Frame

Frame 

Critical task: 

Creating an image including an elephant, a butterfly and myself, with frame in mind:

This exercise really made me realise how important frame and composition is to an illustration. You could create a great illustration but if its not displayed effectively it will not convey the message or draw the audiences attention accurately. 

In my above illustration I tried to create movement for the eye by having a tree curve around the image and the butterflies following it up, whilst placing the importance on the elephant, butterfly and the figure. I positioned a butterfly at the foreground on the right, followed by the elephant in the centre of the page and then as the butterflies in the tree move upwards to the right the eye is drawn to the legs in the tree. I used pencil to create atmosphere as it is quick and this was a short exercise, it also enabled me to rub out which meant that I could highlight where the sun went which was crucial in setting the atmosphere in this piece as the scenery is meant to suggest an exotic climate. The sun rays are also carefully positioned in the frame to bring the elephant into attention and also shadow the tree drawing attention to it as well. 

Drawing thumbnails was good to practice where things looked most effective positioned. If I were to do this again I would work even more on my preliminary drawings and experiment with layout even more. I wanted to finish drawing out my final piece in the time scale, so I only used 8 different composition practices but even these were extremely useful. 

The relationship between the figure, the elephant and the butterfly was a natural one, a scene where the figure is not obtruding into the elephants way and all the elements are free in the setting. I wanted to create a peaceful but playful composition and I carefully considered overlapping to suggest a viewpoint of ground level as the grass overlaps the elephants feet, this also helped to create depth and show that the elephant is approaching to where the butterfly is in the foreground. I used negative space with the sunrays to suggest peace and a calm atmosphere. 

If I were to do this again I would use a reference image for the grass and make it more detailed as this would help to suggest a view point from the bottom of the frame as the grass would be highly focused. I also would have spent longer creating a background and concentrate on the trees bark in more detail. Colour would probably also help this image to convey it's atmosphere as it is set in a very warm and vibrant setting.