Assignment 2

A sense of place

Your local tourist board has commissioned you to produce a series of reportage illustrations that celebrates aspects of your local culture.

Base your illustrations on real local events, locations and people. Capture a sense of place through drawing from life. Produce between 3 and 5 pieces of work, at least one should be in colour.

The style of the illustrations is up to you, but the tourist board wants something that portrays vitality and life. They want to see people at the destination, engaging with activities, or enjoying themselves taking in the views.

As with other exercises you’ve done so far, use your sketchbook to document and gather information. Your final illustrations could be a selection of your best drawings or reworked illustrations based on your sketches. Reflect on what sort of reportage you are most interested in and how you’ve produced your best drawings, then pick a place that supports this way of working.

I started this assignment working on from the critical review for this piece, so the things that worked well was the Botanical illustration and the Architectural illustration, and of course working towards my goal of drawing people confidently.

The type of reportage illustration I have the most connection is people, nature and architecture, drawing people because that’s what I need to get to grips with and is the essence and vitality of a place. Nature as that’s my comfort zone, so botanical illustration and architecture as that’s what has been the most surprising for me in (part two reportage) as I have learnt to see it differently.

I chose to work at Belhus woods a local country park, as it has a lot of activities there, people, a cafe and lakes, fishing, nature walks, and a lovely old cottage, so I thought this would encompass all the elements from above in to a poster campaign for them.

Pre-planning research

I have listed below the next steps I need to take :-

-Research the three illustrators from the list I provided on my critical review

-Research vintage posters

-Research country park advertising

-Sketching (visual research)

-Spider diagram (for ideas)

-Thumbnail’s for composition of views

-Start on the 3-5 illustrations draughts

-Try one in colour

-Review so far

-Changes to make

-Does the collection work together

-Final artwork

-Reflection

So I went through the list of illustrators I had in my critical review, and looked and read about all 7 of them, the one’s that I was most drawn to were Lucinda Rogers, Veronica Lawlor and George Butler.

Illustrator research

Lucinda Rogers:-

Lucinda Rogers works as an artist reporter, she enters an environment and emerges herself in it to look at life and draw what she sees happening then and there. Lucinda works in London capturing the ever changing dynamics, but also loves to draw in New York and Marrakech. Lucinda completes her own personal work, but also does prolific work for newspapers, magazines and any reportage work being sent out to illustrate real life.

I really liked the wash quality of Lucinda’s colours that she uses in her reportage illustration, she also does that style where the drawings are not complete, which I have noticed a lot of illustrators have that as their style. I liked how she had caught the essence of the places she had drawn, obviously being there in the thick of it gives her time to soak up the environment and atmosphere, Lucinder is very good at capturing that sense of place and time. I like the way she uses a darker black pen to outline some areas that are important to her illustration, it gives that sense of hierarchy. The lighter pen marks and illustrating create detail, that if you want to look further into it you see more, but looking quickly at it you can get the sense of the place too.

I really like her illustration in the fabric shop, some of the sketches have details of the patterns, and the colours too, but you still get the sense of a packed shop full of patterned and colourful material, with just a hint of that shown.

Veronica Lawlor

Veronica Lawlor is an illustrator that specialises in reportage with her flair for pen and ink paintings, she has also worked in editorial, fashion and advertising illustration too. Veronica has an energy and theatric style, which pick up on the buzz and excitement of a place, she can feel the atmosphere and creates dynamic drawings and sketching that show this.

Again I really like the loose style washes that Veronica uses, these are obviously in ink, the colours are very soft in some paintings, yet bold and bright in others which shows the sense of place. I like the way she has used yellow to show the lights in the drawing, it add’s sparkle and a sense of atmosphere, a magical feeling.

I especially like the second illustration here, it has given me some ideas for my assignment, as this is a similar type of image that would come from a country park.

The third image is a fashion illustration, it’s very dynamic, bold and has energy to it, I love the colours she has used and strength of the pigment of the ink. The black outline is not finished yet you still see the pose of the girl, and can feel how she is sitting.

George Butler

George Butler is an award winning illustrator specialising in current affairs and travel, he paints in watercolour and uses pen and ink in his drawings. He has been a reportage illustrator in Syria, and worked in refugee camps and seen extraordinary scene’s .

