Illustration1

I liked this exercise! It was fun listening to a piece of music to create an abstract drawing.  The music I chose to listen to was a George Gershwin compilation. The image I made (whilst listening to this music) is below: To produce this drawing I used watercolour sticks and pulled the ink out into a wash using a brush.  I then applied coloured ink washes to deepen and enhance the colours in different areas.  I chose watercolour and coloured ink because I felt that this would (somehow) suit the 1930s style/mood of the music. What adjective or word describes the the tone of the piece?   This is a fascinating question because it is entirely subjective, and will probably be skewed on the state of mind of the viewer at the given point of reflection.  Perhaps the interpretation and feelings invoked from abstract art are always transient depending on the current mood/state of mind of the viewer?  For instance, a short while ago I looked at the i...

Exercise details: In this exercise I will be taking an image and trying to focus in on different areas of the image; presenting the image in different ways, and in different aspect formats.   Key questions (from the handbook) : Do some images seem to have more drama because of the way you have cropped them?  Has the focus changed – have you made the original subject of the image seem more or less important? The image that I've chosen to focus on is an Asian street market photo.  I chose this image because it is quite busy and offers potential for a varied range of crops: The 10 (cropped) images: UNFRIENDLY This man stood out in the original picture.  The gaze is rather unfriendly and unwelcoming. The stare and the body language screams, "go away!"  Overall I find this crop - and the resulting image - to be quite powerful.  I like the directness and intensity of the emotion.  I think this would make quite an interesting portrait il...

The content of the image: Ranked in order of what came to my attention/focus: Dragon Cave roof (lit up) People Coins and treasure Throne Larger pile of armour and swords Torch Smaller pile of armour and swords Scattered coins Cave floor Darker parts of cave roof. What is this image about?  Identifying the story... This is a curious image where on the face of things the interpretation is quite straightforward.  The people have come across a dragon who is guarding its treasure in a cave.  However, without the context of the storyline, the interpretation can get a lot more open.  Questions come to mind which can lead to very different interpretations of the narrative of the image, i.e. Are the characters friendly to the dragon?  They look quite friendly and benign. The first person is holding out the hand in a gesture of openness as if saying, "look.. things here are ok really." This is the way that you'd put your hand out to a friendly se...

Thoughts on the exercise During my Drawing 1 module there were many opportunities to consider and research composition. That module provided me with both valuable basic knowledge and reflections on the issues of composing a pleasing artwork. I'm glad that I've now got the opportunity to consider again, and build on previous notes and evaluations. I don't believe that there can ever be an end to the study of effective composition and perspective; I feel that there will always be new knowledge, insights and experience to gain. I'm particularly fascinated with issues about composition, and the more I study and reflect, the more questions and conundrums I seem to have. I strongly believe that effective composition should be as much a source of experimentation, study and ongoing practice as any other aspects of producing images (i.e. mark making, colour, texture, etc). Exploring composition The exercise asked me to take an image of a running child, tree and build and...

After tutor feedback and suggestions after part 2 I've decided to go back to the Visual Metaphor exercise and rework it... - - - Reworking the visual metaphor illustration (Broken Relationship) Original part 2 image below: My tutor felt that my original illustration for the visual metaphor was too "immature" in style; perhaps not powerful enough in conveying a broken relationship.  I agree with this view.  At the time I wrote that I, "wasn't sure what I think of this image."  After a longer period of reflection I think the basic problem is that it just isn't me, my style, and my artistic voice.  It doesn't have my energy.  When I look at it now, it is almost as if someone else produced it.   Yes, I learned things from doing the exercise.  And yes, I enjoyed it.  I think all these level 1 courses are sometimes about striking a balance between experimentation with new techniques/media whilst trying to gain a more-and-more secure f...

Final illustrations: Ideas development: Initial thoughts: Upon reading the assignment it seemed quite a challenging piece of work. I immediately began to visualise so many different types of illustration: from watercolours of fruit and veg, through to all digital artwork.  This work could be taken into so many different directions and styles.  However, the warning in the handbook was very important for me to note, "... be especially conscious of  the way you use colour ... and surface marks – poor choices  can result in food looking mouldy, battered, and ultimately unappetising. ". Whatever, I chose to do, it must be produced in a media that makes for visually appealing food items. The choice of media and drawing surface would make-or-break this piece of work.  I immediately began to think about the bright colours I could achieve with acrylic paints or coloured pencils. After picking over the assignment details, I set myself some success ...