ASS3 - Project 2 - Hierarchy in the Image

Reading An Image

List the content of the picture – breaking the image into its constituent parts

Dragon sleeping

Cave

Treasure being guarded

Armour

Two children

Answer the following questions: 

What the image is about. What is it saying? 

This illustration is about a dragon who is guarding lots of treasure. The armour indicates a lot of knights who have attempted to steal it. There are two children at the entrance of the cave with a fire torch. This suggests that they were investigating and have found where all the knights have disappeared too.

Work out the narrative and identify the story. 

I think the narrative would be something like:

The two children crept in where the loud snoring noises were coming from and discovered a mighty dragon. He was bright read and guarded treasure. They were really frightened but discovered that this is who they had been searching for all along ..... the answer to why all the knights had disappeared from the castle.

Describe the palette and tonal range which has been used. Note if the colours are hot or cold, whether the elements are detailed or textural, and where these approaches are used. 

The dragon is red. this suggest to me heat and more like he is a fire breathing dragon. This is also confirms my theory by the fire torch there is a red orange glow from it reflecting on the wall of the cave to show heat. The dragon has a texture of smooth and scaly to show his skin.

The rest of the cave is blue/grey to show cold and dampness, a typical cave. texture of the ceiling of the cave is bumpy and the mud looks as though its flowing downward to show dampness in the cave.

The ground texture is very bumpy and the armour is a green/grey to show there steel attributes.

Is there any connection between hot colour and the importance of the element in telling the story?

Yes because it reflects a typical dragon that breathes fir. The Knights have been killed this is indicated by the armour near the front of the cave. 

Begin to identify the hierarchy within the image. Which are the most important elements in terms of carrying the narrative or conveying the ideas and how have these been treated? 

In Importance order:

The two children entering the cave discovering the dragon

The dragon protecting the treasure sleeping

The treasure

The armour

The Cave

   By looking at the image and my importance list my top two the children and the dragon have the brightest colour which is the red (red dragon and red fire torch reflecting on cave) this makes the view automatically drawn to these areas of the illustration the next boldest colour is yellow the treasure which is my 3rd in my order and then the armour and then the cave. It makes the viewer look at the image how you want them to see it and what part of it you what them to look at fist. The illustration tells the story in its self helped with the text. Its is good to keep in mind when doing illustrations to identify what you want as the most important part and make it stand out in your illustration. 

ASS3- Project 1 - Composition and View Point

Illustration Visual Space

For this exercise I have chosen the 3 following silhouettes, I just wanted to keep it simple to understand the task more.

     I am now going to print all different sizes and cut them out and see what images I can created when they are together. I have now made some images I had fun with and will scan them in to thew PC.....

Above I did a collage to show the size of the items shrink the further away they get.

     Above I have put the items in a straight line and the horizon line above. I think this creates a scene where the castle is in a low valley area

      Above - I have put the young boy walking out of the castle to try and get a normal composition. I feel my boy is far to big as need to be shrunk further here. 

    Here above I have done an horizontal line and this shows a steep hill with the castle on and the boy running down. I added the tree to the left larger to grasp that the boy and castle are in the background.

     For the next few I had the most fun with, when I got my creativity flowing. I decided to merge some of the items together:

     Above the boy is kicking him self as though hes a football and I just decided to put the tree on his head. I think the tree on his head makes him looked balanced somewhat. I put the horizon like at the bottom to represent a grassy field that the boy is running about on. 

      Above I decided to used the castle on the boys head as a crown. Now he is the king of the castle. I really like how I come up with ideas when I play around with items. 

       Finally above I wanted to use the tree and I can up with Pinocchio . The boy had told a few lies. it it a really good play with the tree on his nose and I think my idea came out well.

After testing the above out I decided to give a landscape another go....

I did a path leading to the castle and the boy coming in to the picture on the right at an angle. I think this gives good sense of movement as though the boy is running towards the castle.

How does your sense of the image and its meaning change when the figure is smaller than the other elements? 

Yes it changes every time if the box is bigger then the castle he is seen in the illustration to be a giant. I t he is in proportion of the castle he is of normal size and if hes smaller the world around him is giant. It changes the main element on the illustration depending on the size of its surroundings.

