Assignment 3: Illustrative people and places and reflection

For Assingment 3 All the work I have done in this part such as visual research, observation drawings,sketchbook development are all being brought together. The first part is about going back to a route i have studied and collect information photgraphing and drawing figures and what they are doing. location and other things. The goal is to gather info as quicky as possible or as much as possible adding notes or anything to symbolise whats trying to be presented.

 For the assignment the previous exercises and research tasks will be helpful as they’ve given me the opportunity to visually explore places and people. I have draw from photographs and a lot from observation before developing some into new versions of a sketch. I am now going to apply all these experiments to create a narrative using a few of my visual research sketches I have drawn for this assignment.

1. Visual Research

 So, heading back to the city centre I drew mainly people, buildings as well as describing the context or what I heard or thought when filling the pages. I tried to be free with my shapes and lines when drawing figures because they were moving so fast so I couldn’t collect the detail fast enough. I don’t really like any of these pages I did because I don’t like how messy and random, they are but I suppose it’s the process and it might inspire some feelings or visuals when creating the narrative.

 

These first ones I did whilst walking through the shopping centre; which was quite hard but quite fun as I had to rely a but on my memory of me just walking past the people.

This page is just a collection of buildings and random objects and the odd figure.

The man on the bench on this page I was sneakly trying to draw while waiting for my mum to come out of teh shop, I think towards the end he started to clock on luckly my mum came back so I left. There is more of the work side of town on this page things with a purpose. (caretaker, donut seller, radio tower)

Town was busy so I just randomaly picked out things from the envrionment even my own shoe.

 Another collection of people.

 

Which drawings you see as a pieces of visual notation.

I see the man sitting on the bench as a notation as its quite self-explanatory due to the fact he is sitting on a bench reading the paper. I think the small shot of the man in the donut van is also notation, the use of the word donuts definitely gives the context as to why he’s in a little square.

Which drawings you see as possible pieces or reportage as they already exist.

The telephone box as it’s a well-known object and it has a purpose. The horse head from the carousel I feel acts like a reportage because it’s a stationary feature in the shopping centre and it too has a purpose. I think the homeless man could represent a cause in some way as a reportage drawing, it captures the rawness of the moment as he sits there knowing he is homeless because hes sitting on his bag in dirty clothes outside a store.

Which drawings you would like to build upon further in your studio.

I would maybe like to build up on the carousel horse head as I could make it so much more fun, I can add colour, details and build a little story about what it does. The first sketch I did of a religious Christian man preaching about the word of God may be a good image to narrate, I could stylise the drawing and change it to something like a holy painting or make him into a comic. I could maybe develop a sketch in which I’ve drawn a group or friends next to each other as a way to encourage others to reach out to their friends or promote being social.

 

The second part is to give a narractive to the drawings I have done in part one, using SCAMPER to create a new drawing. 

One of these to be choosen:

• Poster to promote event or activity
• Editorial illustration for magazine or news paper desricbing event or location
• Historical piece in textbook for children relevant to the location.
  

2.Developing a narrative

I brainstormed some words around the drawings coming up with....

Walk, Talk, hot, sweet, donut, alone, homeless, old, city, busy, people, everyday, company.

I think for the narrative I wanted to be promoting and activity such as 'walking more' or 'talking to people' drawing somehting that brings a sense of community. I had drawn a lot of people talking more then anything else so I decided that having a poster in the relm of wellbeing or mental health could be to 'Talk to someone' or 'Keep talking' Maybe that iamge could be accompanied by a phone number to talk to someone if your feeling lonely or to promote being more social rather then living on your phones like a lot do this day and age.

I then had a look at some of the artists who do visual journals to see if I could do my on version in their style and what I could add. Scamper was used too help me make my decisions to.

Bryce Wymer and Myfawnys styles intruiged me the most. I love the detail of myfawny and how her pages are so full of information, drawing and colours and I've alwyas liked drawings that have been outlined in black and having a full story to read, maybe reading what the artist was thinking drawing it too. I do also like comic book layouts.

 Bryce Wymers style I think I realte to a bit due to the fact my style is weird cartoon and he does this but with a almost cleaner approah through the shapes and minimalistic colour palette. I also like how both pages of the sketchbook is one drawing. like these.. Finally the reason for picking him is that I enjoy using acrylic which he features in his pages.

 Another artists I thought Id give a go is Margaret Huber, Her drawings would be perfect for the words like alone, walk, lonely... theres a creepiness about the blobby style of it and I love that. Hving a drawing of a girl walking her dog I thpought would be a good idea to play around with the shapes and littel facial expressions I could give each.

So I just did a quick 2 digital page layouts in Wymers style and a random colour palette becasue I dint have my sketchbook with me but when I did use my skecthbook I did 4 plans of the drawing I wanted to use and colours.

 

Thinking of scamper I wanted to make some of the image come off the page just to stick with that interactive/pop up theme. I think a bit of collage tojust gives the pages some variety. Combine is the word I thought of when adding each illustration to the page, modifying by following an artist style and substitue for the possible collage windows dotted about the page.

Sketch before painting.....

I wasnt going to do a full two pages I was just going to use one page but I was to impulsive to leave and I just wanted the page to be fully coloured and finished.

