pattern to product

Seeing as I had spent time learning how to make a repeated pattern, I thought I should probably mock up the designs on some products to give them more of a purpose:

I imagine the buildings pattern to work well on tea towels and other homely products. The grey colouring makes it easy applied to all coloured surfaces which is good

I mocked up some apron designs with my buildings and fruit pattern - I feel for aprons any kind of bright, busy pattern will work well - although the fruit is most relevant. I enjoyed making these patterns, so will definitely keep making more. 

pattern

I enjoyed making the fruit repeat pattern, so I made another one out of imagery from CoP. I don't know the use of it yet but I liked how it turned out:

I think it would look good for notebooks, or again tea towels as it depicts houses which makes it quite home related. 

I'm not sure about these colours - the white on colour is interesting but I think it will need more work, all these don't fit very comfortably. 

repeat pattern

The illustrations I've been making for the various projects would look good made into a repeated pattern, so I tried making one. I watched a couple of tutorials but they were a bit confusing as what I was doing wasn't turning out the same:

They made a pattern but were leaving gaps around it and not going fully to the sides, I wanted it to be a seamless pattern. So I used a technique I tried last year:

make a diamond within a square and fill with the imagery 

take each section and move to the opposite corner

a white diamond space will be left within the square

fill in the rest of the white space

delete the background colour, go to edit - define pattern

 name the pattern, then on a bigger document go to fill - pattern

I like how this pattern has turned out, it is quite busy but very energetic and colourful - I can imagine it working for kitchen ware - like fruit bowls or tea towels. I like the idea of focusing the patterns in one area - like kitchen based, which works well as I am making food illustration at the moment. 

development

In my crit for extended practice I got some advice for my war horse work to make sure the illustrations had more depth. With my cut outs, they tend to very flat once the sections are stuck down, which works well for some images, but with war horse it might be more effective if I incorporated layers. One way to do this could be a diorama; I wasn't too cure about it at first but after a bit of research I've grown to the idea, some images I found:
https://www.pinterest.com/astridweguelin/war-horse/

An examples that really stood out to me was Hari and Deepti's creations

They are so atmospheric with a really strong sense of narrative. The limited colours puts more attention on the skill of the cut outs and the story thats happening. The way it has been lit is so important for the sense of depth and dream-like atmosphere. 

Obviously these are incredibly detailed and skilful, I don't think my paper cut skills would turn out anything like this but its a good example to aspire to. So I will look into thinking up some compositions. A good point was made that for the folio society, they will be looking for something very well crafted and unique - so not just doing a standard illustration might make me stand a better chance. 

new brief - patterns

I have been wanting to learn how to make a repeat pattern as I feel a lot of my cut out work would translate well as patterns. So I am making a new, small brief where I can use imagery from work I have already done and try make some repeat patterns out of them which I can then apply to relevant products. 

food editorial

Grub Kitchen: welcome to Britain's first insect restaurant (the Independent)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/grub-kitchen-welcome-to-britains-first-insect-restaurant-a6706891.html

I had a lot of fun making this piece, I got a bit carried away making all the bugs, some of which I didn't even use, but its good to have for future uses I guess. I wanted to make it look quite fun but also appetising as its meant to be promoting this bug restaurant which a lot of people wouldn't consider tasty. So I made the bugs colourful and look like they could be some kind of exotic food. I think the colour palette works really well with the textures, it has quite a rustic feel to it while also looking quite contemporary. 

food editorial

Mediterranean Diet: the secret to a long life… drink a shot of olive oil a day

(the Independent)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/mediterranean-diet-the-secret-to-a-long-life-drink-a-shot-of-olive-oil-every-day-a6689596.html

I'm pleased with this outcome, I think the simple outline of the bottle and silhouettes of olives and branches is effective in depicting olive oil while also implying the mediterranean atmosphere. The clean shapes and limited colour palette give a natural and healthy sense to it which links in with they health benefits of the oil in the article. 