If the elements are at differing angles to each other and at an angle to the frame, what dynamic is suggested? 

It represents movement in a illustration. The horizon lines at an angle stat a hill climb or a sharp fall. 

If the items are at an angle it suggests that item moving such as the boy if he is tilts slightly it gives you a sense that he is actually running.  

 If all the elements are completely horizontal and vertical in relation to the frame what dynamic is suggested? 

if all things in an illustration are horizontal it gives a sense of order and balance with in the illustration. I t gives a strong scene.

What is your opinion about this image and what sensation does it communicate? 

This type of illustration suggests a balance sometimes symmetry. it is calm and relaxing and produces a strong image. 

Which is your favourite composition? Explain why you feel it is most successful?

I have two the first one is the last one I did with the pathway to the castle. I like how the boy looks as though were just about to watch him run to the castle. I like how I duplicated the trees to make a small forest and how I put the castle white and in the centre to create my main focal point.

I also liked my little experiments I did with the crown on the boys head and Pinocchio. It just made me realise to play around and use my imagination to create some thing quite fun. 

Some good examples on the internet I found:

Update on my illustrations

   Whilst I finished assignment 2, I did some more 3D Illustrations. I did these using paper and cutting various shapes out to create animals. I used double sticky tabs to create layers and to help create textures. With the birds I used feathers to make the illustrations more interesting and cool to look at.

Above - Love birds

Above - Pink Hedgehog

Above Owl Hoot Hoot

I am really enjoying creating these and think my style shows well here,

     I was lucky enough to show them to a guy who runs the DDA Art Gallery in Walsall and my three illustrations are currently in there for the public to see. I was so excited and happy that people could view my work. So I got to watch this space and see what comes from it.

     Here below is another 3D style I did of a panda. I tried to come up with a quicker way to do reprints in case any body wanted one so I sketched out my idea first then did the shapes to make the 3D areas and then printed it out on to blue paper. I then added white areas with a Posca pen. So now I have my template ready. I am going to try and do this with others as I go along.

Some other work I have recently done below with Posca pens and just having some fun experimenting.

I now have a Instagram and a website:

http://www.gemmaleesillustration.co.uk/

ASS2 - Feedback From Tutor

Feedback From Tutor

      I had my tutor report back a few weeks ago but I have been to Malta for a week holiday which was nice to be surrounded in so much history and get a breath of fresh air from my busy year. I got to relax little and got mentally organised to know now what my next moves are in my rise within my art career.

    My tutors feedback was great and I really happy with it. I felt proud that my tutor has seen my illustrations all of a sudden become more of my own style due to getting out and about and meeting fellow artists.

Good Points

    My tutor liked my work in the painting and drawing exercise and felt I was really creative with expressing ideas with a simple object. She saw this again in my paint brush art I did.

Judy also pointed out how well I have been gathering images and items for research towards projects that I am doing.

    She asked me if the places I have been to have helped? I really think they have, I have met other artists and felt really inspired. I have come to realise not to be scared with my ideas there will always be someone who likes my work. I just need to be true to myself in my art and hopefully this will show my love of creating through my work. 

    Shes also liked my 3D bird illustration, which I think I had a bit of a breakthrough and I agree with her to test out when putting it in to Photoshop and also changing it in to black ant white, which is actually was something I enjoyed doing.

For my final assignment I got some great feedback. My research was good and she can see I had so much fun with creating the pumpkin illustration. I agree with her in regards to my pineapple illustration that it does not have the same 'Gemma' vibe to it. I wanted to try out watercolour paints and then edit it in Photoshop, but perhaps I should of tested on something else and just did two 3d illustrations.

I did to a 3D Pineapple at the end for a children's idea to just try and make up for the first pineapple attempt. Judy said to try it again and I will do when I have time and redo it for that assignment so I have a matching pair.

Things to think about

    I really like Judy's feed back because I really can see she as looked at my work and the things she has pointed out for room for improvement are so true to me to.

    The main one to me is my perspective drawing. I know myself this is some what of a weakness and never really sussed it out. I need to improve on my perspective. Especially if I want to do children's books etc as I will need to draw rooms and landscapes for my character to be within.  I am going to refresh on this within the next few weeks and keep practising to help me improve.

