Evaluation

One strength of my work during this module was the detailed and varied designs I produced for the Olio publication. I believe that my two ideas were different and evoked different emotions, while retaining a level of detail in each.
Another strength was my research, including development of design ideas, and visual research to improve the accuracy of the illustrations. Through experimenting with different compositions, I was able to reach a defined design for both of my ideas, while learning about the importance of the layout of an image's content.

On the other hand, something that I could have improved would be the incorporation of colour to either the cover or design roughs. I feel that while the removal of colour from the roughs can work to their favour, by leaving the cover in grayscale I have limited the image's potential impact on the viewer.
Added to this, while I made sure to size the roughs and cover to the specified dimensions, the resolution of the cover was not maximised and so became visibly pixelated. I could have improved this by exporting the cover again at the correct resolution.


Overall, I feel satisfied with the amount of research I put into this module, as well as the level of detail I rendered the illustrations in. However, by adding colour and ensuring each image was at the correct resolution, I could have improved the visual aesthetic of the illustrations, while keeping a high standard of professionalism.

Colour: Or How I Learned to CMYK my RGBs

When working with digital printing as an illustrator, it is important to know the difference between the two main colour modes - RGB and CMYK. Computer screens use RGB to present colour, while printed materials like newspapers work with CMYK - this can be a problem when working across both traditional and digital mediums. To avoid unwanted colour shifts when printing from a digital device, creatives will work to the colour of the print and not what is presented on the screen.

RGB

CMYK

RGB encompasses how other colours can be made by using red, green and blue LEDs on a screen. CMYK uses more specified printable colours by using cyan, magenta, yellow and black. As black is the colour 'key,' it is represented with a 'K.' A good illustrator can balance colours according to both these colour modes when it is appropriate for their work.


While artwork can be printed in either of the two main colour modes, there is a set of colours that cannot be reproduced when printed from a digital image to a traditional medium. These fluorescent colours are too bright for modern printers to replicate, and so it is encouraged not to use them in an illustrator's digital work. This is because these colours exist outside of the visible colour spectrum, and can only be presented on backlit screens of most digital devices.

Fluorescent colours

These colour modes are important for any creative working with colour to know about, and by learning the differences between them (and when and where to use each one) an artist should be able to reproduce their work without hassle. With modern technology, someone can easily proof any image even before sending it to print, meaning there will be no crying over spilt fluorescents.

Final Design Roughs and Self Portrait

When producing my final design roughs, I created a work space for each idea at the specified size, before illustrating. I made both designs in pencil and left them intentionally colourless. As well as my design roughs, I made a self-portrait to be placed alongside my finished design, and was illustrated traditionally with ink.

The first idea has been taken from the initial design before I experimented with developing its content and composition. I feel like this was the most effective composition in portraying the meaning of the illustration to the viewer. While this is a far more direct interpretation of the given proverb, I am pleased with how far I have managed to push the two interpretations apart from each other.

The second idea takes elements from previous visual research and compositional ideas, and merges them into one image, which I believe acts as a successful illustration. I feel like I was able to balance the level of detail with the large white spaces in the image - assisted in part by the 'front-on' perspective of the train station/track. This design is significantly different from the first in both interpretation and aesthetic, and gives a good contrast to it.

For my self-portrait illustration, I wanted it to represent the style of art I am currently working with. As I intend to use traditional inking methods for my Final Major Project, I created the self-portrait using the same technique. I like the white balance I have achieved in the image, as well as the semi-realistic visual design of myself.

While these illustrations remain monochromatic, I could have given each of the designs some indication of colour to better represent how they will look when finished. I believe that this process would have taken too much time to do, and could overall prove to be unneccesary when considering that the images are not supposed to be the finished version.

Idea Development

When developing my ideas for the content designs of my Olio roughs, I focused on presenting different compositions and ideas for the two designs I showed previously. My development was primarily aimed towards the second, more detailed design of the man at the train station, while the simplicity of the initial design didn't warrant much further artistic development.

The first page of development (seen above) experiments with one composition for each of the designs which show extended ideas of both, as well as one significantly different design for the first idea. This design is more abstract in its presentation of the meaning of the given proverb, and portrays a woman with a flowing dress that takes the form of a dragon. I feel that why it is a successful example of idea development, I will use my initial design for this idea.

The next aspect of development was creating a cleaner composition of one of my thumbnail designs for my second idea, as well as experimenting with perspective and depth. I feel that this composition is effective in presenting the intended emotion, but lacks the detail needed to show the location that the character is in.

With this in mind, I conducted visual research from first-hand observation of a train station - including the details of benches, pillars, and train tracks. This helped me to give a real-world aestethic quality to my more detailed design, which would help the viewer to relate to the character in the situation.

By undertaking this stage of idea development, I have managed to visualise the final roughs that I will be creating, as well as conducting well-known visual research. I believe that I have sufficiently experimented with the layout, content, and composition of both of my designs, and am now ready for the final illustrations.

Publication ideas

For the next Olio publication, we were briefed with designing an original illustration, as well as a cover. The theme of our illustrations was Chinese proverbs, and we each were given a seperate proverb to work from. My proverb was "Borrowed garments never sit well," which inspired a series of initial design ideas that can be seen below - some being literal while others showing a deeper interpretation of my given proverb. 

