Learning Agreement
by
Callum Finn McDonnell
Illustration captures imagination. Blank pages make me feel uneasy.
Starting off an illustration for me is often the hardest part. I have ideas penned down in my head, yet getting them down onto a page and produced in the way I am happy with, is the hardest part of the process. I tend to generate ideas by entering a new sketchbook and letting loose of these ideas onto the pages. My sketchbooks are quite personal to me and I consider them a body of work as well as a body of experimentation. My work is more than just a page-filler that appeals to the eye, it is an encouragement for the viewer to think more from the image, as if they are actively involved with the image.
The way I work:
I like to carry sketchbooks with me almost all of the time, whether it be a pocket sized one or larger, I don’t really worry about how my initial notes and ideas are jotted down.
As long as I have a record to work from later on this helps greatly, as I’ve found inspiration can come from the most unlikeliest of places. Once this information is collected I then experiment with this information in other books, more than often this is in sketch form and most often quite small. My illustrations tend to be quite miniature, vulnerable and naïve. My notes are often also single words or phrases that can produce simple visuals that help assist later illustrations. This is the way I find I work best, making tones of notes and ideas and then later transforming them into further illustrations. I feel my work is best the more abstract it is. Curiosity to gain this abstraction drives me towards seeking this knowledge of making work more abstract.
What inspires my illustration: Inspiration for illustration is everywhere. As clichÊ as that sounds, its true. I am forever finding myself delving into second hand bookshops, photographing moments or overhearing conversations that can lead quite easily to an image that will link to these inspirations. Quite a lot of the time they end up staying just notes, but the occasional break through and become a series of sketches or more. For example I made a series of illustrations based around a group of schoolchildren I saw lying in the park drawing a tree from different angles. This was inspiration picked up just from a casual everyday walk home, and was one of the best pieces of work I’d done. I took a few notes as to the positions they were lying in, and the clothes worn and the materials they were using to draw with. This was then sketched several times in my sketchbooks and I then developed this further into a series of 5/6 small cards depicting each child drawing from different angles. This was done in several mediums, paint, pencil and collage. This was in keeping with the materials the children were using and also the childlike style they were lying about drawing these images. The primary colours of the card and colour pencils used also assisted the naivety of the children drawing. This was not part of a brief, and I had no previous preconceptions about doing a piece like this, it just came as an idea that I later ran with. I believe it was successful and proves that I work best under an almost free reign without a brief or guideline. These tend to block my creativity when under pressure, as I constantly think of final outcomes instead of the idea process and experimentations involved.
A series of illustrations based around a group of schoolchildren I saw lying in the park drawing a tree from different angles.
My working practice: My working practice involves a lot of my time being spent on researching and generally taking things in around me that other people might miss in everyday life. This ‘everyday’ unnoticed material is my main source of inspiration that aids my work. It is evident within my sketchbooks and research. Basing my work around a subject so vague can be risky, but I believe that I have worked hard on making these subjects look a lot more interesting and enjoyable to viewers. Research taken throughout this project came from several main sources. The first of which is everyday life. Just going to town or sitting in the park can be great sources of material as there are always plenty of people going by to study, observe and take notes about. Finding groups of people is even better as this can provide a series of works around similar themes, for example the work I did loosely based around the theme of ‘Travel’.
For this I used a number of travel tags and drew people doing piggybacks on them in pencil. This idea was initially from a group of people I saw doing this in the park on a sunny day, and as I took notes down, I realized that this is a great way to travel, so I tried to recreate the fun of piggybacks in a series of sketches. Implying that piggybacks are the best way to travel, it challenges peoples perceptions of fun in the real world. Why don’t we give people piggybacks more often? Would it be acceptable? Why not? I think this is asking a great cultural reference as well as sociological and is what I try to portray in a lot of my work.
Daily routine can be a great source of research, especially documenting it. When I walk to university or work most days I know that at the same time every week a certain person is bound to walk past as they too are on their way to work, or the Big Issue man will be on his corner of the street hoping I buy another copy and you eventually pick out little traits these daily characters have. This is what I love to work with as research, the little details within people. My sketchbook is full of small details observing people, their faces, clothes, or hair – almost like life drawings do. I’m pretty sure there’s some of that in there too.
