Progression Assignment
- 2. The exhibition had a range of fashion, photography, product design and more. My initial thought were that you can see the creative imagination and flare to every item. I looked though the sketchbooks in which they were all filled with ideas and the thought process to get to the final design. Kingston Foundation The embroidery, illustration and graphic design really inspired me.
- 3. Kingston FoundationWhen visiting the open day for Kingston Foundations show of the years work, I was surprised by the array of different technics and materials used. This indicates that the students gets to experiment with a variety of disciplines before starting to focus on the types that interests you the most. While at the open day, I found out the guide lines of the course: Visual communication – graphic design, advertising, packaging, bookbinding, art direction, film, illustration, moving image, making Three-dimensional design – architecture, landscape architecture, interior, product and furniture design, prop and set design Fashion – menswear, womenswear, costume, fashion journalism and constructed textiles Fine art – painting, mixed media, printmaking, performance and photography Through out the one years course, the disciplines are trialled out which happens in three stages: In Stage 1, the Exploratory Stage, broad-based workshops help you to choose and understand a future subject specialism. In Stage 2, the Pathway Stage, you will explore your subject choice in greater detail and prepare portfolios for degree-level interviews. In Stage 3, the Confirmatory Stage, you will write and direct your own brief using the knowledge, skills and confidence you have acquired during the course. At the end of this course, it seems as the result would include a broad portfolio but still a focus and experience in the discipline of your choice.
- 4. o Kingston is great at getting the students their first place university o The facilities are mainly all new, with workshops for the different disciplines. There is also a personal work area that is always availed. o The interview is in a group where you talk about your work. The deeper meanings of the pieces are more important than the aesthetic purposes of creating the piece. o They said that a good work ethic is vital as the course is intense. Kingston Foundation What I found out while speaking to the students in the open day:
- 5. Strengths of the course: o Develop a broad portfolio of different mediums and experiment. This would help he eliminate what I don’t want to do in university as I would gravitate towards my preferable discipline. o Although I have an interest in illustration the foundation would help me to define and also refine the carer in which I want to go into. This could lead to me changing my discipline completely or developing what I think I want to go into. o There is a good grounding of help with tutors which are there for support if needed although they are not looking over your shoulder. This is good to develop my interests independently but still having a guide to push me. Kingston Foundation
- 6. Bournemouth Arts: BA Illustration BAU illustration was filled with all different types of designs for a range of outcomes, The colours and idea concepts behind the ideas where shown in the sketch books. The facilities and teaching were seen to be outstanding,
- 7. This 3 year course contains life drawing classes, guess speakers every Friday and a huge emphasis on primary research. You can choose illustration with print making or with animation. The first year of this course does not go to your overall grade. This gives the students a chance to experiment and take risks. The second year holds 25% of the course work, while last and third year finishes off the last 75%. 47% of the week is spent in lectures or seminars and overall 94% of the illustration course is assessed by course work. At BAU, they offer a potential second year exchange to Kyoto University in Japan. Also European trips e.g. Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin or Barcelona are up to offer. The studio is open from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm. These facilities contain and range of materials, including many Mac computers, workshops and light boxes. There is open access to specialist print areas They are looking for a student who is enthusiastic, good at drawing, good work ethic, working and finished final pieces. I learnt that at BAU it is important to show an interest in the art world around, such as exhibitions, books, films and other artists. Bournemouth Arts: BA Illustration
- 8. o Regular guest speakers which keeps the inspiration going through out the year. o Emphasis on Primary Research – location drawing/ study trips to e.g. museums, galleries o Illustration store offering equipment and materials at a lower rate than the normal high street shops which saves money on expensive equipment. o European trips e.g. Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin or Barcelona o Three purpose built multi-use studio spaces o Open access to specialist print areas o Regular life drawing sessions which increases drawing skills. o Potential second year exchange to Kyoto University in Japan Bournemouth Arts: BA Illustration What I found out while speaking to the students in the open day:
