Visual Journal: Sketchbook

Sketchbook work experimenting with themes and ways to portray characters in books and plays by my three chosen authors. 

In this piece I experimented with layering colours using water colour and then selecting specific parts (the eyebrow and eye) to add details in with pen. I think this would be an effective technique if I wanted to convey a specific emphasis on a particular part of the face. For example, in Shakespeare's work eyes are a recurring motif. 

Here I was experimenting with the raven motif in Edgar Allan Poe's work to see how I could combine it with fashion illustration. I like how the use of black and white pen and watercolour has turned out, however I think there needs to be a stronger message/meaning in the work. 

In this water colour and pen illustration I was experimenting with the motif of a raven whilst also looking at how to portray other characters; here I was thinking about Lady Macbeth and portraying her darker side and power - crown. I used Dolce and Gabbanas Spring Summer 15 collection as inspiration as the colours and styling channels power, love and royalty; http://www.dolcegabbana.com/fashion-show/woman-runway/catwalk-gallery/

Here I used a scene from a programme to inspire the content of my work... I chose this scene because the characters are in mourning and suspicious; linking to Shakespeare's Hamlet. I used black pen of varying thickness for this and I really like how drawing the form with a thicker pen allows me to loosen up when drawing from reference. However it would be good to use primary research to reference such as from life or photographs I have taken myself. 

I then experimented with using coloured pencil to add colour. Here I reinterpreted a photograph of FKA twigs because I loved her pose in it and I think that the hands, almost in a prayer sign, and tilted just to her left and her face, with puppy dog eyes, convey a sense of innocence which contradicts and juxtaposes to her 'cool' image. I think the use of contrasting factors and themes would be a great thing to think about when creating my work. 

Here I used ink to experiment with the themes and characters in Shakespeare's plays. I didn't use any reference for this and I found it helpful in allowing my visual thinking to free up however I think some of my proportions etc would have benefitted from some visual reference... this however could take away from the feeling of the work. In future it would be good to experiment with how proportion could portray a message; such as enlarging parts which symbolise other themes in the play, for example the eyes. 

I decided to include flowers in my work to add meaning and symbolise some of the themes within the plays such as mourning and lust.  

Here I used acrylics to experiment with lighter shades of colour. I think these shades are effective in capturing the mystical characters such  as the fairies of the forest in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.