Resource Searching- Task 2

Comparison of two Portfolio/Showcase websites- Illustration Mundo vs Illustration Web.


Illustration Mundo.

Illustration Mundo is a free to join illustrator database. It makes illustrators easy to find and provides a kind of support network for the artists involved too. Illustration Mundo is a very social site, with links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and many more. There is also a Community Space on the website with an updated blog/news feed and the 'Ask A Pro' section which is a collection of illustration related questions answered by top illustrators, art directors and designers etc. There is also a link to letterplayground.com, a more casual site specifically for people to submit their own hand drawn alphabet letters.

Illustration Web.

Illustration Web describes themselves as talent spotters for illustrators. They provide expertise/resources to help clients find the right illustrator for their needs. It is this which, i think, makes it much different from Illustration Mundo. This site feels more professional and like it was created purely for prospective clients and doesn't have much of a social feel to it. 

You can search Illustration Web for illustrators by style alone, again showing how maybe they are more interested in the work rather than the artist themselves. It also means that it is relatively easy for people to find the kind of illustrator they need fot a specific job. This website is a great way to showcase your work for potential clients if you want the aid of Illustration Web who seem to me to act like an agent but without the fees!

Resource Searching- Task 1

In out group we have researched a broad range of resources which are available online.

Portfolio Site/Showcase: These can include anything from Flickr, which is quite a personal, low-key way of showcasing yourself as an artist to the Cargo Collective, with which you can build your own website, making it a professional space to show your work, potentially for clients etc.
Other websites like this include; Deviant Art, Drawn and Quarterly, Illustration Web, Dripbook and Illustration Mundo.

Social/Professional Network: These are great sites for keeping in contact with fellow illustrators. Some are more casual than others, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and some have more of a professional feel like Linkedin. All of these social networking sites provide effective platforms for artists to showcase their work to clients as well as fans and the sharing aspect of these sites provides an opportunity to share their work really quickly and really far. Other social/professional network sites include; Pinterest, Illustration Mundo, Illustration Friday and Hi Fructose.

Blog/News Feed: These allow you to update content as it is created or upon reflection. This also allows you to keep an archive of work which can be left or continued. Most blogs and news feeds exist (creatively speaking) for people to showcase what they make and things/people that influence them. Most other websites have a blog inbuilt which is updated with work and events etc. Some blog/news feed sites include; Blogger, Tumblr, Varoom (acts like a printed blog).

Support Network/Learning Resource: These sites promote learning in one way or another and act as a  resource for people to gather material and information. These could include sites like Wikipedia where you source information but do not necessarily post anything. Other websites with reference content include; Nobrow, Amelias Magazine, Comic Book Resource, Web Comic Marketing, Creative Uncut, Skill Share and Illustration Age.

Shop/Marketplace: The internet is a vast, easy place to market your work. Illustrators can create their own webstores on sites like Etsy and Ebay, whereby you pay a small fee to sell items etc. You can also sell images etc on sites like Society6 where they print the work for you and send it to the buyer. Other shop/marketplace sites include; Deviant Art, Ape On The Moon, Fantagraphics, Make It Then Tell Everybody, Lost and Taken and also Kickstarter which enables creative people to generate funding for projects to launch artwork etc.

Analysis of an illustrator.

Oliver Jeffers is an illustrator, painter and picture book maker from Belfast, Ireland. His practice of making picturebooks is different to many other illustrators because he introduces the drawing, character and story at the same time. Jeffers lets the images inform the words and makes artistic stories rather than books with images and text. He explains better himself:
"...a great advantage of both writing and illustrating stories, as someone who just writes comes up with the entire manuscript before it is considered visually and much more potential for interaction has gone."
Oliver Jeffers' style of illustration has a minimalist aesthetic and previously he only used watercolours. Jeffers' newest works use a wider range of materials, creating more dynamic and textural books.

"The art for this book was made from all sorts of stuff. Some watercolour, some bits from old books, some gouache, a little amount of technology, some acrylic and even a bit of house paint. I think there is some oil paint on one page. But i think that might have been an accident."
From: The Heart In The Bottle.