Research Aswell as this I try to look into a lot of books in the library, often spending hours just collecting information on artists that I can research more into over quick mediums like the internet, especially ones recommended to me by other people after they’ve seen my interests and the manner and style I work in that might link to my style. Technology doesn’t make the research any better, it just speeds up the production of this knowledge. Many blog style websites also inspires a lot of my research as they provide an opinion of the user that often adds a side of art not often seen in books. Whether or not I agree with their statements/views is up to me. However it provides great sources and links between works that I may not have seen or heard about. Without this I would have not found out about the work of Luke Best, one of my greatest sources of inspiration throughout the past year. I really like the way he collages his drawings together with coloured paper to create excellent compositions and these too often depict everyday people and life ‘moments’. His work seems naïve and playful yet depicts aspects of social matters in a very subtle yet effective way.
Another artist that has been a major source of inspiration is David Hockney. I have always been a fan of his simplistic paintings and his sketchbooks also. These images get to the point and can reveal a lot about a person. This simplistic yet effective style, where shapes colour and textures are the biggest aspects of the images are what I strive to recreate in my practice. Again being almost childlike is a main theme for Hockney’s work and is why I admire his work so greatly.
Peter Blake is a huge influence on my work also. He likes to focus on popular/modern culture and his use of figurative realism also appeals to me, with the style of illustration I try to achieve. I consider his work to be very similar to that of Hockneys, which is why I must also admire his work too. Blake’s work seems to rely on a totally two dimensional style, where nothing seems to have too much depth or appear as three dimensional which adds a nice naivety to the work. Aswell as these artists I also admire the work of Nous Vous, a modern collective based in Leeds who create lots of quirky images that match my style of working almost perfectly and I admire their do it yourself ethic they behold and achieve throughout the city of Leeds letting loose with their artwork. They are one of my biggest influences within my work as they seem to combine elements from all the artists I have previously mentioned.
The Fairy Tale project was started a few months ago by Gabrielius MackeviÄ?ius and Nerijus Rimkus. Artists add to an on-going fairy tale, supplying a new paragraph and an illustration. It is updated every few weeks and the story heads in a different direction each time. I really relate to this style of illustration and im keen to follow this project to gain a higher insight into illustration techniques.
Conclusion
Developing my work into third year is going to be a big task as I do need to change my attitude towards my work, I need to be less precious about it and let it be seen by more people. I need to get out of the sketchbooks and onto the wall spaces with larger scale work. Using a larger variety of mediums will also be needed to further develop my work. I think more of my photography needs to be developed and furthered into more of a project rather than just a random shoot that appears in my portfolio. Overall this year, I think my work has taken a turn for the better and I have produced some great illustrations, although next year I will be stepping this up a tonne more as I want to create much more work at a faster pace. More mini projects and a higher attendance to workshops is needed to achieve this and they will be given my full attention to achieve this goal. Collaborating is something I will be carrying out next year too as I believe that my illustrations will look great mixed with other styles such as photography or printwork. Basically just a lot more experimentation and getting further out of my comfort zone is needed for me to further my practice as an Illustrator.
Bibliography Books
Websites:
Peter Blake: A retrospective
www.boooooom.com www.ffffound.com http://triangletriangle.com http://myloveforyou.typepad.com http://meathaus.com/ http://thestrangeattractor. net/ http://beautifuldecay.com/ http://www.nousvous.eu/ http://www.lukebest.com/ http://www.peepshow.org. uk/ http://fairy-tale.tumblr.com/ http://jackhudsonillustration. blogspot.com/ http://www.andreawan. com/
Christoph Grunenberg and Laurence Sillars. Liverpool, 2007
Images 32
London, Association of Illustrators 2008
Images 33
London: Association of Illustrators 2009
The Picture Book
Contemporary illustration Hyland, Angus 2006
Learning to love you more Harry Fletcher & Miranda July Prestel, 2008
The Fundamentals of illustration. Lawrence Zeegan/Crush 2005
Hockneys Pictures
Thames & Hudson, London 2008
David Hockneys Portraits,
London National Portrait Gallery 2006
Tactile: High touch visuals Klanten, R. Berlin 2007