Personal Development

Following on from my last post, I've done a few portrait studies using a Derwent 8B pencil, trying to loosen up my drawing and get line and shadow down quickly, rather than line quality and 'perfect' drawings. I think this exercise has really helped me to not obsess over getting details perfectly, especially the first time. I can always refine drawings in the later stages. I think I'll definitely be using thicker softer pencils more often and trying to draw larger. I might even invest in an A3 sketchbook.

Learning from Becky Cloonan's process

I've only recently (since September) started using Instagram as a platform to show my artwork, and have obviously followed some of my favourite illustrators, as well as discovering new ones. As a result, I've gained a bit of an insight in to their process of making - particularly that of Becky Cloonan:

She's probably my favourite illustrator of comics and graphic novels, and I've admired her work for a couple of years. She often posts sketches and developmental work, as well as finished pieces, which allows me to understand her personal way of working, and how it might perhaps work for me.

I've mentioned before that I'm a bit of a perfectionist, which means I tend to draw on a smaller scale with a very hard thin pencil (recently I've come to prefer mehanical pencils because of the line quality). However, as pictured, Cloonan's choice is actually a softer thicker B pencil, allowing her to get in basic lines and shapes before bringing them into a larger scale for finished work. Observing this, it occurs to me that I need to start experimenting in my own sketches by doing the same. I can tend to get too possessive over having perfect drawings in my sketchbook, and I can also be unwilling to use more than one type of pen or pencil in the same drawing - this is often because I'm lazy.

I recognised this after going to the Jamie Hewlett exhibition as well, and really need to start working bigger with a variety of mark-making tools, and ditch the mechanical pencil and fineliner more often!

Illustrating an album cover

After seeing the book cover I did for the Visual Skills module (pictured), my brother asked me if I would illustrate the cover of his band's EP. I said yes, as long as he paid me (gotta make a living), and as long as I could fit it around uni work.

Having listened to his band, Frontier, which is sort of cliche pop rock (he described it as alt rock) - a lot of love songs - my first thoughts were character-based, as that's what I'm into, and I thought portraying a relationship fitted the theme of the band. One cover that jumped to mind immediately was the cover for Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age, illustrated by Boneface, one of my favourite illustrators.

The album is also alt rock, with a similar visual signature to mine in some ways. I did have a look through my iTunes at other similarly genred bands to see what kinds of things they have as their album covers, and the majority are photographic, or if illustrated, not as graphic as the QOTSA cover. However, another one that jumped to my mind (and one of my brother's bandmates mind) was Homesick by A Day to Remember by Dan Mumford. This also has very cool, dark colours, which also seems to be a theme on rock album covers.

The last artist I thought of was Jamie Hewlett, as obviously he is very character based, having created a whole fictional band. However, I dismissed Hewlett for inspiration as I don't think his visual signature is really appropriate for Frontier.

After a Skype conversation with my brother, he confirmed my initial thinking about a character based romantic cover, but gave me some notes from his bandmate, who wanted a spacey theme, with celestial figures. His bandmate also gave me some images from an artist (who he couldn't remember the name of) that was the sort of thing he liked.

So based on this info I did him some quick roughs (for free because he is my brother):

 Zach (the bandmate) did want the hands reaching out to each other to be part of the piece, and originally suggested full figures, but I personally think it works better with just the head and torso, and I can get more detail in that way, as album covers are fairly small. It'll grab your attention more I think if the content of the image is larger.

The second image, I thought in the end might actually be too sexual for the vibe they're going for, so I scrapped that one. It's also a bit more suitable to their music, as their songs are pretty cliche - about lost love and unrequited love and break ups yadda yadda. My brother reminded me constantly that he has nothing to do with the lyrics.


 Anyway, I thought this idea worked best, particularly if I actually don't include their faces - it's less personal that way and suits an album cover more - there's still a narrative element there but not too much, so you still focus on the band rather than the artwork.

The general consensus from the band is that this is the one they want to expand on, but I'm having another Skype call with my brother to discuss feedback further, so we shall see.








