ASS1 - Final - Say Hello

Say Hello

   For assignment 1 this exercise is to create a greeting card for the tutor to understand more about myself and introduce me to her.

   I used to do a lot of greeting cards before I started doing my dergee, so I was quite excited to start this assignment.

    First of all I brainstormed in my sketchbook my ideas such as my favourite things, what I like to do, what I want to aim for in my life and what I enjoy doing most. I then decided on what I want to say in the card, to my tutor. 

 I have just done a few examples of layout of my card:

     I like number 3 the best because it's more an ideal layout for my idea and also it opens up upwards instead of from the right to the left, which gives a different aspect to it then just a normal card. I also have decided that I want to create my card as a pop-up. I want my tutor to open it and be surprised with me standing out of the card.

    When I was younger I remembered about a game called 'who am I?' that I used to play it at school and decided this would be a great idea to put on the front of my card, with illustrations around the question of things I like.

       I am now going to do some sketches of what I want to do and scanner in the computer and work on them to see what I can come up with.

Ive now decided what I really need to do is understand how my popup in my card is going to work. I decided that I wanted my name in there too and in just behind that I want myself. I decided that I needed two tabs on top of each other, to create depth in my popout. I then  looked and decided on the final things I want to share about myself in my card which is: 

• My love of animals
• Going to the cinema
• My friends
• Travel
• Nature and the sun 
• Gaming 
• Disney 
• My fiance
• My pet rabbits

Those are the images that I want on front of the card surrounding the who am I question. I  have been sketching and decided that I wanted the text 'Who am I?' in Cloud forms, just like thinking bubbles. If you look in my sketchbook you can see my cloud layout that I created. I have scanned it into the computer and added colour to it and I added some images I found off the Internet to go in the bubbles.

 I decided that this was wrong because they are someone else's work and not my own so on the next page in my sketchbook you will see again the same clouds, but this time with my illustrations for the items that I wanted people to see on the front of the card:

     I also left two of the clouds blank as I wanted to add photos, one of my friends and one of my fiance. 

    Now I'm happy with what I'm going to do on the front the next part is the inside of the card. I decided that I wanted to illustrate my body and hair but then use a photo of me for my face area, so I am mixing them both together. Also in this area, on the background, I want to put a profile just of certain facts, such as where I live, what I like, what I dislike and my inspirations in life.

       I decided on my message I wanted to give to my tutor and also the background of my card just to add some extra illustrations onto it. I have tonight put all this into the computer and played about with each area to come out with a good design for a card.

As you can see below I have now done my final idea of my card:

 I am now going to print this off and put it together to create my pop-ups who am I greeting card to my tutor

          As you can see I have finished my card I am really happy with the way it has come out and my pop-up works just great. Some issues with the glue, such as causing wrinkles in the paper but I think this is the trouble with creating a pop-up card because you can't just print it, there is some crafting areas for this to be made.

        I think this card definitely hit the assignment 1 objectives which was to introduce me to my tutor. I have also made a unique idea where I am asking who am I on the front with illustrations and photos of things about me and then when you open the card I pop out from it. There are extra facts and a bit of a profile about myself to understand me better and relate to the images on the front of the card.

      I think overall I have created a really good card and a good first assignment in illustration. I don't know much about Photoshop illustration or InDesign, but whilst doing this course I am also training and researching for myself to get to grips with these programs a lot better and understand their abilities more to help me create work and improve on my illustrations. I am looking forward to carrying on with the next part of this course.

ASS1 - Project 1 - The Key Is Communication

Exercise: Getting the gist

    For this exercise I have to look at an article read it, highlight the main words in the article and look over it again. Then take the words I have chosen as my brief, to create an illustration.

      I decided on an article which is to introduce a new Zoo into the area:

   Whilst reading it, it informed me that the animals weren't in cages. It told me about the types of animals that were there and some mishaps about a wallaby in a broken down car and a hornbill that flew away and was flying around the area.

     I decided that an illustration would be quite fun too do towards this brief. I decided that I wanted to make the illustration with the animals and humans in an open area together as there were no cages. 

     Also decided to include as many animals as I could off the list in the article and to add some humour to my illustration such as the Wallaby fixing a broken down car and holding the traffic up that are trying to get into the zoo. I want to put the hornbill flying away and also showing animals just enjoying themselves and relaxing.

    I did a few sketches in my sketchbook as you can see below:

     I decided to create some funny sketches such as a kangaroo playing football, a crocodile drinking a soda, Wallabies flying a kite. This helps giving personalities to the creatures.

