The aim of this exercise is to explore a selection of illustrators that use a particular medium and see how they use their preferred medium in similar and different ways. I did some searching to think about the different mediums that I have noticed.
I have been trying to improve my digital work, but to go down that route opens up into a myriad of different sub-genres that are styles in their own right. It felt too overwhelming at the moment, so I decided to focus on traditional media. I have been drawn to watercolour for a while, but have felt quite intimidated to use it often in my coursework.
This seemed like a good medium to focus on, and it gave me a good reason to try and select a broad range of styles.
John Walsom trained as an architect and spent time as a theatre set designer. Because of this his images show an amazing command of perspective which I really admire. His work is exacting and proportional, which allows his work to come across as both conceptual and realistic, without any need for a photo-realistic style.
I really like the way that he manages to capture figures effectively and authentically without actually needing very much detail. I especially appreciate his ability to capture the shape and volume of clothing with only a few well-placed lines or shadow.
His palette is actually quite warm and saturated for subjects that are based on realism. It really ties all of his work together, and adds a vibrancy to the subjects which helps to show them off.
Luke Scriven's work by contrast is very different. He has an amazing ability to carefully use simple washes of watercolour and ink. I really like how his use of the medium's natural tendency to create darker edges complements his use of ink to draw or outline his subjects. His palette is more desaturated, but is still wonderfully colourful. He combines this with an amazing use of grey, black and subdued dark colours.
There is a similarity in the way both he and John Walsom use aerial/atmospheric perspective to their advantage. Luke adds on top of this technique to avoid using outlines for things that are further away. I really like Luke's use of layering, and how he is not afraid to break the 'purist' watercolour approach and use white medium on top of his work to re-introduce light. I think this looks more like white acrylic ink than it does watercolour or gouache.
His animals and creatures have an anthropomorphic quality to their faces and everything has a simple, child-like element to it. It's hard to see any pencil under-drawing to his work, which suggests he leads with ink before adding in colour. This was different to John Walsom, where I got the distinct impression of carefully lined pencils to help get the exacting perspective needed. His line work is loose but carefully considered, but not loose in the same way as, say, Quentin Blake or Dan Berry.
I was drawn to Marcel George's work based on my reflections from Assignment 3. Using black line work can tend to lend the sense of cartoon, comic or graphic novelisation in artwork. There is nothing wrong with this, and it is something I admire - even in fine art I really like pen and wash pieces.
However, I have been thinking that I should explore trying to do some work where I don't use ink outlines, and instead try and concentrate on communicating form tonally. I really like Marcel's work in this regard. Some of his work relies a lot on shapes, and has a quality that is almost like a screen print, or vector work done digitally. I really like his use of negative space and contrast to suggest form, and he also uses the edge of his washes to add texture. I really like how he's done the for the palm trees in the image above.
His work still exhibits an attention to detail, especially when it comes to textures. Those textures, strangely, are not always consistent. It seems sometimes he likes to be specific, and others he is happy to play with the uncontrollable nature of the watercolour paint to produce interesting effects.
Emma Kelly has a style that appeals to me, using ink to outline her work. Her colour palette seems to be based in realism, so has an 'average' saturation and a wider range of colours than some of the other artists. Where her content is architectural and landscape she tends to use flat washes. It gives her work a sense of almost being cel-shaded [1].
When it then comes to objects, people and creatures, she really tries to capture their physicality by using dilution of the watercolour to capture the tone of the objects. Whilst this is successful in capturing the three-dimensional aspect, I think it also makes the images feel a bit washed-out which I don't think would be my preference.
Her simple (but definitely not simplistic) technique to portraiture is very effective. However in a lot of work it feels like the line is the star, and the watercolour a supporting actor. Given that I have decided to concentrate on watercolour for this exercise I need to be conscious of this for my choices during the next stage.
Holly Exley is a successful illustrator who I first discovered through her YouTube Channel. She has developed a niche of food illustration that she is known for, even though she also has a wider commercial appeal. He style really lends itself to the kind of commissions she receives. She has a keen eye for detail and is able to create a sense of realism, even when abstracting certain elements. There is a similar feel to the work of renowned watercolour artist Ian Sidaway.
I really like the way that she uses saturated glazes to add vibrancy to her work. She seems to have a really good understanding of the use of colour, and is able to layer colours really effectively. I especially like how she is able to use purples, greens and blue in ways I would not immediately think are appropriate. But I think this keen observation is key to her ability to give a sense of realism. I particularly like her illustrations of bread, above, where she has totally captured the texture and light of the food.
Stina Person is an artist I discovered during my research for this exercise. I really liked how she was all the way down the other end of the scales from the other artists I had chosen. Her language is extremely minimalist, and she has an amazing use of white space in her work. Her colours are extremely saturated and colourful.
She uses blending a lot, and manages to use wet-in-wet techniques really effectively. But I also like her ability to use negative lines - my assumption she uses tape and/or masking fluid for these. There is an obvious feminism to her work, which allows it to fit really well in commercial work for perfume and fashion.
What I also admire is her bravery in allowing the wet-in-wet blends to help shape, and even define, the work. I think this is something I could learn from, given my tutor's feedback to work out how to take visual risks in my sketchbooks.
Focus Artwork 1
I have chosen the piece above by Luke Scriven for my first focused image. I really liked the sense of narrative in this piece. It seems quite simple, but I think a lot of thought went into it. Its composition is quite square, but this is the first of the techniques I noticed that gives the bear a sense of size. By mentally drawing a box around the piece, the bear feels constrained, like it's hard for it to fit. The next thing the artists uses is a sense of scale. By using tall, thin trees juxtaposed against the small boy we get a real sense of the huge size of the bear.