I had initially done some sketches for olive oil in my sketchbook before I kew about this article, which is where I got the inspiration for the colour palette.

war horse sketches

I started creating imagery for 'War Horse', I didn't really know how to start so I stepped back a bit and just focused on themes within the book that I could take imagery from such as WW1, poppies, trenches, guns, barbed wire

I was really happy with how these turned out, especially the poppies/soldiers walking; I think the colour palette and textures worked well to create a quite gritty yet emotional feel to them. I'm not too good at drawing horses, but that will just take practice. I'm focusing more on the landscapes and scenery at the moment so that I can get more of a feel of the themes/atmosphere that I need to create, but I am enjoying it more than I thought I would!

- did not carry on with this brief due to time constraints

tutorial

I had a really good tutorial with Ben which made me a lot more enthusiastic about the briefs I had chosen, the main points I got from it were:

• look into 'flying eye books' and 'nobrow' as they do illustrated books for adults and children
• possibly re-think my age group for the space group, because the illustrations might be considered patronising for older children. However, Teresa said that there is more of a market at the moment for illustrated books for 9-14 year olds
• space/astronomy books have been done a lot, so maybe think about how I could have a unique take on the theme, or maybe have more of a focus on one aspect e.g. just about the moon
• read 'a clockwork orange' and 'war horse' because it will inform my illustrations a lot, also the book of 'a clockwork orange' is completely different to the film
• my collage/print cut out process is working really well and suits the subjects/themes I am tackling
• research into ww1 for 'war horse' for more context
• illustrated food is a good thing to have in my portfolio because there are lots of commissions for food illustrations
• for my recipe brief I could look at food articles (new yorker, observer etc.) and then just do one good food illustration for that each week, rather than the illustrated recipes. That way I will have a wide range of read in my portfolio - book covers, narrative illustrations, editorial
• if having problems with type look up 'top 10 type faces' (guardian), print them out and then use same process of cutting out textures but using the type as a stencil
• look at Romy Blumel

initial drawings

I've fallen behind quite a bit in terms of practical work, these first few weeks I've been concentrating too much on reading/making notes for CoP and deciding/writing briefs for this project that I've done barely any drawing, and I only realised recently after seeing all the work other people are producing.

So I started panicking a bit and then found it really difficult to just start making. But I've done some little drawings for my recipe idea, just trying out different textures/shapes for ingredients:

I've had fun making these ingredients, but I feel a lack of direction with it. I think I need to find more of a purpose for it, and do some research into the context it could fit into. But I think I have come up with a nice collection of imagery, and it was fun getting into making again

contextual research

I've made some pinterest boards so that I can start gathering visual/contextual references

recipes
https://uk.pinterest.com/astridweguelin/recipe-book/

space book
https://uk.pinterest.com/astridweguelin/space-book/

war horse
https://uk.pinterest.com/astridweguelin/war-horse/

603 feedback

We had a crit of our statement of intent and individual briefs:
- I should focus on print, book making and self made books this year and the rest of the skills i want to develop will happen naturally
- I should be clearer on exactly what skills I want to develop
- the last two years I've worked with the theme of dystopia a lot and it has worked out pretty well but I'm not this year; maybe it is something I should consider
- I need to mention how I will go about distributing the products I make (online, book shops etc.)
- I shouldn't focus on too many process 
- is process more important than content?

brief 1
- I need to decide on the theme asap, focusing on the aesthetic is a good start
- it is an appropriate brief for my intended illustration route, also that I have considered a marketing aspect
- decide on an age group soon

brief 2
- the secret 7 brief fits in well to my process aspect of my rationale
- either of the smaller briefs could be turned into bigger briefs; I could spend more time on them or possibly drop one

brief 3
- it is a strong brief in relation to my practice and interest in narration
- what methods of production am I considering 
- be more decisive

brief 4
- it is good that I have found a weakness in my practice that I can address (my typography/layout skills)
- focus on one YCN or D&AD, both might be a bit too much

brief 5
- very clear and appropriate 
- appears to be something I am excited about carrying out
- maybe look at IKEA for good DIY instructions to illustrate
- possibly find a newspaper recipe to use as focus and then email the illustration to the paper afterwards?