      I am now going to do a rough sketch of my illustration and see how it turns out:

      As you can see above, I have done it really quickly and just got in the basics of the figures and animals in my illustration. I am now going to use promarkers and fineliners to create my final illustration I am going to make it quite colourful to capture the humour in the illustration. I just want to have a go at colouring it in by hand rather than the computer.

    Here is my final illustration:

      I think it turned out really well. I feel that I included all the main key points in my illustration from the brief that I chose. I also scaned this image in and sent it to the zoo just to show them and offer my support. They really liked it and said if they ever needed any hand drawn illustrations they will be in touch which I thought was nice.

     I really enjoyed this exercise, I liked that I had a brief to work with and it was exciting to see what I could come up with and create, based on the brief that I had given myself. This really helps in helping you to use your imagination and understand the brief to create an illustration that is appealing and truthful to the text.

 In some spare time

I decided I wanted to have a go at making a poster, I decided I could look at jokes and use them as a brief toward an illustration.

     As you can see I drawed my illustration, scanned it in to the computer and used text and edited the image to create my simple poster. I think it is really funny and I enjoyed giving myself this task. I may try to do some more illustrations for some jokes in the future.

ASS1 - The history of Illustration

History of Illustration

    Out of the 6 illustrators in the exercise to look at, I have decided to investigate E H Shepard's work.

E H Shepard

    E H Shepard is well know for creating the illustrations for Winnie The Pooh and Wind In The Willows. I have had a look on the internet and I can see that he also did more then that:

     He first started off as a painter in 1907 and did illustrations for journals and periodicals. In 1921 he worked at Punch, a magazine and became the top cartoonist in 1945. In the Punch magazine Shepard created political cartoons which were full of literary allusions - with visual references to Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and for novels by Charles Dickens. His love of animals led him to include them as part of his composition wherever possible in his cartoons.

Problems of etiquette for animals

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/animals/problems-etiquette-animals.html

County songs XXV Cumberland

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/topography/britain/county-songs-xxv-cumberland.html

(Due to copyright, I could not get any images from punch magazine. I have got the link of website for reference to his work whilst at Punch: http://punch.photoshelter.com)


     During the first world war Shepard served in France, Belgium and Italy. He got awarded the bravery award and by the end of the war he reached rank of major. Through out the war he continued to draw and illustrate, mainly of life on the front line. From the 1930s and through to the gruelling wartime years of the 1940s, Shepard's humour remained gentle and uplifting.

A watercolour showing the view from Shepard's dugout at the Somme, 1916 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11966866/First-World-War-sketches-by-Winnie-the-Pooh-illustrator-discovered-in-trunk.html

A watercolour of a French biplane that officially had a 'bad landing' but had in fact been shot down by friendly fire. The Somme, 1916

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11966866/First-World-War-sketches-by-Winnie-the-Pooh-illustrator-discovered-in-trunk.html

Self portrait sketched at some point during Shepard's time on the frontline but signed and dated February 5, 1974 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11966866/First-World-War-sketches-by-Winnie-the-Pooh-illustrator-discovered-in-trunk.html

In the trenches: This sketch shows a more senior officer taking recruits through a training exercise 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3296906/Poignant-sketches-Winnie-Pooh-illustrator-E-H-Shepard-World-War-trenches-discovered-trunk-not-opened-100-years.html 

Sense of humour: This cartoon of German soldiers jokingly suggest they are using fatter comrades as trampolines to cross Belgian trenches. Even in the darkness of war, some of his efforts have a humorous bent

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3296906/Poignant-sketches-Winnie-Pooh-illustrator-E-H-Shepard-World-War-trenches-discovered-trunk-not-opened-100-years

     When author AA Milne asked EV Lucas, another member of the Punch table, whom he would recommend to illustrate some children's verse, Lucas named Shepard. But Milne was reluctant to use Shepard, believing he did not have the style he wanted.However, when Milne was finally persuaded to use Shepard in 1924 to illustrate his poems, When We Were Very Young, he was delighted with the result.

Reaching for honey 

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/literary/childrens-literature/reaching-honey.html 

'Nearly eleven o'clock' said Pooh happily 

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/literary/childrens-literature/nearly-eleven-oclock-said-pooh-happily.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3296906/Poignant-sketches-Winnie-Pooh-illustrator-E-H-Shepard-World-War-trenches-discovered-trunk-not-opened-100-years.html

     So when it came to illustrating Winnie the Pooh, Milne insisted that Shepard got the job. Though Milne was always pleased with Shepard's work, the two men were never close. In terms of his inspiration, Shepard's beautiful line drawings of Pooh were not taken from Christopher Robin's bear, but by Growler, the much-loved bear belonging to the artist's son, Graham. his son Graham, serving in the Royal Navy, lost his life when his ship was sunk in the Atlantic.

