American Illustration 32

The other day I was flipping through the American Illustration 32, a collection of winning illustrations from 2013. These were some of my personal favourites and why:

These portraits are by Tina Berning and I liked them for their simplicity and the different marks she uses, ranging from loose inky washes, to cross-hatching, patterns, simple strong line work and blocks of black. I especially like the way Berning uses the lighter tones of the ink to achieve subtle shadows in the facial features, the tonality of each piece is very effective.

I loved this whole spread for its playfulness. The artists have been set side by side purely by chance because of the alphabetical ordering of the book, but I think it works really nicely. Christopher Niemann's use of photography and real pencil shavings reminds me of Lord Whitney and the idea that illustration doesn't have to be flat 2D images on screen or paper. Even though it's simple, the emphasis is on the idea and the fun of the image. It does what I think good illustration should do and communicate without relying on words. Opposite, Nik Neves uses colour really boldly and I love the contrast between the green of the tree and the block reds and oranges of the buildings.

This image is by Peter Oumanksi and I think I chose this for the flatness of the perspective and the fairly limited colour scheme; the pink and olive green work really well together against warm grey, and stop it becoming to heavy with the black outlines and high detailing. I definitely like the composition of this image, the blank space seems to allow for the dense detail and draws you in. Personally I know I would always be tempted to draw in some waves in that blank space, but they'd be unnecessary, the viewer knows it's water without them. Making me consider how much an image can be pared back.

I adore Brian Rea, so obviously these images made my top ten from the journal. Again it's the genius behind the image that gets me, not necessarily the style (although I like that too). This one was for the Modern Love column, accompanying an article about a man faced with throwing the items of a shared home after his wife dies. You can feel the unwillingness and loneliness right from the offset just by the body language of the figure and the composition of the piece. The room looks empty even though it is full of possessions. Originally, I thought this might be about consumerism and how you can't find happiness in things, which isn't too far off.

Brian Rea again, and again it's the reflective quality of the image that I love. You know immediately that this guy's only friend is his dog and that maybe he's struggling with a life direction from the simple clues in the illustration, such as their posture, the empty pizza box, the fallen cup... This was to accompany a Modern Love article about a man who's love for his dog helped him past his heartbreak, but you already knew that just by looking.

I chose this image for its playful quality in the colour scheme and marks. Everything has a spontaneous feel in this illustration, including the composition, things are layered haphazardly and drawn over. It draws you in.

This caught my eye because I'm really enjoying the trend over the last few years of a kind of rough, hand-drawn mark and coloured pencil texture, as opposed to digitally clean illustrations. The misty fading at the top of the image balances really well with the dark roofs at the bottom and I like the odd splash of mustard yellow against the grey. This A/W fashion collection has featured that palette quite strongly so it would be interesting to see if illustrations like this from 3 years ago fed that trend???

Another illustration that speaks with some comedy. This drawing style reminded me a lot of Quentin Blake because of the soft, scratchy line work and delicate watercolours, so it caught my eye. Then I realised it was actually quite comical as well and so it made the top ten for using a nice, traditional style that took me back to my childhood of books to remind me that social media is a bit of a black hole.

Looking through my selection I can see a tendancy towards the hand-drawn, delicate or limited colour palettes and comedy in my picks. I guess I like illustration that is either easy on the eye or saying something interesting, but preferably both.

Gormley & Composition

If you ever feel stuck in a compositional rut, turn to a sculptor for help. I've found that there's something about people who think in terms of 3D space having a real knack for composition, and you can see it even in their small scale sketches and designs for their sculptures.

I've recently taken 'Body and Light', a book of drawings by sculptor Anthony Gormley, out of the library and it's full of these gorgeous, loose ink drawings that are really helping me think of the compositions of my moving image work. I've been viewing these images as though they were screenshots from a film, and imagining the immediate before and after movement that led to that particular drawing.
Activities like this help me to step away from my usual flat, straightforward scenes, and think more in terms of a 3D space, a moving camera and pacing/composition time-wise. In moving image work composition is more than just how you display a single image, it's also about the film environment the image is in; contrasts between sweeping panoramas and close-ups, fast-paced movement and energy against stillness...

The Empathy Museum

A touring museum built around the idea of teaching social acceptance, encouraging conversation and learning about people through artistic events? That's The Empathy Museum!

What is it like to have spent years in prison, or to be a child growing up in Tehran, or to have rediscovered love in your eighties? The Empathy Museum will help you find out.

Launched in 2015, the Empathy Museum is the first experiential arts space dedicated to helping us all look at the world through other people’s eyes. By touring internationally, it will explore how empathy can not only transform our personal relationships but also help tackle global challenges such as prejudice, conflict and inequality.

Manifesto taken from The Empathy Museum's site http://www.empathymuseum.com

"I walk a mile in your shoes... Now I'm a mile away, and I've got your shoes" - Kings of Leon - Comeback Story

Comedy has always been a great communicator of ideas, just like art, and this lyric always makes me giggle.