I was drawn to George’s work because of the delicate soft washes of the watercolour, it gave a sense of calm, but had an underlining feeling with it too! The atmospheres are really charged here as though something is going to happen, or already has, it feels like an aftermath.

I was drawn to the top illustration because of the subject matter, but I really like the way he has separated each item, as though pulling them apart from each other, makes you feel as though they have more.

The second illustration is one of contrasts, the image on the wall in complete contrast to the two men and their guns in the foreground. But I really do like the painterly feel of the image on the wall, the colours are lovely and the style is pretty too.

The last illustration has that unfinished style again that I seem to be drawn to at the moment, also where the black pen is heavier in some areas than others, and some of the marks are faint. I like that he has only coloured certain areas, but they draw you into the picture, to where the action is.

From these 3 illustrators that I have researched I have definitely got a sense of what I want to achieve in my assignment, I think I will still continue to use the IPad and Procreate, but I want to add ink or watercolours, have that heavier black pen in specific areas of hierarchy, and also have that unfinished quality to the style. I don’t know how this will turn out, it may change, but this is my initial thoughts from the research so far.

I also think that the illustrator that most sums up the above is Veronica Lawlor, I think it’s the colours and the atmosphere she creates that matches this the most, and the one I had the most connection with.

Advertising research

Vintage railway posters

I researched vintage railway posters to see what styles and compositions they used, most where from the 1920’s so they had a specific style about them.

I really liked the colour and vibrancy of the 1950’s Torquay poster, it feels like you are on the continent and abroad, it has an Italian feel about it. I like the way the composition is curved so you see a lot of what is happening. I like the way it is painted it has some loose painted areas and some with lots of details. It looks busy full of boats, yet the couple in the picture have found a quiet spot to look at the view.

Country park advertising posters

Following on from the research above, I wanted to narrow down my design by looking at country park advertising posters, to find out how they came up with ideas. The composition below is very natural, calming and spring like, focusing on the flowers and the countryside view. I like the limited colour palette and the stylised design.

Above are four posters for London Underground, on walks you can take just a train ride away, they are all very natural, and show the scenes through the seasons, spring flowers, summer, Autumn gold and Winter. The content is mainly trees, walks, grass, and views, but this gives me some ideas for backgrounds in my posters.

Kew Gardens art for transport postcard set

I then found a postcard set I had bought at Kew a few years ago, and they are perfect for this assignment, they are railway posters for the station at Kew. The posters were commissioned by Frank Pick an early director of London Underground, and he used these for the publicity and advertising which was new and revolutionary. Most of the posters publicised the seasonal bloom, the bluebells, crocuses and daffodils, as well as the great pagoda, beautiful grounds, and picturesque location beside the River Thames.

I liked this one below as the illustration was a group of things you could see at Kew, it was stylised also which gave it a dynamic feel.

Here is the example of the crocus time poster for Kew, Hyde park and St James’s park, how it focuses on one time of the year, the seasonal flowers.

This was another card I liked the peacocks at Kew no.11, it shows what birds you can see at the gardens, and how beautiful and unusual they are.

I thought this one was nice as it was the first one with people in it, the atmosphere is leisurely, they are out for a nice summer stroll, they can see the lovely colourful flowers, maybe have a picnic on the grass under the shade of the tree, The tree’s are very lush and green, and the colours are vibrant.

From these postcards I got the idea of focusing on one of these areas for each of the posters, animals/ birds, views, people and things to do, buildings, flowers/ botanicals. Also you could create one poster with a group of these in like the second image above, it’s something to think about going forward, but I am glad I have found these.

I then went on to draw up my spider diagram, thinking of all the things you could see and do at the country park.

Book research

I started to look at the two books from my critical review, Sketch your world by James Hobbs and a beginners guide to drawing by Igloo. I found some good pages that would really help me out for this assignment, this page from The beginners guide was helpful to plan out landscapes, this will help me to plan out a view poster for the assignment.

This page from Sketch your world will be helpful in setting parameters and compositions, of areas with buildings and foliage/ green spaces.

This page will be great for initial sketches and looking for interesting areas to draw that will catch the viewers attention, and show the atmosphere of the park.

I thought this page would be good for texture, and how interesting some parts of nature can be. Movement of the trees, water running in a brook, birds and animals.

