26/10/2013

STUDY TASK 2 - 'What is illustration ?' - Part 1

 Source, present and blog. examples of contemporary Illustration that reflect you rown individual creative interests. Choose 5 criteria from the list below that will guide your selection of work;

  • Use of Media & Method of Production


LIZ CLEMENTS


I really like the method Liz Clements uses to produce her work. She draws the illustrations out by hand using a variety of soft pencils to sketch and harder pencils to line. She then scans the work and adds colour using photoshop. I think it gives the images a very finished, professional feel whilst still retaining that hand-drawn finish.I have been practising this method during our photoshop inductions. 
Although Clements calls herself an illustrator, I am unsure whether or not these pieces really fit my definition of illustration. I don't know what is being said in these pieces nor do they voice Clement's opinion. I could be wrong and this is just my opinion, but I would say these are just nice artwork. 

PETRA DUFKOVA
I love the simplicity in this method. There are very few lines or brush strokes that appear to make up this image but they are all very controlled and flowing. I would really like to try this with some of my work using wet media such as inks or watercolours.

KELLY SMITH

Although I am not quite sure how this image was made, I can guess that it is made up of a few different images all merged in photoshop. I really like the contrast between the monochrome drawing, the textured but surely digital background and the controlled splashes of paint. I think this is a really good example of experimenting with different media within one piece of work. 

JUDITH VAN DEN HOEK
I really like the use of coloured paper/stock in Hoek's work. I think it gives it a depth you cannot achieve with just white paper. I think the media used for this piece is really effective too because its simple, but nicely textured whilst being smooth. This is another use of media that I'd like to try.

ANDRE BERGAMIN
Bergamin used collage/photomontage to create his pieces of work. I really like the concept of taking an image out of context and putting it with others to create a whole new piece. 




  • Coceptual development, sketchbooks development work 


  • Debra McFarlane
    I really like that McFarlane has parts of her sketchbook among her online portfolio. I think it gives an idea of how artists like to work and how it is embedded in their daily routine. I love her sketches of people on the tube (pictured above) and I think it's a really great way of practicing human proportion, expressions etc. 

    Ping Zhu
    Since being shown Ping Zhu's work, I have fallen in love with her sketchbooks. Not all of the pages are covered from top to bottom, often they are quite simple. But they show exploration with line and shape. They are clearly a continuous thing, which I find inspiring and aim to do myself. 

    Joao Ruas
    I love the amount of consideration and time you can tell has gone into these pages of this sketchbook. The colours are very loose but still considered. The lines are confident and continuous whilst still being loose and sketchy. Although this is probably only an idea/concept that Ruas has thrown onto paper, I think it still works as an unpolished piece of work.

    Andrea Joseph
    When I came across Jospeh's sketchbooks, I instantly fell in love with the mish mash of text and images. The whole page looks personal to her and is crammed with ideas, thoughts and even memories. I love that the whole page has been filled - it gives a sense of continuous thinking and idea processing that isn't just through image. 

    Jorge Mascarenhas
    I think these two pages of this sketchbook are quite expressive. The overall feel is quite sad but it's still capturing and interesting to read. The images and the text form a narrative which aids the illustrator in portraying a particular feeling/mood. I think this is a nice touch for a piece of sketchbook work and makes it a little more personal. 


    • Humour





    I selected all of these images for this category because I think they're all effective in communicating a joke. They're all pretty simple drawings - cartoon style, simple lines a little shading and small amounts of text. Most of the text is short dialogue for the characters and I think because of their simplicity they have a narrative and are relate-able. 
    I think that with humorous illustrations, they have to be kept simple so the humor is instant. 




  • Concept art and visualization.


  • This is a piece of splash art for a game showing one of this characters different skins. This kind of image gives the skin/style context as well as being visually capturing. The composition is clearly well thought out and create a line of sight directing the viewer to the character. 

    A page from Hyrule Historia. A book containing all the different concept art for both characters and landscapes for the game series The Legend of Zelda. As a big fan of this game series and of character design, I found this book really interesting as it gave me a glimpse of the different processes they went through to develop the characters. 

    This is a piece of concept art for the game Bioshock Infinite. It is one of my favorite games and the image above represents the kinds of colours used and the context in which the game takes place in. 

    Concept art for The Last of Us (game). The use of a limited colour palette really helps to create a visual image of this scene. As well as portray the scene, it helps to paint a picture of what kind of relationship these characters have, even during a zombie apocalypse. 

    Concept art for the film Captain America. This piece of work gives a clear representation of the context of the film and symbolism. It is showing Captain america as a symbol of hope and strength for America during a time of war and destruction.



    • Socio / Political Meaning or Message






    • These are all pieces of illustration formed with some kind of opinion on a current political situation. The aim of these is to make the viewer agree or understand that opinion. They are usually caricatures of political leaders of other people in power, degrading them to make them appear stupid. I don't think these are very good examples for this category. I think that politics affect lots of different types of illustrations in some way - I need to look at more contemporary practitioners to inform myself on this. 





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