     My tutor also pointed out on my 1950 illustration about my image was not as good as it could of been. Being honest I was not all that keen with doing an illustration with in a room 1950 style. This may of been due to knowing my perspective skills are not that great. Also I was not too keen on the task. I enjoyed the research part but I think my heart was not in this one really it didn't excite my style to create some thing great. This is also some what true about the choosing content illustration but this time I enjoyed the theme. However I used Photoshop to experiment with drawing my person but I forgot to create a scene to set the mood. As It was my first go it took me a while with creating the person but hopefully with practise I will get better at using Photoshop. 

     She also pointed out to go further into spider diagrams and take it to another level which by her explanation I can understand. it does make sense and it will help to get more ideas.

     My umbrella illustration got some good feed back but yet again Judy is great and notices how I had to squeeze the end on my umbrella on to my page. Yes it was frustrating I didn't realise till I was half way through doing it so I ended up just carrying on with it. I will pre think about my composition on my paper before I apply it next time. 

   Finally mentioned that she would like to see more drawing in my sketch book which I will give a go to create more illustrations, even if they are quick ones to help me improve. 

Research

Judy mentioned that my black and white image of the viper fish should of just been black and white and not used tones of grey to get a good effect. She has directed me to look at Geoff Grandfield and  another OCA student, Karen Loz:

Geoff Grandfield

Images below from http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk/

I can see by looking at his work his black and white areas are very crisp and clear and make good dramatic scenes. I can see now that I should of kept it more simple and created a dramatic black and white illustration.

I had a look at Karens Loz attempt and I can see now how I should of attempted this task.  Her attempt is really good and she has thought about a scene which would work well (a nighttime sky). This is her link to see her attempt: https://karen-loz.com/2015/08/exercise-using-black-and-white/

  Judy has also gave me some useful books to help, even a perspective one! which I am going to get to help me.

Thanks for your feed back Judy! :)

Ready for Assignment 3

  Now after recapping and knowing which things to improve and what to carry on with I am now ready to move to the next assignments. I am looking forward to see where the next few weeks takes me.

Ass2 - Final - Point Of Sale Display

Assignment final - point of sale

    I have previously read this assignment about two weeks ago to help me think about it and prepare.

Here is the brief:

   To create images which will be used within a campaign for a supermarket, to package and
promote a range of seasonal foods.

   The supermarket is respected for the quality of food they supply. They want to promote this
notion of quality in their design and packaging.

   The finished images will be a‘point of sale’ display sited in a store near to the fruit and
vegetables. The final reproduction size will be 12 x 12 inches. Your artwork can be same size
or in scale.

Research

    Below I have highlighted the words I felt were important from the brief. I then also did spider diagrams for the words: Summer, Autumn and Fruit and vegetables. 

     To get a visual memory from the words and what they mean to me, I did quick sketches of things that I relate to Summer and Autumn.

   I discovered that I think that certain fruits and vegetables remind me of each season. Summer reminds me of fresh delicious juicy fruit. Autumn reminds me of pumpkins for Halloween and harvest time for farmers, so a lot of vegetables and corn. 

     I also noticed that Summer reminds me of holidays and enjoying the sun. Autumn reminds me of wind and the beautiful colours the leaves change.

    Colour's I think of when I think about summer are blue, yellow, pink and orange. For autumn they are green, orange, brown and yellow.

    Next I am now going to research Summer and Autumn on the Internet and look at images I can find that I feel best suit each season. I hope this will also help me to choose fruits or vegetables for each illustration.

Summer

    I noticed with Summer food images and illustrations, that people use watercolour's to emphasise the fresh and juicy fruits . This helps to  advertise eating something that will help in the heat. Also it made me realized that some fruits are seasonal such as Strawberries. I liked the idea of Pineapples and Watermelons to me they remind me of being on holiday and summer time. Vegetables for Summer I would think of Cucumbers and Salads.

Autumn

     Autumn food illustrations instantly remind me of the season which is because of the colours. Orange is very popular, which does not surprised me as it is found a lot in the season such as leaves, carrots and pumpkins. I realized harvest time was popular and advertisements of soup were also at large to advertise vegetables to warm you up in the colder weather. The most popular fruit and vegetables were pumpkins, apples and carrots.