Oliver Jeffers is constantly pushing the creative boundaries of picture books but initially they all begin with a single idea. This single idea is usually in the form of some sort of sketch/drawing and to realise it's full potential, Jeffers draws it out in a sketchbook extensively, exploring it visually but also adding creative narrative where he sees fit, forming an early story. Once he has a basic plot, Jeffers works with his editor to get the right format (32 page children's book) and the layout is agreed on. Next he creates black and white line are of all of the illustrations before transferring them onto watercolour paper.

Then comes alot of experimentation with colour and materials and eventually the finished artworks for an amazing illustrated children's book.

Oliver Jeffers has proven that you don't necessarily have to stick to one genre of illustration (and if you do then you don't have to do it conventionally). As well as figurative painting, he has had many editorial commissions (from companies such as Kinder and Starbucks)








as well as creating illustrations for posters and album covers. Oliver Jeffers has shown that once you have great visual communication skills you can transfer them to almost any type of creative practice.

Two Disciplines of Illustration Analysis.

1. Children's Book Illustration.

The market for children's book illustration is a very competitive one. Most of the work is freelance and most children's book illustrators have a n agent unless they happen to have an amazing portfolio which speaks for them.
The styles within this area are diverse due to the amount of artists there are and their individuality which they bring to their work.

 One of the most important things about being an illustrator for children's books is having the ability to communicate visually and create a compelling story/narrative with images. Many children's book illustrators also write their own stories to go with them which, i think, creates a really strong link between the text and the images. This also means that deadlines are in your hands mostly and you have the opportunity to change ideas/concepts throughout.
Children's books are becoming more about their collectability and quality of images now due to the people buying the books: adults. Although the target audience is primarily children, it is undoubtably the parents who choose and purchase the books which maybe has an effect on some of the styles of children's book illustration.

2. Fashion Illustration.

A fashion illustrator's main role is to take the work of a fashion designer and create images which advertise their product and sometimes themselves. A fashion illustrator has more creative leeway, i think, than some as they are not constrained by body proportions etc. that fashion designers must adhere to.
Fashion illustration can appear in many places but mostly can be seen editorially, in advertisements, in fashion shows and sometimes within mainstream fashion (shops) on the clothing itself.
Understandably most fashion illustrators have different styles they work with because they are individuals. However, in the fashion illustration industry there is a clear aesthetic in the images which is beautiful watercolour images, with soft lines, some in ink. The figures are quite exaggerated, sometimes with more emphasis on the model than the clothes. David Downton, an internationally know fashion illustrator took most of his inspiration from the models both backstage and on the runway of the Paris Haute Couture shows and his style is representative of this genre of illustration.

A slightly different style of fashion illustration is Laura Laine's more whimsical images. She focuses on the line and texture of the garments she illustrates instead of the physicality of the clothing itself. Her drawings clearly cross the line between fashion and illustration and are instantly recognisable when used editorially.

Mind Map

Task One: The World Is Your Oyster.
Although it was really difficult at first, I made a mindmap of what i consider to be my skills, style,  inspriation (artists) and other things about myself.

Illustration Job Role: Fashion Illustrator.

There is a difference between fashion illustration and fashion design which sometimes gets lost. Designers create fashion and trends whereas illustrators reproduce these fashions creatively.
Fashion illustrations are mainly used editorially, in magazines, advertisements, posters and sometimes in mainstream clothing as a design itself.

This cover from Vogue is an illustration by fashion illustrator  David Downton. He designed many images for Vogue  and was his main platform for showcasing his artwork.

Product-wise, David Downton has had his famous Twiggy image reproduced on a range of bags from M&S. 

Sabiene Piper- this is an example of fashion illustration being used in a magazine (Elle). The style is quite similar to David Downton. It seems that within this job role it can be quite difficult to find our own unique style. 

Anna Kiper.

 Research: 2 Fashion Illustrators.

Laura Laine.

Laura Laine is a Helsinki based fashion illustrator and works freelance for companies such as; Vogue, Elle, The NewYorker, Gap and The Telegraph.

Laura Laines style is instantly recognisable. Her illustrations clearly breach the divide between fashion and illustration.

