The Illustrator's Toolkit
Keep It Simple
Week 1
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I really liked the simplicity of Gorey's inking, It made me want to try it out myself and keep my inking simple but yet affective.
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I looked into Egneus's work and liked how he combines thick inks with small thinner ones created depth and lighting into his drawings.
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With portraiture I liked how Gibson uses her lines around the neck and face to create the shadows - I also like the flow of the hair lines and how you can see which directions they flow in.
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Still life
I began with some simple objects and just moving them around such as the books which where just moved but placed on the same page - I was also testing out the different inks within each page and trying out different hatchings to create depth and tones into my inks. I then moved on to choosing a few items and focus on the composition of my inks and trying to work with the different types of objects I found, I worked with a few difficult ones such as glass and curves which I found a little difficult.
I was inspired by Edward Gorey & Daniel Egneus for these inks.
I began with some simple objects and just moving them around such as the books which where just moved but placed on the same page - I was also testing out the different inks within each page and trying out different hatchings to create depth and tones into my inks. I then moved on to choosing a few items and focus on the composition of my inks and trying to work with the different types of objects I found, I worked with a few difficult ones such as glass and curves which I found a little difficult.
I was inspired by Edward Gorey & Daniel Egneus for these inks.
Sketchbook:
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Portrait
I began with small sketches for the portraits but I found myself not being able to get the faces to look like me at all, trying out the style of Charles Dana Gibson I still enjoyed creating these, I liked how he hatches and the areas he uses to create shadows and I tried my best to create that within my own portraits, I tried twice with different looks with how my hair and clothes where styled as they would be the main focus - I also needed to work on my mouth and nose which took me a while to get decently in line. I also found it a bit hard to keep looking at myself in the mirror and draw what I could see but overall I am happy with the two I created.
I began with small sketches for the portraits but I found myself not being able to get the faces to look like me at all, trying out the style of Charles Dana Gibson I still enjoyed creating these, I liked how he hatches and the areas he uses to create shadows and I tried my best to create that within my own portraits, I tried twice with different looks with how my hair and clothes where styled as they would be the main focus - I also needed to work on my mouth and nose which took me a while to get decently in line. I also found it a bit hard to keep looking at myself in the mirror and draw what I could see but overall I am happy with the two I created.
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Room
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Before I chose which room I wanted to work on I walked around doing quick thumbnails of what I could see in certain rooms and decided to go with the Kitchen mainly because of the hanging plants. My idea was to keep it small with an A4 sheet of paper and keeping what I see become larger/zoomed in - I wanted the main focus to be the oven and hanging plants which I believe I have done well. I did however struggle a lot with the perspective and trying to keep everything be exactly what I saw including the tiles and how high the ceiling was from the door etc.
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(After Feedback)
I was told to make my drawings look more like my artist references so I decided to go back in and figure out how each artist uses inks. markers, fineliners etc and try and resemble how they work within my work and how I found the process, I do believe my first few ink works didn't overly resemble the way the artist draws as I was more focused on how they did the technique only.
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Daniel Egneus
For this portrait I decided to look into some portraits Egneus has created and although it looks pretty simple it is still a hard style to capture, I mostly used marker and ink, I added bits of water to the ink to get softer tones into my work and also added some flower details within it just to create those thin and thick lines that he uses. I also found this a fast process due to how much space wasn't used. In most of Egneus's work you can see the texture of the ink and how it's not full on pitch black which I've also tried doing when it came to the hair. I don't think think this portrait resembles me from the fact there's still so much detail left out but I think the hair helps make it seem a bit more obvious. |
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Charles Dana Gibson
Trying to work on the style Gibson has was tricky and I noticed only after that for the hair i should have used fine liners and not kept with ink as It would have given me more variety in the size. My original isn't as dark as how the scan came out to be but the darker areas should still be slightly more visible. Overall I enjoy working with his techniques and how he creates shading to the face. |
Experimental Image Making
Week 2
After my feedback I was told to add more colour to my 3D animals so I decided to ass more colour to the backgrounds to make them stand out more.
