Location Brief- Revisit

I decided to have a re-visit to my location brief as I felt like it was quite boring. I tried to make it brighter and more exciting then it was previously. I played around highlighting certain things with bright coloured card and added more elements to the composition. 

Editorial Brief GIF

So the next step of the editorial brief was to create a GIF, that could be used on the internet alongside the print edition. One of the key things was that the digital couldn't explain more about the article then the print edition did, from that I decided to change little elements such as having the beaker fill up and changing Napoleons head to the other historical figures in the article.

Dead Famous

We each got given an article from the Financial Times, that we had to create an illustration for. The one I got given was about the decline of autopsies in modern medicine and how scientists spend a lot of their time trying to figure out what killed historical figures. One line which stood out for me was "take a turn playing a kind of scientific parlour game", I then had the idea of doctors sat around playing card games and guessing up how the historical figures died, highlighting how time may be wasted on trivial things rather than advancing modern medicine.

What I'm reading this week??

At the moment I've really been looking at the process of my work and how I get from A to B (from my initial idea to the final piece). I kind of felt as though I might be missing some key steps. The first book is the A-Z of visual ideas, theres a really good section at the front on all the steps you should take when working towards your final piece. It includes looking at research, making sure you know your audience and the subject matter, as this is always important. Its also helped me to look at my thumbnails before I create my set designs and made me realise I need to jot down a lot of my ideas before I just start to make things.

The second book is The Fundamentals of Illustration, this is a book I bought during my first year on the illustration course. Ive been re-reading this lately and it is still very relevant and gives great tips on jotting down your ideas and getting the most out of your briefs, to create a solution that is relevant.

I would definitely recommend getting these books as they provide you with very valuable knowledge you might not find else where. They can really help you look at the process in which you work to see where you might be going wrong, and thats never a bad thing. There an excellent read for when you need a cup of tea break.

Recent Illustrations

These illustrations where created for a brief called Location, where we had to spend quite a bit of time at a certain place in Carlisle. The place I got was Chatsworth Square which is full of lovely old buildings with nice little features on them. I felt as though the buildings by themselves weren't communicating enough so instead I decided to look at people I then began to notice when I took a pictures whilst people where walking they often had really funny poses. This then made me think of the Madonna song "Vouge" especially the lyric "strike a pose there nothing to it", I thought this was quite funny when it was put against the images of the people on the street. 

Trip to Photography

Recently for my new brief I took my set up to Photography to play with the lighting. I think my photo's turned out a lot better this time. I like this set up with the lighting so I might have to do this again. I also had the camera on a tri-pod so it didn't shake giving me a more stable image.  I also borrowed a camera from photography a Nikon D700, so the quality was much better than usual.

The final pieces for Emerald City

More from Emerald City

Recent Studio Brief

The first brief we got at University was to create 50 Illustrations from a colour which we drew from a hat, I got the colour green. Which I was happy with, I like green. The brief was very open so you could do quite a lot with it, this scares me sometimes as their is so many directions you can take. I began thinking about things which are green; nature, trees, vegetables... then I thought about things I like patterns, clothing, fashion. I found some really interesting old editions of vogue from the 1960's in the Library and they really interested me. I went to a charity shop and found old scarfs that reflected that type of style. I had the thought of using these on the projector and using them as backgrounds to my work, but in a way I felt as though there was a narrative missing so the Wizard of Oz came to mind and the Emerald City. Where everything is green, so this became a great source of inspiration for me.

Final versions of menu designs

Belted Burgers

Working on some menu designs for Belted Burgers in Carlisle. I would definitely recommend going, they do very nice food. We designed the Martini board, the Tuesday/Wednesday board and the Burger board. 

New website up and running

So after quite a few weeks I have now got my new website in working order.  I think it reflects my style as an illustrator a lot more than my older one did. I feel as though this year at University my style has developed from using drawing, to using photographs and other tools. So feel free to have a look and don't hesitate to get in contact with me if you would like any illustrations commissioned.  My details are on the contact page of my website.

What I've been up to

I haven't posted for a while as I've been quite busy working on updating my website, as at the minute it doesn't really fit with my illustrations. It's been fun coming up with some new ideas which reflect my style. Heres a sneak peek of whats to come on the new and improved website.

The final version I decided on.