As well as editorial work, Laura Laine has had some of her designs printed on clothing in H&M, showing that the lines of fashion and illustration are constantly being blurred. 

 Sarah Hankinson.

Sarah Hankinson is an Australian fashion illustrator who mainly produces work for magazines such as; Harper’s Bazaar Magazine, Maybelline New York-Austraila and US Target. She also co-founded the Windsor Workshop: a studio space in the south of Melbourne. She is represented by The Illusttration Room. 

Sarahs designs have also been used on t-shirts and yardage prints for fashion houses. 

Sarah was commissioned to create artwork on the walls of the Habbots Store.

Mural at Princetown PreSchool

I was asked by the staff at Princetown Preschool to paint a mural featuring some of the children's favourite book characters to make the 'story area' more inviting. After over 13 hours of hard work this was the result, the children were very happy with it so i class it as a success! It was a really different experience to be doing something on such a large scale and in a semi-public space.

Work Based Learning: Self Statement

Self Statement.

My ambitions in life have changed a lot over the years but I believe that I am now headed in the right direction. I have tried many things because it is the kind of person I am, I like to try out different things, work in different areas and visit different places.

Before this course I had worked in a shop, a café, a retail outlet and most recently a pre-school. Academically I have studied fashion, textiles, art & design and animation. All of these have held my interest, and still do to some degree, but now I am doing illustration and I am really starting to think about careers and possibilities for the future.

I have always loved drawing, ever since I could hold a pencil, and I hope that over the next few years I can learn and build upon my creative skills in order to use them productively and professionally. Even when I was working full time I always kept a personal sketchbook: The desire to draw is something that is always with me and hopefully it will be for a long time to come.

Although I would not mind a career in any of the disciplines I have studied previously, my research (both personal and in college) has provided me with a lot of ideas and inspiration within the publishing side of the illustration industry, in particular, children’s book illustration.

I think that my prior knowledge of children’s development (plus my current work with young children) is a great starting point for widening my knowledge of this area and becoming a better illustrator/visual communicator. I hope that during my degree course I can explore the many opportunities and pathways that may arise from researching my chosen pathway further. I am really looking forward to seeing where my illustrative skills can take me professionally. 

Art and Language- Task 2

For task 2 I chose to illustrate a book cover for The Hunger Games. It was a book I had never read before which made it an intriguing challenge and I ended up really enjoying the book!
I chose to illustrate a scene from the book on the front, an image of the Hunger Games arena before the characters enter it. I thought it would be interesting to set the scene before you even open the book.

The back cover has set of puppet strings, there to represent the manipulation of The Capitol and the control they wield over the rest of the country. I chose to use orange for my first draft, trying to reflect the colours and theme of fire which is somewhat important in the book. I don't think i will use it for my final cover, it just looks too flat.

My second choice for colour was grey which really makes the trees stand out. I also changed the colour of the trees because i don't want the cover to be to dark, i really like the purple on it but i might make the background even darker so that it reflects the tone of the book better.

Not sure if the colours stand out enough on the dark grey...I may keep it lighter. I also think that the lighter one looks almos like one of the penguin classics covers which use limited colours in a repeat pattern. I like that my cover has this quality, i think it makes it appealing to a wider audience.

Final Book Cover Design.

This is my final design for the book cover. I am pleased with the overall layout  and colour palette and i feel that it reflects the book well without being too cliche. 

Art and Language - Task 1

 This was a fun project, investigating and experimenting with the ways of combining text with images and exploring how that relationship can evolve and create new meanings. For task one I took some of the things I'd overheard for the Earwigs task and worked on them to create images using the text. Overall i think it was quite successful.

Trees Have Feelings Too- Hopefully this shows an improvement in my photoshop skills! I am really pleased with this outcome. I think the text is still readable but integrated enough within the illustration to make an overall combined image. 

Your Hair Looks Like An Octopus- I experimented alot with materials for this image, i tried photoshop, pens, watercolours and finally decided on colouring pencils because i am comfortable with this medium and it was an effective way of introducing several colours in a more delicate way. I think it communicates well enough :) .

I'm really pleased with this image. I think the text and image work well together and help to emphasise the tone/meaning of the quote i used.