They're a new venture and have so far created two 'installations' using interactive media and the power of people. It's such a wonderful idea and I'm in love with the idea of art being used as a way of bringing people together. Large scale community arts projects obviously already exist, art therapy is alive and well, but I sometimes feel that 'Art' with a capital 'A' , the kind that occupies galleries and museums, still has the power to disengage and confuse unless you are willing to read the plaque next to it. I like the idea of this pulling art back to humanity and using it to try and make communities more accepting, engaged and ready to listen to each other's stories. I reckon there is also an opportunity hidden in here for a moving image/multimedia project... projections? virtual reality? animation? apps?

Although there is an element of these kinds of projects preaching to the converted; to those already curious about other lives and willing to share their experiences empathetically... I'd like to think that by offering these stories out into the world, they are encouraging people to learn about lives they never knew to even ask about.

A tale of a sickly whale

I was having a scout through the 2015 animation graduates of RCA (#inspiration) when I came across Zuzanna Weiss' lovely ink and graphite animation, 'A Tale of a Sickly Whale', created by fellow RCA grad, Rosanna Wan. Not only was I drawn to the really beautiful and simple hand-drawn animation, but I've discovered that I love listening to real people's stories.

I think we all have this ingrained in us; as little humans we thrive off stories and I'm not sure that ever really fades. There's something nice about a podcast in the familiarity of a real voice telling a real story, often not overly edited and somewhat amateur. It's as though you're 5 again and sat in granddad's lap asking him to tell you what it was like in 'his day'.

I think I know what all my work and research comes back to, and that's just an interest in how art can connect people together and share a moment, or a viewpoint, or a story.

Marian Leven

Since working with the guys on a collaborative music video, I've rekindled my appreciation for the fine art realm, and started exploring more traditional forms of art in the hope they'll inspire my way of working in animation.

I think growing up by the sea has had a huge influence on my go-to colour palette and texture preferences. Deep down, I'm not sure anything will ever be as beautiful to me as a palette of greys, pthalo blues and sea greens (the odd yellow or orange splash of sailboat occasionally granted), and the wonderfully organic edges of ink spreads and watercolours, textures that remind me of pebbles and lines that flow like overlapping ripples. There's something about these things that speak to my soul and remind me of a childhood  spent on the coast of the Irish Sea.

One of my current projects is a short 1 minute animation about climate change, and I'm taking this opportunity to go loose, watery and inky in my animation style. In looking at fine artists, I came across Marian Leven, and I've fallen in love with the tones and colours she uses, the minimal approach to mark-making and her combination of textures. Originally I was just contemplating inks and watercolour for this animation, but now I'm considering some graphite, pastel or charcoal work would really bring some energy to it all after looking at Leven's work. There's some abstract elements and quick changes in the storyboard that would really benefit from a bit of added texture and interest. It can all get a bit flat with just some pen lines and watercolour washes. I do like this white space around the darker inkiness in this deconstructed image though, and that's definitely something I've been playing with in the RSA climate change animation.

Designs for the Shine Project

After being inspired by the batik and screen-print patterns of Zimbabwean fabrics, I decided to replicate the effect using brusho and bleach. It seemed to work quite well... I've had to make my own bleach pen so I don't have the problem of drips when using a brush but that's been a useful invention for future brusho projects too. Keeps the lines much cleaner.

I've drawn designs today for the endpapers, characters and general layout of the book. Although this book is for a very young audience, I like the idea of having little visual jokes and a beauty in the design for the parents and older children to appreciate too. For example, I've designed the pages for the 'lost shoe story' so that there is a clear narrative progression across the double page spread by following Tatenda's footprints (this story is only one double spread because we are limited on the number of pages we can print), but I've made the footprints a little joke too by making one a shoe print and one a bare footprint. Poor Tatenda!

Character design

Alphabet lettering mock-up

Zimbabwean Home sketch

Sample of animals in brusho/bleach style

Basic layout design

More bleached animal designs

Character design - Tatenda has lost his shoe!

Endpaper design - pre photoshop touch ups and letters/numbers.

Miro and More

I've got several things on the go at once at the mo, but the music video I'm helping out in is proving to be really useful to my other projects too. Everything is connected!!!

Installation piece from the YSP 2 summers ago.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I'm heading down to the studios to do some character designing with a painter called Robin, who is also collaborating with ABK on the music video. He's drawn some lovely patterns, bird and warrior designs and symbols already, so we'll be using a similar style of drawing using Chinese inks for the main characters too.
Working with someone like Robin, who is an older, more experienced painter, has made me realise that I need to constantly be looking for inspiration in classic and contemporary art and sculpture, as well as in the 'here and now' artists. We've been drawing inspiration from Joan Miro, Picasso and Paul Klee to name but a few and it's allowing me to explore styles I would never have come to on my own. Collaboration seems to get more and more useful and interesting the further you delve!