     Kenneth Grahame published The Wind in the Willows in 1908, it was not until 1931 that his publisher, Methuen, suggested commissioning E.H. Shepard to illustrate the book. Grahame had never been satisfied with previous attempts to capture the spirit of the animals and their world, but he had appreciated Shepard’s drawings for his books The Golden Age and Dream Days, and Shepard came further recommended by A. A. Milne,

     The Shepard illustrations became an immediate classic – Kenneth Grahame’s response on being shown the drawings was, “I’m glad you’ve made them real.” The Wind in the Willows with the iconic Shepard illustrations has been in print and a staple of nurseries, schoolrooms, children’s bedrooms – and adult bookshelves – ever since.

http://www.eh-shepard.com/drawings-illustrations/

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/wind-in-willows.html

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/wind-in-willows.html 

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/wind-in-willows.html 

    On 24 March 1976, Shepard died aged 96 at Midhurst in Sussex. His pencil and pen and ink drawings are now highly regarded and sought after.

Today's Illustrator 

     For my research in to a contemporary illustration I have decided to look at Ronald Kurniawan

      Ronald Kurniawan graduated with honours from Art Center College of Design in California. Inspired by ideograms, syllables, letter forms, beasts and heroic landscapes, Ronald Kurniawan enjoys creating a visual language where the wilderness and civilisation could merge happily together. With the belief that the sublime and nuclear age could coexist, Ronald Kurniawan paints romantic environments and breaks the quiet scene with beasts and creatures.

     His style is abstract . His choice of medium is painting, pencil and digital concept art. In his work his favourite subjects are humour, Action, Adventure, Animals, Celebrities, Character Development, Children's Books, and more. He has work for big companies such as Warner Bros, Disney, and Dream works,

All images below are from: http://www.ronkurniawan.com/

       As you can see in the four images above, he has sketched his own illustrations out, scanned them into his computer and used a computer program such as Photoshop or InDesign to fill in and add colour and texture to the illustration. He uses tools in Photoshop such as a paint brush texture and pencil texture to fill in, which creates a natural effect. Ron make his characters popout from the page with colours that are really bright. His illustrations are fun to look at the sense of harmony . They give you a positive feeling when looking his illustrations. He has used his imagination a lot which I like and the outcome are great illustrations.

     I really like this one it is colourful and he has created some interesting animals

       Above is one of his illustrations that he did for PlayStation. I can relate to this as I do play on my PlayStation. It is bright full of imagination. I like the part where on top of the main creatures head he has turned it into water and there are two people in a canoe boat fighting the Rapids. I also like the turtle top right that is floating through the sky.

     He has produced a lot for advertisements.This one is of a Coca Cola bottle with his imaginative creatures surrounding it, to make it stand out and make the bottle centre of attention. His typography also is worth a mention as he creates some great fonts that stand out and works well within his illustrations.

    I also picked this one as it is really clever. He has used a real boy and creating a scene of a helicopter but the clouds around him looks actually like cardboard or paper in a 3D effect.

Illustration - How it has evolved over the past 50 years.

     By looking at these two illustrators, I can see that they have there own Ideas. The main difference is how vast illustrations have changes within 50 years. I can Compare this to painting which has took 300 years plus more to evolve.

     Technology is a big game changer. Now people can fill in illustrations with colour and texture like never before, they can added photo images and mix them in with illustrations. Using technology also help to create bright colours that help illustration stand out.

     The next thing is the ideas. There is more imagination used now then before this due to people not being afraid to use there own ideas and expressing themselves.

     Comparing Rons illustrations to Shepard now makes Shepard's seem old fashioned. This is because of the style and technique used. Technology has brought illustrating more forward. There are also new mediums to use in hand illustration. Also Shepard's sketches are wonderful but there scratchy and not rendered finely like Rons illustrations again this is due to technology. Shepard's work is also mainly just black and white, which we see less of today, this does influence it looking old fashioned. Shepard used pencil watercolours and inks/pen. Ron uses pencils and software for his illustrations.

     Rons work attracted me because of the great bright and fun visuals he uses. He has done a lot of work for big names. His illustrations are clean cut and fun to look at. There is a lot going on in them, which makes you what to understand his work.

