Studio Brief 4 - A Matter of Opinion

For this brief I had to produce three non 'A' format illustrations that visually communicate my response to the quote that I selected (my choice was 'A drawing is simply a line going for a walk'). My three illustrations had to explore the relationship between type and image. I thought this quote would work best for this relationship as both the type and the image would be made from line, connecting as a drawing and in so connecting with the meaning of the quote itself.

All of the illustrations had to be distinct in content yet part of a set or series. I decided to tackle this by having a drawing, created with line, of a group of people all going for a walk over the type, yet each piece distinctly different through the activities and poses of the walkers and the scenery and season which they are walking through.
I aimed to capture a year within a walk, as well as capturing a society. Drawings are all formed from line, but what makes them interesting is the walk they go on- whether it's what the line forms or how it is formed. 

I started off by thinking about all of the quotes and how I could respond to them and take them forward. This quote led me to imagine a sense of narrative and because of this it stood out to me and I decided to explore it more within my sketch book. 

I scanned my A3 images into my laptop (as 2 A4s):

Then I attempted to join them together using paint:

However after a long time spent achieving this I then ran out of memory on my computer to even save the image. I overcame this problem by print-screening it instead and then opening that image in paint, cropping it and then opening it on Photoshop to work on. However once I began working on it and zoomed in to work on the details of the piece I discovered it was extremely pixelated. It looked fine on the computer screen but I decided to abandon the digital edit idea as I thought it would be too risky to print it off and it be unreadable. 

So instead of experimenting with colour digitally I printed off some of the above work and decided to work on it with different media such as pen, coloured pencils, collage etc. I wanted to capture the seasons but not overwhelm the image with the background. I will be keeping the pen line simply black to strengthen the connection with the quote; 'simply a line going for a walk.'

Below: pages from my sketchbook. I experimented with ideas and layout and form here:








Peer feedback mid way through: 



Below: Some of my preliminary work where I have been experimenting with colour, media and line work:







I decided to work with masking tape, pro markers and coloured pencil in my final illustrations as I really like the layered effect they produce together. I also found that the pro markers were good for getting a clear even colour while the pencils could be used as well to achieve a more varied tone and mix of colours. Below are some shots of my final pieces:

Overall, I feel this was a successful project as the colours and media work well together to convey the message and emotions of the piece. They represent the seasons in the way I wanted them to and they compliment and contrast the simple line drawings well. I like how all the characters are connected by line as they are in life and how they are relatable as they are so vague. I think in the simplicity of the characters however, you can get a feel of the emotions from their positions which adds to the atmosphere of the piece. I like how I have tied the font in and laid out the image in a slight dome to represent the curve of the earth. I think the pieces are nostalgic but also interesting to look at and I have included as greater range of society as I could within them. If I were to do this piece again and improve it I would definitely re-think presentation and use much larger and wider pieces of paper in order to give it a more professional look.

Below: Feedback from peers;