This page will be so helpful when I go out to sketch for the first time for this assignment, it’ll give me ideas of what to look for, and to just draw anything interesting, even the smallest things, or focusing in on textures, patterns, foliage etc.

I feel as though I have lots of information that will help me to build some sketches and illustrations to get going on this assignment, my next step is to go out and do some initial sketches.

Drawings sketches

I went to the country park it was a chilly day, I took my mum and nephew so I had some willing participants that I could draw. I took my sketchbook and did some rough sketches with a black fine liner, as I found this worked better for the last few exercises than the brush pen now that I have become more confident and better at drawing people.

So as a difference for this assignment and to follow on from my ‘There and back again’ exercise, I decided to sketch on my iPad as well for the next stage of the visual development.

I started back at the front of the entrance near the wardens cottage, This is rough sketch, just to get the angles of the building in ok, then I would re-visit this later for foliage etc.

Then I did the action sketches of mum on the iPad, and Ellis, luckily he didn’t move too much here, so I cheated slightly, but it was my first attempt for him climbing in action!

I re-sketched the close up sketch of the blossom that was just coming out along the hedgerows and bushes, that I sketched earlier by pen.

Whilst out I wrote down some ideas of how the posters would come together, I decided that a group of four would be the best amount.

1, The cottage and people walking into the entrance

2, Cafe, people and dogs

3, View, lake and ducks

4, seasonal flowers

I then went on to break this down more into different visitors that the poster would appeal too.

1, people arriving, dog walkers older people

2, The cafe, coffee, food, young couples and friends

3, The view, family, lake, kids, sunshine

4, seasonal flowers, nature, interest

This helped me to narrow down what I wanted and needed to sketch whilst I was out at the park, I started on some more of the sketches of the people walking with dogs, people sitting with dogs etc from earlier.

So I managed to capture some of the actions and people at the park, but I will come back another day to see what else I can draw and sketch.

I had a few days break, and tided up some of the sketches that I had done before (see above), and added a few in from memory, this was something that was bought up in my last feedback so wanted to incorporate this in too.

I then went back at the weekend this time as I thought it might be a bit busier, Ellis and Daisy came with me, plus the weather was amazing, nice and sunny and a lot warmer so hopefully, there will be some other activities and more people at the cafe to sketch.

I need a few more flowers as well for my poster, so I was looking for some bluebells and maybe some meadow or native flowers.

I think with all of the posters I will have to pull together the images on Photoshop, so I can add people into the scenes and create a bigger scene with the activities in. I might be able to do this in Procreate so I’ll try that first.

This was my nephew and his dog Daisy playing on the green, and some of the picnic benches used outside the cafe.

Afterwards I started with some thumbnails at home just to plan out what ideas I had initially in my mind for the posters after doing the sketching above.

I decided to try one of the posters now, before I finished the sketching, just so I could see how well they would work out, or not!

I managed to save them as PSD files on Procreate, then pull them altogether on to one A4 page, I started with the wardens cottage first at the entrance of the park.

This worked well so I could place some walkers going into the park, I’m going to try it with the cafe poster too, just to see where I am with it. The food on the table is a bit faint, but it gives me an outline to work from, I like the composition, but I need some more people at the tables, and maybe not use the family, as it looks as though they are walking away (negative).

So lots to think about, and to work on, but at least I know where I’m going with these two posters first.

I re-looked at the Cafe poster and made the changes to it as mentioned above, I went back again in the week this time, luckily it was sunny again and busy, I sketched this lady when she was sitting at the bench drinking coffee/tea.

Then I sketched this other lady listening to her friend, these arnt the best sketches but it’s getting better gradually.

Then there was this couple having a coffee break (picnic) in the sunshine, watching the ducks and dogs play.

This young couple taking their dog for a walk, luckily they stopped for a bit and chatted to some other people, so I got some more detail with these too.

Then the dog I sketched separately as he was too fidgety!

So the cafe poster has turned out like this, I think it looks nice and busy, full of life and includes different types of people that would be at the cafe. I moved the original family group into the foreground as though they were walking to the cafe area now, I noted this from my last assignment about perspective, that having someone in the foreground helped with this.

I’m pleased with this poster so far, but think that it might make the first poster look a bit empty, so I added in an older couple that I had sketched walking there dog, the last time we came. You can just see them in the middle right area.

