Part 2 Exericse 9: Using Black and White

 

Firstly, I mind mapped the themes to see which one I preferred, my original idea was journey, I wanted to present the exercise as the journey of a life; specifically, my friends dog Sonny life who passed away and loved his adventures with us. I thought of the deeper meaning of sharing a journey or adventure with an animal like a dog who seem to live in the present and the idea that they are not alive as long as us making it a bit more sentimental. However, when trying to figure out what parts I wanted to make silhouettes and what lines to pronounce it turned out to be a bit difficult thinking how I was going to incorporate both white and black because the picture was so complicated. The other ideas like building I thought maybe a bit too simple to choose and boring shape wise as most are rectangular and symmetrical. Instead, I wanted something a little less strict in shape resulting in me choosing sea referencing a shell with a little bit of uneven shape but still had those distinctive lines to use. Extraordinary was the least inspiring word for me because I could not think for anything physical to draw from.

 

So, picking the theme of sea and used a large shell. I draw out a simple line sketch on a white a3 piece of paper and scanning the original and copy I printed a few negative version as well as some of the original, my first instinct was to cut every line on the shell on the white and black versions, my aim was to overlap them so they would reveal the opposite colour behind. I realised that it did not work as well as I hoped so I cut some segments off completely from the black shell and left the other segments so the empty parts would be filled by the white version underneath.

I then used the rest of the black sheet to create some solid waves filling just under half of the page and did the same technique cutting certain sections of the white shell off to be replaced by the black underneath. With the random cut off pieces and with another black version I used them to place on the original shell in fragments within the lines, so it looked random but a bit neater, I finally then put the final left-over black shell in the corners. I think the contrast between the white and black has given it some dimension and its satisfying to look at the way the lines are overlapped and how I have stuck within the lines with the little random pieces. As I was arranging and experimenting with different ways I though the idea of a clam was fun and added a black circle in between a sort of reflection of the two colours which not only covered the jaggered edges id cut underneath, but it meant I could place a white circle in the centre as if it was a pearl. This pearl I made 3d with a piece of white shell behind it because it added to the dimension id already sort of created with the overlapping of black and white. Although the brief mentioned how no lines should be visible, I wanted the best of both worlds because I felt the original lines were too important to cover fully and because I did create a sort of opposite mirror image that still followed the brief It just meant a little more detail could remain. In addition, I think the harsh black lines and cut outs on the white takes most of the attention away from the thin lines underneath anyway. 

GRPAHIC ILLUSTRATORS

When searching for some illustrators who produce similar work, I found a few….

 

https://99designs.co.uk/profiles/bananodromo

 

Bananodromo Is an illustrator who does black and white negative images like these as well as also using colours and other styles, but she uses the similar technique making the dark colours light and the light colours dark.

 

 

 

https://99designs.co.uk/profiles/konstantinkostenko

Konstantin Kostenko again uses a similar technique to the reverse colours however he uses colour and no colour to create the same effect or two different colours and excluding black and white.

     

https://www.illustrationx.com/artists/LukasBischoff

 

Lukas Bischoff although his portfolio isn’t focused on a negative technique there is a few on his website, he mainly uses white on black.

      

https://www.illustrationx.com/artists/MichaelMantel

Michael Mantel utilizes the white to create negative space to compliment other colours and again uses the same colours just in different orders making for a captivating picture.