Exercise - Illustrating visual space

For this exercise we had to source a black and white image of a running child, a tree and a building and using them in differing scales, arrange them to create a representational image.
A horizon line is to be added to separate the ground from the sky, and to create an illusion of space and distance. Then answer the following questions;
How does the sense of the image and its meaning change when the figure is smaller than the other elements?
If the elements are at differing angles to each other and at an angle to the frame, what dynamic is suggested?
If all the elements are completely horizontal and vertical in relation to the frame what dynamic is suggested? What is your opinion about this image and what sensation does it communicate?
Which is your favourite composition - explain why.

In this image the child dominates the scene, whilst the horizon
and size of the house suggests greater distance in the foreground.

Subtle change in the horizon brings the house nearer
and the tree seems further away. The girl still dominates
the scene.

Now that the girl is smaller than the other elements she
seems to appear more fragile within the scene and this
evokes a feeling of danger or panic in this instance.

Horizon line change again introduces more sky into
the image and a heightened feeling of space.

Bringing the house forward, enlarging it and making the
girl even smaller lends a feeling of space to the back of
the picture and an increased feeling of distance to the
horizon.  Note now the sinister house dominates.
Dont go in!

The girl now seems more connected to the house but
appears to be running towards the distant tree. Big
sky and space makes the picture less sinister
but the eye seems to lead towards
 the tree.

The house dominates this scene but the angles
lend a quirkiness to the image, whilst still slightly
sinister. Now each element leans in to each other,
seeming to connect. The eye seems to follow a
circular route around the picture.

It seems that a sense of uniformity and order are prevalent when all the verticals and horizontals relate
to the frame,  and this lends to a strong composition, but when elements are pictured at an angle the whole mood of the picture changes. Even though the angled house is not neccessarily realistic in composition, it lends a feeling of drama movement and chaos to the scene. For this reason my favourite image is the last one with the leaning house.

Assign 2 - Point of sale cont autumn.

Autumnal moodboard

Decided to try a different tack and do some watercolours of the fruit and chillies. Then sprinkled some

Photoshop fairy dust on it and voila, this is my summer point of display. Despite differing opinion I'm positive

that oranges are a summer fruit. I tried the three shades and felt the sky blue worked best as a contrast to the orange and gave a feeling of light, airiness if there is a such a word... Still liked the green and orange though.

Peel off for Summer

Shades of Summer Orange.

Who needs Lemons...

Then there is the Chilli...I have decided after much consternation that the chilli could be a summer and an autumn fruit/veg? So therefore I have produced a green shade for autumn, and the blue for summer. I'm quite pleased with these boards as they work together with the orange and compliment each other.
They might even work as some sort of food-based greeting card!

Summer Point of Sale

Autumn Point of Sale

  Finally, I had a go at an apple watercolour and then followed the same process as above, which by the way does not really involve fairy-dust, but hours of frustrating slog on the lap-top involving cut-outs, layers, paths, etc etc before finally reaching this point. Same area of self questioning regarding the true domain of the apple..., is it summer, or is it autumn? Well I eventually opted for autumn and came up with this.

Autumn Point of sale

Goa

In December we went to Goa on Holiday and whilst there did the 'Golden Triangle' for five days,before returning to Goa for a week on the beach. Goa was great and without wanting to sound dramatic, India was intense. Difficult to describe, impossible to understand, the place is great and I shall return.
Below are some of the sketches from my trip.

Quote from Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald - just sums it up.

Assign 2 - Point of sale cont.

The mood boards I created really helped to give a sense of the 'feel' and mood I needed to convey in my piece of advertising, and one of the main things that struck me was the importance of using the right colours and shades in the illustrations.The need to attract attention to the fruit on sale, meant using bright primary colours, clean uncluttered images and simple messages that gave an instant impact.

I then worked on a number of rough sketches along the lines of the summer fruits, as a starting point. I was thinking initally of a simple line drawing, with a watercolour wash adding the colour or just bright symbolic shapes and colour to define the particular fruit.

I then had the idea of scanning the line drawings into Illustrator and then colouring them in using bright, vivid colours that were already associated with the fruits through both name and appearance. I also thought that this could be a good angle to use for the whole campaign - big single type/ words describing the fruit on offer in the simplest of terms. Less is more, keep it simple like traffic lights...