These initial ideas were presented in small thumbnail drawings and generally follow one of three major interpretations. As Chinese proverbs are vague and usually subjective, it was easy for me to develop these ideas unrestricted by meaning. However, I attempted to present how I interpreted the proverb through different compositions of the same main illustration. This process allowed me to further flesh out my ideas, while thinking about how another person could relate the image to the proverb. Afterwards, I developed two of the main designs into larger, more detailed roughs, which would then be presented to the tutors for feedback on further development.

The first of the larger roughs featured a woman sitting on the floor, in clothes that are too big for her. This is a more literal interpretation of "borrowed garments never fit well," however I feel that the design of this illustration is effective in what it doesn't show the viewer. While it would have been easy to include a realistic background, with this design the focal point remains on the woman, while there is a successful effect of the floor disappearing on the edges into the white space.

The second larger rough portrays a man sitting on a bench at a train station with a bouquet of flowers, while a train passes by in the pouring rain. This illustration was more ambitious that the previous one, and features a lot of different elements that add to this interpretation of the same proverb. "Borrowed garments never fit well" in the context of this illustration shows that advice you are given from another person's situation might not work for your situation - the man is alone on the bench because he used the advice and it ruined his relationship with his partner.

I feel that this idea development was helpful in consolidating the sort of thing I want to illustrate for Olio 12. It also made me think deeply about how something can be interpreted in different ways, leading me to develop more thought-provoking ideas relating to my proverb for the final publication.

Cover designs

Olio is a printed showcase of work from students on the Illustration course at the University of Gloucestershire, which is presented in a publication by Pitville Press. For the cover design of the Olio 12 publication, I had several ideas about what I wanted my cover to look like. I experimented with different compositions of the same theme, which is shown below.

My idea consisted of a clock face against a simple background, with the number '12' in the central space - to emphasise that this is the twelfth edition of Olio. Potential compositions included incorporating the title into the clock or as the gears of the clock, a Roman numeral design, and a more modern layout of the text. 

I decided to further develop the idea of the top part of the clock face being shown against a darker background, and presented the new compositions on the left page. However, I felt that the most effective design was the first one, with a good contrast of light and dark elements, and clearly illustrated numbers.

I started a larger rough illustration of my chosen design at the appropriate size stated in the brief. This includes the clockface with evenly spaced numbers, a 'hand' pointing to the top, and the title in the corner. I feel that the simple and structured nature of this design helps to make the cover look more friendly and less cluttered than other designs. By including the '11' and the '1' it subtly references the first and the most recent editions of the Olio publication - adding another layer to the theme of the progression of time.

Then, I went over the illustration with fine-liner to make the lines bolder and more crisp. Cleaning the white space up digitally also helps to visualise what the final design will look like, while introducing the professional qualities required for this sort of publication.

Finally, I blocked out two tones of flat grey colour onto the illustration to show where the light and dark colours will go, and how the image will look when colour is eventually added. The lighter grey against the white brings the clock face to the foreground, while remaining flanked by dark grey space. The darker grey highlights the white title and give shape to the semicircle of the clock.

This is the finished greyscale rough for my cover design, and I feel that the simplicity of the design could help it stand out against other potential designs, as well as being more relatable to all audiences - with the symbol of a clock face and its 'hand' representing what time it is. 

Editorial brief workshop

For this workshop, we were tasked with creating an illustration to accompany a recent news article. The illustration was to be editorial, so that we could use our images to respond to the article, as well as fitting within given specifications. The creation process involved creating roughs and ideas, then presenting them to the tutors (clients) for feedback on how to improve or develop our original designs. The finalised roughs would then be completed digitally and printed as per the brief.

I chose an article titled "Need to Land a Plane? In Australia, They Break Out the Toilet Paper." My response to the brief included visual research about elements of the article, as well as creating two ideas for the editorial illustration. This resulted in pages of referenced drawings and two roughs.

After presenting this first stage of development to the tutors, I continued to develop my first idea into a rough at the size that the final artwork was set to be. The rough was then presented and tidied up for the final pencil illustration.

Afterwards, the pen lines were added to define the shapes of the illustration and better determine where to place colour digitally. This marked the final hand-drawn stage in the creation of my illustrated response, as it was later scanned in to the computer and resized on Photoshop to better fit the brief specifications.

At the colouring stage, I laid down colours that were appropriate to the Australian landscape - including a red-orange sunset. I wanted to incorporate a good white balance in this illustration, which I think I achieved with the clouds, toilet paper, and the rotors and windows of the plane being colourless. The flat colours of the landscape contrast well with the more textured colouring of the plane, and the smooth colour fade of the sunset. As this is an editorial piece, I intentionally did not go for realistic colours so as to better communicate the message of the article to the reader.

I believe this task was helpful in getting me to work to a professional standard with a tight deadline, as well as encouraging me to communicate with a 'client' during the production of the editorial illustration. These skills are transferrable to the main OLIO brief, as we will have to communicate with a real client to sell our rough ideas. However, by responding to a brief, it limits the amount of options we have when it comes to the illustration, which may lead to some people having visually similar subjects in their work.