Finalising Roughs 1, 3 & 4

Illustration 1

The first quote I am basing this scene on is where Mary starts to enquire about the garden. I liked the imagery of including the robin in this image, who is described as luring Mary towards the wall where the garden is hidden. Composition-wise, I didn't know whether to include Mary looking up at the branch from the side or from above. I think I will start with the one from above (right) as this is more dynamic and interesting to look at.

Illustration 3

I had quite a clear idea of the type of composition I wanted to use when thinking about the portrayal of Lord Craven and the mysterious aura around him within the book. The image on the right I think captures most of what I am aiming for. Of course, as I start to work digitally I will probably change elements of this.

Illustration 4

This one has taken me longer to get to the point where I am happy with the composition. I wanted Dickon to be at the fore front of the image, and to begin with I couldn't work out how to draw him in a way that would keep the image interesting as a whole. I made the tree smaller and the figure bigger which helped this. I am still not completely sure about this one, but I will continue to develop the images as I work in Photoshop.

Tweaking Illustration 2

Composition

I moved things around a bit by moving everything up a bit more. By doing this the quote fits much better in the space and there is more of a balance within the image as a whole. I will probably re-visit this image nearer the end of completing all six as I am sure I will develop the aesthetic and change things as I progress.

Plants Reference

Walking around Leeds I have continued to take pictures of plants/flowers that I think may be useful when drawing from reference. Adding leaves/foliage to the images is quite important, this is one of the main focuses of the book.

Runner Up!

We would like to make your entry a very commendable runner-up. We really enjoyed the wit and the style, and it was a fiercely fought judging!

We are very happy for you to mention on your CV and portfolio that the entry was runner-up.

Congratulations and may we wish you the best of luck in what looks to be a very bright future.

https://uk.pinterest.com/sw255328/aesthetic/

I came runner up! 

I had no expectations to get anywhere in this competition with the craziness of submitting under such a tight time limit, so this is such a great surprise.

First Complete Digital Test - IL2

This is the first more resolved illustration I have for this project so far. I wanted to continue developing my initial test to have an idea of how I might present my final images, as prints and in context of the book.

Digital Brushes

I am really getting into using digital brushes on Photoshop and I am surprised by how easy they are to use! For such a long time I was afraid to try digital media and thought of it as something that was beyond my skill level. The thing I really enjoy within my work is using the texture of the brush within a shape - which also emulates the style of my analog work.

Composition - Inclusion of Text (Quote)

Although the inclusion of text may not be relevant to the layout of the book, as quotes will be on the opposing pages, I really like this layout for prints. I think it gives the image a bit more context and I see something like this hanging in a bedroom. The audience could include people who enjoy narrative/storytelling, fans of literature and/or children.

Page size/Frame

I think including a border around the edge of each illustration may be a way to frame them, I might end up using full bleed images but I will mock up different layouts before printing.

This example is 17 x 24cm - actual image size

19 x 26cm - frame size (includes 1cm bleed)

Things I may change

For this image, I think the colours are okay. But I want to have variations of the colour scheme in relation to the scene I am illustrating, some images will be brighter and other will reflect the darker tones within the book. I also may change the composition slightly by moving the whole thing up, so there's more carpet in the frame than ceiling - I can then fit the text in a bit better.

Submission Entry

Before submission Me, Meg, Erin and Shelly all sat down together to prepare the design boards. Obviously, with Erin on Graphic Design it was best that she took the reigns a bit with this part of the project. This was useful for us, as in Illustration we haven't had to make design boards yet - it was useful to have someone who had experience with this. Also, as we were creating the boards, we realised that having a slogan would be beneficial as an introduction to our campaign, to highlight what it was about. We decided on using the tagline of 'Accessible, Affordable, Alive', using Shelly's handwritten typography alongside my motif design of the royal opera house. Meg also took some photographs of the work in situe, eg. the stickers, as well as some mock ups to show how the campaign would work across locations. Putting it all in one place made me realise how much work we had done by working together, and how each of our skills were combined to create something I definitely wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Books - Waterstones & Fred Aldous

Whilst in town today I popped in to Fred Aldous and Waterstones to see if I could gain some inspiration from the books they have there. I got some ideas for potential applications when I saw colouring books and book marks, as these things would be an easy way to expand a range based on the story of the secret garden. Also, I want to look at more pattern based things as this is something I am considering when thinking about applications on fabric/end pages.