     On this website below people were asking about Ron's technique. I guess they were quite surprised to find Ron actually commented to state what he uses:

http://linesandcolors.com/2008/11/20/ronald-kurniawan/ 

Ronald KurniawanFriday, December 5, 2008 at 10:22 am:
I traditionally paint my letterforms walking through the landscapes, but most of my illustrations are just done through photoshop. I will block in flat colors or gradations for the large shapes then start doing some detail work on the focal point. Sometimes I would scan in textures to overlay the whole image. Preferably painting the piece with acrylic is the way to go, but the deadlines wouldn’t allow me to do so, especially commercials.

I thought this was great to get his own answer to how he does his work.

I am now going to attempt each artists style and to see what I can come up with:

Shepard's Style

For the type of Shepherds illustration I'm going to attempt to do a few animals and just create a simple story in an illustration.

      I have now drawed a few simple illustrations and I decided just to randomly pick some animals. I decided on a raccoon and a cow. I decided I wanted to make the raccoon a robber and obviously the cow as you can see my illustrations is a posh cow. I have roughly sketch out my idea.

     My idea is the raccoon Robber running and stealing the cows handbag and necklace. I have found a quite humorous way and decided to put the cow in a coat made of cow skin. The Robber who is the raccoon does not need a mask as a raccoon already looks like he has one on naturally. Also he has black paws which looks like he has black gloves on. Now I've done a few sketches I want to do my proper illustration:

    I have now finished my final illustration. As you can see it is quite like Shepherds work, with just the black and white sketch. I feel like the outcome was ok. I feel like I messed up the cows hair a little but managed to work on it and it doesn't look so bad now. I suppose this is another issue where nowadays, you can put your image into the computer and if there is any errors you can easily rub them out. I also think that even though this is an old fashioned way to do cartoons, I still enjoy doing it and is a base technique for today's illustrations.

Ron's Style

     Now I am going to have a go at Rons technique I have decided to use an item to advertise. I looked around the house and I decided on a bottle of fairy washing up liquid.

     Then I quickly sketched it out and sketched some creatures out of my head around in the bottle making the Fairy liquid bottle the centre of attention.

     I copied my illustration on my printed and this time just attempted to show shading in the image.

     I have left my illustration black and white and I am now going to put it into the computer and just add some colour maybe a few techniques just to show how today's illustration works.

        As you can see I have now finished the illustration and look how bright it has become using the colours on Photoshop and illustration. I was able to use a gradient technique in the pink background. I also think my Creatures standout and really advertise the bottle of fairy washing up liquid, which is bright yellow in the centre of the illustration. I could have added more detail but at this point I just wanted to show the clear difference from today's illustrations and the past

I have decided from looking at these two illustrators that illustration has evolved immensely over the years. I do think Shepherds way is today's basic starting point in creating an illustration. When we have that base we can edit it, work on it if need to add textures and tones. You can create a bright striking illustration with computers and other technology.

I have always enjoyed drawing and illustrating and I do want to become a children's illustrator for me to do this, I need to really understand Photoshop, illustrator and InDesign to improve my work if that is where I want to be.

Illustration 1 - Introduction and course aims

Hello welcome to my blog for Illustration 1.

I am about to start this exciting course, but thought I should introduce my self and state my aims and what I want to achieve.

A bit of background about myself:

     Since I was a child I have always been in to art. I have always loved drawing animals and creating funny stories with my illustrations.

   When I was 22 I decided to create a children's book, as I thought I had a really good idea. I wrote the story and drew all the characters that I wanted to use.        

  
      When it actually came to putting pictures to my book, I struggled and I just felt my drawings were not up to scratch.  I then looked for courses to do and then came across the OCA and I just knew instantly that I wanted to do a degree. I decided on the the creative arts degree, as it was about multi areas of art.

   So far I have done Drawing 1 and Painting 1. I feel drawing one helped brush up on my drawing and helped me see some bad habits that I had picked up. Painting 1 was a real challenge but I am so glad I did it. I really enjoyed learning how to paint and finding my style in painting.

    Now I have arrived at Illustration 1 and I am really excited to get started. Illustration is definitely what I love to do and now that I have done drawing and painting courses first, I now feel ready to give it a go and see what I am actually capable of.

   My main aim is to become a children's illustrator, I know it's a big market and there is a lot of people trying to follow there dreams too but that has not put me off ....Its what I really want to do. I plan to work hard and make sure I follow one of my life's aims.

Imagine doing something for a living that you just love to do!

So let's get started!.....