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