- 9. Bournemouth Arts: BA Illustration AuB continues to make their course interesting and inspiring. Throughout the year they drip feed influences with guess speakers, life drawing and primary research. As well as helping to improve drawing techniques, it also helps refine your illustration discipline. Here is an example of a finial piece for a children’s book: This work is brightly coloured, with bold shapes and block colours. The story is told though the facial and colour emotions through the pictures. There is an incredibly limited word count included in the book, the only words being sounds, “Knock Knock”. This is interesting as the story is still easily portrayed. The story line is shown by the help of the colouring. For the example picture on the left, all the colour is dulled down to show that it is night time. If the colour varied then the story would feel at different times. Although that is simple, it is also very vital to get right. The blocks of colour emphasizes the childish feel as it is not delicate and detailed. There is also no bold, black line surrounding the shapes. Instead the different tones of colour cause an outline. This allows the pictures to be more “free” and flowing to help tell the story. The white boarder makes the overall look of the book clean and fresh. If it was black for an example, then the pictures inside the boxes would seem darker and “heavier.” As well as there is no black lines in the pictures, there is not an outline of the box. This exaggerates the fresh and clean feel of the overall book.
- 10. Art & Design Discipline: Illustrator Illustration can be used to portray words or scenes. Such as a… Courtroom Book Medical Magazine Comic Storyboard Places Communication Beauty Life Events This can be done with any medium that can be transferred to a 2D form. Such as a book illustration can be done with watercolour, acrylic or digital, but will eventually be transferred to digital. http://www.illustrationweb.com/styles
- 11. Design 1 This design has been inspired by the students artwork at AUB. I have used squares and erased out the negative space. I have used bright colours with bold cartoons for a childish feel. This portrays that children's illustration is one of the many refined disciplines you could go in to. My next design is going to be developed by using more sketches, rather than cartoons. I will also include the areas of illustration there are. I think I could improve this poster by making the the illustration less static. Also, if I changed the background colour from white, then it would come more alive.
- 12. Design 2 After my initial design, I wanted to create more of a scene and story to my poster. I wanted to also collaborate both Photoshop and my hand drawings while giving written examples of the refined field you could go into if you went into the illustration discipline. I drew three dinosaurs in my sketch book in different mediums of ink pen and pencil. From there, I created a digital back drop scene on Photoshop to place the characters in. I mostly used a thin brush as I preferred more of a cross hatching style rather than blocks of colour. The title of illustration I put in the lightest area of the poster so there was the most contrast so it stood out the most. I feel that the thin font differs to the overall look of the poster, however it still links in due to the thin brush I used for the cross hatching. I’ve made the overall image fun and playful with the speech bubbles, while also the refined detail makes it more delicate.
- 13. Design 2
- 14. Career Path: Quentin Blake Quentin Blake started Grammar school in 1943 where he published his drawings in the schools magazine. Then in 1951 he began two years of National Service in the Royal Army. Although his flare for art did not dereses. He illustrated English Parade, a booklet to help soldiers learn to read. Blake went to Downing College, Cambridge to study English while he still continued to produce illustration for the university student magazine. He then continued on an academic path to become a teacher. It was now that Blake took up part time Life Drawing and illustrated his first children's book in 1960. In 1977, he started to collaborate his drawings with live- on camera stories at the BBC. This continued his experience in children's illustrating. Blake’s carer really took off when in 1978, he became head of the Illustration Department at the Royal College of Art, having taught there since 1965.
- 15. Career Path: Quentin Blake Developing more into his more iconic and famous carer, Blake published his first book with Roald Dahl- ‘The Enormous Crocodile’, following many others. Their collaboration continued until Roald Dahl’s death in 1990. Quentin Blake’s illustration flourished when being awarded ‘The Silver Paintbrush’ for the BFG. Also he was appointed an OBE in 1988 and won Han Christian Andersen Award (the most prestigious award in the world for children's books) in 2002. He has received a knighthood while being given the opportunity for many more incredible creations to develop.
