Part 3 Exercise 7: Client Visuals

Before I printed off the illustrations I tested resizing out digitally using an axis. looking at how big the pictures would be after being enlarged I printed out 3 different sizes so I could work on A4 and A3.

These are the images I used:

In this exercise I used quite detailed illustrations. Both I consider to be observational, I firstly measures the height and width of both and started by just doubling the size before the doing a version that was 2 and a half times bigger than the original. Each time I tried to take more and more details out the harder it was to not get carried away with adding the tones, shadows, and such. I did three versions of each some bigger the others and some with more line work too. For the smaller visuals I used A4 whereas the 2 and a half times larger visuals would just about fit on the A3. Luckily, I printed 3 different sizes off and worked from there cause the originals would have been too big to fit onto the biggest piece of paper I had which was the A3. These tweaks I made didn’t affect the exercise at all because I still got the just and tried it out a few times. When doing this exercise my instincts told me to finish the details of the line drawing so when I stuck to just lessening the amount of lines and details it was good to see how an absent of important lines weren’t necessary in communicating the image after all if the basic shapes and composition/proportion of things the illustration could be understood.

 

^ This one was on an A3 piece of paper. I wanted to try it again to see if anymore lines could be removed, so I did it a few more times.

This is the A4 visuals, I did 2 and a half times larger when I measured them but did variations of just doubling the image size or even halfing up the image size so they all differ in size.

The first attempt I used heavier lines and more detail just to get the proportions and a clearer image. Me next two had a lot more gaps and softer lines in them, there was less detail on the buildings and less accurate shapes of things like windows. The people in the picture I experimented with, creating a harsher outline to form layers so it wasn’t as flat picture and things remained relatively clear. The final version was very abstract, again a lot more gaps in the lines and even more emptier shapes within the buildings. The proportions were still easy to understand yet a lot less detail was needed. 

Evaluation

I feel that visuals I have created for the workers with the buildings in the back illustration is very true to the original. Even the one with the least amount of line work and detail communicates the image well, it has obvious shapes such as the rectangular buildings and the smaller rectangles for the small number of windows. I do think it was necessary to keep the shape of the people because without them the picture would look a bit more incomplete. I also kept the full shape of the clock as it more of a centre piece and again there would just be a random circle in the middle. If snippets of objects can be seen within the image there is no need for full detail, such as the boxes on the cart not all of them needed to be drawn to understand there was a pile. Same with the windows on the buildings there wasn’t a need for precise separations of buildings just short lines were enough of an indication as to where and what they were. As for the more detailed visuals, the heavier line usage created more perspective in terms of what was in the foreground and background and the way the street was angled.

 

Similarly to the first image I added a lot of lines and made things abit bolder to get the feel of the shapes and where I thought lines needed to be darker.

 Another verison done on A3. Still needed to removed a lot of details but the shapes were a little hard to understand without those distingushing lines.

These last two were done on A4 only doubling the size.

Overally, the fruit illustration was a lot more effort in regards to trying to lessen the number of lines and detail as the shapes alone didn’t really show what the image was. Similarly, to the other visual I tried to remove fuller lines and left gaps throughout. The use of softer and harder lines made a difference in the sense there is a lot more to look at when there were bolder lines. The final try I got a lot more fluid and focused less on trying to get the proportion and sharpness of the produce and more on the general shape and important parts like where the fruit overlapped or ended.

Evaluation

The visuals for my fruit illustration I found to be a lot more difficult to remove some details because they were so clustered together and overlapping. If there were no strong lines established, I don’t think you would understand what type of fruits I was portraying through just the arrangement alone or the full shape of the collection. My earliest visual I feel is a bit to obvious and detailed to be a visual, I got a bit carried away with the shadows resulting in what looks more like a final piece before the colour and details are added rather than visuals from ma planning stage. Each try I lost a bit more detail and focused on singular lines without a mixture of soft and heavy line work. The final visual I feel would reflect the vague simple illustration given to an artist. It contains all the shapes in their positions and it’s a quick sketch that the artist can add their own style, colour, details, and it is like a visual brief which also gives the artist a clearer idea of what a client wants without having to guess the composition and all other elements.

