Research for big brief

These are just 2 references that I wanted to take note of. The second image is much more refined than the first however they both portray information in a visual way. The second image allows you to see scale in a clear way that young children can even understand- I think being able to illustrate such a complex idea of all the different numerical lengths of fish and their ratios to one another in a beautiful image is amazing and great for learning.

The first image, though not aesthetically very nice, separates information clearly so that you can understand it. I feel like this sort of design is great for helping people to understand information that otherwise would be difficult to communicate through text. I wouldn't know where to start when explaining the difference between the canopy layer and the understory layer..

These are all things to bear in mind for my own work.

Hunger Games Covers

These are the covers for the hunger games books. I think the are looking really good. I took on the things that I noted from the Twilight books with the coloured edges and chose to make my work like that too. I chose a different colour for each book to represent the trilogy- 3 primary colours make up the whole story. It also makes each book really special and once you have 1, I have a feeling you would want to buy them all. 

- handwritten font
- overlay
- layout
- motif

Covers on black

I feel as though the covers work much better onto the black. Black is not usually a colour that I work with often so it feels strange to pick however it is definitely suited for this brief.

Editorial Article- "Ivory Funded Terrorism"

Here is my editorial illustration where I used 'spot' illustrations to illustrate the article. I am fairly happy with how the article turned out. For this brief I had not much other choice than to illustrate it from a conceptual perspective. The article was quite lacking of solid imagery, which was kind of nice because it provided me with a challenge to really think about the illustrations. 

Something that I had difficulty with was balancing the image- i did not want the text to overtake the spots or vice versa. I was also aware that the spot illustrations were all different sizes so I tried out many different positions before this one worked. In hindsight the  magnifying glass could probably of done to have been higher up in order for it to feel more balanced as a whole. 

In industry, creating spot illustrations would not usually require you to lay them out for the article with the text. You would just submit them and the art director would sort out that. This gives me confidence!

Twilight book - page edges

This book is by Stephanie Meyer and is more commonly known as a Twilight Saga book. Although I am not a fan of these books, the books have a very notable design. Each book had the edge of every page died red  therefore showing the edge of the book as a block colour when closed. This is really interesting and in my opinion turns a book from being something you could easily pass on once read to something that would cause you to treasure it forever and keep it on your bookshelf. 

I have taken great note of this technique and feel that it could be a really good technique to use in the hunger games books. It would definitely set them apart from others when they are on the shelf of a bookstore.

Cover designs

Here are my designs for the book cover. I haven't yet added the text and everything but I just wanted to see what it would look like as the front of the book. I am happy with how they have turned out however I feel that the brown isn't strong enough. I don't want these covers to be lost on the shelf at POS. I will try a more bold colour which will contrast well against the red and green. 

Initial sketches

In general, my process consists of creating super quick layout sketches and then building them into adobe photoshop. Here is an ISSUU document showing my initial sketches for this brief. I am happy with how they are going and feel that I have come up with some really good concepts.

The sketches above are for the hunger games trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mocking Jay.

Existing covers

These are the existing covers for the Hunger Games books. These covers are the reason why I want to redesign them. In my opinion they look dated and geeky; in order to reach a wider audience the books should look inviting to all type of young adults (side note: young adults is the audience of the books as documented on the hunger games website). I am creating these book covers so that the new covers can reach their target audience better and also appeal to the bracket of people who are won over almost solely by the aesthetics of a book.

planning out for the article "ivory funded terrorism"

Here are my sketches for this article, i am keeping this article mostly focussing on the conceptual side, I'm looking at the area that this subject centres around, the terror that it causes and the money produced from this issue. So far I really like it - i will draw it up as  a shape next. 

Penguin book

This is my cover that I have designed for the clockwork orange book. Now that I have made it and am looking at it with fresh eyes, I am wondering if the text that I have used works well? I feel it looks too mainstream and the book would look dated within a year or two. It is probably a good idea to take this idea and edit the text from a hand drawn font to a more classic font that will not date much. The font Futura was made in 1927 yet it still looks great today- this font or one like it is what I need I feel.  It also means that my portfolio isn't 'trendy' looking its more classic and therefore doesn't need updating as regularly.

Development of the brief

This is the progress to far on the clockwork orange brief. It took a lot trying and testing to get going but i am pleased with how it is working out. I still need to add the text and work with the layout a bit, but you can get the idea of how it is panning out.

Initial ideas

I have been coming up with a few ideas for the clockwork orange brief. I am just playing around with motifs at the  moment. I like how the first image looks but I also enjoy the pattern and feel that it adds something. I will continue to try out different options in order to develop and improve the cover. 

I feel like the white is overpowering here and I need to begin to include a less bright range of colours for this classic book. I will also refine the motif more as well and begin to make it a shape instead of a line drawing to give it more presence on the cover as well as in the context of a book shop/online store.

Pinterest board

Here is my pinterest board of lots of different book covers that I like. The ones that stand out to me the most are simple ones and ones with highly conceptual ideas. This is something for me to note for my work.