After my feedback I was told to add more colour to my 3D animals so I decided to ass more colour to the backgrounds to make them stand out more.
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In-Studio Dog
As I was collecting random items in my house I had this idea of wanting to make a dog that was laying down and resting, I think my point came across and I do enjoy creating this dog out of the materials I could find as I didn't have to worry about how it looked as long as you can tell what it is. |
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Bottle Cat
This was my second design using a plastic bottle and wrapping it with newspaper, I then painted it and gave it some button eyes, however I felt it needed more so I tore off a leaf stem and used it for the tail. The outdoor photographs are my favourites as I managed to get some taken when the weather was pretty lovely.
This was my second design using a plastic bottle and wrapping it with newspaper, I then painted it and gave it some button eyes, however I felt it needed more so I tore off a leaf stem and used it for the tail. The outdoor photographs are my favourites as I managed to get some taken when the weather was pretty lovely.
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Masking Tape & Fabric
I made a small cat by taping some used washi tape together and just create this tiny little creature who's barely got any legs, I then went to add some fabric onto him as it looked better compared to just painting over it.
I made a small cat by taping some used washi tape together and just create this tiny little creature who's barely got any legs, I then went to add some fabric onto him as it looked better compared to just painting over it.
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Hotdog
Using another bottle I created this sausage dog, It's not my favourite but you can clearly see what type of breed and animal it is.
Using another bottle I created this sausage dog, It's not my favourite but you can clearly see what type of breed and animal it is.
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Clay
I had a lot of fun creating these cat and dog clay designs, I followed along some video's to visually see what I was doing as I'm not so great at creating animals. Overall my favourite is the calico cat with the ball of yarn , I just think it looks adorable and has a different pose compared to the other creations I have made.
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Wire Cat
I had started this one in the studio but I kept getting confused on how to create a 3D cat so I took some time to come back to it and start off with the head and then map out the body and how it would stand etc. although there's nothing much to it, I like how simple it looks.
I had started this one in the studio but I kept getting confused on how to create a 3D cat so I took some time to come back to it and start off with the head and then map out the body and how it would stand etc. although there's nothing much to it, I like how simple it looks.
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Washi-Tape Dog
I have been using a lot of washi tape and ended up with more finished ones so I quickly pieced this together, I could have gone more into detail with it but I prefer it to stay as it is. |
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Large Dog
Using an orange juice box I cut it in half and stuck the two together to create a shape of a dog, however I struggled to keep the dog balanced and the tape wasn't as sticky as I hoped it would be so i ended up leaving it as it is as to not want to cause further damage to the already destroyed design.
Using an orange juice box I cut it in half and stuck the two together to create a shape of a dog, however I struggled to keep the dog balanced and the tape wasn't as sticky as I hoped it would be so i ended up leaving it as it is as to not want to cause further damage to the already destroyed design.
Masks
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The first mask was done made at home in my own time as I had wanted to re do what I made to fit my personality more.. I hunted around for some leaves and plants and struggled to get them to stick on, it is still falling apart slightly but I think it's due to me working on a flat surface and then having to wear it going around my face. I wanted the mask to be more nature and deer like as my first attempt, made in the studio was a mix between a koala and owl as I couldn't decide what to do however most of this was stuck on with masking tape and pva glue, I then added hot glue to the mask to let it stay on. I was very into making these that I forgot to take any process images but I did manage to get a very few.
I took some photographs without wearing them and just placing them for a display - I am overall happy with my designs and i'm glad they both have managed to stick together although I did struggle to keep it all in tact especially the first one as the leaves weren't stuck on as strongly.
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Here I retook some photos of myself wearing the mask as I wanted some more close up versions showing the mask fully - however trying to take these myself and to not being able to see was a challenge.
Making an Impression
Week 3
Portrait:
(After Feedback)
After my feedback I decided I would try and work on the not so good stuff about what I presented - this time I took time to focus on the face and the proportions and overall not rush the process as much as I did the first time. I have taken what my classmates have given me and have been working on my paintings more.