There is a surreal aspect to the artwork, but this seems to contrast with the conversational tone of the interaction between the boy and the bear. This interaction lends a normalcy which helps the viewer accept that this relationship is perfectly normal (if a little surprising!). Judging by the work, I think Luke worked in this sequence:
ink outlines
initial watercolour washes
line details like the fur and branches
atmospheric perspective
shadows & shading
The palette is quite limited, and the use of a white background gives a sense of simplicity. Based on Luke's online portfolio, he like to use children in his work. This gives them a sense of wonder, innocence and a certain cuteness. The line work itself in this piece is also quite minimalistic - the longest lines are those of the trees in the foreground.
The next task of this exercise is to go back to an image from a previous exercise, and re-render it by learning from the focus on the other artist's work.
I decided on the image from exercise 3.1: Like Luke's work there is a surreal aspect, and its focus is a boy. I thought this might be an interesting challenge to try and take Luke's aspects and apply them to this image. On instagram artists often indulge in challenges called #drawthisinyourstyle. I think this is like a variation on that theme: #drawthisintheirstyle!
As I was painting the final piece, I realised that drawing it in the other artist's style wasn't the objective - it was to use their tools, techniques and process as much as I could replicate. Rather than trying to copy the style, I shifted my approach to pay attention to my analysis and think about the language Luke was using in his work.
In my sketchbook I started to shift from experimenting with pose and colour, and really think about the proportions as a visual language. This actually helped my feel more comfortable about moving onto a final re-render. However I wasn't sure about what kind of scene to replicate. Luke has a variety of different backdrops in his portfolio, so I used my sketchbook to try out a few variations, referring back to my thumbnail sketch to imagine how those backgrounds might work.
For the final piece I decided to try and go for a snowy backdrop, as that would allow me to practice a gradient wash and have some fun using some acrylic ink to create a snowy effect!
I first started with a light pencil outline. I am not sure if Luke uses pencil or not but I wasn't confident to go in straight with ink. So as not to rely on the line work, I decided to go for watercolour first, then add ink towards the end.
I masked off everything except the sky, so that I could apply the wash to the paper. A added a street light into the composition to balance it, and so I could play a little with the light. This gave me the idea to try out a few techniques: 1) to use a hard stippling brush to lift off the paint under the light to give the hazy beam of yellow sodium light and 2) to think about how light bounces around in a snowy sky. I used a pale orange wash blended from the bottom up to simulate the reflection of light pollution back up into the sky. I think it worked pretty well. The Snow was added by scraping my thumb across the stippling brush laden with white acrylic ink.
I am really happy with the final image, and it's one of my more successful illustrations to date. I think I captured the essence of Luke's approach, and improved my own skills along the way. I would have liked to have been more bold with the black ink to create shadow.
Focus Artwork 2
For my second focused piece I decided to use the black and white collage from exercise 2.9. Unlike the earlier collage, this image has a sense of claustrophobia, so this seemed like a good juxtaposition to the first focus re-render.
There were a few things that I wanted to take into account for this focused re-render: I wanted to keep the brooding aspect, but I was also aware that I needed to handle the trees differently. The horizon line in this image is implied, but in the re-render I would have to be more specific. I studied the portfolio of Luke Scriven to see how he has handled that problem in the past. I thought it best to try and work out how I might need to handle the composition respectfully, so I decided to do a few small roughs in my sketchbook.
There was no one stand-out composition that I liked best, but there were elements in all of them that I thought I could use. This time I wanted to try and replicate Luke's process more accurately. Luckily, on his instagram he has some process videos, so I was able to get a better sense of what to try. So this time I started with the ink, and I had to be more spontaneous with some of my mark-making which was a bit scary! After all the inking I laid down flat washes of colour, and then added layers of watercolour to add shading.
I am really happy with the outcome. I think the using a black foreground and background has been a really useful compositional tool and I am really grateful for the time looking at Luke's work to see that in practice. I like the texture added to the forest floor, but I would have liked to have worked out how to better vary the stroke length nearer the foreground to add to the sense of perspective. At the moment it's a little flat. The other thing I would have liked to do is maybe add in some vertical lines in the background using watercolour to add another layer of trees without having to use ink.
Overall, this exercise seemed really daunting, but actually I think I have made some of my most successful work to date, and more importantly I have embraced experimentation more, and I think that's had a positive effect on my renders. I don't think this is exactly my style, but it does feel authentic. And there are a lot of things that I have learned that I can start incorporating into my work in my own way. Watercolour is a medium that seems to suit me so far, but I also need to see how my 'style' can translate to other media and still retain a language across my work.
Updates & Re-Work
As part of selecting my work for assessment, I revisited the two pieces above as candidates. They received a lot of positive feedback when I shared them with other students and connections, so I thought they could be successful for me. I went back to my tutor's notes to see if there was anything I could do to make it more successful.
She noted:
"You could look at light source more and really exaggerate this to start with and then you can tone it back a bit."
Both of my images were meant to be when there was limited light (at night, in dark woods) but I can see how the images are too light to really demonstrate this. Instead of re-doing the artwork, or adding in more contrast with paint and ink (which would be more of an experiment, and too much of a risk if it went wrong) I decided to use what I knew about digital shading to see how I could apply it to a traditional painting. By adding in adjustment lays of levels, I was able to add in shading layers. I used digital watercolour and ink brushes to add in the shading, to try and give it as authentic an effect as possible.
Whilst not perfect, I think adding in more contrast and defined shadows has worked well. I am, however, interested to see how they print out as this will affect what I choose to mount for my assessment submission.
All images Copyright of the respective artists. Reproduced here under the fair use policy for educational purposes.
References:
1. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Cel shading. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel_shading [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].
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