Decision of what fruit and vegetables I want to illustrate

   For Summer I have decided on Pineapple's, due to they remind me of summer holidays and the fruit pieces are very watery. I think this will be good to advertise and promote at a sale point in a supermarket.

    For Autumn I have chosen Pumpkins. This is because I love Halloween and I always carve a pumpkin. It will be great to do illustration of then with an Autumn theme.

I am now going to research further in to Pineapples and Pumpkins to help give me inspiration.

    As you can see above, I did some research and the two fruits that remind me of each season, they work really well. The main reason is because of the colour schemes and what each product means to Summer and Autumn. I am glad I have chosen these two products and I am going to next create mood boards which will help me towards my illustrations.

Mood Boards

Objective illustration's of my chosen foods. 

I have brought a pine apple and a pumpkin and I am now going to study there form and draw them:

Pineapple:

        I have had a good look at my pineapple and I have sliced it up a few times to get a good idea of textures and  composition. I now feel I am ready to do my objective illustration on my pineapple.

     I really enjoyed drawing this I used dark yellow card to put my illustration on, to help emphasis the fruit. I used different nib fine liners and a white pastel pencil to ad some highlighted areas. I really like my composition and I think this is an accurate illustration of a pineapple.

Pumpkin:

Next up is my pumpkin I have got it in front of me and I am now going to attempt to sketch it out.

    As you can see I have tried to grasp every area of my Pumpkin, I have looked at the seeds and the textures within. I am now going to sketch my final objective illustration.

   Above- My finished illustration is of my pumpkin as a whole. I have again chosen a piece off card, this time is is orange to show the colour I think represents this fruit, I think I have captured it well and I now need to think about my final illustrations to be used for advertising in a supermarket.

Final Ideas

Pineapple - Point of sale

  I have decided I am going to keep the pineapple in the same composition as my objective illustration. I need to remember that I need to do this image to a scale as requested 12 by 12.inches.

    After researching I have decided to try to paint using watercolour's to grasp the sense of juicy and freshness of the fruit. I have also decided that once finished my painting I am going to put it in Photoshop and attempt to create the rest of my image on there by adding some text.

I have sketched my pineapple out on watercolor paper and I am going to begin painting.

Above - Started to paint my Pineapple using yellow tones for the inside of the fruit.

Above - Finished painting the pineapple, but feel I want to used coloring pencils on top to add more depth.

Above - Pineapple after now using coloring pencils. It has added more depth and made some of the colours look brighter.

  Above - I have decided to create a splash water behind the pineapple, to show the customers that this is a juicy fruit which is great for summer. I have painted it blue. I am hoping this will create a mouth watering image to catch customers eye.

Above - My painting now scanned in to my computer.

I am going to look at a back ground colour and text to put on my illustration

I have put it in Photoshop and created an art board which is 12" x 12" to get the correct scale of my image.

I have used the magic wand tool to select my painted area and scaled it down to fit with in the scaled size as requested.

I am now going to play about with colours and font to see what I can create.

Above - I decided on a blue sky background to show the mood of summer. The yellow and greens of the pineapple also create a summer vibe. I played about with some text and I felt the font I chose works well. I used pink here to add to the colours that remind me of summer.

Above - I tried a different blue background but then felt is made the illustration look to bright.

Final Illustration - Point of sale - Pineapple

   This is my final idea, I made the font a bit brighter and put the background back to sky blue. I think this has created a good illustration and I think it is a good advertisement for summer time. 

Pumpkin - Point of sale

Pumpkin idea sketches:

I have done a few sketches and I have decided to go with the Halloween them. to help promote the pumpkins.

Creating - Pumpkin illustration final

For my idea I have decided to attempt this as a 3D Illustration. I did a bird illustration previously and it worked really well and I think this is my style.

Above -  Firstly I cut out the shape of my pumpkin and with a knife cut out the letters. when carving a pumpkin the letter R and O need to still be attached to the side of the pumpkin. You can see that I have done this here.

Above - Once cut out I used a think and thin fine liner to add detail and textures.