Book Layout Rough

Change of Book Format - Realistic Goals

At first I planned to print off the entire novel, however I now don't think this is necessary. Instead I am going to make a picture book and mock up what the final thing would look like if published as a hard back special edition. I still wanted to bind my own book and design the cover so this seems like the best option for me without going to the trouble of printing around 200 pages, only 6 of which will contain illustrations. By doing this, I can print off multiple copies, I want to give some to my family/friends/etc.

Peer Feedback Session 2

https://uk.pinterest.com/sw255328/aesthetic/

I had a smaller peer feedback group today, it was just me, Megan O and Emma. I didn't have too many questions about my project so far as we are all in the initial stages of roughing, just general things about compositions and how I should eventually approach printing. Meg and Emma helped me to pinpoint roughs I could possibly take forward and think about the spot illustrations and what I could do with them (end pages?) in relation to products - maybe mock ups of bedding and fabric designs.

Chosen Compositions & Quotes

Final 6 Composition Ideas

To help me see each idea for the six images side by side, I sketched them out in a grid. This is so I can refer back to these thumbnails rather than flicking through my sketchbook constantly when drawing them properly at a larger scale. I also added the quotes and page number as they were a bit all over the place - I changed my mind so often that I forgot which quotes went with which roughs. I am happy so far with the general compositions, although I may change them slightly as I go along. Setting my ideas out as a plan however will give me something to aim towards as I move forward with developing more finalised imagery.

Final Outcomes

Final Designs - Poster, Leaflet & Stickers

My contribution - Landmark motifs, Extras - trees, boats

We printed the final outcomes digitally, to make sure they were all consistent. Also, the campaign can be introduced digitally, so imagery needed to be suitable for the screen. For the sticker designs this was a necessity, as part of the campaign meant that they would be put around lampposts and distributed in cities.

Screen-prints

Another option we tried out, was to have the posters screen-printed, potentially in order to sell as limited edition prints, maybe when guest buy tickets or visit the Royal Opera House.

Good News!

The following have been selected to be on the shortlist for the Cover Competition:

Joshua Pell
Joseph Turner
Sophia Watts
Lauren Wilson

The winner will be announced shortly

The Competition:
Win £250 and a week's paid work placement
at a leading UK publishing house

I found out today that my entry for the Stratford Literary Festival Book Jacket Competition has made it onto the shortlist! Yay! I am very surprised at this as there are things within my submission that I probably would change if I could go back, I didn't have much time from when I started the brief which makes me all the more happy to get in the final four designs for the book jacket.

Pattern

Pencil

To start thinking about variations of plant/flower motifs I could include in my compositions I sketched out a few different variations of shapes that could sit together well in a pattern - I am thinking maybe for end pages or the more floral areas of my chosen images.

Gouache

Because the tests I have been doing with brushes in Photoshop are primarily from the gouache collection, I may include some actually painted alongside the digital work. Taking ideas from my initial sketches, I painted straight into my sketchbook, testing some colours as I went along.

London Sticker Design

Here is the design I made for the London based sticker, using the same vector aesthetic as the motifs I made for the poster design, I created landmarks from around London, basing the composition on where places are in relation to the Royal Opera House. Hopefully, this could provide a general idea to the public of how easy it is to get to the ROH once you are already in London. I also added individual underground logos to point out roughly where people could travel from, thinking about tourists who may be at other attractions. The design could also be shared on social media, the circular composition is perfect for instagram and other social platforms that use a square frame. Another possibility could be to create an interactive gif.

Peer Feedback Session 1

I found the crit today incredibly useful and I feel very encouraged by what was said. So far I am really enjoying this module and I like having the opportunity to make work I really want to produce.

