Artist research Karin Soderquist

Karin Sodderquist is an Illustrator from Stockholm that creates images digitally. I looked at her work because her images look like they are composed of cut out paper shapes. some of her images are 3D and are made out of wooden sets, this links directly to my project as that is what i am going to do within my illustrations. Her images are different to what i want to create in my work but it still fits in with the simplistic style that i want to create. I have looked at her work and especially focussing on background and scenery because they create a 3D feel. Here are a few of my images that i looked at for inspiration.

Artist research Gail Armstrong

Whilst doing some research i came across the artist Gail Armstrong, she is an illustrator that specialises in paper sculpture and she creates illustrations made from different shapes cut out and stuck down to compose the image. Her work is really vibrant and happy looking. Her images are amazing and finished to such a high standard that they almost look like they are created digitally. she creates images focussing on lots of different subjects but they always have the same happy bright style to them. Her work evokes the same feeling that id like to achieve within my own work.

Artist research: Rob Ryan

I decided to look at Rob Ryan's work as he uses paper cuts to create images. I thought his work linked to mine because he created 3D images using paper in different layers. Although his work is very different to mine it is really inspiring and incredible to look at. The amount of detail and intricacy within his images is unbelievable.  He creates very complex images that he cuts out of pieces of card. i looked at his work to get inspiration for the backgrounds although i decided to not do anything as complex as his work as i don't have much practice with cutting things out with scalpels, in the future i think i might explore this style more to see how it works within my illustrations. 
Here are a few pieces of his that i really like.   

Colin West Final image

I am doing the poem a king and a cat for my colin west piece. i had already drawn the male character but hadn't drawn the cat yet so i did that yesterday then composed the image on photoshop. for the cat i used pencil, coloured pencil, white crayon, water colour and fine liner. I decided to do the cat ginger as i thought it would stand out and make the image look fun. I really like how the cat turned out i think it conveys a fat lazy cat quite well. I also really like how the media that i used to create the image works. I think i have found what i like to use most and in the future will be working more in this style and using the same things to create my illustrations.

Here is the final image i am really pleased with it although i think it lacks a background. I left it out because in the original illustration there was no background and i thought it worked well. Also backgrounds have never really been my strong point so over the summer i am planning on improving this as it is important to making images feel complete. I think when my illustration is paired with the text of the poem it will look a lot less barren on the background.

Module 2 Evaluation

During this module i have learnt a lot about my own process in creating narrative illustration. I have found that with time management it is better to spread out the work load rather than doing a lot of work in a short amount of time. From this i have learned that i would benefit from making a proper work plan and setting myself smaller personal deadlines to make sure i keep up with the workload. I think that i managed my time to a reasonable standard, however following a proper time plan would have allowed me to have finish well ahead of the deadline, allowing more time to reflect on my work. I would have also had more time to annotate and research in more detail as my written work possibly suffered. 

With regards to character development i feel as though i could have done a lot more although i didn't have many characters within my story. Another thing that contributed to the lack of development was the simplicity of the illustrations. I wanted my illustrations to be simple as i feel that if i over complicated them it wouldn't work as well for the photographic technique i was using. I feel as though i did all of the development that was necessary for me to complete the project but it was not done to the extent that it probably could have been. 

Overall i was pleased with the final images and the final outcome of the book. I was happy because i was working in a way that was completely different to anything i had done before. and the whole process ran smoothly which is quite unusual for me as i usually have a few mishaps along the way.  

If i was to re do this module there are a few things that i would do differently such as:

•  More character development.
• Improve the layouts of my pages as some of the image became slightly stretched and distorted.
• I would maybe include more text as i only included a small amount of narrative and it could possibly be quite hard to follow if you don't know the storyline.   

Front Cover - unique horn

This is the front cover of my narrative project for the story unique horn. I decided to keep the font of the title quite hand drawn looking as the idea of the book is mixing hand drawn and real elements so i didn't really want to start including digital fonts into it. I also decided to have an ice cream cone on the front so when people start reading the story and see that it is about unicorns and ponies they will get confused as to why there is an ice cream on the front. I also decided to have the cone covering some of the word 'unique' to make it look more 3D like the rest of the book. I think this worked well as it is simple but still looks fun and interesting. 

Research Christian Aid advert

I was watching TV when a christian aid advertisement came on and i thought i would look at it again on youtube because it is quite similar to my current narrative illustration project, as it is made from drawn characters and backgrounds. I really liked this advert as it looks like it is drawn by kids but at the same time it still looks professional and works really well. it was interesting to see this advertisement because it gives me more ideas for where i could take the idea of photographing my illustrations in the future. Here is the Christian aid advert.

Research: 2D and 3D combined

As i am combining aspects of 2D images and 3D objects i decided to do some research into how this has been done before and how it turned out. One night i was listening to music and came across this music video from the song 'You've Changed' by Sia, the song is a bit strange but the video is great! The video showed 2d signs, props and words mixed with live acting. This video reminded me of the project i am doing now as i am combining my drawings with a few real props. The video also helped me out with text placement as it had a lot of hand written signs that would show words or numbers. It helped me to see where could should place text within my images for it to be comfortable and pleasing to the eye. i really enjoyed the video as it is unique and fun, i think it relates to my current project a lot because it has the same fun colourful look and feel about it that i would like my story to have.

Final unique horn photographs

Here are the final (un edited) Photographs for my narrative illustration. Next i will arrange these photos how i want them to be in the book and add things such as speech bubbles and other things that need adding in. I have also made a few images that aren't 3D they are just drawn and scanned in these are also going into the story but i will just add them in to the final stage of arranging the book. 

Artist research Kristyna Baczynski

Kristyna Baczynski is an illustrator, Comic book artist and designer from Yorkshire with a Ukrainian heritage . She creates cute character based illustrations that use bold lines and block colour. The things i like about her illustrations are the unique looking characters and the nice use of colour.
Baczynski also creates her own quirky zines and picture books. I decided to look at this illustrators work because for this current project i am creating a zine so i thought it might help me out with that. Because of this i decided to look at a few of her zines looking at the layouts and colour use in particular, this has helped me out with the layout of my zine. 
I have seen a few little zines of hers when i have been looking in book shops and a few of my friends own them. Every time i walk past one of her zines or books i have to look through it because I love the distinctive style of her drawings.  I was fortunate enough to meet this illustrator at a zine fair that i went to and she was really kind and friendly. She did two A5 drawings for me, Here are a few of her zines that i looked at for inspiration and the drawings that she did for me. 

Zine fair at Travelling Man Newcastle

I heard about a zine fair that was held on the 3rd of may, It was pretty local and sounded good from the advertisement. the fair was at Travelling Man comic shop in Newcastle, It was really small and friendly but worth going to. The illustrators that were there are Kristyna Baczynski, Gareth Brookes, Andrew Waugh, Jack Fallows and Paper jam collective. I had a look round their stalls and had a  chat to some of them. The illustrators were selling their Prints, Zines, Post cards and other various things with their illustrations on. They were also doing live drawings where they would draw anything for you. I got two A5 drawings from Kristyna Baczynski (i will put them on a later blog post.) I had seen her zines before and i think the illustrations she creates are so cute, she was really nice to chat too as well so that was really nice. Overall it was a good little event. Below i have put a few of my favourite illustrations from the illustrators at the event. 

Kristyna Baczynski

Gareth Brookes

Andrew Waugh

Jack Fallows