i realised that i have to work on my layouts a lot more and not just draw one static image in the middle of the page as that isn't as interesting to look at. I also really liked the sketchbooks that incorporated writing and pasted in things as well as drawing, I might try that in the future. I also think i will try out using coloured pencil to draw with as i think it worked really well in these skeychbooks. Here are some of my favourite ones from drawing tutorials online's youtube channel. They are quite long but well worth looking at :)
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Sketchbook Research
This weekend i have been working on some sketchbook stuff for the London exhibition. I wanted to get inspired and become more creative within my sketchbooks so i decided to look at a few youtube videos showing students sketchbooks. I really enjoyed looking through the different sketchbooks.
i realised that i have to work on my layouts a lot more and not just draw one static image in the middle of the page as that isn't as interesting to look at. I also really liked the sketchbooks that incorporated writing and pasted in things as well as drawing, I might try that in the future. I also think i will try out using coloured pencil to draw with as i think it worked really well in these skeychbooks. Here are some of my favourite ones from drawing tutorials online's youtube channel. They are quite long but well worth looking at :)
i realised that i have to work on my layouts a lot more and not just draw one static image in the middle of the page as that isn't as interesting to look at. I also really liked the sketchbooks that incorporated writing and pasted in things as well as drawing, I might try that in the future. I also think i will try out using coloured pencil to draw with as i think it worked really well in these skeychbooks. Here are some of my favourite ones from drawing tutorials online's youtube channel. They are quite long but well worth looking at :)
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Research Ladybird books
Over the easter holidays i went to south shields (i think thats where it was,) and i found a great little book shop. Most of the books in it were second hand but it also sticked lots of illustrated special edition books, it was great! They had a big vintage ladybird book section so i had a really good rummage around to find some really nice vintage illustrated books. I picked up some interesting and unique ones that i liked. I thought i would write about them a bit on here.
Lady bird books is a publishers that publish exclusively for children. They have a large range of books ranging from factual to fiction. They started making little children's books covering all topics and stories in the 1940's. These packetise books were a huge hit and modern versions are still made now. I like the vintage books a lot more than the glossy new ones. I picked up three books, here is a bit about my two favourites.
Talk about animals:
I decided to get the book talk about animals because all of the different styles of illustration throughout the book and i really like animals. It was Illustrated by Harry Winfield and has a real fun vintage feel about it. I really like the diversity of images throughout the book, i don't think iv'e ever seen a book with such a wide range of styles through it. I also love the colour palettes of some pages as they are so unique and bright, for example some pages have sickly pink backgrounds and bright yellow in the illustrations. It is so different but so representative of the time it was published (around the 1940's.) Here are a few of my favourite images from the book.
Hannibal runs away:
What first attracted me to this book is the strange title, what makes it more funny is that hannibal is a hamster. I picked it up and the front is cute as it is a realistic illustration of a hamster. Im usually not to keen on realistic drawings for children's books as i feel they aren't as visually exiting, but the end pages sold it to me as they are a really nice style pretty similar to the style of books that no brow make now. They have simplistic drawings of hamsters using a limited colour palette. I love the way that these pages look and think they are done in a very timeless style as a lot of illustrations now have a similar style. Here is an image of the end pages.
Lady bird books is a publishers that publish exclusively for children. They have a large range of books ranging from factual to fiction. They started making little children's books covering all topics and stories in the 1940's. These packetise books were a huge hit and modern versions are still made now. I like the vintage books a lot more than the glossy new ones. I picked up three books, here is a bit about my two favourites.
Talk about animals:
I decided to get the book talk about animals because all of the different styles of illustration throughout the book and i really like animals. It was Illustrated by Harry Winfield and has a real fun vintage feel about it. I really like the diversity of images throughout the book, i don't think iv'e ever seen a book with such a wide range of styles through it. I also love the colour palettes of some pages as they are so unique and bright, for example some pages have sickly pink backgrounds and bright yellow in the illustrations. It is so different but so representative of the time it was published (around the 1940's.) Here are a few of my favourite images from the book.
Hannibal runs away:
What first attracted me to this book is the strange title, what makes it more funny is that hannibal is a hamster. I picked it up and the front is cute as it is a realistic illustration of a hamster. Im usually not to keen on realistic drawings for children's books as i feel they aren't as visually exiting, but the end pages sold it to me as they are a really nice style pretty similar to the style of books that no brow make now. They have simplistic drawings of hamsters using a limited colour palette. I love the way that these pages look and think they are done in a very timeless style as a lot of illustrations now have a similar style. Here is an image of the end pages.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards
As it is eater and i have 2 weeks off, as well as getting on with my university work i have started reading through, and doing the drawing exercises set in the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards. Hopefully this will help with my drawing skills and make it easier for me to just draw what i see. It is really good so far and i am learning a lot about the brain and how it works in relation to drawing and seeing. just thought id put this on my blog for anyone that maybe wants to learn or improve their drawing skills. The before and after pictures incredibly different i don't know if i believe them or not but i guess we will know by the time i finish the book. Here are some of the before and after drawings from the book.
Artist research: Slinkachu
As i am photographing my illustrations i decided to look at the photo artist slinkachu (thank you too whoever left the suggestion on my desk.) Slinkachu creates images using tiny figurines of people photographed in different scenario's. The greatest thing about his images is that he incorporates real life surroundings/things found in the street and uses them as the scenery/backgrounds of his images. Its great because close up the image looks like the background is a built set but when you see images that have been taken from further away you can see how tiny the figures are and its incredible.
I hope to do a similar thing with my drawings so looking at his work has really inspired me and helped me out with how i will photograph my work. Here are a few of my favourites.
I hope to do a similar thing with my drawings so looking at his work has really inspired me and helped me out with how i will photograph my work. Here are a few of my favourites.
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| The tiny people from the image above this one are here ^ |
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Cecilia Alfonso Esteves
I was looking through the book 'Little Big Books' for help with research. I came across an artist called Cecilia Alfonso Esteves she creates collage pieces for children's books. Her work is really pretty and simplistic but still effective. I especially love the colour palettes used throughout her work.
Esteves work is created by putting cut out paper shapes together to create images and scenes, sometimes her work is flat 2D and other times her images are made with 3D components and then photographed. I thought that looking at these would help inspire my own project because i am using simple cut out characters in my images and also because i am going to be photographing my final images. I also thought that her images of scenery and backgrounds might help to inspire my work as i still have to work out most of the scenery within my illustrations. although i am planning on using real life backgrounds these images might help me decide on what to have in the backgrounds. here are a few of her images that i really like.
Esteves work is created by putting cut out paper shapes together to create images and scenes, sometimes her work is flat 2D and other times her images are made with 3D components and then photographed. I thought that looking at these would help inspire my own project because i am using simple cut out characters in my images and also because i am going to be photographing my final images. I also thought that her images of scenery and backgrounds might help to inspire my work as i still have to work out most of the scenery within my illustrations. although i am planning on using real life backgrounds these images might help me decide on what to have in the backgrounds. here are a few of her images that i really like.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Photo story board
As i have almost finished all of the drawings for my book but i haven't quite sorted all of the backgrounds out yet, I decided to photograph how the scenes will look but using a plain black background for now. This is what i have so far. I have the last few scenes to draw out and the backgrounds to set up then i'm ready for the final photographs to be took.
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