Suggestions for Development

• Teresa suggested that I look into Victorian era (1900's) dress which I am surprised I hadn't thought much about until now. Costume is an area I really like to research into, and this seems like a great opportunity to do so.
• Continuing to play around with composition and whittle them down to the best six, ready to start working on the main imagery.
• 4 things within my roughs so far that could be improved are; including oval branches in IL1, Making the lamp smaller in IL2, Including one chair in IL3, and making the gardener (Dickon) look more isolated in IL4 - however I don't think I want to make him look too isolated as the nature of his character is to be at home in the outdoors.

Leaflet Mock Up

Erin produced a mock up of what our leaflet could look like. I especially like the colours of the inside information sections, they work really nicely together. Also, Shelly's handwritten typography will fit in well with the layout.

London Sticker Development

Thinking about the layout of a London map for the sticker design, I looked into landmarks roughly in relation to the Royal Opera House. Again, I really enjoyed creating the motifs and simplifying imagery in order to work on a smaller scale.

Initial Roughing from Text (5 & 6)

...'the green veil has covered nearly all the grey'

Page 162

For a while I couldn't decide on the quotes I wanted to focus my imagery on for both of these illustrations. After drawing out a variety of initial ideas (left) I have started to develop a different quote, where Mary is explaining the garden to Colin in his bedroom. I think this could be a good opportunity to play around a bit with narrative within the image, I may include a kind of split image - where half of the composition is based around what Mary is saying, containing brighter imagery of the garden and it's growth, while the other half would be situated in the darker scene of Colin's bedroom.

'He did not walk quickly, but slowly, and his eyes were on the path'

Page 238

Again with this image, I changed the quote to centre around Lord Craven. As he appears earlier in my choice of illustrations, I thought it would be nice to have him as a returning character, still hiding his face. As I decided on this, the idea for an effective composition came to me fairly quickly. Lord Craven walking away from the viewer, including a long shadow and an unconfident stance I think will say a lot about him as a character without giving too much away in the image.

Tutorial

My tutorial today with Ben was great, I didn't have many concerns at this stage with the studio modules at all. The main aim for me was to find out whether the things I have done so far and what I want to produce as I develop ideas is okay. Ben reassured me that what I am aiming to do is the right direction to go in and to continue roughing and finalising ideas further. Also, at the beginning of the project when we started writing proposals, I thought that I would probably tackle this brief using paper cut as that is what I enjoy most. However, I spoke to Ben about focusing on developing my digital skills and playing around with that as a more effective means of creating imagery quickly. In the industry, I think this is an important aspect of what is expected so I want to challenge myself in this area a bit more.

Initial Roughing from Text (3 & 4)

''This is Miss Mary, sir', she said'

Page 96

These compositions are all variations of one idea. Lord Craven is described as such an isolated, lonely character so one of my aims when illustrating him throughout the book is to never show his face. This will create an air of mystery around him as a presence within the images. In this particular illustration, I want Lord Craven to be sitting away from Mary, who is being introduced to him. An interesting composition could be to include an arm chair, so the only parts of him in view are his legs and the top of his head.

...'Dickon, who was kneeling on the grass working hard'

Page 129

Similarly to my roughs for Illustration 3, I made very little changes between each of the roughs at this stage. Primarily in these compositions, Mary is really the only thing that moves, I couldn't decide whether she should be completely in frame or just peaking around the corner of the door to the garden. I quite like the idea of her being slightly hidden in the background, as the predominant elements in frame should be Dickon and the flowers he is planting.

First Digital Tests

I have started to experiment on Photoshop with the Kyle T Webster gouache brushes and I am having so much fun! For such a long time I stayed away from using brushes and creating textures in this way because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. However, in some ways I find the process easier than actually painting with gouache because if I make a mistake it is easily fixed, I feel less pressure to make things look perfect straight away. This technique is giving me the freedom to change and manipulate areas that I want to improve more easily whilst still being able to keep the sections I am happy with.

I have found using colour fairly difficult as I wasn't sure what kind of tone I wanted to portray in the scene. I was worried that the shades were a bit too dull, but I think I am slowly getting to a happy medium. I want the colours to reflect the dreary nature of 
the moors described in the book, but still be engaging for a reader when looking at it. I still have a way to go, but I think the only way I will progress is to try out variations for each image. 

I had a very quick go at painting figures that could potentially go into frame for portraits in some of the scenes, again trying to keep to a muted, dull colour scheme in relation to the figures and brighter elements that can balance these within the frame. 