My inspiration for this assignment piece was the work of Bryce Wymer, I love his strange colourful and minimalistic type work. I tried to incorporate the shapes and feature of the faces Bryce uses into my own version as well as finding a similar colour palette or using block colours.

I looked at some of his more colourful art and picked a few out that I liked the colours and composition of..

 

 

Not only is it in the style of Wymer but I added some black window cut outs to respresent the building around town and the opening telephone box which was a skecth and inside it says the words I was communicating whcih was mainly 'TALK', I thought conversation and company related to what ive drawn too. on the page I have taken some of the sketches where people are talking or together and used them all on the page.I also included the radio city tower which comes of the page (from a previous exercise) it fitted the communication theme and the loaction and building elements of the city. i also made the lady on the rights hair come off the page too just to add a bit of fun. The use of the brick pattern was inspired by Bryce too. Final touches I added little figures about the page because I had sketched the crowd in my visual research.

For the Narrative the quote I felt fit best was 'Talk to someone' I think the colourful and friendly look of the 'poster' is that it would be easier to approach if someone were to read it. I also thing having a little mental health quote or statistic or fact to compliment the theme would work well to; also having a number and website is clear and the 'need to talk?' is casual. This style I think would be good for anyone although I could see younger adults taking more notice to as it's vibrant and quirky and a bit modern. It may be intruiging enough for older people again because of the colour and a funky design. It keeps the message light hearted. The whole purpose of the poster would be to tell people that they're not alone an to encourage conversation to friends and family or someone on the phone through a help line or soemthing a long those lines. I was'nt intially thinking that the narrative would be so deep but I really like the mood of the pages it really I feel communicated 'Talk' in a not so serious way. Its approachable.

Poster example

3. Reflection

This section looked at how the sketchbook can be used as a way of documenting the world that we live in, as well as being a form of visual research that can feed narrative ideas for illustration. In your reflective statement consider some of these areas.

 • What were the main challenges you overcame when drawing in public places?

I fin the experience quite awkward when drawing people rather than building or inanimate objects, I just feel a bit intrusive sitting there drawing someone who doesn’t know they’re being drawn. I haven’t exactly overcame this, but I think I have got a tiny bit more comfortable knowing what to expect each time I’ve been. It also helps when drawing people fast cause if anyone were to see it wouldn’t resemble them as much. Another challenge was trying to draw people as they were moving, it was so hard to figure out the shapes and features fast enough, but I think those exercises in which I drew figures and crowds the use of perspective and size of the figures made it a lot more  recognisable as a scene and the I adapted the shapes of the figures to just a head and shoulders before building around with other things to make the person. Continual line worked well in public.

 

• Has drawing in your sketchbook altered the way you think about how you use photography to document or record? The angles and the amount of a scene I consider how it would look on a page and whether it have the same effect as a photograph. Using a sketchbook also means I can write down extra details and thoughts or context which may lack compared to a taken photo. When taking a picture to I consider how much of or the detail of something would translate on a page.

 • What materials suited you best when you were working on location?

Pens, fine liners and pencil is the best I have found. They are the quickest and least hassle or mess to work with and the pencil can be easily rubbed out. These tools as well as a small sketchbook is good for keeping in a mini backpack or pouch rather then a huge sketchbook with paints and brushes and pots to carry. Considering I feel a bit awkward when drawing in public to it draws less attention then if I used paints or charcoal, so these are perfect to whip out and put away quick.

• Do you see your drawings as standalone drawings, or would you prefer to develop them in a studio situation? I think each have they’re own way of presenting something, sketching is good for being quick or practicing and experiments which is necessary when developing your skills but then I do prefer to see finished version of drawings if I feel I could make them better or a really interesting place or thing that I just want to perfect or add to. Spending a longer time also feels like you’ve accomplished something cause of all the work you’ve put into it from its sketch form.

 • How will you use your sketchbook drawings to lead to other ideas?

The things I use like the snippets of drawings, cut outs and odd little bits like collage or stick ins are good for thinking of new ways I could showcase things on the page, I collect random tickets, magazine pages, packaging ect so when I need ideas, I can be creative and combined drawn and physical materials. Planning and experimentation always open up new avenues for me. The style colours and techniques can all be good in deciding on new ideas. Finally, the pages and styles can be influenced by artist research too so there are plenty of ideas that aren’t just mine.

 • Do you prefer working fast or slow? How will you use these approaches in future work?

I like fast drawing for documenting things quickly or experimenting with new techniques, however I find I like seeing a drawing more or less finished, I like having the full effect. realistically I feel the faster ones make it seem like I’m worse at drawing then I am. Sometimes it stresses me out when the drawings don’t look like what I see but with the slower drawings I can really focus on capturing everything. I will definitely carry on using both because they each have a purpose and not everything need to be perfect, I would like to be able to keep my mistakes as mistakes and not try to fix everything or remove it because I don’t like it.

• Are there qualities in the way you doodle that you can bring into your ideas within future work?

The assignment has inspire me a bit to maybe use a similar style to some other artists but using my own cartoons, I think artist research will give me some styles to experiment and I can again use my cartoons and style of drawing to create a whole new array of art. My doodles will also help me when trying to fill spaces when I don’t want empty pages.