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Watercolour
Inspired by Alan Lee. This is far by my favourite piece, I like the overall portrait and colours, I managed to get the skin to be more accurate as well as keeping in the highlighted areas - my hair however is still difficult to get really dark without using blacks so I tried my best to mix brown with dark blue but it still doesn't appear dark enough. As I was using watercolour paper for this piece the masking fluid didn't lift off all too well and created some rips in the paper, this was upsetting as I was honestly proud of this piece so I tried to hide it away with colours hoping it's not too big of a mistake. |
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Watercolour
Inspired by John Sell Cotman After the initial mistake of using masking fluid I decided to image where I want the light/white areas and within Cotman's work he used white's mainly in his background so I have done the same. At first when working with the watercolour I had forgotten to erase the darker sketch which made my paper start to peel a little as I was trying to see if I could some of it off even with the colours set on top.. |
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Acrylic
Inspired by Christian Hook At first I began to try and make the acrylic work how I wanted but when I referred back to Hook's art I noticed the difference in other colours he adds to the portrait, I think this worked out better than my first attempt as I also tried to fit his background style but also keep it pretty blurry and plain. overall I enjoyed just painting from afar and creating large brush strokes - there is still more I will need to work on with acrylic especially with a more realistic styled painting. |
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Acrylic
Inspired by John Singer Sargent I don't think I'm quite getting the hang of Sargent's style, I seem to manage to get the face details as smooth as I can but overall I still have a long way of using acrylic and being more comfortable using it, especially for any realistic portraits. With my scan, the paper ended up not being so flat creating some creases as the paper was pretty thin. |
(Before Feedback)
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Sketchbook
Before I began I started with some simple Acrylic testing in my sketchbook - I learned that it's a bit hard for me to work with these acrylics especially when it came to skin tones as it would either become too dark or too yellow. The room I was working in doesn't have the best light especially any natural light so I was mainly working in the dark so for next time I decided to put on a lamp which helped bring more light. |
For my first attempt at Acrylic I decided to use the same image as my tests and use Ayeisha again but with the style of Christian Hook - I enjoyed having to paint my friend but I found it difficult to keep to the artist style as well as working with acrylic as it's not a medium I am familiar with. I had fun working in this style and just let myself loose on where I was painting.
I then moved onto Alica but forgot to take any process photos - I referenced John Singer Sargent for this piece however I feel like trying to paint white was the most difficult so I mixed it within greys and light blues.
I then moved onto Alica but forgot to take any process photos - I referenced John Singer Sargent for this piece however I feel like trying to paint white was the most difficult so I mixed it within greys and light blues.
- A3 Cartridge
- Acrylic
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I moved onto Watercolour next with myself - this was just as difficult especially when it came to details as I referenced Alan Lee for this piece. I realised I messed up on the overall face shape and made it too square as well as making my skin tone darker - I think I should have stopped a while back but my mind kept telling me to keep adding detail.
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This is my favourite one so far, I enjoyed using the Masking fluid to create white areas - I was trying out the style of John Sell Cotman as I noticed in his art there was some areas that where left white. I also overall just enjoyed having to paint my friend rather than myself.
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I tried the Alan Lee style again but with watercolour paper but I kept making the same mistake of not stopping and kept building up making the colours look pretty awful. I split the A4 paper in half to try an Acrylic portrait next to it and see how this paper worked on both of them. The Acrylic wasn't easy either - I enjoyed trying to make my mask look folded but overall I still have a long way to get more comfortable with this medium.
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I tried to work on a canvas with acrylic, not having a artist in mind but rather just trying to work with it and figuring out how it can work for me - I found it pretty hard for the paint to stick without having little white bits appearing, the fabric felt weird and the overall face was not structured covertly making the face appear wonky.
- A5 Canvas
- Acrylic
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I only managed to make 2 still life paintings, my first one being the candle which I did in watercolour and then acrylic for the llama - I forgot to take much photos of the process again as I was focusing more on how I was going to make objects work with the paint - I think overall these worked better due to me being able to finally stop and not keep going on when I don't need to.
- A4 Cartridge
- Watercolour
- Acrylic
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