At the moment I am enjoying the process of trying out different ways of drawing with the digital tools because they are so new to me. Although I think my practice can benefit greatly from mastering how to use these tools, digitising things makes it easier in the long run to create and change imagery as I go along. Therefore, these methods will work best if working for a company as amendments can be made easily, and time constraints can be managed.

Meeting 7

We are well on our way to finishing this project! Overall, this experience has been a lot better than I first anticipated. This is the first time I have ever collaborated on a larger brief before, all that's left to do is the actual printing of the posters and stickers, then completing the design boards which is something we can all do together!

Travel Prices

I did some research into how much it would cost to travel to the Royal Opera House for each location, surprisingly some of the locations had similar prices or not very expensive prices when travelling by coach/train/plane so I jotted down a variety. I was especially surprised by the prices to fly to Edinburgh and Dublin - I would have thought it would be a lot more expensive to fly than get the train but in some cases it costs less.

Vector Buildings X10

I made the 10 city sketches into vector illustrations for the map using the decided colour scheme. This was actually a really enjoyable process for me as I am not used to being so precise with shapes so quickly. I realised how much I like being able to create detail and smaller parts of the buildings (such as windows) using perfect shapes. I can't wait to see what they are going to look like on the map.

Initial Roughing from Text (1 & 2)

Starting to rough from the chosen quotes I pulled out from the book has been something I am really enjoying. I realised that creating scenes and describing detail within a composition is something I enjoy doing within my practice and will benefit me during this module.

So far I have only briefly roughed out the first two illustrations I am thinking about producing as part of my set of six. The second scene was one I thought about wanting to tackle right at the start of re-introducing myself to the book, it has a particular eerie tone and this intrigues me a lot. Because of this, I roughed it out at a slightly larger scale in order to produce digital tests from it. I am very excited to get started but also a bit nervous to commit to digital techniques I am not very familiar with using.

City Motifs Roughs

Following the last meeting, we agreed that I would be in charge of vectorising the landmark motifs which luckily is the thing I wanted to do most. I really enjoy drawing out shape based buildings, I think mainly because there is a certain structure I can follow but I can still put my own illustration-y spin on it quite easily.

Drawing out the motifs has been a lot of fun for me, and I don't feel as much pressure as I thought I would working in a team. Everybody is really lovely, honest but also great at giving advice which is important for all of our development as practitioners. It is also nice to have an opinion from someone outside of Illustration, this gives me a completely new viewpoint to consider when making work.

Meeting 6

With every meeting we seem to be getting further along with our project which is great. Surprisingly for me, I am really enjoying working with my collaboration group - I was a bit worried when we were first told about having to find partners and work on the same brief with them on something. My group have been really lovely and we seem to agree on most things, which I was not expecting, especially when it comes to the visual aesthetic of the work and the different styles of people's work coming together. Today we really pinpointed the outcomes we want to have made for the submission and who needs to do what in order to make this happen.

Final Binding Design

Fastest Outcome ever!

The first brief of this kind I have ever completed in a day, it was very stressful but it's good to know that I am capable of producing work in such a short amount of time.

Things I like

The concept behind the design is fairly self explanatory, I wanted to concentrate on the notion of people writing and 'sharing stories' with one another. The light bulbs are a link to the ideas that people came up with for the creative writing competition.

Things I don't like

I would change the composition slightly, I am not too sure about the balance of the lettering and figures included in the design. Although I like the colours, I would have liked to try out a few more variations including a couple of different ones too.

Contextual Research

https://uk.pinterest.com/sw255328/books/

Whilst on Pinterest I came across these eye-catching book covers. In this brief I really want to convey a playful aesthetic, which is evident in these examples. As I move forward with the imagery I want to keep shape and composition in mind. Louise Lockhart in particular embodies the whimsical, fun vibe I am attempting to create. This is a new thing for me, as usually I work with imagery that requires a deeper context.

Colour Tests

I tried a couple of mock up colour tests and didn't like how muddy these ones turned out! I wanted it to be colourful but not too distracting from the overall composition, so maybe concentrating on one brighter colour and variations of that could be the way to move forward.