And although this is my brother rather than an actual client, it's useful to have my first semi-professional brief to work to with actual people involved who can give me feedback on my ideas rather than a sheet of paper, and to go through the whole development process with more input.

Sergi Brosa

Steven showed me this artist today. I love his drawing style and his capability with digital media! I'd like to be able to improve my digital skills to this kinda level over the duration of the course. He also draws landscapes very well - something I find hard and kinda boring, but I feel like for a lot of the graphic novel ideas I have, the ability to draw landscapes will be required!

I just get quite bored drawing them - I like to draw people and study people rather than boring cityscapes, but I guess I just need to find the excitement in landscapes?

Joan Cornella Exhibition

Another exhibition today - Joan Cornella at Cafe 164 in Leeds. I'd never heard of him before, but I'm always up for an exhibition within walking distance, so I went with a few guys on the course.

I was actually really intrigued by Cornella's work! Really dark humour which I always love, especially when it's paired with naively bright colours and quite a cutesy children's book aesthetic. Irony is brill, and he does it well with a wicked sense of humour.

His visual signature is very different to mine, but I can appreciate the irony, humour and narrative in it - although I don't often venture quite so dark myself - as that's what I try to portray and create in my won work, albeit in a different way.

I also admire the simplicity of his images, only a few panels that cause such emotion in the onlooker - emotions in the faces created through only a few simple lines! Amazing how much humour he can get into these pieces almost effortlessly it seems (particularly in the last panel in the engagement ring piece - that really made me chuckle). It's just so deadpan, super simple but you can tell what's going on really clearly, and he doesn't even need to use any words, or at least not many if he does. There's no dialogue, which is fairly abnormal for narrative pieces, particularly comics, as his work is usually in panels, but it's really not needed. It's actually a refreshing way to illustrate, in my opinion.

The last thing I'll say about the aesthetic quality of Cornella's work is that he avoids black line as much as possible. Black's a harsh colour which contradicts the irony and tone he goes for in his pieces. You can't contradict a contradiction in art. The playful imagery is what makes the pieces in a way. It's deliciously wicked.

Jamie Hewlett Exhibition: The Suggestionists

I went to see Jamie Hewlett's new exhibition, The Suggestionists at the Saatchi Gallery in London today. Hewlett is an artist I've known and admired for years, but this was actually his first exhibition ever, and the work was very different from the work he's known for - more personal projects.

This is a piece from the Tarot part of Hewlett's exhibition - each A1 piece accompanied by a poem to describe the tarot card. I love the line quality and use of colour in all of these pieces, which are the most similar in visual signature to Hewlett's more well-known works. I was immediately drawn to these pieces because of this.

I'm always surprised by how large pieces are when I go to exhibitions - seeing Hewlett's work - which is quite similar to my own tone of voice - encourages me to think I need to start working bigger! I can be a perfectionist and want to get lines and marks just right, and since I usually work quite small, this can be difficult. Hewlett's able to use more expressive strokes which look much more refined when the image is resized for viewing online or in print. Since I aspire to create comics, I'm aware that comic artists don't actually work at the size of paper the comic will be printed in, since it's actually much easier to work at a larger scale and have any imperfections disappear or become unnoticeable once they're resized.

Having learned this from researching comic artists' processes, I have in the past tried to do this but find it hard to know where to fit panels or what size they should be in order to look good when shrunk down - which is something I plan to work on over the course of my degree. But first - just working bigger in general, to loosen up my drawing style.

These images are from the next part of Hewlett's exhibition. They're studies of pine trees in the south of France, but again, they are A1 studies that look really detail and refined from afar, but are actually pretty expressive when you look at the detail (see third image).

I NEED TO WORK BIGGER!

 The final part of the exhibition - a fictional adult film star played by Hewlett's wife. A series of poster depicting fictional adult films. These are vastly different from the Jamie Hewlett work we know and love, and although I wasn't as attracted by these posters at first, they do have a fantastic vintage aesthetic and graphic design element. The poses and lighting are well considered and the typography is thought about and fits well with the theme, but is still clear and bold. The colours contrast to catch the eye, warm tones and blue tones, and the posters are simple with block colour backgrounds on most, but effective for what they are. I definitely could believe these were for real films.

