oliviaillustrations-blog

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Environments

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External Brief

V and A Illustration competition 2017

For this project, I decided to enter the V and A illustration competition, I chose this particular brief due to its openness and how loose the specifications were. This has allowed me to tailor the project to my own interests and the way in which I would like my practice to develop.

I began with the idea of creating 2 or 3 pieces based on the folklore surrounding the native people of the Yukon territory in Canada and their relationship with the natural world around them, in particular their beliefs about the Northern Lights. However, as I gathered more ideas I discovered that ideally I should have primary source writings, explorations and photos in order to complete such an ambitious project.

I then decided to take this theme and redirect it into something which is more doable in the time I have, so I made a start on developing ideas for a book jacket design for ‘Into the Wild’ a journal style book written by John Krakauer. 

I decided to create some colour palette swatches to as I wanted the colours of the jacket to be cohesive and minimal.

Here is a concept for the front of the book cover, I was hoping to keep the design relatively simple and minimal. 

I was also keen on introducing some form of texture on the back cover as the mountain above has hatchings and randomised shading in order to create a sense of sponteneity. 

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Poster developments

As this project has progressed I have become increasingly more interested in using a case study for the premise of my work. I have decided to look at Lake Palcacocha in Peru and the threat it poses to the city of Huaraz as temperatures increase and the chances of Mount Pucaranra’s glacier to begin thawing spikes. 

One of my main focuses throughout this project was being aware of composition and use of space. I wanted to practice these elements of graphic design in this project as I feel as though they are the foundations for any kind of illustration design. By working in a more abstract way I have been able to explore the subject area with a lot more freedom and scope. 

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Further developments for Devisive Debates

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Divisive Debates

For this first project I have decided to focus on the issue of global warming and its affect on the icecaps and glaciers. Originally I was interested in taking a political approach to his project by exploring the way in which leaders around the world have responded and are responding to such global issues- however after some thought I feel that I would be able to pin-point my message in a much clearer way by ensuring my topic is kept simpler.

Here are some examples of my concepts and ideas so far:

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Summer project / 2017

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Morton Subutnik / Silver Apples

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Flying lotus / Arkestry

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Marina Rosenfeld /

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Steve Reich / Different trains

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Interpreting sound

In this first session we were introduced to the idea of abandoning the idea of our own personal likes and dislikes in our own work and allowing the sound of a music piece to aid the genesis of a line drawing. 

Firstly, we explored the use of line on paper: understanding how different materials behaved when manipulated in a certain way. We were encouraged to maintain a free flowing state, not thinking too much into our own personal style or interests and just create whatever comes to mind first. 

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‘The Untold’ final piece

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Relationships final piece

I wanted to create something more focused on positive and negative space for one of the ‘relationships’ project final pieces. Instead of filling the background with observed details I decided to fill it with a vibrant colour in order to counteract the detail and perspective of the figures in the frame.

Throughout this project I have also experimented with image framing and cropping. By cropping images down I feel as though you can add a lot more interest within the frame, the piece is less clear and had to be observed at closer detail in order to differentiate between the figures or objects in the frame. It also allows the audience to actively look at the image: they can see the cropped version however they begin to imagine the image as a whole. 

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Developing scenes

I have continued to develop my initial sketches by scanning them into my computer and colourising them on Photoshop. This is a brand new way of working for me as I have mainly used traditional ways of creating (pencils, paints, collage) for the majority of my practice. However, I have found that I really enjoy working digitally and this spontaneous and accidental decision to have a go at colouring my work digitally has encouraged me to use this method of creating more in future projects. 

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Going on location

Location sketches have been an essential part of my development during this module- especially in the ‘relationships’ project. Understanding how the human body moves and interacts with its surroundings unposed and in a natural state is a challenging lesson, yet extremely insightful. For this particular project, we focused mainly on getting research sketches from South Bank, and in my own independent study time I went to Primrose Hill and Shoreditch to gather my own material. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed experimenting and playing around with picture planes and the framing of the image- especially with architecture and the figure in an environment. 

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Developing conceptual scenes

After much deliberation over how I wanted to  conclude ‘The Untold’ project I decided to rather than producing one final image, I would create a body of conceptual work that would begin to map the story in a more visual way. However ,this has come with some challenges- as the story is so enigmatic, I have had to use my own thoughts as to how I believe the story/setting should look. 

As my passion is to document the natural world through visual media, I decided to mainly focus on the landscapes and the natural surroundings which the story is based.