Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION OUIL603 Extended Practice
Level
06
Credits 60
STUDIO PRACTICE Statement of Intent Name Blog Address Astrid Weguelin Date a-‐weguelin1316.blogspot.co.uk Rationale I want to create a strong portfolio, which displays a versatile selection of work, but I also want to create work that relates to my practice and will be useful for once I leave the course. So I want to make at least one book, develop printing skills and be able to create work for various briefs quickly and to different deadlines. I want to make a book because my interest in illustration lies mainly with narrative so it relates to my practice; also bookbinding is a good skill to develop. Screen-‐printing is another skill I want to develop because I love the aesthetic and I feel like a strong set of screen-‐prints would add a lot to my portfolio – also my practice is very much process lead so being able to develop as many visual skills as possible will only add strength to my work. These skills will help me after uni because I will have a collection of work relevant to the area of illustration I want to go into, also being able to work to various deadlines is invaluable as it teaches good time management. Themes / Subjects Book illustration – narrative, educational, children’s books, factual Education – books, repeat illustrations (recipe?), factual, children/adult, simplifying ideas Process – screen-‐printing, mono printing, book binding, collage, photo montage, textures Products / Methods of Distribution A series of prints – this could be screen-‐prints or a mixture, possibly for a book illustration brief or a print a week brief A binded book – this could fall into my educational theme, possibly for children Narrative illustrations – this could take the form of book brief competitions Educational illustrations – I want to look into the educational side of illustration, this could be in the form of a book or mini illustrations that would be created each week (recipes?)
Practical Skills / Media / Formats
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Screen-‐printing Mono-‐printing Collage Texture making Shape work Observational drawing Improving on composition within work Painting/watercolour work Improving on concepts within work Book binding Book formats – working to a set format Working for a digital platform
Brief 1:
Deadline 13/05/16 Educational book about space/astronomy/ planets (The big brief) Rationale: I want to illustrate concepts about space, possibly for children but not yet sure on the age group. I am interested in doing this because I find astronomy imagery fascinating and I think it would work well with my process of working – with textures/collage/shape work. I also want to try out educational illustration; I think it would be a challenge to simplify complex ideas into something children can understand. I want the book to be the main product but then have other promotional/display material. This project will benefit me because being able to educate through illustration is a good skill to have, especially for children; and it will be a strong piece in my portfolio. Brief 2: Deadline Competitions Smaller competition briefs haven’t been set (Responsive) yet Rationale: There a couple of competition briefs that are a bit smaller than the others so I thought I could group them together as they both relate to each other. 1. Secret 7 – I want to do multiple submissions for songs, I was successful last year, which gave me a lot of confidence with entering competitions. I like the simplicity of just responding to a song without having to have any context. There will be a quick turnaround for these pieces, which will teach me to create work quickly. 2. Penguin books – this brief is to create a book cover for a given book, out of the three given I think I will choose ‘a clockwork orange’ as I am familiar with the story and its dystopian theme is one I love to explore as it will have interesting imagery to work with. I put these two together because they both are just about creating one image, which responds to themes/subjects/story/lyrics – either a song or a story. I feel they will add to my portfolio, as it will show versatility in my work with a mixture of big and small briefs, but also having not just narrative briefs.
Brief 3:
Deadline 18/01/16 Book cover and 3 inside illustrations for ‘War Horse’ (Responsive) Rationale: A competition set by the Folio Society so design a book cover and inside illustrations for the book ‘War Horse’ by Michael Morpurgo. I want to do this because I love responding to texts and narrative stories, and I am familiar with the book. It will benefit me because I will have narrative based illustrations in my portfolio which is the direction I want to go in, as well as giving me the opportunity to create finished illustrations to a high standard. I am thinking about maybe using screen-‐printing for the images. Brief 4: Deadline D&AD/YCN (Responsive/possible collaboration) Rationale: I want to enter one or more of thee competitions, I find the briefs challenging to understand but it will definitely improve my professionalism and conceptual work as the work that is successful is of such a high standard. Someone from graphic design has asked to collaborate, so we may work together on one of these briefs. That would help a lot, as the type/layout of the work is what I struggle most with, so we might be in with more of a chance of winning which would be a big confidence boost. Brief 5: Deadline Weekly/2week Recipe cards/DIY cards deadline (Authorial/process – a piece a week) Rationale: I want to have a brief where I can just focus on my process and making imagery, I want to illustrate step-‐by-‐step recipes. It would be very simple content but I like the idea of playing with textures/shapes, and food is a good subject matter for that. It could turn into step-‐by-‐step instructions for DIY around the house e.g. building a birdhouse. I am unsure of whether to have the audience children or adults, I think 8-‐13 might be a good age group. I imagined it to be recipes/DIY that would appear in the weekly paper or possibly online. This will benefit me because it will allow me to focus completely on process and playing/experimenting, which is important to keep up, and will give me a lot of work for my portfolio. Additional Project Proposals -‐ Continuous drawing – observational, maybe keep a sketchbook of plants? Just have a subject matter to keep me drawing
Contextual References Practitioners: Sarah Maycock (food illustrations) Katt Frank (food collages/illustrations) Rachel Gannon Laurent Mareau Laura Carlin (folio society books, mixed media process) Blexbolex (illustrated recipe book) Websites: ‘Design for Today’ – lots of screen-‐printing http://designfortoday.co.uk ‘Folio Society’ – classic book illustrated http://www.foliosociety.com RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Deadline Read war horse Details It is a short book so won’t take much time TO READ; need to have a clear idea of the book before I can come up with ideas. Brainstorm themes, subjects, imagery. RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Deadline Read and decide on recipes Details Need to have a plan of the recipes I want to illustrate so that I don’t waste time later on. Think about what would look the best visually, which would be the most fun to depict – as it is mainly a brief to experiment with processes. RESEARCH ACTIVITY Deadline Research into space/astronomy Details Learn key facts about space, the planets etc. and decide what bits I want to depict in my book. Gather appropriate imagery and start drawing in response to them. RESEARCH ACTIVITY Deadline Research into children’s books Details Go to a bookshop and look at the different children’s books, how they differ in age group, and the type of language they use.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Deadline Start drawing in response to what I am finding out Details Start with war horse brief as that has already been set, start sketching out ideas and draw in response to the reading of the book
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS / TEXTS - (Harvard Refernced)
CHRISTENSEN, L.L (2014) The Universe through the eyes of Hubble, Springer International Publishing MALE, A (2014) Illustration: meeting the brief, Bloomsbury Publishing Multiple authors (2012) Behind Illustration, Index Book POWERS, A (2003) Children’s Book Covers, Mitchell Beazley ALTITUDES ASSOCIATES (2011) The best of cover design, Rockport Publishers LUPTON, E (2008) How to design and print your own book, Princeton Architectural Press DUSOULIER, C (2009) I know how to cook, Phaidon Press STROMQUIST, A (2005) Simple Screen-‐printing: basic techniques and creative projects, U.S., Lark Books MAGAZINES / JOURNALS / ARTICLES – (include publication date and details) Varoom Elephant
ON LINE REFERENCES / WEBSITES / ARTICLES (include specific urls)
Intellect: publishers of original thinking http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/ Itsnicethat http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/richard-‐hogg design for today http://designfortoday.co.uk/
OTHER REFERENCE MATERIAL (Films, events, exhibitions, conferences)