Finally...

I met the man himself! Not relevant really, but still something I'm pleased about! Note to self: try to go to press views more often, even if it's accidental and the gallery neglects to mention that 'opens on the 18th' actually means 'open to the press only'. I had a nice, brief chat with Jamie and mentioned being influenced by his drawing to do larger studies, which he also encouraged. So I will get on that.

Mark Wigan

I saw these shoes today and had to look up the artist because they're SO COOL:

I love the bold thick lines of colour on the first pair, and the playfulness of the lines and shapes as they interact on the shoe. They're quite naive but striking, reminding me of chalkboards outside restaurants and pubs - especially when you look closer at the text.

The second pair is a look a club culture. There's humour in both the ay the figures are drawn and in the dialogue in speech bubbles. I like the simple black and white palette, as I think colour would distract from the humour and speech.

I love the top image - the playful interaction of the club go-er characters, all with something to say. The characters aren't realistically drawn but that only adds to the humour. They're all drawn over and around each other, not just individual vignettes, which adds to the club intent.

The second one I like less personally, but I still love Wigan's bold use of colour without lines mixed with black line drawing - it's an interesting use of different elements to create an image.

OUIL403 Visual Skills evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
·         Experimenting with different media - particularly Photoshop, expanding from the Visual Language workshops, seeing how images work in different formats. Going back to using paint again instead of focusing on inks - sometimes ink isn't the best fit and it helps to experiment. ·         Roughs/ideas generation - previously I've been used to generating ideas in my head and writing them up as lists or brainstorms rather than presenting them visually, but having to do roughs helped me realise getting ideas down visually is a big help, particularly in Brief 1 where I realised I couldn't actually illustrate (well) some ideas for each of the 10 themes. ·         Blogging - having to write down that mental conversation with myself helped me realise further things about my own practice by getting down the jumbled thoughts in my head into a clear presentable format. ·         Loosening up my drawing by working to a small timeframe - similar to roughing, not being so precious about my drawing, as it's more important to get ideas down rather than being concerned with having perfect illustrations in the early stages.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
·         Limitations on colour and size/format across all the briefs helped me to realise that sometimes the more simple illustration is better for that particular brief, and it helps to make the mistake of drawing something too complex and simplifying it. I even decided to stick to a limited colour palette for the third brief even though there were no formal restrictions because of this. ·         Looking at other artists' work, relating to PPP and my new Pinterest account - helps to see how other artists create their work and apply the knowledge of professional practitioners to my own practice.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
·         Authorship - my personality and interests definitely show across each of the 3 briefs, which I think helps set me apart from illustrators similar to me. ·         Character design - something I'm very passionate about and interested in pursuing. I find that more often than not when I'm presented with a brief I somehow subconsciously (sometimes consciously)  find a way to include character in my imagemaking. I think my character design is fairly individual and unique to me. ·         Drawing confidence - my confidence has definitely grown in my own drawing, particularly my sketchbook work and roughing. I'm less worried about having perfect illustrations on every sketchbook page, and am now more focused on just getting ideas down, which I think begins to show over the course of my sketchbooks for Visual Skills.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
·         Time management - falling back into old habits of not prioritising/organising my time effectively and staying up very late on Sunday nights in Briefs 1 and 2. Identified and fixed this for Brief 3, but will need to stay on top of this by doing work as soon as it's set, organising a social life around work and getting a good night's sleep more often than not. ·         Improve my rough drawing and do more! I can still overcomplicate my roughs and there is always an opportunity for me to do more, even if it's just a doodle on the bus. I need to get into the habit of taking a sketchbook everywhere. ·         Blogging - blog every day! Also use bullet points! I come from an English/essay-writing background so I'm always tempted to waffle on, but bullet points can help me to just get the main points down. ·         Continue experimenting with media for every brief to see what works well and what doesn't, even if I do use the first idea/media I wanted to.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? ·         Helped me get to grips with blogging - definitely evident on my blog that I'm getting more used to it as time (and briefs) wears on. ·         Helped me get used to the structure my life has now and how much work I'm getting and need to do every day. ·         Has helped me get to grips with using resources like Photoshop and the library that are available to me to help with each brief. ·         Introducing me to basic illustration skills like roughing that will underpin my practice for the rest of my professional life. ·         Crit sessions have really helped me start evaluating and reflecting on my own work in a friendly and constructive environment, and I look forward to these opportunities to have my peers help me figure out which path to progress on for each brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality				X
Motivation				X
Commitment					X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced					X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