Main brief pinterest board

Here is the Pinterest board for this brief. I have a wide range of ideas for this brief so it is a case of figuring out what I like, what I don't like and also what fits the brief. These contextual references will help me along on this journey. They also help me to almost learn from other illustrators mistakes, I can think "this person's colour palette is to harsh" or "these shapes produce too much tension" and then learn from these things for the work that I do. Many of this evaluation happens in the subconscious and therefore because intuitive rather than a forced action however it is good to take note. I am very excited to start making work for this brief!

Brief 3

Brief 3:

Big Brief- Illustrated Guide to The Tropical Rainforest (book)

I will illustrate 4 Sections in the book- Forest floor, understory layer, canopy layer and emergent layer. More than 1,200 new species have been identified in the amazon rainforest between 1999 and 2009 and around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests- people need to know more about these new species and the vast array of life in the tropical rainforest. The book will be at least 24 Pages. It will even be open to further development of posters, activity pack, selected screenprints, wallpaper, card game (like ‘top trumps’).

Audience: children and other people who don’t know a lot about the rainforest but want to find out more or just like really nice illustrated books.
Product:

Tone of voice:

Fun

Engaging

Informative

Playful

Audience:

People interested in nature and botanical drawings

People who enjoy screenprints

People who visit the Natural History Museum- mostly targeted towards families

Context:

Natural history museum- walls, & shop

Could also translated for use in..

                                             A classroom

                                             Tropical world, leeds

                                             Exhibition space

                                             Interactive space

Mandatory Requirements:

It has to be based on the rainforest

It has to appeal to the audience

Deliverables:

5x Screenprints

10x Wall Decals- 2/3 metres tall

Set of products for the museum shop

Editorial Article 'teaching grownups to eat'

This is my 'letterbox size' illustration. I am not that happy with this illustration. I really struggled to get the colour palette to work well here and feel that the image produced isn't that strong. I also struggled for time on this one, the desks, people and general composition of the image took a long time to produce so in the end I had to just stop and leave the image without the attention to detail that I would usually input. 24 hours is a tough time frame!

Rationale

I want to improve my problem solving skills, my drawing skills and my professionalism in my practice including having a clear ‘tone of voice’ in my work. This will help me to solve briefs in ways that are creative and not cliche, it will help me communicate better and help me to be more recognisable in my work. This will deepen my understanding of illustration and establish my practice more and as a result I will feel like I have achieved something really exciting and am proud of.

I want to have informed decision making in my work because it will have a good effect on the work created. This will make sure that the work produced is relevant and enlightened. It will make my work be the best it can be and as a result it will make me a better illustrator. It will also mean that potential clients can see that my work is thought out and well crafted.

Second stage of the Darts competition!!!

I submitted my work back in November time and just put it to the back of my mind. Receiving the email saying that I got through to the next stage was amazing. Funnily enough I had not properly read about the different prizes/stages of the competition so I did not realise that this meant I can visit the historical site in  Romania for free! All flights/accomodation/expenses for paid for. This is really exciting and I will definitely look into this. It would be a great opportunity.

Maria Corte Maidagan

I am really inspired by the work of Maria Corte Maidagan. I feel that she has very much understood how to combine text and image so that it works in her favour rather than text being an afterthought. The bold forms balance the text along with the contrasting colour. 

Her work has really inspired me to forward think more about my work. I gather that working like this means that you have to be in correspondence with the art director of the newspaper/magazine so that you are able to work this layout out. Also it is notable that these types of illustrations will most likely not be expected/or be possible to take place if the job is on a short time scale. 

Existing Clockwork Orange Covers

 In order to move forward you must learn from what has gone before. I have been researching the existing covers that have proceeded my design for the penguin design award. I have done this so that I know that I am not regurgitating an existing design but learn from them and what I don't like about them.

Though there has been many covers designed, these we the stand out/key pieces that I came across- the last being the current cover by Barnbrook Studio. Though it is a fresh design that goes against the other designs, I feel that it may be at times too simple. Though the book is world famous, there are still some who have not heard of it, in my opinion choosing such a bold cover does not give the reader any hints as to what is inside. It is definitely eye catching but I wonder if it is engaging??

The other designs seem dated (despite being great designs) which would not fulfil the brief where it says it "must appeal to contemporary readership". I feel they look dated because of the colours, the clunky layout and quality of line. These are things that I need to focus on to ensure that my design is successful.

Brief 7 edit

Due to the nature of this course, I feel that it would be beneficiary for me to streamline this brief.

Initially I set out to create the 'Fight the Dice' EP cover as well as submitting work for Secret 7. After creating this cover for the band, I do not think that using my time on another competition brief would be much good. Secret 7 is a good competition however as a whole it takes away all the advantages of a competition brief (a prize/ money/ exposure). Instead I would be spending time making free work for it not to have my name on; this is why I have chosen to devote my efforts elsewhere. I have a few paid jobs on at this moment as well as all the other modules so I need to manage my workload in a different way than I first thought.

The Brief

A Clockwork Orange is as dazzling and inventive to new readers today as it was when it was first published half a century ago. The story is well known both in celluloid and print so it is essential to come at it from a fresh angle. Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious clichés. Originality is key.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 10mm).

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief 
• be competently executed with strong use of typography 
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against
• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops

Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design

'Fight The Dice' Finished EP Cover