Here are a couple of ideas along this theme to illustrate;

I like the way this works, big, bold and simple.
It does what it says on the tin...
The Future is Orange...

Same theme but not as strong as the Orange. It needs
a stronger drawing and less colours, maybe just green and yellow.
Stencil font works well though..

pencil sketch of a lovely pear.

Watercolour sketch

Watercolour sketch

Watercolour sketch

 I quite like these watercolour sketches and think I will work on them in Photoshop to create a background in suitable colour. Not sure which season suits best for each but will decide on that later...

This works as an illustration but not too
happy with the colours yet..

 More to follow;

Assignment 2 - Point of sale display

The Brief
To create images which will be used in a campaign for a supermarket, to package and promote a range of
seasonal fruits. The notion of quality must be evident in the design and packaging.
The finished images will be a point of sale display sited near to the fruit and veg. The final reproduction size
will be 12 x 12 inches.

To start off this exercise I worked on Summer first and did some research into summer colours and the shades that would work to convey the feel of the season. I then producd a couple of mood boards to help
generate ideas and set the tone for the exercise.



Summer colours

  





Inspirations



Visual Metaphor - reaching Retirement

The object of this exercise was to take the phrase 'Reaching Retirement and create a drawn list of objects which could be used to symbolise them. Drawn as rough sketches they are more about the ideas created than the quality of drawing. Visual shorthand...
First though I wrote out a spidergram, generating words and phrases which led to other ideas and avenues of thought.

Its interesting the way your thoughts on retirement and old age swing from the positive side of things, such as more holidays, more free time and leisure, to the negative and pessimistic side which involves 'the unknown', money, ill health and the side effects of aging.

I came across these interesting and inspiring quotes which threw a more positive slant onto the subject of growing old gracefully, or maybe thats just the point, that you shouldnt have to step back into the shadows, but should carry on regardless and enjoy life to the max. This reminds me of my favourite line, which I intend to stick to;  
 "You can't be young forever, but you can always be immature."

 Hence the little logo of the old guy on a skateboard, plus the more obvious angle of time being on your side, or running out, the sands of time, and the autumn leaves which I thought was a nice metaphor for the 'autumn years'.

On the Autumn Years theme, I developed this idea of a ring of autumn leaves, which I thought would be a good idea as a frame around another image or maybe some copy.
I think this has a lot of scope for improvement and could be used in a number of ways, plus its not too obvious or cliched.

Some of the scribbles on this page follow the more typical route, such as palm trees on sandy beaches, exotic locations, putting your feet up and piggy banks.

The 'everyday is a weekend calendar' is a positive slant though and developed from the quote, 'every day is a Saturday'.

Quite like the idea of showing the progression of aging, and this got me to thinking about 'the evolution of man' image, with the baby replacing the caveman, and then growing up into the adult, and then regressing back onto all fours and then, eventually the mobility scooter... bit depressing really....

On the same theme, I like the idea of a sort of line-up, starting with the baby and showing the changes through adolescence to adulthood and old age. I can see on reflection that I am going off on a bit of a tangent here, and maybe reflecting too much on 'aging' instead of 'retirement'.

I have kept the line drawing of the Autumn Leaves Ring and will develop this further, maybe in Illustrator.






Mod Mobility Scooter.

On reflection, and after talking to others about the images, I think I have managed to find some relevant symbols and connections to retirement, apart from the obvious well-trodden route of 'nest-eggs' and piggy-banks. I think that with reference to my earlier comments about the negative side of the aging process, I have tried to inject a touch of humour and positivity to the subject.

Exercise - Visual Metaphor

Exercise - collect samples of visual metaphor.

Daniel Bejar

 Religion and war is always a bountiful subject to pick from when looking
 for a powerful metaphor, such as the way violence has been used in the name of religion.

Banksy

 Banksy makes a powerful point in the most simplistic way by making the dove a target as well as a symbol of hope and peace, thereby emphasising the fragile nature of peace.

by Mou5e

Clever use of design and type make this image work and illustrate

the potential and power of words.











Asaf Hanuka


This illustration takes the subject of a childs doll and turns it usual associations on its head. In this instance the doll represents a hazard or danger to the child as opposed to the usual representation.

Band Aid

'Heal the World' - Band Aid have used the peace symbol created from plasters for this fund-raising image in aid of the Mumbai Taj Mahal hotel victims.




Christopher Ryan

 


Daniel Bejar

Javier Jaen Benivides