- 16. Career Path: Quentin Blake This illustration is from one of Blake’s icon work of the BFG. It has natural colours which are painted with watercolours. The black line is significant to make his work bold and what I think is that memorable feel to his work. They emphasise the child- like feel with the controlled lines not being perfect, but instead rough. There is not much detail in Blake’s illustrations however the audience gets submerged in to the world of the characters that brings the words alive. This scene creates impact as the background makes more of an environment while complimenting the focus on the girl. The natural colours allow for the overall image not to be too overwhelming. With limited tone, there is still perspective and layers in the illustration. This works well as the basic colouring feels more welcoming to the younger audience.
- 17. Garth Williams (1912-1996) was an American artist who reached his climax post war with children’s book illustration. With his father a cartoonist and mother a landscape painter, Williams studied architecture at Westminster School of Art in 1929. He continued his education through the Royal College of Art with a scholarship and then at the British School of Rome until the outbreak of WWII. In London, Williams volunteered with the Red Cross Civilian Defence. Then after moving to Canada with his family in New York in 1942, he worked with The New Yorker and started his carer as a book illustrator. Later in 1951, he illustrated one of his most famous books of Charlotte’s Web. He bases the main character, Fern Arable, on his eldest daughter. At the age of 81, Williams estimated to have illustrated 97 books. Garth Williams- "'To compose the pictures is very hard...I look for all the action in the story, then I arrange forms and color. I always try to imagine what the author is seeing. Of course, I have to narrow down my ideas to the number of drawings I'm allowed, which might be as few as ten per book. I make a list of illustrations. When I see a picture, I write down the idea and a page number while I read the manuscript.' Career Path: Garth Williams
- 18. This illustration is a toned, detailed and monotone illustration. It is made up from straight lines with his chosen medium of graphite pencil for thin, controlled lines but sometimes Williams also used charcoal, ink and watercolour washes. This illustration is just in black thin lines. The build up of careful lines cause depth, with the cross hatching allowing the shadow and highlights to make the image come alive. Williams makes the illustration of the words in to a ‘moving’ image. The action of the drawing makes the feel of the depiction less stationary. But instead, it emphasises the words for the reader to connect more to the visual image and words. By not having any colour, it makes the children’s illustration feel much more mature. Although this contrasts to the work of Quentin Blake, the communication of the words still come across. I think that the detail makes up for the colour while the action and movement in the drawing gives more information while still leaving room for imagination to develop the characters. Career Path: Garth Williams
- 19. Education Progression Route To result in a job in illustration, I could do a Foundation and then university. This would allow for a broad range of disciplines to be tried out while then specialising in one. After coming out of education, I would then find it easier to get a job instead of straight after my A-levels. STEP ONE)) Foundation: Kingston University Qualifications: 5 GCSE grades, C or above. One which must be English Language AS/ BTEC Art & Design Portfolio Apply: Online followed up by a group interview Facilities: As well as a personal space there are six studios/ workshops. Some including a digital media workshop, photography suite and printmaking studio. About: Groups of about 25 are in a class. 5 days a week and access to all facilities
- 20. STEP 2)) Bournemouth Arts Qualifications:: Minimum of 5 GCSE’s- Grade C or above- including English and Maths 280 UCAS points Apply: Online, followed up with an interview About: 3 years £9,000 per annum Emphasis on primary research and regular life drawing and museum trips Potential Second year exchange to Kyoto University in Japan 94% coursework 47% time in lectures, seminars and similar After these four years grounding, education and development of illustration, I would love to be able to work my way up to be a children's book illustrator. While taking this journey, my carer idea may alter. But with this education behind me, I could adjust to what creative discipline I would gravitate towards. Education Progression Route
