Illustration & Animation 352 DVA
Illustration Practice 3 Yen Quach 2014
Contents of Submission 352 DVA: Undertaking external projects/competitions to refine my own practice [Ordered by project, rather than chronologically; there is overlap in feedback between them all]
Private Commission: Phil O. [Final] Tapirulan Calendar 'X' Competition [Final] Theatre Poster [Marlowe x Shakespeare] [Final] Software Design Publication [Ongoing commission] House of Illustration/Folio Society Competition [F1][F2][F3][Cover] Feedback forms: [1] [2] [3] Self Reflection
Private Commission: Phil O. Private commission from a previous client for a small illustration to be used as a gift for the holidays. Small fee and free range on method for this project.
Character Design Development
• From researching native Japanese mice and the traditional clothing of ninjas, I developed a design and composition for the illustration, the first draft of which was approved by the client, Phil O.
Final Illustration
Reflection on completion A commission that I worked on with a one week turnaround (with the launch of this module), I decided, for ease of time and potential edits due to the needs/wants of the client, to complete it digitally using PaintTool SAI (a lightweight, raster based painting program). I was satisfied with the level of polish and finish on it, although I agree with the feedback I recieved from tutorials about how it is very 'commercial' and does not quite reflect me. On the other hand, it is therefore a viable style to go into, for any projects that need to have the artist removed a step, for external reasons. (It will just not be the main way that I would promote myself with.)
Tapirulan Calendar 'X' Competition
Annual illustration competition from Tapirulan, the Italian Cultural Association. To celebrate 10 years, the theme for 2014 was 'X', which was left open to interpretation. The images had to be 31 x 31 cm in size (digital) and the competition was open to all artists internationally, with a small entry fee. From my original set of thumbnails, I kept on being drawn to the idea of 'X Marks the Spot', even though it is a little more cliche, as I wanted to challenge myself in creating an image that could still tell a story with limited amount of actual figures in it. In addition to that, for the Calendar, I was making a 'summer' feeling type of image, to apply my illustration to the end product.
Thumbnails and initial sketch explorations
Final Illustration
Reflection on completion With other commitments that kept cropping up, I worked on this piece with a one week overall turnaround, managing to finish and submit before the closing of submissions. With that, I am in the online gallery for this year's annual contest. I chose to do this illustration digitally as I know I would be layering a number of elements over each other with a time constraint. With that limitation set, I used PaintTool SAI for the entirety of the image. I had difficulties with some parts of the illustration, which in hindsight are the parts that I'm most proud of. With the group tutorial that happened after the submission of this image, I was warned against taking the easy route with cliches. As with the 'Ninja Mouse' commission, the digital image feels a little more stale and commercial. However, I feel I've learned a lot in completing this illustration, that I wouldn't have otherwise if I had chosen to do a different image.
Theatre Poster Design[Marlowe x Shakespeare] Briefed by the drama department of the University to create 2 matching A3 sized posters for two contrasting plays to be promoted at the same time later in the academic year- both to be done within a week for the actors of said plays to pick the best ones to promote themselves with. With that in mind, I intentionally worked on them as if they were one image instead of two.
Development of Dual Designs
With matching designs and suggestions from the clients in terms of themes/motifs in mind, I quickly sketched out and refined the design before finishing it off digitally.
Final Illustrations
Reflection on completion Of the poster designs, my Midsummer's piece was in the final shortlist for it's relevant category, with lots of positive comments and reactions towards it. Due to the preset constraints of PaintTool SAI, I ended up working on both pieces as A4 600 DPI images, for the final printout at A3 size. To further pair the designs, they share the same color palette, just in differing proportions. To rely less on digital tools, I based the final illustrations heavily on my thumbnails, although based on group tutorials afterwards, there was still the general concensus that my sketches had vitality that the finished pieces lacked. Faustus in particular was seen as being overly cartoony and cliche. Despite that, I am happy with the images, especially the Midsummer one, though as always, I can see room for improvement.
Software Design Publication Commissioned by Marian P. and Andre vd H. to create a proportion of illustrations for their upcoming book '(tentatively titled) Things Expert Software Designers Do', based on the format of publications such as '101 Things I Learned in Architecture School' of a small piece of text accompanied on the facing page by an illustration that is relevant in some way. Even as the module finishes, this project itself is ongoing, with a hopeful publication to be in S/S 2015, after further talks with publishers and about content within the book to be finalised. The majority of my contributions to the book will be orientated towards completion using traditional methods- a dip pen and ink with a tonal watercolor wash.
Software Design Publication Correspondence [via email]
Looking at this, feedback is positive. The only thing to 'do' is continue creating relevant illustrations for the text until the book 'done'. Follow up meetings to discuss the book with clients are normally done remotely via Skype.
