Feedback Part 2

I was delighted that my tutor liked my use of colour as this is something that I have been working on.
She felt that my research for this module was better than for part 1 but that my notes of Franklin Mc Mahon could have been strengthened by expanding on him as an illustrator. Looking back at them I realise that I haven't looked at his methods of working, the small sketchbooks for on the spot drawings which he worked up to finished pieces. I think that is what she meant.

The fashion drawings were challenging because of the time of year and limited variety of clothes due to the cold weather and my tutor noted that I struggled to marry up my personal approach to the discipline of fashion drawing. I take this to mean that I should have included more detail, which makes sense if you are trying to sell clothes from the illustrations. She encouraged me to keep practicing drawing on location and I will try and capture more fashion details when I am out there.

She liked my experiments with the clothes laid out on paper which was encouraging as I didn't pursue this line because I didn't know how they would be received.

She gave me this link to the work of Sioin Queenie Liao who has made hundreds of photos of her young son sleeping on a fantasy background made up of clothes and household items. The results are charming and quirky and I am extremely impressed at the child's ability to sleep so neatly on her creations and on her dedication to making them when most mothers would be seizing the opportunity to catch up on their own sleep.

My architectural drawings focused more on the contrast of the environments than the architectural details. I can draw detailed buildings but I quickly get bored with too much detail and I think this shows to the viewer. She felt that my perspectives were unusual which is great as this is what I try and do with all the assignments I hope that this is what is expected from an illustrator....

Of the variety of drawings for the botanical illustration exercise she liked the simple poinsettia best. I was a little concerned that it lacked punch, but it was a drawing that I enjoyed making and I think that this shows.

Although she liked the variety of drawings for the journey she wondered how they could be linked to form more of a narrative.

I laid them out on a single page.

It's a bit crowded if I want to display all the pictures. I took out the first picture of the people waiting for the train which I think is the weakest picture.

There is less balance in this layout. Know that I should let go of the two grey drawings but they were my favourites...

This version is a bit better. To do a good job here I should have made more drawings so that I could discard some or maybe try and be a little more coherent with my individual drawings although they shouldn't all look the same, a bit of variety makes the layout more interesting.

Inspired by this I did the same with the drawings for Assignment 2

My tutor also felt that the canal drawing was rather flat and lifeless but that the other illustrations could work together which, laid out like this they seem to.

Overall comments

My digital work is weaker, if I want to make it more of a focus I will need practice. I tend to draw, scan then manipulate images on the computer. I'm not instinctively attracted to digital images but I hate to narrow things down at this stage. I will certainly be more aware and more critical when I generate computer images.

I need to keep trying new techniques. I am aware that I reach for pens and coloured pencils when I am more interested in capturing an idea than fighting with materials. Its a lazy way to make work as a student. I have been working to step away from Papermate pencils which are addictive and environmentally unsound, going straight to ink makes me more decisive and produces drawings which are easier to scan. I like experimenting with collage and I use charcoal for life drawing but don't think of it for illustrative work. I need to remind myself to be more inventive and experimental.

Suggested research

Florence Boyd
A really interesting mix of colour and cutouts. I think of collage as re purposing existing images, I need to remind myself that I can generate my own bases for collage. I like her light touch, the illustrations are clean and simple but sophisticated. Her sketchbook work is great, I love the looseness of her figures. I'm not so keen on her finished watercolour pieces which are a little highly coloured for my taste. The book covers show a wide range of styles and I can see that her images work well on a cover because they naturally have space for text and titles.

Ralph Steadman
background
what is a Gonzo journalist?
Here he is discussing the film "For no Good Reason"which I heard nothing about when it was released in 2012. In the interview he says that he was influenced by Hogarth (and talks about Gin Lane and Beer Street) and George Gross, Gross did figurative work and caricatures and I can see the influence of his caricatures on Steadman's work.
Bold lines, paint splashes and splodges. His work feels wild, emotional and angry. Sometimes surprisingly beautiful sometimes fierce and scary. He says things visually that others daren't. Whilst I don't want to draw like him I envy the freedom of his mark making. He is very good at getting his ideas across to his audience, the pictures look like film stills. I always get him muddled up with Ronald Searle, they have the same initials and a similar way of distorting things but Steadman is more colourful and looser, reacting to what the paint does in front of him. I also confuse him with Gerald Scarfe who appears to be the artistic link between the two, still lively and gestural with colour and some ink blots but more controlled work than Steadman makes.

Incidentally Ronald Searle drew a campaign for Lemon Hart Rum (never heard of it) between 1951 and 1962 which featured an alcoholic dressed in yellow getting through life with the aid of rum. Fascinating stuff, Can't imagine the campaign running in 2018....