Final Illustrations & Critical Report

Illustration 1-

 Illustration 2-

Illustration 3 (GIF)-

Critical Report-

For the final brief I chose the book 'Submarine' by Joe Dunthorne. I decided to negotiate a personal choice book for the final brief rather than selecting a title from the given list, because the brief was to communicate the themes of the book and I thought that if I used a book I was familiar with, I would be able to communicate the mood a lot more effectively.
  When beginning my process for the 3 illustrations I started by going through key chapters in the book and drawing a series of sketches as I read through, noting down important characters and moments that could become possible illustrations. This process helped me to figure out the main aspects of the book and also elements that would intrigue an audience into wanting to read the book. Following this I wrote down some initial plans for the 3 illustrations, based on my sketches, and how I could develop them digitally. Also I knew that I definitely wanted to include the landscape of Swansea or a reference to the ocean in one of my illustrations, therefore I looked up images of the coast of Swansea on their tourist website, however the downside to this is that the images they include are mainly positive. Due to this I decided to watch the film adaptation of the book I was illustrating, which really helped as the landscape visuals were in-keeping with the mood, so it was a good point of reference. 
  When beginning to create my first illustration I wasn't sure what style to opt for, but I knew that I wanted to go with the painting method I had learnt earlier in the module. Therefore I started by scanning in my original sketch and drew over it on a separate layer and then filled it the colour with quite a neutral colour palette. Once I had completed the first illustration I realised that I wasn't happy with the style of the outcome and this is mainly because I didn't research other artists and how they worked digitally. Following this realisation I did some research into digital illustrators to help influence my next 2 illustrations. The first illustrator of interest I found was Xuan Loc Xuan, they combine traditional processes with digital, by painting elements of an illustration and then using collage to combine them. I decided to try this method out myself as I needed to be a lot freer with my line
work and painting. Once I created watercolour sections I scanned them in and edited them together in Photoshop. I think that this process was very helpful in creating an illustration that wasn't typical to regular digital drawing. Plus I really like the fact that you can see the texture of the paper in the piece as it gives the effect of water, which I wouldn't have been able to create within Photoshop. From my rough design and my preliminary illustration I got some feedback, which really helped me to figure out which parts of the piece worked well and areas that needed some work. For example the book title in the original wasn't opaque enough and the imagery needed to be a lot clearer, with this feedback I was able to make the appropriate changes to result in a more successful illustration. 
  For my last illustration I wanted to represent the comical element of the book, as this is quite a key theme, mainly from the readers point of view, as the main characters quirks and choices are very unusual and humorous. The main example of this theme is in the pamphlet writing chapter, and as I read this particular chapter I realised that it would be a great way to make the GIF, as the text of the pamphlet could appear across the computer screen. In regards to the illustrative style of this piece I drew inspiration from, Todd Francis. In his

piece 'Desolation: Monitor Lizards', which he created digitally and then screen-printed in 3 colours, his imagery is really bold, which is mainly because he uses a limited colour palette, so your eye is drawn to darker areas, then lighter, rather than your eyes being swamped with colour and tones. Following this research, for my last illustration I chose to work with a blue tonal palette. Limiting my colour palette really helped me to worry less about choosing colours that worked well together and more on the elements of the illustration and the whole composition of the image. For the Photos on the wall I wanted to make them look out of focus, yet still have structure, as when I tried to achieve this in my first illustration, it looked very unfinished and too simple. Because of this I did some research of another way I could achieve this effect and came across, Toby Neilan. He uses a bold brush technique, within Photoshop, over photographs to hint at figures and

structures. I applied this process in my own work by taking stills from the film and painting over the top of them. For the GIF part of this piece I simply changed the opacity of each letter of the text across the timeline, which I found quite easy as I am quite familiar with this process after experimenting with it earlier in the module. 
  Upon reflection I think that my 3rd illustration is the most successful of the 3 as it communicates the myriad of themes and moods the book covers, as well as the text part of the image leaving unanswered questions for the audience, which was one of my main aims. Overall I am quite pleased with all of my outcomes but there are still quite a few amendments I would make to them if i were to do it again. But I have learnt from this process and the module as a whole. As a result I now know a wider range of methods I can use to create illustrations in digital software's and not to rely solely on digital processes as they can be limiting.