Illustrations & Associated Headers
-'Experts use analogy', -'Experts go as deep as needed -'Experts check with others continually' -'Experts prefer simple solutions', -'Experts keep sketches'
Reflection on project As an ongoing project that will continue on beyond the end of this module, I'm pleased about the positive feedback from clients. In comparision to the three previous projects, this one has more of a base in traditional media, with digital touches only being needed for minor tweaks. Looking at this from a long term perspective in regards to the direction that my own work will move in, this sort of style is definitely of the kind to keep 'to the side' as an optional extra in terms of the ways of working that I can do. [As in for more of the short deadline/small pay work if I was to continue to create work for academic or educational publications.] As it is, I will continue on with this project until eventual publication, the aim being to have it all done before the end of Summer 2015.
House of Illustration/Folio Society The brief was to create 3 illustrations, one for each of the currently available stories to read, and a cover design for the House of Illustration and Folio Society's annual, international competition. The title of the book for the 2015 competition was the "Folio Collection of Ghost Stories", with the stories that were available to illustrate being: – 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' – 'The Upper Berth' – 'A Tale of an Empty House' - and a design for the cover With the previous winners of this competition in mind, I decided that having a set palette in mind for each image would make it stronger and more memorable
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas From this story, I decided to focus on the atmosphere around the frightened friend, rather than the monster or the well, to amp up the tension.
Development From the initial thumbnails and sketches, I settled on a portrait of just Mr. Brown, "damp with drops of fear, was the usually calm face of his friend". Based on previous feedback from my other projects and tutorials about this brief, I decided to tackle this illustration traditionally, using a mix of watercolor, colored pencil and emulsion (house paint). Final thumbnail and a digital pass at the piece before I decided on making the illustration with traditional media to recapture the energy of the thumbnails/original sketches.
Final Illustration
"Mr. Gregory saw, with a shock of pity, how drawn, how damp with drops of fear, was the usually calm face of his friend."
The Upper Berth My initial ideas for this focused around the porthole and the two men in the room with the ghost, although it was pointed out that that certain imagery was cliche. From rereading the text more closely, I then refocused onto the eerie things that happen to announce the presence of the ghost itself.
Development After the initial feedback, I rethought my image to feature part of the portmanteau and a reflection in seawater of the ghost. The final illustration was made in the same way as the 'Abbot Thomas' one, for consistency.
Final Illustration
"I shuddered as that same odour of stagnant seawater grew stronger in the cabin."
A Tale of an Empty House The moment in the text where the narrator discovers the house, in contrast to the beautiful landscape [described in the text in great detail] is what I knew I wanted to illustrate, as it stuck very strongly in my mind.
Development Further on from the initial sketches and thumbnails, I quickly made a final sketch that I based my final illustration on. The first pass [on the very right] didn't come out as well as I wanted, so I redid it for the finished piece.
Final Illustration
"With a pang of disappointment I saw the first evidence of the intrusion of man."
Cover Design
For the cover, I was interested in creating an image that continued onto the back of the book. Mindful of the way that the Folio Society normally printed the cover [clothbound with 2 colors at most] and cliche images, I settled on the illustration of the cliffside waves and skeletons in moonlight.
Development Finalising the flow of the final illustration and picking out where I would need references to avoid making things up. In hindsight, I realise that the composition of this piece is like the one made for the theatre posters.
Development & Final Design
Final Cover Design
A wraparound cover design. The red is the bookcloth, so only the darkest (dark brown/black) and the lightest (pale yellow/white) elements of the design would be printed. Of that, some of the white elements would be printed with phosphorescent ink to glow in the dark.
Template for book cover mock-up
Reflection on completion For this project, there was quite a bit of back and forth over the course of the module in how I would complete my images. In the end, I chose to complete the 3 illustrations mainly traditionally, with the cover being completed digitally from an initial pencil sketch due to the constraints of the brief in terms of color and design. For all of these illustrations, I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the stories, whilst experimenting with technique and trying to introduce and keep a sense of immediacy and energy within the images. I'm especially pleased with the outcome of the cover (there was an alternate version with blue bookcloth, but it lacked the vibrancy and 'panicked' feeling that the red version has. For future projects, I would like to play more with designed intricacy that draws in the eyes of the viewer, in a similar way to the way that I planned this cover design. If I were to redo the 3 illustrations, it would be done with that specific goal in mind.
Feedback Form- Oct 7th
Feedback Form- Oct 21st
Feedback Form- Nov 11th
Self Reflection [Overall] Looking at the projects undertaken in this module, I feel like my techniques have matured as I've experimented and trusted the output of using mainly traditional media, in comparision to over-rendering and 'killing' images when using digital media. I enjoyed taking on the personal/private commissions, though they were done in a style that I may have to fight to get away from to really grasp my own, unique voice amongst all the other illustrators out there. Throughout all of these projects, I kept in mind the idea of a strong narrative behind each image, regardless of whether or not there was a figure featured in it. Some were more sucessful than others, but overall it was an exercise that has strengthed my desire to create images that offer glimpses into worlds, rather than being just 'pretty pictures'. Of all of the images, I think the book cover design for the House of Illustration/ Folio Society competition is the kind of illustration that I want to personally set as the 'bar' for any following illustrations in terms of thought behind it and to a degree, execution.