them to gleam.  I need to practise painting in watercolours to improve my skills and techniques.

I'm also disappointed that the spattered paint effects that add vitality to the work of Georgina Luck and Emma Dibben, just look messy and grubby in the autumn illustration.  I think they work better in the summer illustration. 


However, I'm pleased that the two illustrations look similar, both in selection of elements and style, and that I have captured something of the freshness and vitality in the illustrative style that I was hoping to achieve.

part 2: ideas: meanings in imagery: visual metaphors

A metaphor draws a comparison between two apparently unrelated subjects. 

'A visual metaphor is an image that is imaginative but not literally applicable.  ...  This uses ideas and symbols of communication, illusion, symbolism and expressionism to create the complexity of meanings.'  OCA Level 1 Illustration notes

The course notes give an example of the Pudsey Bear image used by Children in Need.  Pudsey Bear is bandaged and suggests injury and care without direct reference to disadvantaged children.

I searched for examples of symbols that have become everyday representations of visual metaphors.

I then selected the phrase 'high achievement' from a given list and created a visual diagram to symbolise the expression.

I took three basic ideas - achieving height, achieving at height and the traditional symbolism of high achievement.

This exercise has shown me how it is possible to create an image that conveys a message with more subtlety and power, by using visual metaphors, than by literal interpretation.

Part 2: ideas - choosing content

The Brief
The requirement for this project was to create a simple portrait of a character from a given text.

The text is from The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes, set in wartime London, 1945, in a bleak room at New Scotland Yard.

The character is an officer who, for 15 years, has controlled the police files that deal with the abduction of 'feeble minded girls'.


First impressions
After reading the text I envisaged the main character as a solid man, possibly 50 years old, maybe older.  Greying hair, tweed jacket.  I saw him sitting at his desk - a serious man.

The room was austere - painted walls and bare floorboards - bleak but functional.  A large desk and office chair, filing cabinets, paperwork, telephone.  Large windows with brown tape across them.


Development through research
I needed to find out what it would have been like in wartime London.

What did the men look like - their clothes and hairstyles?
What was the office like?  How was it furnished?

To get a feel for the era in which the text was set I searched the internet for images to make collages and mood boards.

I added materials like brown paper and brown sticky tape and took rubbings of wooden surfaces to add textural quality.

 
My interpretation

The room - bleak, austere - simply furnished.
Plain brown wooden furniture.  Basic items - a large desk, office chair, lots of filing cabinets.  Plus telephone, typewriter, desk lamp, fountain pen, ink.  Papers.
Light from one side.  Large windows with brown tape giving plenty of light.  On a bright day, the shadows would be deep, on a dull day, the room would be dark.

The character is more complex.
What would he be wearing?
Does he care about his appearance?  Is he clean, is he crumpled?
Is his hair short, kempt, ruffled?
Is he clean-shaven, does he have stubble, a beard?

What is he like?
From the text we know that he is angry.  But I think he is also tortured, sad.

My idea of the character is now of a troubled man, dishevelled, the emotional weight of his work permeating his whole being.

My intention was to show the austere wartime setting by using colour - brown and black - and by including filing cabinets, taped windows and war posters as a backdrop to set the scene.

I wanted to show the desperation and frustration on the face of the character, using deep shadows to accentuate the facial features.

 
Reflection

I'm disappointed with the style of the portrait, as I would like to have captured the illustrative style of the 1940s.

However, I feel that the colours and the depiction of the setting do represent the austerity of both the room and the time in which the text is set.

I also feel that the drawing expresses the angry, tortured and sad characteristics that I wished to convey.