I then went on to make up the other two posters, so the family one with activities and the floral one with native flowers.

So with this family poster up in the top right hand corner is the activity area, so the playground, picnic’s and climbing trees. I will create a darker outline for these later, and I will also add some trees into the horizon line to show it’s in the park area.

with this floral poster I wanted to keep it simple so I just added the blossom and cranesbill, they will both be illustrated into a botanical illustration.

The next stage was to add colour and textures like Veronica Lawlor’s style, I decided to pick just one poster to finish and colour as stated in the brief. I went for the cottage poster as it’s the entrance to the park it would be the first poster in the series anyway, so it made sense to do this. It was also the only design with the architecture in it, so I wanted to make this design the one I finished, it would round off section 2.

I tried out different brush textures for the poster I wanted a watercolour look, but I know from previous exercises the watercolour brush is very faint and lacks pigment and realism, like actual watercolours.

So I tested some others out and found that the wet acrylic brush worked like I know watercolours to work, so this was perfect.

I chose pastel colours like Lawlor, but also added hints of bolder colours like she does on her illustrations of people. I kept the brushes quite loose and done wash style paint, left white areas for that unfinished feel

I added the name of the park just to see how this would look on the poster, I chose a forest green colour as I thought that would work well with the sense of place. I chose the ‘Noteworthy’ font as it felt friendly, natural and calm. If I were to finish this poster completely I would spend more time researching fonts and placements of type, but as it’s just a coloured copy that was requested I have stuck with this.

I did just go back into it and lighten the drive way, added the blue sky and added more grass to the front of the cottage.

Finished drawings

So the final designs are these :-

So this is the first in the set of four posters, I think this would work for a winter advertising poster, nice walks sunny crisp and cold days.

This is the second design (I have coloured it yellow just so you can differentiate it from the background) this would be a great spring poster, ‘Come and see the native flowers’.

The third design, this would be great for summer time, summer holidays for kids and family ‘family fun’. (background coloured to differentiate)

(coloured to differentiate) This is the fourth design I thought this would be great for Autumn, catch up with friends in September, Indian summers, walks before its too cold etc. Socialising, hot chocolates, halloween get togethers.

Collection of posters

Reflections

What went well?

I achieved a lot of people drawing which gave me some more practise and confidence, and I have learnt to draw people much better overall. I feel as though I can draw people in different poses and in motion, although I do look for people who are not moving too quick yet. I feel as though I can sketch easily on the IPad which is a new source of learning for me, it was good to know I can build up illustrations like Photoshop in Procreate, layer them to add more details and perspectives.

When drawing people in the first few exercises I went straight out and drew in busy places, whereas in this assignment I went out and drew my mum and nephew and Daisy the dog, so it was a more slow and gradual process, I drew people that were standing chatting, or sitting down, which made it so much easier. I will definitely take this approach in the future when out drawing, and gradually build up to more action people.

I think choosing somewhere local was good, as I could easily pop back and fourth when I needed more drawings and look at something again.

I think I captured the sense of the place in my posters, its a busy park with lots going on at different times of the year, It appeals to lots of different people and I think each poster relates to that.

What I would do differently or better?

I would plan the thumbnails before I went sketching I think, I had to write down the thumbnail ideas whilst I was out the first time, as I was unsure what I needed to sketch, it would have saved some time.

Did my approach work?

I think my planning and idea did work after researching all the areas, it gave me a definite guide to follow. I am surprised at how well the people drawing came together on the posters, to give that sense of activity and atmosphere, getting to grips with the layering technique on Procreate really helped this, and something I would defiantly use in the future, I must admit it wasn’t something I had thought of doing for this assignment.

The posters are not final and finished advertising posters so it’s harder to say if they would work, but I do think they have a sense of place to them, and anybody in the area that new Belhus woods would say it was very much like it.

What effect was you trying to make?

I was trying to create four rough ideas for an advertising poster for Belhus woods, to promote four areas of their park to visitors. I wanted to make them work with the seasons, so Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. I wanted the posters to make the visitors feel something of the place, the atmosphere and the activities on offer.

I wanted to colour one of the designs in a similar style as the illustrator Veronica Lawlor, to create an unfinished feel with washed watercolours, I wanted to create this on the iPad digitally on Procreate and learn more about the techniques, brushes, textures and processes on their.