- 21. Developing a style is important to be recognised without having your name printed. This makes you unique and individual to other competitors. This is seen is Quentin Blake’s work where it is easily recognisable. This significant as his work is also seen in adverts and on building wraps, and people would detect the artist back to the Roald Dahl books. This style could be colourful and bold for children such as the iconic Jacqueline Wilson’s illustrator, Nick Sharratt. However it can be just as effective delicate and more sophisticated like Alice In Wonderlands illustrator, John Tenniel. Progression Route 1: Children's book illustrator
- 22. A children’s illustrated book could be quirky, bright and action filled. Also, for the same genre it could be sophisticated, detailed and delicate. This is all determined by the illustrator themselves. For example, Quentin Blake and Garth Williams have very different styles. The producer or author of the book would heir the illustrator they image there words to turn into. As well as a bold or delicate style, the traditional approach could be used with watercolours, pen etc. Or a more modern technique could be applied by using Photoshop or Illustrator. In these Adobe software's, you can still use a “watercolour” like style and use a tablet with a thin brush for a delicate look. Some artists collaborate these two together by doing it traditionally and then adding and refining on Photoshop. I personally prefer the more traditional approach as you get more of a feel of the colours and shapes individually. Being a book illustrator in general, you could work freelance or in a company. Although a freelanced illustrator you have more control over what projects you do, there is more self promotion needed. There is more of a need of a website, promoting a range of work and techniques. With being freelanced, there is a element of organisation, people skills and finial control as you are organising every element of the work. This makes it important to have a degree of marketing experience. Whereas in a company, the illustrators only priority is answering the brief of the client. Examples of established companies are examples like ‘JELLY’, ‘Eye Candy’, and ‘Plum Pudding’. These all have a range of illustrators so the client has a variety of options for their product. Progression Route 1: Children's book illustrator
- 23. An illustration for animation creates the childhood, magical cartoons that come alive with moving images. The design of the character not only has to look good in one movement, but from all angles. You also need to take into consideration the background colours of the set throughout the animation. So for example, the main characters costume wouldn’t be coloured yellow if it was set in a desert as there would be limited contrast. You can start with traditional 2D animation drawing, where fundamental skills of drawing and painting underpin the development of animation production in all its forms: hand-drawn, stop-motion, model making and CGI. To make the animation as realist as possible, you need a sense of timing. This is so that the speed of the characters and objects in shot are all moving to how the animator wants. An understanding of film would also help this as it will be a moving image often displayed at 25 frames for second. Because of the moving images, its important to have knowledge in the movement of elements within a scene to ensure that the movement flows. This is usually human movement (walk/run cycles, sitting, crouching), animal movements (birds, fish, horses) and also mechanical objects such as cars or bikes. For example, so if the character is walking, they would take reasonable steps each time, while the background is moving at the same time. Programmes you could look into are one such as, Bournemouth Arts, UEL or Hereford. ( https://www.uel.ac.uk/Undergraduate/Courses/BA-Hons-Animation-and-Illustration) This form of illustration, you need more of an understanding of the animating programmes and editing. Although you could still focus on the 2D still image character designs, the moving picture concepts is vital to understand what works and not. Progression Route 2: Animation illustrator
- 24. o The history of animation has developed drastically in the last 75 years. From drawing each layer and moving them to computer realist animation, the development is a continually industry. HISTORY OF DISNEY ANIMATION o Back in 1928, there was the first successful cartoon with sound and film. This was the iconic illustration of Mikey Mouse by Walt Disney Studios. o In 1937, another millstone was reached with the animation of Snow White. This was the first Disney animated feature hand drawn. It took two years to come up with the final render of the Seven Dwarfs. 1.5 million cells where used in the whole production of Snow White. o The CGI (computer generated imagery) revolutionized animation. A principal difference of CGI animation compared to traditional animation is that drawing is replaced by 3D modelling, almost like a virtual version of stop-motion. This produced hit shows such as The Simpsons in 1987. o The first fully computer animated feature film was the millstone animation of Toy Story in 1995. Progression Route 2: Animation illustrator