 

 Art Direction examples

After trying out this exercise my self and learning about art direction and what the process might be for illustrators following a brief, I found some packaging, magazine and articals were I have analysed how they created such illustration and what the possible brief or visuals were from a client. I have annotated the following illustrations in relation the possible  brief being set and how the artist intepreted it.

 

LAURA WOOD

https://laurawoodillustration.com/Editorial-Work

A commision for Nature and health magazine.

The article was about Natural Pain relief and medicines.

 

 

 I imagine that the brief was for the artist to include natural forms of medicine as well as bottles in which pills and such are kept it as it relates to the article about 'Natural pain relief'. I think an emphasis on nature using light colours may have been asked of the artist. There seems to be a trend on both pages where the colours scheme is the same and it all fits the 'natural' aspects of the article. I made a small sketch/visual of what I think the composition and background would be. It looks like a simple layout with no writing on the illustration page and a focus on where the drawing would go which is right in the centre. The details of this picture were to highlight the natural side of medicine hence the overgrown flowers; and because coloured make not only the page more attractive, but the drawn plants behave like they would naturally. In addition, the cross on the medicine bottle is a universal sign for health and medicines which I think helps the reader associate the article with the relevant illustration.

 

Consider illustration in context to publishing or advertising or editorial or packaging design for example. Choose a few examples and analyse them, strip them back to the core composition and layout to establish what the brief may have been from art director to illustrator.

Gillian Blease

https://thebrightgroup.createsend.com/campaigns/reports/viewCampaign.aspx?d=d&c=95837CDB68FDE725&ID=10329AEBA94357892540EF23F30FEDED&temp=False&tx=0&source=Report

https://thebrightagency.com/uk/illustration/artists/gillian-blease?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BI%20Clients%20-%20World%20Chocolate%20Day&utm_content=BI%20Clients%20-%20World%20Chocolate%20Day+CID_e53acecc5185b6744eb763f1cc9ec47c&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=View%20Gillians%20Portfolio

commisioned for World chocolate day to do chocolate packaging.

 

 

Gillian Blease created packaging designs for a chocolate company. Out of the three illustration I think these are the most graphic design- esc, her illustrations for the middle are more based and shapes and symmetry as well as block colours. They're all clean design very minimalistic, the main design is very logo like too. I like the simplicity of these designs as they are aesthetically pleasing to look, and each flavour of chocolate is represented well through the little illustrations. It tells you the flavour before even needing to read the text underneath which because of the minimal design isn’t very big. The use of colours is also quite appetising which is good when promoting food. I thought about the brief and stripped down the designs to get a sense of the art direction and the layout was quite straight forward, I think the brief to Blease was to make something that would get straight to the point, a minimal design with a small indicator of the flavour and then test to match. These designs make the company seem a lot more established and suggests professionalism.

 

 

Doug Chayka

 
 https://dougchayka.com/Popping-the-Pandemic

 Illustrated the front cover of the University of Utah magazine.

 

Finally, Doug's illustration was the most creative. I think the client brief was to relate to the current pandemic and making it a bit more modern for the younger student audience. The emoji for the balloon reflects relevant feeling today and again is relatable to readers as most people use phones. the bright yellow and red stand out and its affective when needing to attract attention especially cause the topic is serious. the little title 'popping the pandemic' the balloon and needle were aa perfect way to display the text. It’s a witty front cover that I think would make more people interested as it is a quirky image. This illustration looks a lot more digital and realistic then the others again I feel this makes it more relatable. There is a contrast between the two types of yellows, the balloon is a warmer tone whilst the background is colder, I feel using the same yellow for background and illustration can sometimes clash or leave the image looking unclear and ugly. But he’s managed to use such shades that they merge well together and are separated even more through the blue, red and brown elsewhere. This brief may have been a lot more open to interpretation and creative freedom. It's possible the art director could have asked for a modern relatable concept to make a younger audience aware of the current pandemic issues, the needle, emoji are evidence of this, and the 'popping' is presented in the literal sense. When stripping this one down I think the illustration would be the focus and the text and university logo were to be placed around where they could be easily read but for the logo just to give it a bit of dimension with the overlapping.