OUIL403 Visual Skills Final Self Evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
·         Experimenting with different media - particularly Photoshop, expanding from the Visual Language workshops, seeing how images work in different formats. Going back to using paint again instead of focusing on inks - sometimes ink isn't the best fit and it helps to experiment. ·         Roughs/ideas generation - previously I've been used to generating ideas in my head and writing them up as lists or brainstorms rather than presenting them visually, but having to do roughs helped me realise getting ideas down visually is a big help, particularly in Brief 1 where I realised I couldn't actually illustrate (well) some ideas for each of the 10 themes. ·         Blogging - having to write down that mental conversation with myself helped me realise further things about my own practice by getting down the jumbled thoughts in my head into a clear presentable format. ·         Loosening up my drawing by working to a small timeframe - similar to roughing, not being so precious about my drawing, as it's more important to get ideas down rather than being concerned with having perfect illustrations in the early stages.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
·         Limitations on colour and size/format across all the briefs helped me to realise that sometimes the more simple illustration is better for that particular brief, and it helps to make the mistake of drawing something too complex and simplifying it. I even decided to stick to a limited colour palette for the third brief even though there were no formal restrictions because of this. ·         Looking at other artists' work, relating to PPP and my new Pinterest account - helps to see how other artists create their work and apply the knowledge of professional practitioners to my own practice.
3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?
·         Authorship - my personality and interests definitely show across each of the 3 briefs, which I think helps set me apart from illustrators similar to me. ·         Character design - something I'm very passionate about and interested in pursuing. I find that more often than not when I'm presented with a brief I somehow subconsciously (sometimes consciously)  find a way to include character in my imagemaking. I think my character design is fairly individual and unique to me. ·         Drawing confidence - my confidence has definitely grown in my own drawing, particularly my sketchbook work and roughing. I'm less worried about having perfect illustrations on every sketchbook page, and am now more focused on just getting ideas down, which I think begins to show over the course of my sketchbooks for Visual Skills.
4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?
·         Time management - falling back into old habits of not prioritising/organising my time effectively and staying up very late on Sunday nights in Briefs 1 and 2. Identified and fixed this for Brief 3, but will need to stay on top of this by doing work as soon as it's set, organising a social life around work and getting a good night's sleep more often than not. ·         Improve my rough drawing and do more! I can still overcomplicate my roughs and there is always an opportunity for me to do more, even if it's just a doodle on the bus. I need to get into the habit of taking a sketchbook everywhere. ·         Blogging - blog every day! Also use bullet points! I come from an English/essay-writing background so I'm always tempted to waffle on, but bullet points can help me to just get the main points down. ·         Continue experimenting with media for every brief to see what works well and what doesn't, even if I do use the first idea/media I wanted to.
5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? ·         Helped me get to grips with blogging - definitely evident on my blog that I'm getting more used to it as time (and briefs) wears on. ·         Helped me get used to the structure my life has now and how much work I'm getting and need to do every day. ·         Has helped me get to grips with using resources like Photoshop and the library that are available to me to help with each brief. ·         Introducing me to basic illustration skills like roughing that will underpin my practice for the rest of my professional life. ·         Crit sessions have really helped me start evaluating and reflecting on my own work in a friendly and constructive environment, and I look forward to these opportunities to have my peers help me figure out which path to progress on for each brief.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				X
Punctuality				X
Motivation				X
Commitment					X
Quantity of work produced			X
Quality of work produced					X
Contribution to the group					X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.