All good feedback to consider, I think what is most important at the moment is to start making practical work as I won't know what works and what doesn't unless I start. 

statement of intent

project report

final presentation boards

final products

Here are my final products that will be submitted:

I'm really happy with how they all turned out, I wasn't too sure if I would get it done in time because of the long process of making the illustrations but it all came together well. I think the aesthetic is very relevant to the story, with a lot of focus on the setting, but it also has the right tone of voice, the front cover could possibly have more of a sinister edge - maybe with a darker background? But I think I got the tone of voice right within the inner illustrations, their cave-man style aesthetic has a darker edge to them, I think the starkness of the monochrome helps with this. If I had more time I would make more illustrations and bookmarks like I intended,  also possibly enlarge a few of the illustrations to be stand alone prints, but I think I would make more products to come with the book because I really enjoyed making the map, so maybe I could include some puzzles/quizzes or a set of badges that make the product more interactive for the younger audience. 

making a box

I wanted to actually make a sort of slipcase for the front cover, just to get an idea of how it would look if on an actual book, here's the net I made:

Making the case turned out to be a lot harder than i thought it would:

I don't have much patience with making stuff like this so the sides were quite uneven, the glue wouldn't hold so I had to use masking tape and I didn't take into account the thickness of the card so the net was slightly too small:

But once it was all glued on it didn't look too bad, just a bit scruffy round the corners. I only did it so I could get an idea of how it would physically look but once I placed it with all the other printed products, they all really came together as a pack, it actually looked pretty professional!

map edits

I decided to make a sea and beach for the map but just with a light watercolour wash:

I think this works a lot better than the previous attempts, it is much more subtle so it doesn't take attention from the map. I also added a boarder to to keep consistent with the rest of the products.

pattern

I wanted to make a back for the map, so made a quick jungle-like pattern out of the plant imagery I already had:

I started by just cutting into the texture, then added darker shapes to add depth. I then accidentally duplicated the layer but it more tangled and jungle-like so I did that a few more times to create a foliage pattern with a bit more of a sinister feel to it. 

I then also used it for the back of the bookmarks so they feel more like a product when I print them out:

mock ups

The context for this project is a new edition of the book being released for it's 60th anniversary so it is appropriate to make promotional posters for the book that can be hung in shop windows, bus stops etc. 

I like the re-use of the front cover design, I think it works well on a landscape poster, but it didn't look that professional or promotional and the background was too dark. My second attempt:

The colours work a lot better and the use of the publishers logo makes it more appropriate. Also having the title of the book in big makes it much clearer as to what the poster is promoting. 

I don't think this worked well, it is a very boring composition and the bright white background makes it look unfinished. 

This is a much better layout, it creates a line of sight going up the page. Also the muted background compliments the deep red of the pig's head, making it bolder. 

I mocked up some pictures of the posters in shop windows:

I think the posters work well, they look like they could feasibly exist in these areas. I also mocked up an example of a vinyl sticker that would be made for a shop window:

I think the clear, bold shapes that I have used for the imagery in this project would work well for this type of promotion as it is not too detailed. 

map

I didn't really know how to start with the map, as everything else I had worked from has been from quotes with little bits of scenery, but fitting in a whole island is a lot more difficult. So I used the same process and cut out lots of shapes to start planning out a composition and this is where I got to:

It ended up being very detailed and busy but I quite like it like that, the inside illustrations have a lot of white space and bold elements, this shows the jungle element of the island. It might be a bit too convoluted in parts as the figures and pig's head don't stand out enough.  

I was unsure whether to add a background, so I tried photoshopping a sky and sea:

But I think it makes it even busier because of the multiple brush strokes, I tried taking out the sky:

This is better but I think the sea takes too much attention away from the map. I think the beach definitely needs more definition as a beach. If I am to add the rest of it, it needs to be a light watercolour wash rather than these dark lines. I'm considering making a pattern to go on the back of the map, but O don't really know what to put on it.