Exercise 1

• Select ten images of your own illustration work that encapsulate and define your artistic journey throughout the degree program. 

This is an opportunity to take a much wider view of your progress through the degree. Pick out work you feel has been important to your progress. These might be examples of your developing practice or key learning moments.

Ensure that each image informs the direction of your artistic practice; you can include context and research in any of these as well as unfinished pieces of work, or work you may want to revisit. 

It is recommended to include one or two images from Stage 1, two or three from Stage 2, and at least five from your work in Stage 3 to date. 

The 10 images I chose from all of my work from this degree pathway are as follows:-

From Illustration 1, I chose this image as it sums up what I wanted to achieve from completing this degree, to become a children’s book illustrator. This was very early on in the degree and I just loved working on these book covers, it was the first time I had done some illustrations for a book cover, I loved the subject matter as it resonates with me and my art work. It was also the first time I had used mock ups to showcase the work once finished, so I thought these book mock ups looked fab. My favourite cover is the first one, followed by the third then the second. This really added to my enthusiasm and hopes for the future.

My second image is also from Illustration 1, I chose this image as again the subject matter is close to my heart. I really enjoyed going to the Natural History Museum for the day, and sketching and taking photographs of all the species inside. It was great to work on a brief which was interesting to me and also helped me to combine traditional mediums with digital mediums to create more dynamic illustrations. I enjoyed making the posters and again loved creating the mock ups to showcase how they would look in real life. I learnt a lot about texture in this project as well as colour and placement.

My third choice of image was this one from Illustration 2, I wanted to start creating more dynamic compositions and view points to add interest and excitement into my children’s illustrations. this project helped me to learn how to do that, I started to combine my traditional and digital art work again, to create some interesting textures and effects. Working on my figure work as well helped me to practise drawing people, as this was something I struggled with. Again the subject was nature and outdoor based so was right up my street, and helped to keep my interest in the project.

This image was again from Illustration 2, This was a project on digital brushes, and this shows my development using digital media. It helped me to practise my detailed botanical illustrations, which shows the progress I have made using texture in this area. I really love this piece and I had a lot of really good feedback on it from my social media accounts when I posted it.

This is my third piece from Illustration 2, this is the art work which is not as relevant as all the other pieces to my development. This was a project on paper cutting, then making a poster with the 3D elements. I enjoyed the practical process of this project, it was cutting paper with your hands, then creating a 3D circus and tent which had to stand up by itself. It combined the digital art work to pull the poster together, I learnt a lot about paper cutting and also colours that work together and how the colours can represent a moment in time.

This last piece from stage 2 was from Illustration sketchbooks. This was a project about Rural and urban and how artwork can combine the two. I enjoyed creating this wall mural which showcased the surrounding area, which was in a rural setting but had urban amenities and houses. How to merge the two in a respectful way to the community. I liked the nature illustrations and picking out local plants and animals which could be seen from the windows of the apartments. using the blank side of this block, to seamlessly merge it into the countryside.

Now we move onto stage 3, this image is the first one I completed for my children’s picture book which I was very happy with in 3.1 Illustration Practise and Research. This combined everything which I was working on in relation to ‘My style’ it combined traditional watercolour illustrations, surface pattern design as well as digital elements and cleaning up the image digitally. It also combined a limited colour palette, and set the scene for the whole book.

This is the second image I have chosen from stage 3, this is from Illustration 3.2 External Projects, this spot illustration is what I created after speaking to a children’s book agent in relation to pointers on how to make the illustrations more commercial. This also combine my traditional watercolour work, surface pattern design as well as digital brushes. This also was created using very fine details and adding textures to create interest. This sums up my book The Gardening Angel.

This next image from stage 3 is the third from my book, this is a half page spread and combines all the elements from the above illustration into this spread. This keeps the consistency throughout the book, with the limited colour palette and combining traditional and digital media.

In this last image from stage 3 and for this exercise, I chose this piece of art work which again was from Illustration 3.2 External Partners. This combines more of the digital artwork than the others in this piece, as well as more of the surface pattern design. I think this is a lovely little spot illustration, and also shows my progression with drawing people and characters, and how I am now able to draw them indifferent position and poses.

Overall my style with illustration is using traditional watercolour paintings with surface pattern design, (which is mainly hand painted watercolours created into a technical repeat pattern). Then cleaning up the images digitally, and then adding texture with digital brushes, and layering the watercolour illustrations and surface pattern design to create a 1 piece illustration.

My aim is to become a children’s picture book illustrator and or author, I want to create dynamic and unusual compositions and view points in some of the pages of my book, I want to add lots of texture and fine details, so children never see everything in the first look of a book, each time they read it they see something new.

I am inspired by nature, animals and botanicals the countryside and being eco friendly, sustainable and promoting work on the environment.

My critical review for Illustration 3.1, and also for 3.2 was ‘Looking at the importance of early childhood environmental education’.