   Above -  I then used a white pastel pencil to add highlights to the pumpkin. I also got some yellow paper and stuck that underneath to create a glow from within the pumpkin. I decided that I would use brown card as a background as this reminds me of harvest time and a color of autumn.

Here below is a close ups showing the 3D effect:

  For the background area I now need to create my background Autumn season theme. I am going to make my leaves 3D and draw swirls on the brown paper to create a visual of wind blowing the leaves around.

Leaves templates:

My finished leaves:

  I then stuck them all on to my background and added some more detail to my illustration.

   I used a Ivory Posca pen to go around the pumpkin to make it stand out more and give it a spooky glow.

Here is my final design:

     I think my illustration is a good different idea, I have grasped the season of Autumn as well as advertising a pumpkin with a carving of text in to it.  The colours remind me of Autumn and I think this helps to show quality of the product. The size ended up being an inch longer then it should of been and I may have made a mistake here. I got carried away with the art work not realising the size and by the time I had noticed I had stuck most of it down.  An option to correct this would be to scale it on Photoshop and then edit it and put a boarder around it. 

Added Extra

Mr Cool Pineapple - children advertisement 1 of your 5 a day Summer Theme

     I decided after my pumpkin advertisement I wanted to go back to the pineapple and do an advertisement to promote healthy eating for children Here are photos of my design:

Above - Pineapple body cut out body shape.

Above - Cutouts and detail of the ocean and beach.

Above - My double sided tabs I have been using on the back of the body of the pineapple, to stick it on to the back ground. This created my 3D effect.

      Here above is my final illustration of Mr Cool Pineapple. I think I created a good character and children will take a liking to him. Prehaps for this idea I could do different character of different food to promote to children to eat 1 of your 5 a day.  

Overall of Final for Assignment 2

I think for this final assignment I have been thorougher and from that been able to produce some good work. I think my work would be good to advertise in a supermarket to the seasons and types of products I had to choose from. 

Questions I now need to ask myself from looking at my final illustrations are:

 “Does this look edible and Would I like to eat it?” 

Summer Pineapple -  Yes it does look edible and if the weather was hot on a summers day it would make me want to go and buy one and enjoy the fresh quality of the fruit.

Pumpkin -  no, is does not look edible, but most people buy pumpkins to carve and enjoy watching them glow with different art done on them. I do think is does advertise them well and the quality on there product.

Children Pineapple - Yes for children this does look edible. It looks fun which is also good to capture a child's attention. Yes I would also eat it as I think adults would like this fun illustration too.

Grasping the Brief

     I think I have worked well to the brief. I have show the seasons of Summer and Autumn in my illustrations and shown the quality of there produce by creating good illustrations. I have used colours that represent each season and my produce illustrations do not look mouldy or unappetising. The are pleasing to the eye and a good style to attract attention. The only issue I have is on the pumpkin one I forgot about the size of the illustration. I should of wrote a small check list out to tick off to reminded me about the sizing. 

I am overall happy with my attempt and I feel I put a lot of effort in to it and created some good illustrations here.

My Logo/Signature 3D Illustration

With my 3D illustration style, I created my signature:

     It is my names Gemz, The g and the z are the ears and the E and M are on my characters head. 

  My nick name is Rat and I thought that people close to me will know what I have done here but it is also a good signature for a children illustrator as children can relate to the little cute character.

    Above are some designs I have done as I am setting up a website currently with a portfolio on of some of my latest work.

Overall of Assignment 2

     I have felt this Assignment has let me loosen up a bit and just enjoy experimenting. It has helped me realise there is a process to follow when given a brief and how to research better towards some thing like that. It has also shown me to use a wide variety of tool such as hand making to editing in Photoshop. I am really enjoying this course.

      Whist doing this assignment it has been a busy pack Summer. I have been to a lot of art event and met some good illustrators who have gave me there business cards. I will start to use them with in my research to show some of today's illustrators.

    End of August I went to Cornwall and got to go to ST Ives where a lot of famous artists have been and I can see why. Its really great there to me surrounded with a lot of art and amazing views. This summer has been one of my best for a while. Art is booming at the moment and there are starting to be a lot of things to do, see and just get involved. I am looking forward to start assignment 3 and learn more about illustration.