OUIL505 Applied illustration
PROJECT REPORT Amy Choi
OUIL505 Initially when starting this project I mainly had ideas on what I wanted to do but hadn’t really pinned down a theme. I started things off by focusing on three categories that interested me the most, publishing and book design, object and environment or product and packaging. I wasn’t quite sure about the subject I wanted to explore so had a look around Waterstones to see how illustration was applied range but I had always been intrigued by the idea of collections and discovered cabinets of curiosity. Following this I began watching documentaries and reading up on this subject through books and online sources.
Cabinets of curiosity book
BBC documentary
Based off this research I starting generating development and ideas through experimentation. I had ideas of creating a ceramic collection for collectors to buy but due to time constraints I had to revaluate my plan and make new decisions. I had done plenty of research thus far on Beatrix Potter so decided to focus on her and base the project around her recreating 3 book covers in celebration of her 150th anniversary.
I think I spent far too much time in the beginning worrying about the final outcome then spending too much time on other modules leaving not much time for this. I carried on researching Beatrix Potter looking at her illustrations for imagery research and analysing her original covers then reading brief descriptions of her stories. I also found a set with re designs of the book covers by penguin random house. After this I carried on researching through visual development. Examining other practitioners such as Abigail Halpin and Serene Ng and the delicate detail they have in there work whilst being traditional. After experimentation and development I settled on watercolour painting and embroidering three book covers. Abigail Halpin
Yumiko Higuchi
Penguin random house redesigns
Serene Ng
Embroidery tests
Further experimentation
I made some rough designs for the book covers and selected colour palettes then made final designs on paper. Once I had spent some time making the first book cover and got to grips with the skills and techniques to make this I managed to complete the other two quite easily. The first took patience but I steadily completed them. I tried sampling a test with embroidery alone but this would’ve have taken far too long and make more bad decisions
With regards to the range I wanted to make a range that would be appropriate in accompanying the book as opposed to just making a extensive range for the sake of it instead I want to make a limited range that suits the project.
Embroidered print Bookmarks
Book Book bags Embroidery patches
Wallpaper/ gift wrap
OUIL505 End of module evaluation For me this module has been really challenging originally I was quite excited about this project. I think I struggled trying to maintain this project alongside other modules and balance everything out and my time management and organisation was poor for this module. I have learnt that planning, organisation and time management are key to this. I had ideas in the beginning of what I wanted to develop but didn’t have a solid concept on the theme. I spend some time pondering over this leading to me thinking about collections, then discovering cabinets of curiosity and researching this generating some visual development and experimentation. Despite this due to time constraints and spending time on other modules I lacked development something that I usually enjoy and I believe this was because I didn’t have an idea of what subject I wanted to draw in the beginning then choosing a topic with extensive research and clashing modules this sort of made me neglect it. Which was why I decided to revaluate the brief and simplify it down. However even though there wasn’t much time left on it was
still positive in the end. I knew I wanted to explore either ceramics or embroidery mainly and got to investigate embroidery and help inform my practice and whether I will continue with this in the future. I think next time I have to self-initiate a brief I definitely have to consider a strong and concise concept. Then make an organised plan to stick to and set myself realistic goals that I can achieve knowing that I may have to work to a tight deadline especially if there are multiple deadlines. In addition I received a great response on the final outcomes being described as delicately intricate. I knew when I decided to recreate book covers that I didn’t want to create something too bold. The original covers where very clean and simple but still traditional and since this was in dedication of the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter I decided to mix watercolour painting and stitching together. As well as this I hadn’t seen many book covers done in embroidery let alone integrating paint and embroidery together.
I definitely think after this that my embroidery skills have improved and I’ve started thinking of new ways to do this effectively and efficiently. Looking back I would have liked to have made some inside pages and done some more covers but I didn’t think it would be wisest decision after changing my mind to create more work than I could achieve but still I’m happy with what I managed to get done. During summer whilst researching for COP3 I would definitely like to go back and revisit the idea of ceramics and develop my skill set for this professionally I understand that this medium takes a while to learn about but I would like to create a collection of miniature universes potentially as a self-initiated project even if I don’t manage to do this for next year. I have learnt about creating a range with illustrated products. After I went out to research existing products I learnt that there is a vast amount of products that images can be applied on. Once I had decided on creating book covers I knew I wanted to create products that would accompany this during the promotional stages as I didn’t want to just choose a random bunch of merchandise just for the
sake of it. Researching existing applied illustration had helped inform me how to create a range that is suitable towards an original product. Overall I feel like I have learnt a lot from this module which I can apply into level 6 although if I were to do this module again then I would definitely consider planning more carefully. I would identify a specific topic then go on to visually research this. I believe this would have saved me a massive amount of time enabling me to focus more on the development and outcome rather than faffing around getting caught up in worrying too much then losing direction. Despite this I have researched into other practitioners practices and looked at applied illustration and gained an insight into how it would be applying my illustrations for something commercially which has informed my own practice and where I fit amongst the illustration industry and how I should go about this to approach this in the future again.